I only ever knew my maternal grandmother, who was always 'there' in my childhood days because we lived with her for a few years in a terraced cottage. She was a widow, my grandfather died after serving in Ypres and he was disowned by his father because he married a non-Jew. Gran was the one who was always there, not always sympathetic, but always just to hand to bathe scratched knees in Milton (ouch!), help when I was poorly - I remember the warm salt bags for my really aching ears, especially during measles, and the games of 'cards' we would play. Don't remember her ever doing any housework (probably where I get it from), but I do remember her at the horrible boiler in the kitchen which had to be lit for the regular Monday morning wash, and the lovely steamed puddings she could produce - oh! syrup sponge. We had a large range where she would sit with a friend over a cup of tea, putting the world to rights. She was definitely not the 'grannie in a shawl'. She swore like a trooper could put the fear of God into the coal man, if he caught the wall with his sacks, but would not cross the doorstep if the gypsy had put a curse on it. We would have to go first. Would love to talk to her now about her life, she was obviously very poor, and relied on her daughters in later years. I realise this many years too late, she belonged to a generation of women who were used to the drudgery of bringing up large families on small income, and little help from husbands, and was taken very much for granted.