General Chat

Ok Ann

I will see if there are anymore suggestions.
Bye the way, when are you going to add some more tales or similar?? :-D

How can we raise people to add similar posts, after all my short stories are about people who left the UK even if they returned later.?
So still fit in the heading

Another advantage is that now I hsve had two messages from people who live abroad about our connections and they were right!!

Bridget

The bhudist Bridget

Not sure who to right about next, any preferences??
Cousin who enterted the church, went as a missionary with his wife and children
Or my uncle who became a Bhudist and went abroad

Bridget

What has happened to the reply I posted less than 10 minutes ago?? One minute it was there and the next moment it had disappeared....never had that happen before?!

Bridget.

PS. I will be back later, need a coffee for the shock!

:-0 :-S

bridget the population for the whole island is about 25000 people.this is made up of about 19000 living in the capital town and surrounds. the remaning 6000 is made up from people living out of town in villages.

i live 30 miles from the town on the very tip of the island. this district is made up of 13 villages and house around 1800 people.

we have one school that has primary 1-7 with about 110 children and also secondary 1-2 with about 45 children. for 3-6 secondary they will take a bus everyday to the town and continue the education up to 6th form in the only secondary school in the town. there are about 1100 pupils sec 1-6 yr.


considering we live so far away we do have all the modern technology. most pupils in class are able to have a computer to them selves due to the small class sizes. internet etc is all up to date as any mainland school. we even have a college here where you can do many degrees and not have to go away to university say in glasgow or edinburgh.

i am a special needs assistant/pupil support worker and work in a primary school that also has sec 1-2 attached. when children have additional support needs, whether autism aspergers or general difficulties with learning, they are kept in mainstream classes but with a one 2 one or shared support like me. this means they are able to intereact with others rather than being sent to a special school like they did when i was young or they put all the "backward" children in one class for their whole of their school life which they couldnt do today as that would be discriminating.

ann its true about everyone being related to each other.it took me a while to get to know the family, there are so many cousins. when my son went to school, he was related to all the children in the class except for 3 english kids!!

i wasnt considered a local til i had been here 8 years and thats not a joke. if you are an outsider, it is very hard to become friends with a local totally. all the incomers seem to get to know each very quickly and become good friends. sometimes one friend comes to stay and the next thing, the rest of the family follow, sister,brother cousins etc, its quite extraordinary.

i remember the forest of dean vividly. inthe mid 1980s, i went with a friend camping ina tent. cant quite remember where but i know we walked to a local pub. it wasnt very friendly. it poured hard and i got soaked trying to put up this tent. a sign that said shop was infact a scruffy caravan with an equally scruffy man selling a few cans(out of date) at outrages prices. we only stayed one night and have never been back since. never been camping for that matter, do prefer my nice warm bug free bed!

going back we do have a good hospital here and my gp is 8 miles away. waiting lists fare a little better than most but a lot of the clinics are run by doctors that come once a month from the mainland and something like ENT always has a long waing list. for real emergencies or life threatening situations, air ambulance would fly you to the mainland immediately. the maternity dept is wonderful here because its never that busy. you can stay 10 days after having a baby if you wanted to and the food is lovely i must say.

of course there are some draw backs to living here like the weather,but i will leave that subject for another evening.yes the life is hard and its not for everyone but great for bringing up a family.

and yes anyone who lands up her is more than welcome to stop for a bite and liquid refreshment. and if the door is open then come in and help yourself, i wouldnt be far away!!
right time for bed i think

nite nite peeps
florence
in the hebrides

Maybe we shall all be beating a path to your door Florence :-D :-D I did have a chuckle when you were talking about incomers and suspicious locals.

Back in 1973 we moved to a small town in The Forest of Dean. It was then (I don't know about now), very hard to make friends with the locals. You were not accepted until you had lived there at least 25 years. And, if you did happen to talk to anyone local and complained about anyone else you could guarantee that you were talking about the aunt, cousin, grandmother, sister etc of the person you were talking to. We lived there for nearly ten years and liked it but most of our friends were incomers.

Florence

I can fully understand residents of an island being cautious about those who come to live there.
Would imagine that those who seek to join you would want to meet local people before taking such a decision, and what sounds idyllic,may well have a down side.for instance do they understand what hard work has to be undertaken, that the weather can cause the Island to be cut off from the mainland. Etc.
I do wonder what the education system is, is there a school on the Island for both very young children and the older children. Do they do the same
Courses that the Mainland children do.?
Are the children and the older people able to access medical care etc...

