An interesting visit...
Jul. 7th, 2016 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sally_mariaA couple of weeks ago I was contacted via Ancestry by someone from the local history society of the village in the Stroud valleys where my mother grew up. She'd heard from one of the girls (now nearly 90) who'd been evacuated from Birmingham to stay with my grandparents in the early part of WWII, before my mother was born.
Lily had fond memories of her time in Woodchester, and wanted to visit again, so I passed her details on to my mother. Today was the day and Mum and my aunt gave her a tour of the current village, changed in many ways but still the same basic layout.
I must admit one of the responses I had was regret that I never knew those grandparents, both of them died before I started school. :-( I can't help feeling a certain fellow feeling with my grandfather, who clearly wasn't particularly ambitious or driven, but who was a key part of community life, doing what needed to be done, from churchwarden to regular local committee member.
Lily remembered him encouraging her artwork, and we still have a couple of the pieces of furniture he made - I suppose there are worse legacies.
On the beach at Weston Super Mare with his daughters.
Lily had fond memories of her time in Woodchester, and wanted to visit again, so I passed her details on to my mother. Today was the day and Mum and my aunt gave her a tour of the current village, changed in many ways but still the same basic layout.
I must admit one of the responses I had was regret that I never knew those grandparents, both of them died before I started school. :-( I can't help feeling a certain fellow feeling with my grandfather, who clearly wasn't particularly ambitious or driven, but who was a key part of community life, doing what needed to be done, from churchwarden to regular local committee member.
Lily remembered him encouraging her artwork, and we still have a couple of the pieces of furniture he made - I suppose there are worse legacies.
On the beach at Weston Super Mare with his daughters.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-08 03:12 am (UTC)Were your mother and aunt around when the evacuees were there? The photo seems to be well post-War.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-08 06:22 pm (UTC)Mum tells me the picture was taken in 1947, when she was 6. Lily and her sister went home, as quite a few evacuees did, before she was born in January 1941, so they'd never met before.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-08 07:13 pm (UTC)What an amazing thing!
Your grandfather sounds like a good man.
no subject
Date: 2016-07-08 07:21 pm (UTC)Thank you. :-)
no subject
Date: 2016-07-09 09:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-10 02:10 pm (UTC)