General Chat

Nudge coz its a lovely thread

Thanks BC she was.... I used to have a uncle jack they lived with her he was lovely ...one day all the family turned up to visit Gran all of her 7 sons...they was always telling jokes..Uncle jack was telling a joke just as he got to the punch line ..Gran shouted he's my night nurse...ruin the joke but everyone fell about laughing at Gran..whilst Uncle Jack glared at her...when I think of her I always smile she was lovely..and yes even on my wedding pics I am the spit of her...PARDON YA WHAT...

I wish I had know my grandmas - both died before I was born :-( Mum has told me quite a lot about her mum, but dad never spoke about his, so we only know her from things our uncle has said and from photos. She looks a very calm, serene person, but I understand she had a determined, stubborn streak too. I would particularly like to have met her. Maz. XX

Thanks for this thread BC, some great stories...... Sadly I never knew any for my Grand Parents :o( But keep them coming, the stories that is........lol Suzy :o) x

Susan, what a shame you never met your Grandmas (: and Hayley your Grandma sounds a hoot. what a character! ..it's in the genes you know:-) lol BC XX

Hello BC... My Gran was a big cuddly women , old and unsteady on her feet.. She used to drink her tea out of her saucer and always put whiskey init..used to call it Grannies medicine.. I cant remeber siting on her knee but I knew she loved us and we all loved her. She used to come and stay with us. Whilst my mum worked and we used to fight like cats and dogs. She was deaf and you used to have to shout to her.. ' GRAN DO YOU WHAT A CUPPA TEA ? '.. Then we would start a fight in the kitchen well of the way of Grannies ear shot and swear like dockers she would say later I don't think your Mother would like it if she heard you swearing like that..or mention glass of sherry from 2 streets away and she would hear it..... She use to tell us jokes that we never understand ( coz they was rude and I was only 7 ) or she would say she had 9 children because of her deafness! Grandad would say to her at night are you going to sleep or what..and Gran would say What eh ? My Mother hit the roof when she heard her come out with that one..lol My Mum had the same sort of relasonship with her mum as I have with mine !!!!!

My paternal grandmother was long gone when I was born and I came to Australia with my parents when I was 3 so I don't remember my maternal Grandma very well. So I grew up with no grandparents or aunts and uncles. My OH and I went back to England in 2000 to visit and my Grandma was so looking forward to seeing me again - her eldest grandchild - but she died a few months before we arrived. She couldn't hang on. I was heartbroken. Thankfully, my Mum had visited her a number of times before she died. From what my mother has told me Grandma was a strong, down-to-earth Yorkshire woman. Very practical and not very cuddly, but she loved her family very much and they all remained very close to her. Susan

Thank you Ann and Howie and to all who contributed your wonderful stories. XX BC

BC thanks for nudging this thread what wonderful stories My two granma's were so different Mums was a large lady brought up in the wilds of brecon then on to live in the mining villages of South Wales but such a gentle lady children and grankids were her life dads mum was so different such a small person had 11 kids and they all had large families and lived very close to one another but she was the boss and lovley memories of family parties at her house oh to be young again Thank you Grandma's for your part in my life xxHowie

Mine wasn't at all scary and we knew she loved us, but she was not cuddly (this was dad's Mum). She was a 'lady', she was very well spoken, very quietly spoken, never raised her voice, loved her church (Baptist) and was president of the Womens' meeting for many years. When she came to us for Christmas she always put an overall on so we wouldn't make her clothes dirty with our sticky fingers and would sit in the armchair in the corner just moving for her meals. I never saw her offer to help my Mum at all. She died when I was 20. My other Grandma was cuddly to me but she died when I was 4. Ann Glos

I am nudging this because I liked it.....

Id just like to add further to my earlier comments.I can also remember my great-grandma.She died in1968 aged 88 when I was 18.She was very nice too,she had been a widow since the First World War when her husband my Great Grandad was killed in action in The Battle of the Somme.She was Gran Moran too like my favourite Gran I mentioned earlier and was nice but had some strange ways.I can remember when she used to visit my Grandma she always used to bring her own sandwiches and I was puzzled by that!Anyway her and my Gran were very close and she outlived her son my Grandad Jim by over 10 years.Funnily when I met my wife after who lived about 15 miles from me, her mother was showing me some pics of her M-I-L and my Great Gran was on it strange because I wondered how they knew each other and it turned out that my Great Gran and my wife's Grandma were best friends its a small world isnt it?