Finally we may just arrive at your door one day to have release from noisy traffic, over crowded cities and towns etc... Although living where I am is normally tranquil and interesting.

Bridget

well bridget i found your story most interesting and sad too about your father.
couldnt ever imagine having my children and then just leaving them and disappearing, perish the thought.(many times have i said to them if you dont help me in the house,i will leave you all to it and see how you mange then!!!lol) but that is only a figure of speech to motivate them into being more independant.

ann and berona, i too am enjoying reading your wonderful stories, its a refreshing change from everyday chit-chit.

when i eventually married and settled here, there were a lot of different rules if you like that i quickly learnt.coming up from the south of england to a rural, traditional scottish island was in some ways a culture shock.

people here never lock their fron door when they are in or indeed if they pop out to a neighbours. so expect a visitor anytime from mid-morning up til say 10pm at night.when they come they nearly always bring something nice to have with a cuppa. cake or biscuits etc. it is the custom to make them tea or coffee and maybe a few sandwiches. if it is in the evening they may expect a wee dram of whisky or a glass of wine. so you need to keep the biscuit tin full up and the drinks cupboard!!

always keep your house pretty tidy if you can as you never know who may call.one afternoon not long after i arrived, a knock at my door came and then who walked in? the local minister! yes he came to introduce himself to me and then expected me to be in church next sunday. i politely declined with some feasible excuses so as to not offend him!

the community as a whole here very much pull together in times of trouble or need and you are expected to help out in whtever situation you can.

when someone dies, they have a family service at the family home on the first day. the second day after the death in the evening, there is a wake or service in their church and mostpeople that knew the person be it family or neighbour,friend etc would be expected to go. it may not be of your church, but that would not matter in this instance. on the third day the funeral would take place again from their church.

strangley the custom here is that the men folk go to the cemetry but very rarely do the women. they would go back to the family home where a huge meal would be prepared assisted by neighbours and friends.

quite often people will call with food and drink as a contribution for the meal or make a cake or desert to lighten the load on the grieving family.

if you think about what happens in cities and towns then we up here i guess are still a community as it was years ago. my mother lives down south and only knows i neighbour nnext door to her and noone else. they are all like strangers in her road.

so even though in the beginning i didnt have any of my own friends or family, i was quickly made to feel very welcome. what i will say though is i did have a slight advantage. firstly my firiends were here before me and secondly i married a local and that counted for a lot.

although they are friendly(the locals), it may of been very different if me and oh were both english and we had moved here not knowing anyone. that is completly different. there are many people here who have come from the mainland with no connections and you do becaome a little suspicious over the years wondering how they came to be here. some do have colourful pasts and you steer clear. others stay for 2 years then move away somewhere else as if they are on the run.

so when new people come to this part of the island,you cant blame us for being cautious.

does anyone else understand this? and has anyone who moved either to an island or abroad experienced any hostility or were you made to feel welcome? i would be interested to hear to compare life styles.

well got to dash as i am making some strawberry jam, the last i think of this year and dont want ti to burn

may look in later
florence
in the hebrides.

As promised here I am again.

As I was writing about Percy I wondered how I could find out if the event I was told about exists. Can anyone advise please? I also contacted the family he maried into asking if they had any info about how he got to Austrailia, I do wonder if he went to the USA first.

Ok on with what I do know.

Part two re Percy Ford

When I was about 12, in 1958, I visited my grandparents and my grandfather was reading an airmail letter. Grandad read it out to me, and it was fascinating to know that I had a relative so far away.

Percy used to write regularly to my Grandparents and he would tell them about the place he lived in, what his wife and her children from her first marriage were doing etc.
Then a few months later he sent a letter to me. Wow what a surprise an email just for me.
Grandad had told him how interested I was about him, and kept asking when would we see him. So he wrote to tell me about how lucky he was to have married a lady with good children, he told me what they did each day, and descriped the surrounding fields and I learnt just how vaste Austrailia is.

In turn I wrote about where we lived how my mother had looked after his brother and his wife Sarah, little did I know that although considerably younger than my Grandmother he had fallen in love with her when he first met her another reason for leaving the UK.?!
I told him about school and now I would d like to go to Australia.

