Visiting the grandparents


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Havent been on here lately but this forum stirred up some memories of my grandparents. my brother and I used to spend our summer holidays with my maternal grandparents in Barrow in Furness ( Lanc

Quite right, Jill.  I don't talk much about birthdays anymore.  This last one was #75.  Never thought I would ever reach such an age.   As well as me dog treats some folks at church bought me a really

Saturday evenings as a kid were often spent at my grandma and grandad's house playing cards for pennies with other uncles and aunts and cousins. The eldest of the grandkids were sent up to the lo

I never "visited" my maternal grandma, as she lived with us (actually, we lived with her - she was the tenant of the prefab on Aslockton Drive, Aspley). My mum and dad had started in great style after the war with a brand new house on Pateley Road, Woodthorpe, but when I put in an appearance, one cold Saturday morning in 1949, I guess they couldn't manage the mortgage payments relying only on dad's salary as a railway clerk. So we moved in with her - and she was great. Like another mum (but a bit more lenient!) I never knew my paternal granddad - he died of cancer at the age of 51, 7 years before I was born. When we moved to Long Eaton in 1954, grandma came with us - though she sometimes regretted not having her own home any more.

My dad's parents were rather different, though I remember them also with great affection. Granddad was born in Burnley in 1879, so he was 70 by the time I was born (his first grandchild). He was working at Chilwell shell factory when the explosion took place in 1915. He smoked like a chimney, so their house always reeked of cigarette smoke (and so did ours when they visited!) Grandma was a lovely little woman, about 11 years younger than him, but sadly died in 1956, aged only 66. I recall being taken to visit them on Pilkington Road, Mapperley - one of the upside down houses, that look like bungalows until you get inside and discover that there is a downstairs as well! Grandma was a splendid cook, and granddad was justly proud of her. When visiting, they and my parents would invariably play cards after tea - Newmarket and Sevens usually, gambling for ha'pennies. (I don't think anyone ever finished more than about 4d up or down!) Then they moved to a bungalow on Rockwood Crescent, Hucknall - which, from Aspley was a (to me) rather exotic 3-stage bus journey (No.7 to Bulwell, Trent 61 to Hucknall Market, Midland General C9 to Wood Lane terminus - and then walk.) They had an elderly Spaniel called Paddy, who would spread himself strategically across the front of the fire so that no-one else could feel the benefit of it - until granddad would grunt "D*** dog - get in yer basked" and plant his easy chair on top of the dog, who would retire with a reproachful glare.

For a man whose education was limited (he was working in a Lancashire cotton mill at the time of the 1901 census) he was surprisingly well-read. He loved Shakespeare, and was also an accomplished musician - playing the flute professionally (at the old Playhouse I think). I suspect, looking back, that he fancied himself as a bit of a social climber. He certainly kept the company of quite a few folk who were above our social station. B, and it was always my impression that he was not short of a penny or two. He was a character - never lost his Lancashire accent, and I only wish I had had the sense to ask him lots of questions about his earlier life, and family - who it seems were quite numerous, but of whom I never knew anything, until I started researching the family history on line.

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On 2016-8-25 at 0:14 PM, benjamin1945 said:

Carlton rd also has special memories for me,as my Great Grandparents lived on Kemps Cottages,long demolished,situated opposite the King Edward park,

 

On 2016-3-24 at 9:25 PM, benjamin1945 said:

also that area near King Edward park bottom of Carlton rd,....my Great Grandmother lived in Kemps Cottages and no one seems to remember them.

 

On 2016-2-22 at 7:19 PM, benjamin1945 said:

I remember Wicklow st Old Basford where my aunt and Uncle lived in the 50s and Kemps Cottages Carlton rd where Great Grandma lived,

 

On 2014-6-8 at 1:53 PM, benjamin1945 said:

I even remember visting my Great Grandmother in Kemps,Cottages bottom of Carlton rd opposite the park,she lived until the early 60s and was in her late 90s

 

At least four mentions and I never did a map for it, even though the scale is large enough to identify individual house numbers.

kemps_zpsnyzrku2n.jpg

 

 

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Thanks Cliff-ton.............new you'd get there if i persisted.........lol

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I hated going to see my paternal grandparents on a Sunday, grandfather a cane hung from the table edge by a cup hook, and he weren't shy about delivering the odd stroke. One of my uncles lived across the road Gedling Grove and had an allotment at the top of the road so spent as much time as possible with him to keep out the way.

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Funny thing is my Grandads knew each other long before my Mam and Dad got together,............both served in the first world war both came from Basford and drank together,..............after the war both worked on the railway.........and their names were were Bill and Ben...........and both were lovely non-violent men.............unless pushed............lol.............perfect Grandads      loved them.............

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#34 CT I am going back to the early/mid 50s, I lost my maternal grandfather in WW1, wounded he was brought home but subsequently died and is buried in Redhill cemetery, war grave just in front of the chapel, my maternal grandmother I never knew she died in early middle age I don't think the great hardship caused by losing her husband helped.

