Grandparents

Caz · 17-10-2008, 19:40

Inspired by comments in another thread.

What are your favourite (or otherwise) memories of your grandparents.

How do you see your roll as a grandparent now as opposed to previous generations.

As said in other thread, one gran was in her 60s by time I was born. Other gran was a bit younger, and I'm sure she worked till she dropped. At one stage she was homehelp to my other gran. Younger gran, Doris, prob 60 by the time I can remember her, was fun. All other kids were still at home apart from my dad, my auntie only a few years older than me. Used to have lots of fun there, and remember her Sunday teas with everyone sat round the table.

Neither gran, even then, was used as a childminder. Older gran did live with us for a few years. Had to share a bedroom with her. Remember having to stick my head under the covers while she put her corsets on!

WillowTheWhisp · 17-10-2008, 20:11

Three of my grandparents died of cancer within 6 months of each other when I was 4 years old. My other Gran lived until I was about 12. My enduring memory of one Granddad is how he let me get away with 'mucking up' when my Mum and my Grannie wouldn't.

He was also very knowledgeable about mushrooms and edible berries etc and we would go 'food hunting' together. He had hens and geese and turkeys and I used to help feed them from what seemed to me at the time to be an enormous zinc bucket. I can still remember the smell of boiling up the chicken feed. He used to call me Jimmie. I also remember when he was having a nap on the chaise long I would climb on the back and leap onto him! Poor Granddad!

I don't think it was so much babysitting as spending enjoyable fun time together. I wish I'd been a little older so I could remember all the things he tried to teach me.

MargaretR · 17-10-2008, 20:23

My mother's mother died when I was 17. I went to her place for a few years at lunchtime when I was at secondary school so got to know her.

She had an abnormal fear during thunderstorms - sat in the corner trembling.
She tried unsuccessfully to teach her budgie, Billy, to talk, but tried endlessly.
She had a hard life with a useless husband - and threw him out and raised 3 children alone whilst working weaving.
I recall she played patience with cards for hours on end, smoked Woodbines, played dominoes and drank milk stout in The Globe.

An independant woman when that wasn't the norm - I admired her for her tenacity

West Ender · 17-10-2008, 21:24

I never knew my real grandparents. It has been a source of sorrow to me all my life.

My Turner grandparents were both dead before I was born. My mum lost her mother when she was 14 and her father died 4 years before I was born so my brothers had memories of him - but not me.

My dad lost his mother when he was 8 and his father a year later. It was a tragic, harrowing story of 5 orphaned little boys separated because they were orphaned but it left me with the nearest thing I had to grandparents - my foster-grandparents. It wasn't quite the same, though, they were kind enough to me but - distant.

When I was about 7, I "invented" a grampa. I used to tell real "whoppers" about this old man who varied between the ages of 85 and 110 and was sometimes Grampa Turner but also sometimes Grampa Sleddon. Sometimes he lived with us (God knows where he slept - we only had 3 bedrooms) and sometimes he lived in Australia, or London. I outgrew the fantasy grandparent within a year or two but I always envied other kids who talked about their grandmas and granddads.

I try to be a good grandparent to both my grandchildren. I don't see so much of my grandson, these days, as he's nearly 23 and busy with his own life but he knows I am always here for him, proud of him and caring about him. My granddaughter lives with me and I adore her, but no more than I adore her cousin.

It's a privilege to be a grandparent.

jambutty · 18-10-2008, 09:22

I only knew my grandmother on my mother’s side but even then it was for less than a year. Her husband did not survive WWII and my grand parents on my father’s side died before I was born.

The only picture that I have of my grand parents is of my grandmother on my mother’s side. It was taken in 1947 when she was somewhere around 60.

A lived in face that saw more of the horrors of war than any person has a right to.
But she survived to tell the tale.

Her garden was triangular shaped and quite large. About a quarter of the triangle at the base was the ‘yard’ with outside toilets and a well in the centre. She kept a dozen or so hens in the ‘yard’ so we always had clean water and plenty of eggs.

The rest of the garden contained a few cherry trees, a couple of apple trees, a couple of pear trees, with several black and red current bushes and gooseberry bushes. Tucked into the apex were some 50 sunflowers. A large conker tree was just made to climb and of course I had more conkers than I could ever wish for.

The rest of the garden was for a variety of vegetables.

