Paternal grandparents died before I was born but I knew my maternal grandparents. Grandpa was a lovely gentle soul who was a milkman in a horse-drawn milk cart. He loved Murray Mints. The last few years of his life he would get a Christmas card received from his employer out of his pocket thinking it had just sent it to him. Grandma was very large and loved clotted cream - but she still managed to live until she was 92.
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I remember my nan owned a nic nac shop and when I was little I used to love mooching around the shop she had a big book that she let people pay weekly for things , to help them out such a kind hearted women ,she let me organise the cotton reels into colour order I loved it
My grandparents were incredibly active. We always joked they had a better social life than any of us! They were keen Scottish dancers and used to take us along to their dances and Burns night suppers. They taught me how valuable friends, shared hobbies and having fun are!
The smell of Chanel no5 and cigarettes always reminds me of my nanna!
My grandparents were both barely 5foot in height and quite rotund!
They resembled a pair of balls!
My younger brother always thought that they should have a bubble car ( remember them?)
Granddad taught me all about magnetism and demonstrated with different shaped magnets, a sheet of paper and iron filings. I suppose I was about 5years old at the time.
Granny taught me how to crochet. An art which I still practice. However she could not teach me to knit and I still can't!
Born to older parents, I only had one grandparent still alive when I was small. It was my maternal grandmother who was tall, quite smart, and very thin. I remember her teaching me to read, playing paper-and-pen type games with me, singing nursery rhymes. I loved her beautiful green glass dolly's tea set and kind, soft eyes.
I remember how she liked "a bit of tinned salmon" for tea, and ate like a little bird. It was at 'tea' time when she died. I was sitting with her quietly and she just slipped of her chair. It was somehow quite unremarkable. I remember my mother weeping and hugging me, and how confused I was when she was taken away by an ambulance. I didn't understand why they took her away when they couldn't make her well. I wanted to hug her and say goodbye. She was very special. I loved her a lot.
My Grandpa came to live with us when I was about 3, until after I'd left home. He did most of the cooking and was very tolerant of two lively girls. after shopping he'd tell Mum whom he'd met down the village and they had the most fantastic nicnames! I wish I could remember them now.
My maternal grandparents lived on a farm. I would spend every holiday there, and I would feed the chickens and get the eggs with my nan and then feed the pigs with my granddad. My nan would also send me to the corner shop to buy sweets which we would then play cards for. I have so many happy memories from this period of my childhood. My paternal grandparents lived in the same village and I would walk and visit them. My paternal nan would love watching Big Daddy and Giant Haystack on the TV, and would shout at the TV when there was any cheating involved.
When I was only about 7 or 8 our step-Grandma used to have a battery-powered hearing aid - a pink box which was fastened to her belt. She and Grand-dad lived a long way away so we didn't see them as much as we would have liked. I fondly remember her violently hitting the box when it wasn't working properly and using words which were regarded as quite shocking in those days (she had worked as a bus conductress during the war). At the time I was fascinated and in awe of this behaviour. She was one of my very favourite relatives and (like Grand-dad) a really kind and caring person with absolutely no 'side' to her - we always enjoyed our time with them.
My grandmother used to bite the heads off jellybaby sweets and laugh wickedly..!
I remember my granny had a feather mattress and you just sank into to it, it was so snug and warm I always felt so happy and safe when I went to bed, also in the mornings I could smell the toast she made I still love the smell of burnt toast today, it takes me back to very happy times.
My nanna brought me up the 1st four years of my life.Unforgetable times even got drunk when they left a case of beer outside my bedroom door (They had the flip tops in them days)thanks nanna.
I often stayed with my grandparents during school holidays. No matter how warm it was, before I could goo out to play my grandmother would bundle me up in a coat, usually an adult one with sleeves rolled up, often with a hat and gloves as well even though I insisted that it wasn't cold outside. I couldn't understand why but I now believe it was because she grew up in a pre-antibiotic age when 'catching a chill' might prove fatal.
My Maternal Grandma (Babuska) was a Lithuanian refugee who was shipped over to Glasgow when Russia deported her for marrying a White Russian Doctor. They were given different surnames as the got off the ship and were housed in a Glaswegian tenement slum. Grandad went off to work as a coal miner as he wasn't allowed to practice medicine and Babuska acted as a midwife, layer out and general nurse for the Lithuanian community She raised 7 of her babies having her last 3 months after her much adored husband died of pneumocillicosis from working in the coal mine( no compensation in those days you just got on) Her children 7 sister and 1 adored brother looked after her the rest of her very long life. I remember her as a very tall lady very self sufficient with chickens in the back garden and with little or no English but lots of cuddles and love
My memories are mixed about my granny, my grandfather had left home before I was born and my mother in a similar situation lived with my granny. Granny was obsessive about housework, monday was wash day, tuesday scrubbing floors etc. My mother went to work when I was small so my granny looked after me. She was an extreme disciplinarian to the point of violence. I was scared of her, she also hated men as my grand father and father had deserted us.
If I said a word when I was supposed to be quiet I was punched or slapped or shouted at, never a day went by when I wasnt chastised in some way. I was never allowed to have friends at the house and even those who played in the garden were vetted carefully. I was never allowed out of the gate.