Soon after that one of his stepdaughters started to write and Percy faded
away .
The years passed with three or four letters each year, I went on to be a
nurse and I think the stepdaughter did the same. Her father was a Doctor at the local hospital. Sadly Percy died in Wahroomgg North Rocks Australia in the very year that I wanted to visit. I had been to London to gather all the necessary paper work and was trying to sort it all out.
Then my fiance decide that he wanted to get married as we both had good qualifications and could afford a decent house and have a family....so I never saw him which was sad.
Just a few weeks later the girl I had been corresponding with wrote to say that the family belonged to a particular Religious Group something like the Mormons or it may even have been the Mormons and they would have no further contast with me!!! I never heard from them again.
So ends the story of Percy Ford

Bridget

I will be back later this morning, hope everyone is well

Bridget

Percy Ford born 1891 was a brother of my grandfather who I shall write about another time.

Percy is a bit of an enigma. I have found him on the 1911 census but finding it difficult to find more info in the UK.

He was the third of four children and according to my grandfather Albert Edgar Ford caused problems for his parents.
The family information is that he also went into a young persons institution at one time but I cannot find any info to support that. I suspect that he was sent to relatives in Mere in Wiltshire.

When he was in his late teens ha was out one night in the City of London when he became involved in a fight in the street. He hit a man who fell and hit his head on the curb subsequently dying from the injuries.
Meanwhile the police were called and Percy was charged initially with murder but later lowered to Causing Death. However the case fell apart when witnesses stated that the dead man had started the brawl and was trying to steal money from Percy. He was found not guilty and released.

One can only imagine what sort of experience this was for not only Percy but the whole family. Then a couple of years later he decide to take the ship to Australia, my grandfather said this was because he was always feeling that wherever he went people knew he had been charged for Causing Death.

He went by boat of course which he once described to me as one of the most disgusting times of his life. Many of the men that were going came from difficult backgrounds, fought at any time, and the smell of everyone crammed into small places was appalling. Some people died on route including young children, new born babies and their mothers, etc.

Finally reaching Australia, he started to seek employment.

Part two later.

Bridget

"Memories are made of this"

Berona, one of the glories of writing about our experiences and sharing those with others is exactly as you have described. The message at the top of this reply is I from a song my mother used to sing, and it seemed to me that it fitted this reply perfectly.

Computer very slow trying to get on GR today, else where it is fine! It has taken me nearly 40 minutes to get onto GR, I can only ask "why"

So will have to add my second story about living abroad later this evening or tomorrow.

Hopefully others will be adding today??

Bridget

Bridget - you just triggered another memory!...I worked for 12 months in the City of London in 1953/4 and each day travelled on the Circle line - passing the tube station of Holborn, which had been closed since hit by a bomb during the war.... It was in darkness and we could only see it by the lights coming from our train as it flew past. It always had an eerie effect on me.

In 1989, my OH and I were in a tube train which stopped at Holborn and I was so delighted, I almost said out loud - "Holborn's alive and working again!". Of course, it would be after all that time. I'm glad I didn't embarrass myself.

Berona,
Isn't it interesting how a few words can bring back so many memories. I wonder if anyone on here can recall having to go into the the railway underground stations, during WW2. I know that in the East end of London one of the stations had an dreadful loss of people when a bomb hit the station. I cannot remember if it was Stepney Green or Betnal Geen Station. Maybe some one on here will know.
Shortly I shall write about one of my uncles who went to Australia.

Just going to have a coffee top up.

Bridget

Bridget - I find your stories very interesting and look forward to the next episode!
Your mention of Winston Churchill's hidden bunker brought back a memory not given a thought since 1954, when I worked in London with a girl who could tell me that her father was a mechanic with the air force during WW2. For the entire duration that Churchill lived at No.10, there was an underground passage leading to where a plane was (underground). Her Dad's job throughout the war, was to be there with others (in shifts) with that motor tuned to perfection and tank full - ready for take-off, if things should 'go wrong'.

I hope that you do not mind but I just had to see approximately how much £37.00 would be today. The nearest I found was for about 6 years ago when roughly speaking it would be £2020. No wonder the father made the comment, so would I.

Bridget in Spain

I should have added to my fathers' life story that after he died I had him cremated and drove around the UK for three weeks just talkingbto him on my way to various meetings. Then we drove to Ireland an wentbstraight to Dublin and Finglas. Finally he was interred at Glasneven Cemetry and I am due to visit next year

Bridget in Spain

The contact we had was from Whalter's son, also Whalter. He was unable to find out what the rift was either.

