On October 27, 1930 my Grandad was born, and on June 19th he passed away.
Grandad was married to my Nanny, Vera, and they had three children - my Uncle Gary, my dad, and my Uncle Steve. Grandad was in the hospitality industry, managing many restaurants over the years and working for a company that provided catering for the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and for the some of the Queen's Buckingham Palace summer garden parties. Grandad is a big part of the reason that my dad got into cooking, as dad used to work for in his restaurants as a teenager.
My dad gave the eulogy at his funeral, and I learned some new things about Grandad. I didn't know that he had started as a greengrocer, and that he then bought and ran a café and petrol (gas) station. I knew that he had been in the army, but only just learned that he served in Egypt. It's nice to know that although Grandad isn't around anymore, there are still people who knew him and can pass along his stories.
My earliest memory of Grandad is not too clear - we stayed at their house in Chiswick while Sarah, Claire and I had chicken pox. I remember him telling us not to scratch, but at the age of 4, I am pretty sure I did not listen.
After Grandad retired, he and Nanny moved to Fuengirola, Spain and had a house with a pool, really close to the beach. We used to go visit them in the summers - spending all our time swimming in the pool or at the beach (with really, really hot sand). We went to see monkeys somewhere at some point, but that was quite a while ago.
They eventually moved back to England, but thankfully they missed the warm weather, and once we moved to Nevis, they started a tradition of spending every Christmas with us. They would come for a long time, usually 6-8 weeks, and until my parents moved to Egypt, they came out every year for about 14 years.
So my Christmas memories are really full of Grandad - him and mum cooking in the kitchen, our annual Christmas beach walk, working on the jigsaw puzzles we have out, games nights with family friends, . . . the list could go on and on.
At one point my friend Kate called my house looking for me and Grandad answered, and the way he said "Victoria" was somehow quite funny, and has been referenced by Kate many times over the years.
Aside from his (allegedly) funny intonations, Grandad was just a funny man - he had a great sense of humor, one that he definitely passed on to my dad. They both used to joke about sneaking into the cinema without paying by "walking in backwards". This is a little embarassing, but for years, I really thought that Grandad was saying that people used to sneak in by literally walking in backwards to a movie theatre - and I could never quite work out how that worked . . . :)
Grandad was a great grandfather, father, husband and man. He had a great work ethic and was a great host; he was funny, kind, warm and lovely. I will miss him so much, but am happy that he is no longer sick and suffering.
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My dad gave the eulogy at his funeral, and I learned some new things about Grandad. I didn't know that he had started as a greengrocer, and that he then bought and ran a café and petrol (gas) station. I knew that he had been in the army, but only just learned that he served in Egypt. It's nice to know that although Grandad isn't around anymore, there are still people who knew him and can pass along his stories.
My earliest memory of Grandad is not too clear - we stayed at their house in Chiswick while Sarah, Claire and I had chicken pox. I remember him telling us not to scratch, but at the age of 4, I am pretty sure I did not listen.
After Grandad retired, he and Nanny moved to Fuengirola, Spain and had a house with a pool, really close to the beach. We used to go visit them in the summers - spending all our time swimming in the pool or at the beach (with really, really hot sand). We went to see monkeys somewhere at some point, but that was quite a while ago.
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| Everybody with the hats from our Christmas crackers! |
They eventually moved back to England, but thankfully they missed the warm weather, and once we moved to Nevis, they started a tradition of spending every Christmas with us. They would come for a long time, usually 6-8 weeks, and until my parents moved to Egypt, they came out every year for about 14 years.
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| Grandad used to fall asleep in the living room, all the time! |
So my Christmas memories are really full of Grandad - him and mum cooking in the kitchen, our annual Christmas beach walk, working on the jigsaw puzzles we have out, games nights with family friends, . . . the list could go on and on.
At one point my friend Kate called my house looking for me and Grandad answered, and the way he said "Victoria" was somehow quite funny, and has been referenced by Kate many times over the years.
Aside from his (allegedly) funny intonations, Grandad was just a funny man - he had a great sense of humor, one that he definitely passed on to my dad. They both used to joke about sneaking into the cinema without paying by "walking in backwards". This is a little embarassing, but for years, I really thought that Grandad was saying that people used to sneak in by literally walking in backwards to a movie theatre - and I could never quite work out how that worked . . . :)
Grandad was a great grandfather, father, husband and man. He had a great work ethic and was a great host; he was funny, kind, warm and lovely. I will miss him so much, but am happy that he is no longer sick and suffering.
