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I used to visit my maternal grandmother's cousin who lived in Garden Street in Radford and incidentally, looking for information about Garden Street was how I first discovered Nottstalgia!

Auntie Emily, as I called her, kept a little black notebook locked away in the dresser. Into that book she entered information about all and any family events going back to the year dot. She was a great funeral goer my auntie Emily and wrote details of every funeral she attended in the little black book including what was on the menu at the bunfight afterwards.

There must have been an awful lot of information in that book and certainly information that I would have liked to get my hands on but she never allowed anyone else to look at it. Sometime before she died, she had the bright idea of burning all the old photographs in the many albums she had and the few that I have managed to retain were rescued by my mother who happened to drop in and visit when auntie Emily was in the middle of this conflagration. The little black notebook I presume went the same way because after her demise it was nowhere to be found, so I can only assume that she destroyed it.

I realise now that some of the information in that book concerned my mother's parents and auntie Emily would not have wanted me to know about it. A lot of it I have since discovered from looking at official documents in the archives but there are certain pieces of information that are not recorded anywhere other than in that little black notebook and those must remain a mystery.

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Paul and I are both 73 but he's 2 months older than me. We have some good friends who are in their late seventies and others who are youngsters in their thirties. I've stopped worrying about gettin

Not shy, 66 but have felt more like 76 in recent weeks! Edit that. Felt more like 96 .......,

this year 71 years old, its took 70 years but just feel this year is my lifes beginning, feel like i am 40 again, diet, exercise you cannot beat it.

Jill, I thought your post about "Aunties little black book" so interesting, it really is a shame that so much family information is now gone for good. Our parents and those before them were very private people and kept so many secrets, that we today would probably not consider shocking or surprising. I imagine that they would find it hard to believe how much information; they thought gone for good, that we can find out on the Internet eg, Census and sites like Ancestry .com. What a disappointment that the little black book and its memories are gone for good.

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#103

Yes, Carni, it's a terrible shame.

On occasions, Emily would impart information, such as the time she told me about my Grandmother's twin boys who were born in 1917. I would imagine Emily was there at the time of the birth because the boys only lived for a few hours but she described them lying in two separate clothes baskets by the fire in my great grandparents house at number 24 Suez Street in Old Basford. Emily said they were so weak they could hardly cry but she remembered them making whimpering noises like little puppies. This was during the Great War of course and my grandfather was away in the army at the time which meant that my grandmother had returned to live with her own parents.

The twins may have been born prematurely but they were named Bernard and Eric and were shortly afterwards buried in the Nottingham Road cemetery in Basford.

I think it would probably be safe to say that my great grandparents were hoping that their son in law would not return from fighting in the Great War because there was a great deal of animosity between them and him. Emily also told me that my great grandmother had said she would rather see her daughter buried six feet underground than married to my grandfather but she would not elaborate on the reason why. No doubt the reason why was recorded in the little black book but instead of my grandfather losing his life in the Great War, it was my great grandparents eldest son John Samuel who did not return.

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A "like" would seem out of place for such as sad story, Jill. Although I do like the way you recorded it. It is unfortunate that we have such strife in our families, but probably most families have experienced some of it at some point.

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Talking of keeping secrets . When my mum died in 2008 we were clearing out her house and found her metal box that she always kept locked. Dad had died in 1981 so she had been widowed 26 years. When we managed to prise open the box , we found in there their marriage certificate which states that my dad had been married before . Mum and dad married 1 Feb 1947, and it said dads marriage was dissolved the week before! Neither me or my brother had ever known he was married before and we were shocked to say the least . I spoke to my dads only surviving sister who was in her 90s who told us that whilst dad was at war in 1944 his wife of only a few months had been 'caught' with a civie. Dad came home a booted her out but never started divorce proceedings until he met mum. They were supposed to marry on January 25th but had to put the wedding back a week.

I was amazed at such a story being kept secret . I can imagine my grandad being so cross having to rearrange everything for mums wedding(it was at the Elite in Nottm so not a small affair )

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My husband's parents also had a secret that only came to light when mother-in-law passed away. It turned out he'd been married before and they didn't get married to each other until she'd had 6 kids. A couple of hubby's sisters went to St Catherine's House to delve deeper but did tell my hubby that they'd always told him he was a ba$tard ......... sibling love eh?!!!

Never found anything intriguing or exciting when clearing out my parents home, a boring lot really.

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My late Mother hid the story about her bigamist Father..on his return from Burma,he married another woman.

"War Hero Marries" it read in the Post,my Gran had to go to The Guildhall and a war office on Trinity Sq.

He did time.

All this and stories of fellas hiding in Radford houses during the wars duration came out at the funeral in the IOW.

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I think we can all tell stories like this. My dad never talked about his family's past. I found out why about 18 months ago, a lot of it found through help on this forum I won't repeat as it has all been said elsewhere but the end result is that I have got the wrong surname.

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I think we all have stuff like this in our past. The Victorian age, (which lasted until about WW2 and even after, because the attitudes were propagated until at least then), was one of double standards, half truths and hidden secrets.

I only recently discovered that my maternal Grandad had about 9 siblings about which I previously knew nothing..

Also, that my Grandad's sister, was really his half sister, and that contrary to the family story that she went to Australia because she had and illegitimate child, she herself was illegitimate.

If only people were honest, instead of hiding behind false morality.

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Some of the same for me. Both mother and father had been married before and both had children, I found out quite by accident at a friends wedding in the late 70s. I went back to theirs along with the wife and gently told them what I knew and was just blanked. I was born in 1946 but found out many years later mum & dad didn't marry until the mid 50s, therefore I was a real barsteward for the first few years of my life.

As an aside Jill #104 Suez Street is in New Basford, runs between Liddington St and Northgate. I live just round the corner on Rosetta Road from 1946 till 1964. In fact our back steps came down on to Suez St not far from 28.

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Welcome back Sue, Hope you all had a good time. Yes, only two weeks older, but you still got to leave School at Easter and I had to stay untill Summer. I never quite forgave you for that! xx

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One of the biggest changes in the last 50-ish years is the variation in how people look as they get older.



When I was young, it seemed that once anyone got to about 60 or so, they all looked old in the same way. There was an identikit model for all grandparents and elderly people; there was no such thing as an older person who looked different - or someone who was younger than you thought. Old people all looked the same and they all looked old.



Now, people can be well into their 60s or 70s and still not look “automatically old” in the way people did when I was a kid. You can look younger for longer, and continue to have people saying “Are you really only XX years old?”


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Just! LOL

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