The Bate family seemed to stay in the Montreal area for one generation and, although I have had no contact, there were members of the family born in the 50s. Branches of the familt seem to be in Quebec, Ontario and Vancouver. I have their names on a family tree given to us by Whalter born 1905 (one of the two children born in UK before they left for Canada).

Whalter Bate senior was a bricklayer by trade (His father Isaac my Gt grandfather owned a brickyard)

The most interesting thing to me is an insert in isaac's will (I have a copy of it).

"Appended to my will is this declaration. That my son Whalter Bate now residing near Montreal Canada who went out there in the spring of 1910 and borrowed from his mother Matilda Bate and myself Isaac Bate the sum of £14.00. He came back at the fall of the same year viz.1910 but went back to near Montreal Canada in the Spring time of 1911 and for payment of his passage together with his wife and two children he borrowed a further sum of £23.00 making altogether £37.00. Sent us by money order August 1910 £2.00, balance £35.00. That now in the presence of two witnesses I signed my name that the balance is owing and that in the event of my decease what balance there may be then owing to me shall be deducted from his share in whatever may be left by me as may be set forth or realised according to my last will and testament attached hereto."

He obviously was not going to let him get away with what he owed so i wonder if the fact that he had not repaid the money was what caused the rift. I suppose £35 was a lot of money then.

(Whalter by the way was born 1883 one of the 9 children of my Great Grandparents Isaac and Matilda Bate.)

Ann

Thank you for your comment.
How disappointing it is when you do not know why someone in the family , suddenly leaves where they have been living and no one has said why. I wonder if any of hs wifes' family have a clue. Did he do the same work when he emigrated? Was he out of work in England, and so on and so on.

My grandfathers brothers should be interesting, I hope.
According to family including my grandfather one of his brothers went to......because,,,,,,, Haaa
you have to wait until tomorrow or maybe tonight!!

Bridget

I think it was Bridget talking about ancestors who went to live abroad and wondering why. Maybe as in one of my relatives it was because of a family rift.

I don't know the details but my Grandfathers brother Whalter (correct spelling) Bate went to Canada in Sprink 1910, returned Autumn 1910 and then went back out to Montreal in spring 1911 with his wife and two children. Although I have a lot of family details from this family, nowhere does it mention what the rift was.

More later.

Part two.

On arrival to the UK all the Irish were met by their employer and taken to a police station to be registered as Aliens and they had to report regularly with the station and also if they moved. My father was sent to Norfolk and helped to dig up various runways which were no longer required, and went to most of the America Airfields as well. He sent most of his money back to his fiancee who told him she was saving all the money for their wedding.
He was transferred to various parts of southern England but his happiest times were when he helped to demolish some parts of Winston Churchills'
Hidden bunker, and many other such places. He was known as The Mad Irish Man " for he would sit on the huge concrete balls attached go swings in the air to demolish huge Walls.

He met my mum when he was in Hertfordshire and had just heard that his fiancee had married somewhen else and spent all dads' money. Mum was very recently separated from her husband so two sad people got together.

I was born in June 1946, and my mother was divorced in 1948, having lost the her daughter due to a mistake by the court. Two years after that they wrote a letter admitting what they had done and offered her their apologie!!

By now my father had started to look further afield for his parents and wrote to many newspapers in th UK, America, Ireland, Nd Canada, he never had one reply. So out there somewhere is a family to which I belong ..... But have never known.

My mum and dad brought my sister, born 4 years after me, to respect others, never to assume, hep others wherever you can and to be loyal and honest. We had a hard upbringing in the East end of London, mum was very well spoken, Dad had a broad Irish Accent and we children spoke what the local children called "posh".
We eventually made good friends,dad worked hard and was always involved in politics. We were even asked to go and live in South Africa and I was so excited. Dad was very enthusiastic but at the last moment Mum said No.
Looking back I think she was worried that she would never have the chance to re unite with her daughter, and it did happen.

Poor dad died still without finding his mum and dad. However when he was dying and my young sister was with him he suddenly opened his eyes and said as his last words "Oh Da, Oh Da" my sister cried.

We still look , post messages every where we can but WHO WHERE his parents and did they ever think about him, the did pay the foster parents until he was 25, not 21 which was the norm.

Tomorrow I will write a out my grandfather and one or two of his brothers,

If this hasn't bored you all!


Bridget in Spain
.
:-D