A sort of forerunner to the “Good Life”.

jaysay · 18-10-2008, 10:33

I never knew my Granddad on my fathers side, he died when my Dad was only 14, seams he was gased in the war and died later as a result. My Mothers Mum died when I was only 4 so never really knew her either, just a vague memory. My Mums dad died when he was well into his 80s, can remember carrying his coffin at the funeral. I was actually brought up with my Dads Mum in that she lived with us and was always there when I came home from school as Mum was a work. I have three grandchildren Kirsty who's 20 she's a nursery nurse and lives in Accy, Jake and Oliver are 4 an 18 months and live in Vietnam so I don't see them as much as I would like.

grannyclaret · 18-10-2008, 17:07

I have fond memories of my grandparents.....they were poor but they always had a threepenny bit for us kids every week ,and my grandma would treat us to a bottle of Stantons pop if the chap was around,,,cor that was luxury ...
My god and when i think of the housework she did it makes me ashamed for moaning,,,no mod cons in those days,,but she was so proud of her new Ewbank ,,,

AccyMad · 18-10-2008, 18:19

I only knew my two Grandmas as my Grandad on both sides died way before I was born, I was probably closest to my mum's mum as she lived nearer and I spent a lot of time with her when I was growing up. She'd had a hard life, having to bring up 3 kids on her own and she suffered terribly with asthma, she also lost the use of one hand after a bad bout of shingles but she never let any of it get her down. She was frail and tiny to look at but she had a brilliant spirit and outlook on life, I could talk to her about anything ... sometimes things I couldn't even tell my mum. She was just a few days short of her 95th birthday when she died which is ten years ago now but I still miss her. My Grandma on my Dad's side was in the same sort of mold too, she was albino and so was blind from a very early age but still managed to bring up her 3 children on her own. She was a member if the blind society's domino team and one of my favourite memories of her was when she was left out of the team one week because someone thought she was getting too old (I think she was about 89 at the time) - she marched down there and told them in no uncertain terms that she would decide when she was too old.

junetta · 18-10-2008, 23:10

My Mum's father died when she was in her early teens which resulted in my Nana living with my parents from the first day of their marriage. I never thought about it when I was a youngster but it must have been an awful thing for my father. We all used to gang up on him.

His parents used to live on the corner of Leyland Street and my brother and I were sent to see them every Sunday morning. Grandad boiled up black puddings every week and served them with salt. I can taste them now! He always had a party for all his grandkids at Xmas and emptied his giant piggy bank for us to share. My Gran won a pot doll one Christmas in a pub draw and gave it to me.........I was so proud and still have it now, all those years later.

Sadly, they are all gone now.

emamum · 18-10-2008, 23:24

heres a pic of my grandad and my great grandad and grandma.. i never met my great grandma, she died before i was born.. my great grandad was a fantastic bloke..used to make the best cakes and always made us something special for our birthdays, he died just before my sister was born, i was the last person in the family to see him alive, we all went to see him in hospital and i forgot my coat and had to go back for it..... he gave me a hug and a kiss and told me to tell my mum to call the baby leah (after my great grandma) and died that night

my grandad is the boy stood nest to my great grandma in the pic
the second pic is my great grandma, my grandad and my great uncle

shillelagh · 19-10-2008, 17:41

I only knew my grandma on my mums side. On my dads side his parents died when he was a kid - he was brought up by his older sister and older brothers. My grandad on my mums side died in 1969 - i was born in 1967 so i cant remember him at all. Granny was in northern ireland and so i only saw her for 1 or 2 weeks a year. She died when i was 11 or 12. We used to go and stop with her for our hols. I used to get a double bed to myself when we were there as well. Used to go swimming every morning - walk down to the baths and then into armagh and walk round and then walk back to grandmas - something like from my house to accy now - and downhill going but coming back was the killer!!! She used to have a blackthorn walking stick and sometimes if she was in a bad mood - she'd swipe me on the back of my legs as i was going past or try and trip me up with it. Somehow thinking back couldve been dementia or alzheimers - i was too young to know. Dad saw it once and never said nowt but made sure i was never left on my own with her ...

jaysay · 19-10-2008, 18:53

As a rider to my earlier post I've left a letter for my two young grandsons as they don't really know me, as I said I was only 4 when my mothers mum died and I can't really remember her, I have seen my granddaughter grow up into a fine young girl, but the chances of seeing my grandson's do the same are very remote indead. At least when they get older they will know just how proud of them I was

jambutty · 19-10-2008, 19:23

Years ago before camcorders became affordable I hit on the idea of making an audio tape to my off spring that would not be available until I had departed this mortal coil. In fact even before the days of the cassette recorders I sent audio letters home using a 3” reel to reel tape.

Well the same principle applies today. Make a “Video Diary” and burn it onto a DVD. Of course you will need a camcorder to do it but then most people now have a mobile phone that will also record a “Video Diary”, so use that.

panther · 20-10-2008, 18:05

I never knew my grandads, they died before i was born

But my granny on my maternal side, i remember very well....good memories

She always used to have this real big belly laugh and i always remember her watching cricket on tv...she said she likes it when they rub their balls

....LMAO!!....A right one my granny was....lol...oh i do miss her!

polly · 20-10-2008, 19:46

I only really knew my maternal grandmother, my fathers parents being dead. My mothers mothers husband (her first one died soon after WWII treated me just like I was his natural grandfather. Both of them deserved medals, as they more or less brought me up. This was as well as working well into their 70's

They lived on Crown St in a 2 up 2 down, tin bath and outside loo and not much money. At one time they both worked at the AEU club on the corner of Paxton St and managed to combine this with more or less bringing me up.

I only wish they had both lived long enough for me to realise how much time and energy they had spent on bringing me up and to thank them for it