 

Dad was born 1901 (I was an after thought) he had an older sibling which gives you some idea when my paternal grandfather was born, he was a grumpy old bugger but I suppose having lived through the back end of the 1800s then two world wars and of course the great depression he had every right to be.

 

I think we often forget the true hardships the working man suffered in those days.

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My maternal grandfather, Louis Saunt, lived with us when I was a child. He was born in Alison Rise in 1883, later moving to live in Bridlington Street and Birkin Avenue before his marriage. Louis was an incredibly smart dresser and even when trundling the wheelbarrow about or digging in his garden, always wore a shirt, tie and waistcoat! It was he who took me out in my pushchair almost every day to Hyson Green library where we chose books to read. He taught me to read and write before I went to school at 4 years old. 

 

Louis was also very musical and played the piano, as did most of his family. He, too, had fought in The Great War and witnessed his younger brother, Archie, being annihilated by a German shell. He scraped up the remains and buried them in a sack. Never spoke about it.

 

Louis died when I was 7. I owe him a great deal for the time he spent with me and everything he taught me. I hope he knows how grateful I am.

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Havent been on here lately but this forum stirred up some memories of my grandparents.

my brother and I used to spend our summer holidays with my maternal grandparents in Barrow in Furness ( Lancs then but now Cumbria)

Our parents used to take us up there and we'd stay until school time started again. Nana used to give us broken biscuits for breakfast which she' d buy fresh that morning from the local market just round the corner. They lived in a flat above some offices and right opposite the police station. They didnt have a toilet in the flat so we had to go down a couple of flights of stairs to an outside loo. Where we slept the windows still had their blackout curtains inserted into the window frame. Where they had lived before was bombed. Barrow during the war was a target because of the shipyard and mum and her family would go to Walney Island to avoid the airaids. They sometimes would stay there on the beach for days. I loved staying with them as each year I would renew my friendships. Garry ( yes we'd call grandad that, dont know why but it was always Garry) was a bit of a loner, very quiet and he'd sometimes wander off for days, spending a lot of time beach combing. Mum recalls when they were littleof him coming home with sacks of crabs and emptying it on the kitchen floor and there were crabs going everywhere, so they had to collect them fast. We spent the holidays winkling and crabbing on the beaches of Walney. He taught me to tread for eels and where to look in rock pools for winkles and crabs. He knew the times of the tides and taught me to be wary of the tide coming in at an angle because you could easily get cut off. Nana would fetch him  a jug of ale in the evenings. He was never a great conversationalist because I suspect he'd had a sad early life , first losing one parent  and then losing the other ( both remaining sposes remarried and had other children when he was a bit older then he went into the army)

Nana was always there for us and spoilt us but cant remember anything in detail about her. Mum tells me that as a very small child I loved shrimps and would scream until nana bought me some. To this day I love seafood. She would also take me to a tiny herbalists to have a glass of sass ( sasparilla which you cant find now and you dont know what youre missing) My mothers two sisters lived not far from her and we used to visit them. One aunt had a budgie that talked and how it talked. Aunty taught it everything.....she'd say to it " the vicars coming" the budgie would answer " bu**er the vicar" 

One day it escaped and had flown over to Peel Island. The keeper there had found two budgies exactly the same colour but knew which one was aunties because it swore and safely delivered it home.

All the houses there had narrow back yards that backed onto other backyards. I remember the yards always being full of washing.

My paternal grandparents were completly different or should I say my grandfather as grandmother died when I was small so I never knew her. He lived in Ulveston in a lovely pebble dashed house. He was more severe and lived  I think with his sister auntie Maggie. One day we were all in the kitchen and I was standing in the doorway swinging on my heels. I got such a telling off from Auntie Maggie that even now if I happen to do it I think of her. Grandad was lovely with a lovely gruff voice and accent with always a pipe tobacco smell about him. We only ever visited him on occasions, so dont suppose we ever got to know him properly which was a shame but I have traced his family history and its quite interesting to find his grandfather was illegitimate. He wore a chain of office for something but never found out what for. I know he was something to do with the Masons.

Lovely memories nevertheless and I hope that my grandchildren will remember us with the same or even more affection.

I know its nothing to do with Nottingham but they were happy memories for me.

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Unfortunately, I've only horrid memories of visits to my maternal grandmother. Weak Camp coffee, and her prickly whiskers reeking of Park Drives thrust into my face.

My visits to my paternal grandmother were no better. Tea made with sterilised milk, and a permanent haze in the room due to endless Woodbines being smoked. It was only when I was older, and was invited to partake in the Sunday evening ritual of a sweet sherry that things improved. 

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Nonna,that was a brilliant post,so full of personal memories but most we can all relate to,I,m going to read your post several times to make sure I've not missed anything

 

Rog

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We were always closer to our maternal G/parents even though we lived within walking distance of our Paternal G/Parents in Carlton. That, I think was because mam and her sisters were all very close and all lived in the St Anns area, so congregated at M,G/Ps, almost daily.

