Out of the Blue

ON Monday, 25th January, Janet wrote:

Hi Ham,

Raymond, Ruth, Linda and I had lunch with ‘Bluebell’ a couple of weeks ago and she was in fine form. I stayed a couple of days and got her talking about the past. Her short term memory comes and goes (she often can’t remember exactly who I am and is amazed when I tell her I am ‘Denny’s’ daughter.) “We get on well don’t we,’ he says, ‘but where do I know you from?’ Doesn’t recognise me without the plaits perhaps? Anyway recently she has been talking about her grandparents, Henrietta and Herbert Smith. Henrietta had been born overseas and seems to have had a more sophisticated background than Herbert who was a farmers son.

She remembers Henrietta as an affectionate grandmother who put her own mother in a flap when she visited. A letter would arrive and suddenly granny would be there to stay. Mother (Lillian) would retreat to her room with a headache and granny would put Blue on her lap and tickle her ear and tell her stories of London. Henrietta liked to go and listen to the speakers in Hyde Park. She had little time for country life and visited there from time to time but felt her place was in London. Henrietta lived in London, while her husband, Herbert, stayed in Kent. He rented one of the cottages beside the Mill where Blue sometimes visited. She remembered her mother telling all the children to be careful of the candles as there was no electricity in the cottage. Grandfather Herbert visited the Warren family in Guildford and invited Blue, then about eleven or twelve to go to the market with him. BUT he told Blue she would have to wash her face if she wanted to go. Blue, then just as stubborn as she is now, refused and Grandfather walked off across the field. Lillian told Blue not to be silly and to wash her face and run and catch him up. They had a great time at the markets, according to Blue. She tells this story over and over so it must be a very vivid memory. Grandfather Smith was very strict but fair. Blue also tells me that she and my Dad, Denis, were fierce rivals for mama’s attention with Blue coming off second best as Dennis was the favourite. Blue and Dennis used to make jam while their parents were out and eat the lot. Blue would keep look out over the fields to see if mum and dad were coming home. When their heads started to show, bobbing up and down as they walked, it was time to hide the evidence. All the doors and windows would be open to let out the smell but of course the parents were well aware of what their offspring were up to.

Hope this is useful for the website.

love Janet

Whoops sorry there is a little more…

Blue started school while staying with grandfather in Kent. Apparently the family were on one of their flights from the landlord… depression times no work no doubt. The people in the cottage next door were called the ‘Snepps’ and Blue used to play with their daughter. (around 1926-7). Grandmother Henrietta is described by Blue as ‘fiery’ while grandfather Herbert was the opposite – a slow talking country man.

cheers janet