General Chat

Tonight at 9:00 but I think it has been on before, am I correct?

Don’t think so. But I think they have both done WDYTYA.

It's Alison Stedman and Larry Lamb.

I saw it on the What's on tv on my iPad, and it is on the listings on tv too.

That was one of the best of this series.

It was more about Alison than Larry :-|

That was me in tears before the first advertisements.
When Alison found out her father was adopted.

Makes me more in awe of my gran. Unmarried with - 2 children, 1926 (my dad), born when she was 18, and in 1928, my aunt.
She kept them both, I'm not sure what happened to my aunt, but dad was sent to private schools, until the final demand for fees, then he was taken away, and sent to another private school under another name.

Gran did have a 'troubled' childhood.

Her mum died soon after her birth, so she was brought up by her gran, and an aunt.
Her dad re-married (his sister in law, Harriett), but gran doesn't live with them.
His new wife didn't want her. They had 5 children.
Then g grandad, a blacksmith goes to war (1914 - 1918). He comes back, and his wife accuses him of deserting her!
They divorce, and Harriett demands more money from him, and takes him to court - in the days before legal aid - how can she afford that!
The court decides in g grandad's favour. Apparently, he's already giving her more than he had to.

After that, I can fully understand how my gran preferred animals to humans.
When I knew her, she kept a smallholding.
Her pigs were brought in every night, and let out into fields every morning - but not before she'd petted and tickled the tummy of every single one - have you ever seen a huge pig on it's back squeaking and gently grunting in joy?.
The same for her cows - though she didn't tickle their tummies - she kissed them!
She used a long piece of grass, and her voice to 'control' them when taking them to be milked.
Chickens were cuddled, and her Old English sheepdog, Barney, slept with her.

Dad also had a 'thing' about animals. As a young boy, he would find abandoned wild animals - he told me about a baby pole cat e found. and have them as pets. Gran would buy him pets too - parrots etc.
As an adult, when he lived in Riyadh, he got involved with the zoo, befriended a baby cheetah cub. He took her for walks. He'd bring her home, leave her in the garden, while he had lunch, then walk her back again.

When I was out there, she'd had cubs, who were a couple of months old.. He brought the mother and cubs home. I thought he'd tied the mother up. I was in the garden reading, the female cub came over, and wanted to play. Being aware her mum was there, and not wanting to upset her, I was careful. Found the dog's ball, and threw it. She brought it back!
I called her 'Dotty' (obviously not her real name) - she wouldn't leave me alone.
I taught her to 'sit', and give me her paw (though I really wanted to pick her up and give her the biggest cuddle) all the time, I was aware of the small grunts between the mother and Dottie.
Dad came out to take them back. The mother wasn't tied up!!!!! I think that was the only time I'd deliberately sworn at my dad (and I swore a lot) - obviously in a very 'low key' voice - the mother was his friend, not mine! What if I'd upset or scared Dottie?

It sort of carried on. My eldest found a baby rat, nearly dead, on the underground in London, on a school trip. She brought it home, we fed and nursed it back to health. She was an amazing little being - even got on with our cats (who killed 'wild' rats)!.

Sorry, waffling on, but I'm amazed at my wonderful gran, who I didn't know existed until I was 10.

That's really interesting, maggie. If only we could have been a fly on the wall then.

When Mum listed her cousins to me, one of them married a man called Patrick Willis, a submariner. I was idly googling the other night, and found that he had survived an accident in the sub Poseidon, and was awarded the gold Albert medal, now the GC.
Google found the report in 'Look and Learn' magazine.

(It also pointed me to a family tree on An, which I think is incorrect, certainly incomplete).

Does anyone else feel that by "remembering" ancestors we somehow keep them "alive" or not forgotten A cousin was killed in the second world war, before I was born, and I have managed to add his picture to the records at the Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln. His "binding" apprenticeship as a Thames Waterman to his maternal grandfather is also now recorded.

My mother is illegitimate and didn't say much about her upbringing, she was placed in an orphanage at the age of 4, I started off by sending for her birth certificate to find out who her mother is, over the years I have found a lot of her family, 2 Uncles were killed in the Great War, her mother went to Australia and didn't come back for her. I have spoken to family and what they said added up to the little she told me, she wasn't resentfull at all.
We had a lovely full of love upbringing.
I'm proud of my Mum, she joined the ATS ( another institution ) then married my dad, when she became ill with dementia dad looked after her until her death, not wanting her to end her days in an institution.

Aw I did not want it to end, fabulous episode and what a lovely relationship Alison and Larry had.

<3 <3