Monday 25 November 2013

family history

...Great Aunt Nell was Mummy's mother's sister and when she visited us in Lincolnshire during the war she would save up her rations and then she and my mother would bake. They would set aside a whole afternoon and make jumbles and brandy snaps and gingerbread. She was a warm person and could make my mother laugh - I mean, Mummy was always the same, very serious, but she always laughed when Great Aunt Nell came to stay. I don't have any pictures of her but she was so neat and tidy and wore a blouse with a brooch at her throat, it might have been a cameo, I'm not sure. Great Aunt Nell was wonderful at sewing and made all her own clothes - and when she visited she would make things for me too. Once she cut down one of Mummy's night dresses for me, it was so pretty, pink rosebuds. I had lots of dolls and she would make them lovely clothes out of bits and pieces - there was a mole coloured velvet coat and it was so beautifully made, she really was very good at sewing. Of course she lived in London most of the time because her sister had run away with a man from Scotland who was very rich and he would only let her bring her son so Nell helped to bring up the daughter Didi who was left behind...

12 comments:

  1. Alice, I love this so much. What wonderful memories. My mother was called Mummy as well, even tho. I grew up in Hawaii. My grandmother, Emma, came from Blo'Norton in the late 1800's to live with her brother. (hoping here I spell Blo'Norton correctly)
    I remember my Mummy and her cousin who was always known as Auntie Bessie, seeding raisins to make chutney...also my beloved mother making plum pudding early...soaked and hung up to be set aflame on Christmas Eve. Imagine, seeding raisins! Flaming plum pudding with hard sauce. Oh, smile, oh joy..what times..and yes, Emma who hemmed the dresses that Mummy cursed because when we grew, the stitches were so small, she could not pick them out to re-do them...and the rations too in Hawaii for butter and so much.
    Love, e.

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  2. Love this monologue... I picture a (very) old person recounting all this.
    The "Of course" in the last sentence is a novel in itself! Poor Didi.
    Andrea

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  3. Andrea - I can assure you that v old is far off for this person. State of mind and all that.

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  4. What a charming story - and how times change.

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  5. An excerpt from a novel. Lovely.

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  6. Liz in Missouri USANovember 25, 2013

    Great Aunt Nell sounds like the most wonderful person. What cherished memories you must have of the love she brought into your lives. Sounds like Didi may have been just fine.

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  7. Lately I have been going through old family photographs from about 1880 onwards, wondering what to do with them. Then this morning I read your family history and I realise again what words can evoke. Your memories are a cameo in itself. cath

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  8. That's what I thought -- poor Didi!

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  9. Enchanting. More please....

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