Grandparents..? 16 3 13 (17) 25 1 23
On the day I celebrate 49 years of being engaged to
the person I married 67 3 13 I am going to remember some conversations with
those Grandparents I recall from my childhood.
First off was Lily my father's mother who resided
in the house into which I was born and therefore was probably the first
grandparent I got to know although now she is the one whom I remember least
because we left Fallowfield in Manchester when I was probably 1 1/2 following
my father's joining the forces of HM's Government in WW ll. We, my elder
brother J Junior and I with our mother A then left to go and stay with her
mother Alice A, 12 miles about 22 km north of Manchester to the town of Bury.
Apart from other considerations this move meant we no longer were subject to Hitler's Blitz of Manchester from which we would regularly take refuge in the
Anderson Air Raid Shelter, pic above courtesy of Leodis.net via Google, we had in our rear garden.
Well this Gran who lived 29th November 1877 to 6th February 1949, I got to see less of and although we still
used to visit her as she occasionally came to visit us I cannot remember a
single conversation we had together. Following the death of her son J Senior 4th
August 1945 she did however write a few letters to our mother from which I
borrow the fragments: “I recieved your letter and was amazed to think they
would try to do you out of the pension but you must fight it for you, he gave
his life in the service and they must look after you and the kiddies, dont
dream of going to work you have enough to do to look after the home. Dont
worry about going to the P. etc. I was upset when I had to go until I seen the
young people that went dressed to death, dont give up the fight Alice it is
your right, how Jim would grieve iff he knew,…” Very telling for me because I
knew beforehand that she dreaded going to the P (Public Assistance) to
supplement her income, and telling because it would appear her poor spelling
and the habit of doubling up some consonants such as “f” in iff and l in allways
was passed on to her only son who passed it on to me his younger son.
I have fond memories of my maternal grand-mother’s
speech to me when for example she lost her temper and came after me with the
wooden-handled bread-knife we had for many years intending to give me a rap,
and saying “You won’t best me lad!” not that I remember her landing the blow to
my skull or wherever by that time I was too quick for her… But she and I for the
most part used to get on very well and I recall being her escort to all the local
markets which she loved to visit and on more than one occasion I would
accompany her on holiday visiting friends in Blackpool because she hated being
on her own…
My maternal Grandfather Bob was the only one to
survive into my 20s dying as he did in October 1966 aged 82, being born 4th
December 1883. When his wife moved to Bury ahead of us, also to escape the blitz
which it was said turned her partially deaf my grandfather stayed put in Newton Heath at
one of his sister’s Aunt Sara’s house, continuing his life's job as Iron Moulder
but he used to come to visit us probably once a fortnight and for a time his
visits would be on Wednesdays probably from the time he retired aged 65 in
1949. I used to look forward to my Grandad’s visits and in the absence of a
father I guess he did his best to fill something of the gap. He arranged to
have all the children’s comics of the day: Beano, Dandy, Wizard, Hotspur sent
to us from where they were printed in Manchester, probably at the work place
of one of Sara’s two sons, perhaps Alan?
Well the thing I remember most his telling me was
one day after visiting Bury Town Centre and a trip to the Swimming Baths on our
return to catch the tram from Kay Gardens: “You must remember to be very proud
of the fact you are descended from John Kay’s sister. He was my Great-great
Uncle. She had children with a guy called Bolton who for a time had his own
horse and trap…” leaving me as I guess he had once done to speculate about the
lives of these antecedents. John Kay invented the Flying Shuttle which he
patented in 1733. I would later discover through my own work with patents that his
application was No 542 published
in the Reign of George ll, and witnessed at Westminster 26th May. He had "Bolton's" surname wrong as my elder son would later discover when researching our family history but the lady in question was indeed a "Kay"...
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