Grandmothers

My grandmother was kind but not what I would call 'loving'. She and my grandfather looked after me for weekends when my parents were away. I used to help her with the washing - dolly tub and mangle - and enjoyed sorting through her sewing box; she was a great dressmaker and made my costumes when I was in plays. My grandfather and I played cards and watched the wrestling. Both grandma and I have strong temperaments and had the odd row from time to time. We weren't particularly close but I can see now how similar we are!!

my grandmother on my dads side. she was lovely .she mainly lived in sussex .and we used to spend our summers with aunties/uncles and grandma. (her husband died in 1955 ) to years before i was born. so grandma was lovely .she loved her grandchildren.esp me (smile) my cousin my brother and later on my sister.though my sister wasnt that struck on her. grandma stayed with auntie at shoreham by sea ,then worthing and ended her days at southwick nursing home. i was grief stricken when my brother casually mentioned at school when i was 13/14 that she had died.....the other grandparents i never knew as my mum was adopted ,i remember her adopted father a tiny bit as he came to stay with us in the mid 1960's.grandma 2nd on the left....

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more of me and my grandma .my brother when we were young..

I adored my maternal grandmother and we were very close. Because my mum was and still is, so dictatorial to everyone, no one could get close to her and she resented my closeness with my Nan. I can vaguely recall both grandfathers, but was only 7 when we lost them both. Paternal grandmother, I can see her swanning in our house with her big fur coat on, perching herself on the edge of the sofa and her opening line was always “ I can’t stay long I’m off to .....”. She then would hand over a small bag of dolly mixtures to share between 5 kids ! When she was older and in bad health, she kept wanting me to go round to her house all the time, but of course the bond was never there.

We moved to South Africa when I was 7 so I never really got to know my mothers parents in England, However my fathers parents lived quite close to us in South Africa, and we often saw them.. Later they moved into our house after an extension had been built for them. Grandad was a funny old codger who spent his days wearing long john underwear and a black beret outside, and although he was quite friendly we never really got to know him. Grandma was sweet, taught us all sorts of things, told us stories and showed us how to make chocolate balls. One day I made chocolate balls out of mud and told my bother that Grandma had sent them for him. He put one in his mouth and spat it out in disgust!! How I laughed. I feel guilty now as he died at 28.

I am grandma to 4 and they are now 25, 22, 21 and 18, and I hope they will all have happy memories of me when I throw off this mortal coil.

just thought i show you this one. it was taken in 1898. my grandma is the one with the dark hair on the right .holding her mothers hand as if not sure of the photographer....this was found in my late great aunts photo collection. when she re wrote her will. i made sure she left her photo collection to me.we found a lot of photo's that no one had ever seen before.including this one.the other people are her mother and father and two of her sisters .her other sister .my late great aunt was born in 1910..

I knew both my Grandmas. My mother's mam was difficult, thought she was better than most, believed she should be respected as she was 'the mother' and died at the young age of 57. I have always believed that my dad moved us half way across the UK to et away from her.
My other grandma was completely different. Widowed at a young age and with 4 step children and 4 of her own she worked from morning 'til night,The house was always sparkling clean and she did all her own wallpapering and painting. I loved her dearly and really enjoyed visiting her.
Looking at an old photograph of her,I realise I now resemble her.
When she died ,I often thought I saw her. AndI still believe she is looking after me. Silly or what!!

I loved my maternal grandmother very much but didn’t really love my mother who resented me.

I adored my maternal grandmother who spent two or three months with us every summer. She was a very dignified lady, who put up with no nonsense from children, but we knew she loved us. I never knew my maternal grandfather - he was a widower when he married my grandmother, was 20 years older than she was and died when my mother was nine months old.

My father's parents lived nearer and we saw them quite often. I was especially fond of Grandpa when I was small. I think I had picked up on the fact that Grannie and my mum didn't really like each other all that much.

Sadly, my grandparents all died when I was about 13.

I also had an aunt of their generation who also died around then.

These four people really meant a lot to me and I still find myself thinking of them. I find myself often tempted to use some of their sayings. For instance, Grannie regarded it as impertinence if children asked how old she was and always replied, "As old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth".