When I think of P G/Ps, all I remember of Granddad was opening the kitchen door on to him; sitting behind it on his rocker by the fire. Smoking his pipe. He never spoke much, just aagh in answer if you spoke to him. Grandma was always cooking and the house was always filled with the smell of baking bread. A very old fashioned pair of G/ps. I used to do Grans shopping in the village for her once a week, she had one of those baskets on wheels with a walking stick sort of handle. More often than not on the journey back up Chatsworth Ave the bloomin' handle would twist, the basket would tip over and all the contents would end up on the pavement. When I left her, I would look back and wave at her as she stood at the window right until she disappeared out of sight. Only to look back at the top of Adbolton and just make her out, still in the window. Aaaah.

M G/Ps, were lovely, always lots of laughter in the house. Granddad always wore shirt/ tie/waist coat every day, he smoked but Grandma didn't. Neither of them drank and had never been in a pub in their lifes. Grandma cooked me dinner everyday when I worked at Raywarp just across Alfred St North. I always remember Grandma had a mole  just above her top lip, which fascinated us kids. She would invite us to touch it and just as our little fingers got close, she would snap and try to bite us, followed by howls of laughter. Granddad would make songs up, a bit cheeky but never too rude, always funny. I do miss them all very much.

 

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Broxtowlad

It wouldbe nice to know if he did know him . I knew Stan Laurel came from Ulveston but must find out if he lived nearby. I think SL left when he was young so probably grandad wouldnt have known him. Granddad was born in Millom Cumberland. Maybe the SL house was near.

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Oh and I forgot.....Nana and Garry used to take us to the beach to collect samphire which Nana used to clean  , cant remember if she cooked it or not but then we'd eat it pickled, just in vinegar served with brown bread. Mmmm

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Some lovely stories of grandparents there..........my grandma's were both great characters........one was a non smoker and T-total very houseproud and always baking.........lived until she was 99 ,..........the other was much more raucous smoked and drank whatever she could get her hands on and gave me dear old Grandad a bit of a time,.......but loved her all the same.........after 11 kids and about 50 years together Grandad cleared off with another woman (bless him)..........funny thing is they are buried together at Bulwell cemetery,......so Grandma got him back in the end...........lol.

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 Late as usual on this one.  I spent a lot of time  with my maternal grandmother basically being babysat as my mam worked part time at Boots.  Grandma was good to me.  Probably where I got my love of baked beans.  She always seemed to have a pot bubbling on the stove.  I used to pinch a spoonful when she wasn't looking.  Grandad worked at the post office building in Nottingham.  He fought in WW1 but never talked about it.  Usually a bit grouchy, but harmless.  He used to tell fortunes with cards.  A lot of the family wouldn't do it as they said he was too accurate.  Hmmmm!  He used to dress up as an Arab at Christmas parties and pretend to speak Arabic.  Words to the effect of  "owah tannass Iam."  Say it at normal speed.   Used to seem scary to me.

 

Didn't see much of paternal grandparents.  My mother did not get along with them.  Grandpa was a bit crusty, but I've learned in later years that he survived a bad fall from the mast of a ship during WW1.  That might have made me a bit grouchy too.  In the twenties he owned a Butcher shop in Netherfield.  Grandma used to make me a cup of verrrry! strong tea.  I used to manage to down it because I thought it would be rude to refuse it.

 

Grandma had an old pump organ on which she liked to play, "Abide With Me."  Found out in recent years that grandpa used to play it too, though never when. I was there.  Maybe that's where my interest in the instrument came from.  Only learning to play in the last four or five years, but I always loved the sound of the instrument.

 

They retired to Mablethorpe so we usually dropped in on them when we had a week on the caravan site.  Golden Sands I think it was.

 

Only regret is that I didn't ask all of them more questions about the past, but as a kid you don't tend to think much about that.

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I was just reading over the previous post and it occurred to me that when I knew these grandparents they were all younger than I am now.  They were in their sixties and I thought they were ancient.  Do I seem that ancient to my grandkids?  I hope not. :rolleyes:

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7 hours ago, loppylugs said:

.. when I knew these grandparents they were all younger than I am now.  They were in their sixties and I thought they were ancient. 

 

I know what you mean; I have quite a few photos of my grandparents taken in the 1960s, and it was a shock when I realised that I am now older than they were in many of those photos. When our grandparents reached their early 60s they started to look the same as everyone else, and most ended up with the identikit 'oldie' appearance. 

 

Whereas these days, people way beyond 60 still look individually different and not remotely old in the way previous generations did.

 

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Perhaps their aging was because of the troublesome times they went through.  Two world wars. Financial depression.  My paternal grandfather never had good words for the banks.  I assume from that that he may have lost a bit.  Raising our parents generation through ww2.

 

We've all had our trials but I think that our generation has had it easier than theirs.  Agree / disagree?

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Spot on loppy.

I was born in August 45, and never went hungry, although food was apparently pretty basic at times. I always had a holiday, well clothed, although some was homemade or adapted to suit me. Always had spending money. From an early age, I enjoyed the pleasure of dad having a car, then by the late 50's, a caravan too. Also, I was lucky that my parents owned their own house. 

I was never out of work until I was nearly 50 in 1995, but soon found other employment. 

Yes, us post war babies had it easy.

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