Gransnet forums

Competitions

Win our fantastic prize bundle worth almost £1,000!

(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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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!

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

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!!!

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

Hanliying Sat 01-Oct-16 20:42:27

I still remember my grandma used to hold my hands so tight when crossing the street.

Nanna58 Sat 01-Oct-16 20:45:16

My grandad would give us sixpence on a Saturday with the words " don't tell your nan" . Our nan would give us sixpence on a Saturday with the words-yes, you've guessed it-" don't tell your grandad!

kayleigh39 Sat 01-Oct-16 21:02:56

My grandmother used to make the best meat pies, even my friends would purposely come around to try them. I would tell her jokes and she would giggle, but tell me not to tell my grandfather I told her - because she wasn't one for jokes in front of her husband.

jennybuk Sat 01-Oct-16 21:06:11

My grandmother always had a tube of sweets in her bag which would last week's but not when we were around!

Daphne01 Sat 01-Oct-16 21:23:57

My grandparents died when I was pretty young so my memory is from my great nanna, we used to go and see her on a Sunday and she'd make the best sunday teas. We;d have jelly and blancmange, her home made lemoncurd pastries, ham sandwiches and we'd play in the garden outside her flat. She always had a huge smile and would watch us from the balcony

liz1970 Sat 01-Oct-16 21:38:32

I remember staying with my nan and grandad on their farm. We looked after orphan lambs in the farmhouse, feeding them with babies bottles, them keeping warm in front of the fire. Great memories smile

g15grw Sat 01-Oct-16 21:50:18

My grandmother kept geese and once I followed her behind the shed and saw her wring the neck of a goose.

dahlia08 Sat 01-Oct-16 21:53:01

I was very small when my grandad on my father's side died. I don't remember much. I just know I was spoil by him. My Nani on my mum's side was very loving, she was like a safety blanket for me. I used to go and stayed at her place on weekdays after my exams to go for my typing lessons. I loved it but like to go home too at weekend. When I was smaller we used to stay during new year's time. We had cakes and fruits and lots of fun..we had cream from cows milk which were in the stable. There was goat as well. We walk on the collins(mountain) during the holidays. Fun..... X

rosesarered Sat 01-Oct-16 22:13:15

My Grandfather was a very patient man, he sat still for me while I put his silver hair in all sorts of styles,usually involving slides and ribbons, while my Grandmother looked on,stifling laughter, this was when I was about five years old.Later, when I was older he told me all sorts of amazing stories about his family, and how they had travelled all over the world ( all made up for my delight, as they never went further afield than Bridlington.) He laughed a lot and had very bright blue eyes, and was always very kind and gentle, even though he had a very hard life.Grandmother was small, a bit timid,and always produced a glass of milk and a biscuit for me, and was the first person I had ever seen to peel an apple before she ate it.Both Grandparents had amazing white teeth, which I didn't know were false , and although poor and living in a little cottage, were always neat and tidy and dignified, and very happy with each other.

valbuk Sat 01-Oct-16 22:21:53

My grandad was a great gardener and as a child I spent a lot of time with him looking after tomato plants in the greenhouse. His love and care of plants was passed on to me and I remember so much of his advice. It has stayed with me all my life and whenever I think of him it is of him pottering about in the garden.

feeona123 Sat 01-Oct-16 22:24:12

We always visited my Granparents every Sunday. I remember getting sweeties every week and thinking it was the best thing in the world.

dirgni Sat 01-Oct-16 22:26:02

I just loved spending time with my granny. We always did fun things, at Christmas time she would take my cousin and I to London to the theatre and I can remember being aloud to go up and down the underground escalators while she sat at the bottom and read a book! During the summer we all slept outside in hammocks and ate endless soft fruit from the garden. She was so laid back and I remember her encouraging a Robin to come into the house,perching on the pictures and eating out of her hand. She made her own furniture polish ,herbal remedies and did the most fantastic embroidery,beautiful flowers done from memory. She taught me to crochet and appreciate gardens and horticulture and so very much more.

Morgie52 Sat 01-Oct-16 23:20:19

My grandparents bred budgies and my grandfather taught one to say "Silly old bird" whenever my grandmother entered the room.

Nandalot Sat 01-Oct-16 23:23:32

I only have memories of my maternal grandmother who came to live with us when I was about 12. She was always doing some sort of handcraft: knitting, crochet, making embroidered waste paper baskets or patchwork. She would recycle old jumpers and cardigans. She would 'pull them down' , wash the wool and then I would have to hold my arms out while she wound it round. She always had a warm twinkle in her eyes.

pamhill4 Sat 01-Oct-16 23:33:55

My grandparents lived nearby and we saw them most days. Unfortunately this allowed my gf to abuse me daily. I wish I had all the lovely memories you all have shared. ?? But I've worked through it and come out of the other side strong and healthy ?

Maccyt1955 Sat 01-Oct-16 23:35:16

I never knew either Grandfather, as they both died before I was born, but remember my Nanny and Granny.

Both were good cooks and I learnt to cook apple pie and custard tart watching Nanny from Oxforshire. I now have an old fashioned kitchen and Belfast sink in her honour.

And one of my treasured possessions is a small notebook full of salad dressing recipes written by Granny from Edinburgh, who at one time was a cook for an upper-class family in Richmond. Needless to say, I love cooking.

suelowe Sat 01-Oct-16 23:51:40

My two grandmas were chalk and cheese . One was tiny , sweet , everything a grandma should be . The other was large , humourless , daunting : best known for pouring the cream off the top of the daily milk to go in her tea alone !!!