My nan's expression of surprise was'Well I'll go to sea in a tar-tub!'

My maternal grandma died when my mum was only 16 so I never knew her but she looked a kindly lady on photographs and one of my mum's older sisters looked like her, and was a bit like a granny to me instead. Mum's dad died in the April 1947 and I was born in July '47 so I didn't know him either. My dad's father was also dead before I was born and I really didn't know my paternal grandmother very well as she lived in Buckinghamshire and we were in Norfolk. I do remember her coming to stay once or twice and being very nervous and in awe of her - she used to tie my very straight fine hair up in rags to make it curl. It used to be so tight I used to have to ask my mum to undo them a bit - don't remember what my hair looked like when they came out! I also remember Gran coming to stay with us at a holiday bungalow in the dunes at Hemsby, with someone called 'Uncle Will'. A cousin on that side of the family who I have recently got to know tells me that there was some kind of scandal about Gran and 'Uncle Will' but we don't know what it was. I remember my mum didn't get on well with Gran; apparently after my mum and dad met and married here in Norfolk, they moved to live near Gran in a little village near Buckingham where the family had lived for years. My Gran was very unkind to my mum and when my brother was stillborn she was really callous so my parents moved back to Norwich. I did meet my Gran again when I was older and I visited Buckingham - she knew I liked reading and gave me a tatty old paperback book called The Al Johnson Story, which I loved. I think later the film The Jazz Singer was based on that book, and it is a very significant film for me, (but that is another story.) Gran died at the age of 90, on my mum's birthday in 1974, just a month after my premature baby daughter had died, so when I went to her funeral I was crying for my daughter more than my Gran. Now I am tracing my family tree, I wish I had known more about my Gran and been able to know her better. Another relative from Gran's family in Wales, sent me some old photos of Gran on her own and Gran with all her children round her, and I do have a bit of a likeness to her. Wonder how much I am like her in my ways -we shall never know.

I love reading all the replies here. I never knew either of my grandmothers as one died before I was born and one when I was 2. I love my 4 grandchildren to bits and just hope that they will say some of the nice things about me that you are saying about your grandmothers. Love and Peace Marianne.xxxx

BC, both my grandmothers were smashing. Wish I could show you photos, I find it difficult to describe them. They were not alike to look at. They were both kind and generous. :-) Joy

My paternal grandma is 85 and is wonderful. She is now widowed and has diabetes and problems with her eyesight but is really modern thinking. I always turn to her for some common sense chats and a laugh. She was a farmer's wife and cook for the nobility and has worked hard all her life so it surprises people when they hear how old she is because she sounds so young on the phone. I've told her that she's not to pop off until she's at least 100. My maternal grandmother was a teacher and had 7 children and was a farmer's daughter who always had a really productive garden. A staunch Labour supporter, she hated the Conservatives with a passion. She was a wonderful crocheter and made me lots of dolly clothes that I've passed down to my daughters. I used to stay the night at her house when I was young, and she'd let me drink my Horlicks whilst watching the Hammer House of Horror. Louise

BC that is the one thing i missed out on never knew any of my grandparents, Wendy.x

I am so touched by all your replies, and memories.....thank you...BC XX

Hi BC. Both my grandmothers were total opposites. The one my Granny, was rather posh. We did not see her too often. She smelt funny. 'Cigarettes' We had to wear our best Sunday dresses. I can remember a few times me and my younger sister wearing out Bridesmaids dresses on a couple of occasions. When I was in the Brownies. We did something like the Scouts Bob a Job Week. So Mum asked if I could wash up for her and she could give a couple of pennies. She stuck her nose up in the air and said, ' I am not paying any Grandaughter of mine to wash up for me' I was in tears. My other Grandama, was great. I was always staying there at the weekend. She was bedridden for years. For the last six months of her life, I lived with her and looked after her until the night she died. It broke my heart to loose her. Funnily enough this was the lady who is in my 'Ghost Photograph' She appeared on a photo taken 8 years after her death. We have never got to the bottom of it. Jenny