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(509 Posts)
CariGransnet (GNHQ) Sat 01-Oct-16 13:12:01

Running throughout October, we're offering you the chance to win this amazing prize (all details HERE

To be entered into the draw simply leave a memory of your own grandparents on this thread. Usual terms and conditions apply.

hulahoop Sat 01-Oct-16 20:40:36

I only knew my maternal grandparents and they lived a distance away so we didn't see them too often my memory of grandma was a tall lady with wraparound pinny. she used to stand with her back to the coal fire warming her legs she wasn't a grandma that cuddled but I felt loved my grandad was a typical miner he always wore a collarless white shirt and had braces on his trousers he was a big man with big hands but he was very quiet and gentle I never heard either of them raise their voice I just wish I could have had more of a relationship with them

flossy1973 Sat 01-Oct-16 20:27:48

My Nana was gorgeous, always smelled of lavender. I loved helping out in her shop by the penny sweets, she always gave me a 10p mix for my hard work!!!

hjw2505 Sat 01-Oct-16 20:17:44

My family lived in Spain in the 1950s and my big sister started her schooling in Spain and Spanish came more naturally to her than English. When we came back to England and went to visit our Yorkshire grandmother, my sister asked for a drink of water, but in Spanish. My grandmother accessed my parents of bringing up her granddaughter as a foreigner

phoenix Sat 01-Oct-16 20:15:14

I was born to an unmarried mother in 1958. She was sent away to a mother & baby place in London(her family lived in malvern, Worcestershire)

The idea was that once I was born, I would be adopted, and she would come back from "working in Birmingham" and all would be well!

She decided to keep me, despite me having a cleft palate. My grandparents were wonderful, they brought me up after my mother went away (another story, but I still remember the smell of her face powder and Helena Rubenstien Apple Blossom perfume!)

My Grandad would sing "you are my sunhine" to me, my Gran taught me how to make the best fruit cake ever, my Grandad also would let me into his shed/workshop and taught be some basic woodworking skills.

Am I the only one that aked for (and got) a child size carpentry set for their 9th birthday??

PS I still have the hammer, just right for some jobs!

PPS Eventually forgave my Grandmother for putting my toy Panda through the wringer/mangle and pegging him up by the ears!

nessa38ish Sat 01-Oct-16 19:53:01

My grandparents were my guardian angels, I was the first grandchild and they looked after me until I was 5, as I got older they still looked out for me and I knew if I had any problems I always had somewhere to escape to.Nan used to march to school if any one picked on me(teachers or kids!)and Grandad was a very wise and knowledgeable man who had the answers to my problems.god love them both x

kyalami Sat 01-Oct-16 19:31:39

My paternal grandmother was the only grandparent I knew as the others had died before I was born. She was a large lady who looked like Queen Victoria in her later years. She was stern & I wasn't too keen on her so much so when we were leaving her house after a visit she offered my brother & myself a sweet if we gave her a kiss. My brother obliged but I went without my sweet as I refused to kiss her. I'm sure she had a heart of gold under that hard exterior somewhere!

Helen2014 Sat 01-Oct-16 19:14:09

My maternal grandmother had a mangle in her garden. She used this every Monday - wash day - to wring the washing before hanging it on the line. When I got to about 8 years old she would let me help. It was my job to make sure every garment was turned inside out, to protect the buttons. I failed in my duty one day and the buttons of her Liberty bodice were crushed by the rollers of the mangle! I was in the bad books until dinner time but she let me go through her button box to find suitable replacements and so all was well with the world by bedtime. She was a wonderful woman.

aligiraffe Sat 01-Oct-16 19:05:48

My Nan & Pop (maternal) lived just round the corner so we spent a lot of time there. My Pop was Welsh & I remember his voice more than anything. That plus he could 'wiggle' his ears! He died when I was nine. My Nan was strict in comparison to my Pop & was from a large country family so we always got woken up at 5.00am if we had stayed overnight with a cup of hot sweet tea. A full cooked roast dinner was on the table for 10.30am & curtains had to be closed by 4.00pm summer or winter. I never drink tea & am paranoid about the curtains being drawn if there is any light left in the sky! On the plus side my Nan taught me to read when I was 3 & how to bake cakes. I never knew my Grandad (paternal) as he died before I was a year old & my Grandma was only 4ft 8" & was Ken Dodds original Diddy person! She had a broad Liverpudlian accent but smoked like a chimney so unfortunately that it my main memory.

marieingham Sat 01-Oct-16 19:03:10

My favourite memories of grandparents are my nan always wearing a waist pinnie, she was always cleaning her brass ornaments, always baking and every Christmas making her own homemade Advocaat. My grandad was deaf as a post and was always sat in his favourite chair reading the daily paper - oblivious to anything going on around him.

leiajulie Sat 01-Oct-16 19:02:19

i remember my grandpa teaching me how to drive and when my son was born playing football in the back garden with him (he even made him wear a utd shirt)

tabbaz Sat 01-Oct-16 19:01:10

My lovely grandma used to take me on shopping trips with her and I remember going to LONDON - which was HUGE for me a country girl. We went into Selfridges and she bought me a ring - it is the thinnest gold wire with the tiniest of garnets but it is THE biggest most wonderful ring ever to me

pennwood Sat 01-Oct-16 18:58:07

We lived in a semi-detached house next to my grandparents when we were growing up, & I remember whenever we wanted them we simply banged on the adjoining wall with my Mum's brass ornament. They spent a lot of time with all the grandchildren, teaching us about gardening, & allocating little plots of their garden to each of us to look after. Happy days!