My paternal Grandma was a dancer in her youth
She danced at the Windmill theatre & was a high kicking Tiller girl
She raised 5 children alone as Grandad died from WW1 war wounds He was in a wheelchair for years
I remember her doing the splits in her late 80’s She had white hair with a purple rinse & always wore lots of diamanté jewellery. My Mother didn’t approve of her earlier career & thought she wouldn’t be a good influence on me So I didn’t see her nearly as much as I would have liked
I thought she was just wonderful!!
My Maternal Nanny was lovely A very small lady called Polly
She lived with Grandad in the country So as a city kid I found moths & mice a bit scary when visiting
They had a copper for washing clothes & a metal meat safe outside Also an outside loo with a pull chain Once a year it got a coat of white distemper There was a nail with cut up newspaper threaded on a string & a notice that said ‘use both sides’ I don’t think it was a joke
Nanny grew lots of fruit & veggies & helped me make a Little Rock garden Grandad had a bad heart so couldn’t ever work.
Nanny went out cleaning doorsteps to support them
When he died the postmortum said his heart was perfect Ummmm I loved them all Still do ?

I miss my maternal Nan so much she passed away age 63 when I was 19 . I loved staying at her house and have so many memories of ovaltine , rags in my hair , feeding beach donkeys at the bottom of her road , going the laundrette , drying my hair in front of her fire , taking me the fairground . My Nan was my champion I could do no wrong ?. My maternal grandfather was a horrible horrible man he died a few years ago . My paternal Grandparents were nice my Grandad was a bit distant . My Nan was sort Nan we visited just weekends for tea , she’d give us pocket money and sweeties and she wore a wig we were fascinated when she put it in the twin tub ?. She had a late baby my Aunt who is only 7 years older than me when I got bigger I was allowed to hang over and stay the night in her room ?. My parents active Grandparents although they are struggling a bit now they are teenagers . I’m a Grandma to 2 little ones and another due August . I love it it is the best thing ever ?

My husband parents his Dad died when our kids were little he was a horrible man . My husband was a late baby so when our kids came along so was quite involved with them we would visit once a month and they loved her ‘tea parties’ we would meet up with my husbands family at hers for the day once a month. However failing health and the fact she has 23 grandchildren and even though we’ve closer means she doesn’t really grandparent them as such she sees them occasionally and never forgets birthdays , Easter , Christmas etc She’s a nice lady .

Both my grandmothers died around the same time, I wasn’t that close to them because my father moved us down south in the sixties. One lived in the Lake District and the other Lancashire. I still miss them though, and sadly my mother died in the same year as her mother, eight months later.

My maternal grandmother lived in Glasgow and we used to visit every summer for our holidays , it was a great treat for us as she had a garden whereas we had a back yard. I can remember the journey though about 12 hours on a coach , the days before motorways. I can still see her in my mind even though I haven’t seen her since I was 16 ( now 72). She was as tough as old boots but kind, I can remember she used to drink whisky. Sadly my mum died when I was 16 and we lost touch with all her and all of mums family.
We lived next door to my paternal grandmother in Liverpool and myself, brother and sister were terrified of her. She showed no real affection to us except every day she would make us eat bread and dripping with salt on. She kept an eye on us while mum and dad were at work. She had a second husband who became very ill and died suddenly, it was in the days when the body was kept at home. While mum and dad were at work she forced us to go and see “uncle Sammy” lying in an open coffin in the back parlour. I will never forget the sight of this old man with ice cold white skin surrounded by candles.
We were all so frightened and mum and dad went mad at her when they found out what she had done. She died shortly after when we were up visiting in Scotland. I never knew either my maternal or paternal granddad.
This post has brought it all flooding back to me!?

My maternal grandmother was a bigoted woman, always slagging off various minority groups with skin colour or religious beliefs that didn't match her own. We used to sit on the crossbars under the kitchen table (kitchen rather than back kitchen) and hear all kinds of vitriol! Amazing that we grew up knowing that her opinions were so wrong, but times change and she was a reflection of a different and intolerant era.

My mother loathed and despised our paternal grandmother, she was (according to our mother, who didn't hold back in front of us) an interfering know-it-all. So we were a bit suspicious of her. She had some strange ideas about food. She liked to serve tinned fruit salad and evap at teatime but we had to have bread and butter with it, otherwise it wasn't good for us, being too sweet! It was the same with fruit cake!

Both my grandads were lovely, gentle men.

We lived all over the place due to my dad's job so we didn't see a lot of either grandparents really.

I remember all my grandparents we all lived close in the east end of London and both sides maternal and paternal had large families so I was fortunate to have lots of aunties,uncles and cousins.
Either grandparents were “huggy” non of the grandchildren wouldn’t dare show any disrespect or give them any cheek.
My mums mum in particular was very stern but I remember her helping my mum and dad out quite a few times when things were tough and money tight,she always
made sure no one in the family went without.
My mums dad hardly ever had a conversation with me but every week he would save his beer bottles and give them to me to take back to the offer and get the returns money ?
My dads parents were always quiet but I know they always took an interest in us as they would always ask my mum and dad how we were getting . I do miss those days of having a large extended family close by.