She thought she was too good for the neighbours as she rarely spoke to any of them. I learned to escape by reading or playing quietly by myself. I was not allowed a tv as my granny thought they were corrupting. Even my mother was scared of her.
Despite this she was a good cook and we had super meals every day, she could sew and my mother knitted so despite being poor I was well dressed and well fed.
I never knew my Polish Grandparents and my maternal granddad died before I was born. My grandma lived over 100 miles away and as my parents didn't drive we didn't see a lot of her. She was very much of the old school and if we were there for the week we had to go to chapel on the Sunday (and I had to wear a dress, grrr). She was very prim and proper despite having four children of dubious parentage!!! If we were watching TV and it wasn't something she liked it was just switched off. She went to bed about 8.30pm and got up about 5.30am. She had a very hard life as her husband was a drunk who kept losing his jobs and therefore the tied cottages that they lived in and she had to sleep under the hedge with at least one child on several occasions.
Unfortunately my paternal grandpa and grandma both passed away when my dad was 7 year old. So, I didn't get a chance to meet them, same as my maternal grandpa. But I am fortunate enough to have my mum's mother in my childhood. She was a sweet little & petite lady who disciplined us with a kind manner and always was a friendly adviser to us. She loved reading and hand crafts especially stitching so much that she always involve us with lot of sweet bribes. My mom n dad both work, so most part of the day we spend with her and she looked after us with all the care since I am a baby until she passed away when I was 14. She sculpted my childhood with a fitness. I miss her so much and still I treasure her memories as much as I treasure her gold chain.
I remember going to stay with my Grandma (on my Dad's side) in the summer holidays with my sister and we got to do and see lots of things that we didn't do at home, she took us ice skating, swimming and visiting all sorts of places by bus and train and we used to have such fun in her orchard putting up hammocks and Grandma used to make the most gorgeous rice pudding and always encouraged us be creative in the kitchen, will always cherish those times.
How I wish that I had memories of my grandparents.....sadly I never had any as both sets of parents had died many years before my parents even had met. I used to watch my friends with their grandparents and feel that there was an enormous hole in my life...and to be honest felt envious. That is why being a grandma now is even more precious to me....I love every minute with my little treasures.
MY GRANDPARENTS WERE OLD IN OLD PEOPLES HOMES WHEN L WAS A KID SO WE USED TO VISIT THEM WITH ALL MY FAMILY L CAN STILL REMEMBER ALL THE TIMES WE VISITED SO MANY HAPPY TIMES LETTING THEM TALK ABOUT OLD TIMES
My paternal Granny taught me to smoke at age 13 ???!
My brothers and I spent every Saturday at my paternal grandparents house. We always had the same meal - either chicken soup or borscht followed by roast chicken, mashed potatoes and veg or fried or boiled fishcakes. Pudding was always pureed apple, red jelly and hot custard. We were all given an adult shot of sherry on arrival which in hindsight I think might have to made us all a bit sleepy
The thought of giving a 5 year old sherry shocks people when I tell them. But we loved it and as adults not of us have a drink problem after our early introduction to booze.
Although she died nearly 30 years ago I still miss my darling Nan so much. She was there when Mum and Dad weren't. We had a special bond as I was her first grandchild. When brother1 came along I went to stay with her and then when brother2 came I returned to her while brother1 went to paternal Grandma.
I remember her little sayings and the fun we had and I am doing my best these days to share the same fun moments with my grandchildren. I tell them about my Nan and her memories will live on!
I remember caravan holidays with my grandparents. It seemed like a decision was just made to go and off we went and then there were were...life was easy, happy and certainly carefree. Perfect days. Thanks Gran and grandad!
In loving memory of my dearest Grandma, Lillian Maud Burns (nee Kinnear), a "proppa Geordie lass", and a key figure in my life, with a heart so big it had room for every last one of us.
Me Grandma – A Champion Cook
Of ahll the cooks in this wide whorld, me Grandma is the best,
That wrap-roond pinney’s nivvah off, she seldom seems te rest.
With seven sons ahll still at yem, ahll workin’ doon Swan’s yard,
Hor kitchen’s a production line, where days are long an’ hard.
They get a proppa breakfast, an’ shuh even does their baits,
An’ every neet when they get yem, a home-cooked meal awaits.
Shuh makes delicious pastry for hor famous corned beef pie
Ahll golden broon with egg-wash it’s appealin’ to the eye.
But best of ahll is Sunda, when wuh get that full roast dinna,
With roast spuds , veg, an’ Yorkshire puds , an’ every one’s a winna.
An’ while the beef is roastin’ an’ before the gravy’s made,
Ah get some bread an’ have a dip, whey man, it tastes top grade.
It’s hard to say which meal is best, me Gran can dee so much,
An’ every dish that shuh turns oot displays that expert touch.
There’s mince n’ dumplins, lentil broth, an’ porrfect braised Scotch steak,
There’s spotted dick an’ syrup sponge, an’ still-wahrm stottie cake.
Shuh never seems te tire at ahll, from fillin’ up that oven,
Me Grandpa says its just the way me Grandma shows her lovin’.
An’ we love hor fer ahll shuh does , fer ahll hor toil an’ care,
As wife, as Mam, an’ as Grandma, there’s nee-one to compare.
An’ though ah’lI travel far an’ wide, an’ some day we may part,
Through ahll the years ah’ll cherish hor, an’ hold hor in me heart.
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