Elizabeth180 Sat 01-Oct-16 18:55:38

! was only 5 when my Granny died but I do remember her coming to take me for a walk and begging a rose from a gentleman tending his garden. I think I got my love of flowers from her .

Amira15 Sat 01-Oct-16 18:44:53

I never knew any of my grandparents. My Mum was fostered from the age of five ( found wandering the streets of Edinburgh trailing a sack of potatoes) My Dad had such an awful childhood he left home at 14 ( evacuated during war but never returned home) The lady who brought my Mum up was called Aunty Mair. My Dad was posted abroad ( Navy) My Mum worked night duty as a nurse. We lived with Aunty Mair and her two sisters whilst Dad was away. My " Aunties" decided to give me a makeover. I was about seven at the time. They decided to cut my hair which was fairly long into a very short style complete with fringe. I'll never forget my Mums horrified face when she came in from work and the " Aunties" proudly showed of their work. I had to be taken to a proper hairdressers to fix it!

GandT Sat 01-Oct-16 18:39:00

Like many children of the 50s my grandparents upped and moved to Canada so I missed their presence in my life. I was always showered with beautiful Christmas and Birthday gifts, but my abiding memory are the bundles of comics regularly sent which were inserts from their newspapers. Eventually I did meet them all when travelling across the Atlantic took off in the 70s. How wonderful that was.

hiddenmichelle Sat 01-Oct-16 18:29:32

My Nan getting a taxi to go to KFC for my Grandads birthday. She said you can't do much for each other at this age, but he said he wanted a bargain bucket for his birthday and so I made sure he got one. (They were nearly 90!!!)

craftygran Sat 01-Oct-16 18:21:14

I was born late in life to my parents and can't remember my maternal grandparents at all. I can remember visiting my paternal grandmother. She had a range which was always clean and she used to let me sit on the rug in front of it and play with her cat.

Isobelw Sat 01-Oct-16 18:18:25

My grandparents house was a treasure trove of interesting things. The war years meant they learnt never to throw anything away so I would rummage through drawers full of pencil stubs, elastic bands and odd bits of string. Now I would see it as pointless clutter but when I was 7 it was exciting to discover these little wonders

annemac101 Sat 01-Oct-16 18:13:27

We lived with my maternal grandmother. My earliest memory is of playing with my younger brother who would have been about two and I was five, He split his head open and I was blamed for it. While everyone was concerned about him and scowling at me my gran took me in her arms and told me it wasn't my fault and how much she loved me. I can still remember how I felt that day. When I was older I remember telling her to put her teeth in and make me fried onions. She made the best fried onions ever.

gram6169 Sat 01-Oct-16 18:12:10

Sadly I missed out on grandparents as they had all died before I was 6 months old.
I have always loved spending time with the elderly, and have so enjoyed being a Grandma myself.All grandchildren are now in their teens, so I look forward to great grandchildren in a few years time.

Maggiemaybe Sat 01-Oct-16 18:09:45

I only knew my paternal grandmother, and I loved her to bits. Tiny and determined, she was known by us all as Mother, and nobody crossed her! A true lady, she always wore soft buttoned leather shoes, beautiful silky fitted dresses with lace modesty panels and, when she went out, hat and gloves. She taught me rules of etiquette that I still can't break, such as no jewellery or makeup at breakfast (I'm a scary sight at the hotel buffet!). I loved staying with her in her big terraced house which had an open range, outside toilet, no hot water, a front parlour that I was occasionally allowed into, to sit gingerly reading on a hard chaise longue surrounded by birds and flowers under glass domes. She died unexpectedly, as she was still hale and hearty at 94. When I heard she'd had a fall I was at college. I dashed off to Durham on the train, made my way to her house and knocked, and the door was answered by her next door neighbour, who ushered me in to see her. Relieved, I followed her to Mother's bedroom, to find her laid out on the bed, looking like a porcelain doll.

Grannyknot Sat 01-Oct-16 18:03:59

My maternal grandparents played a huge part in our lives after my parents split up when I was about 5 and we went to live with them. They welcomed us "home" with open arms, despite the fact that our arrival probably turned their lives upside down in their retirement.

My granny did fine embroidery and played piano and baked cakes and made bread. My grandad played silly tunes on his fiddle for us to dance to. He read out of the family Bible every evening after supper and said prayers and we'd all sing hymns. When he wasn't tending his chickens or his roses, he would be in his open-air workshop (a"lean-to") repairing things (there was nothing he couldn't fix) or doing carpentry. He always wore a pith helmet under the hot African sun.

He and my granny were a devoted couple, their softly-spoken love for each other is an abiding memory of that time in my life.

Fflaurie Sat 01-Oct-16 18:03:20

My mum's mum was very independent and feisty. I remember meeting her in Dickins and Jones two days before my wedding to collect her dress for the wedding. We went for tea and she said in a very loud voice in the restaurant:
Waiter! cakes for my granddaughter who is getting married on Thursday.
Everyone clapped and she actually stood up and took a bow. She was born in 1900 and her claim to fame was that she was as old as the year and the same age as the Queen Mother!

jmo Sat 01-Oct-16 18:03:08

My Grannie often used to take my sister and I out on trips when we would walk everywhere. At the end of the day on our way home we would often complain that our feet were sore. She would respond with "Walk on the grass. It is softer." I still miss her.

Jalima Sat 01-Oct-16 18:00:42

Jinky the bread is easier to slice very thinly if it's buttered first
(Tip from both my DM and my MIL!)