Should read offy off licence not offer!!

I have a memory, although it could be a false one, of my grandad leaning over my pram and talking to me. He died when I was 18 months old, so it may not be right. My granny died when I was 5 but I can remember her lying on a chaise longue under the window in the living room. She was riddled with arthritis. She used to listen to me telling her nursery rhymes. A gentle soul.
My maternal grandmother was a different kettle of fish. Very fierce. I only saw her once a year or so as they lived a few miles away and we had no transport. I can't really remember having a relationship with her as she rarely used to speak to me, even when I was grown up. My maternal grandad was quite strange. He would suddenly stand up and start singing or reciting poetry. I think the poor man must have been driven made by my gran.

I never knew either of my grandfathers as they both died many years before I was born.

My paternal grandmother lived in the same town and we used to see her at least weekly. She was in her 70s when I was born and ruled her children (my father, aunty and an uncle) with a rod of iron, even though she was dependent on my aunt for giving her a home. She would tell them to jump and they would ask how high. She hardly ever went out, was very religious and strait-laced, and tried to rule my DM as well, giving her a good telling off when I started wearing powder and lipstick at 15. I remember her braiding her long grey hair, and winding the plaits around her head with a black velvet ribbon. She sat in the same seat by the fire every day, wearing her high necked Victorian style dresses and blouses and her Mothers Union brooch at her throat. She liked to tell stories of her time in service to the Dean of Wells in the 1880s, how strict it was. I wish she had told us more. Not a granny to give you cuddles. She lived to be in her late 90s.

My other granny we hardly ever saw or knew, as she lived a long way from us. She would come and stay about once a year, and we would enjoy her company. Her husband died when my mother was about 5, and many years later we found out that she had put my DM and her younger brother into a children's home at 5 and 3 because of poverty. Of course when my mother turned 14 and was old enough to work she wanted her back, but my DM was offered a live-in job at 14 as a mothers help and instantly took it, and moved miles away. Rumour has it that there was ill feeling about that.

Mum's mum lived round the corner and we visited twice a week after school. Mum would be there and they'd chat while we were expected to sit and read or keep quiet. "In my day children were seen and not heard" she'd say. She was an old Victorian lady who only walked up to the garden gate. Grand-dad died before we were born so we never knew him.
Dad's mum lived on the other side of town - it took two buses to get there. She was nicer and lived with 'Uncle Tom' and we often asked why he 'wasn't grand-dad' - his reply 'because I'm not your grand-dad.' was puzzling.
We must have been in our thirties when mum thought we were old enough to be told that they weren't married. The marriage had broken down and grandma walked out, leaving the children, some never forgave her or spoke to her again. We never learned why. Sad, isn't it?

I remember my grandmothers so well, they lived to see great gc.

I never knew my maternal grandmother as she died many years before I was born but I have several pictures of her and wish I had met her. I had no maternal grandfather.

My paternal grandparents seemed to be very old when I knew them as a small child and I only remember them looking after me once when I pulled the heavy cutlery drawer out of the kitchen table onto my foot. We moved away when I was 8 so we would go back to visit for the day every couple of months or so and I can remember very clearly the small terraced house which is still there all these years later. They had a range fireplace with a hot cupboard which my granddad kept his slippers in and a clippie mat in front of it. The toilet was outside and originally had had a soil door at the back which was used to empty them before flushing toilets. I was always car sick so as soon as I was able to stay home on my own I stopped going which I now regret as I never really knew them. They passed away when I was 14.

By contrast my own children grew up with my parents living round the corner and spent a lot of time with them and thought a lot about them. Even when they were adults they still visited regularly and my eldest son and his wife took them on holiday. They were lucky enough to meet their great granddaughters too who also loved them. They passed away with dementia and I'm thankful they didn't see my younger son emigrate as they would have been heartbroken - I believe he delayed going until they had died. My in-laws had other grandchildren and although they saw ours often they weren't as close to them as my parents.

I have very fond memories of both my Grandmothers (and Grandfathers) and also one of my Great-Grandmothers.

Still miss my dear grandparents and three of their sisters - my great aunts who never married like so many of their First World War generation. They all lived a long way away from us but we still saw them 2 or 3 times a year and it was always special. I remember doing simple things with them - preparing vegetables for meals, going to the local bakery,feeding the ducks in the park, identifying wild flowers., reading with them. We never had many presents or treats like so many children have these days - but we always knew we were loved.