Early Memories

[Daisy]

WeeGranny mentioned in Chat that her brother didn't remember a family dog, and she didn't remember anything about his engagement party although she's sure she must have been there.

Memory plays all sorts of tricks on us, but it set me wondering -

what are your earliest memories?

[Oma]

My very first memory is lying in my pram looking at the sky and my oldest sister leaning over talking to me , I can still picture it , I was a small baby obviously didn't understand what she was saying but remember her smile ,

I have very few memories of my life as such but a few stick in my mind ,

I think I told you all a few month ago about going to a school holiday camp when I was about 14 , I honestly cant even remember going its only because a old school friend showed me a photo of us all there that I believe I went , without that proof I would have sworn I was never there

[Gemini]

I remember staying at my auntie's house when my mum and dad went to look at the plot of what was to be the house my mum now lives in. We moved there not long after I was 3, so I must have been less than 3, as the building hadn't begun at that point.
They told me it was a bungalow, and I remember having no idea what that word meant.

[Plantaholic]

I can remember being under the table during an air-raid, I was about a year old, also going into the shelter. I can also remember being evacuated to a farm with pigs, sheep and cows, pigs being killed in the yard, we were all sent indoors, I was four then. Going to a Welsh school, learning the Welsh National Anthem. Being afraid to cross a field with cows in it. Lots of memories about evacuation and I was only there about 18 months.

[Daisy]

I find this fascinating. It's amazing how clear some of these early memories are.

Oma - I can remember being pushed in my pram by my dad. He was pretending to go fast and letting go of the handle and then grabbing it again and I remember I was sitting up and holding on to the sides, shrieking with laughter. I don't know how old I was.

Plant - I can't remember the war as such, but I can remember the feeling of anxiety when the sirens went off. I've got a very vague memory of being in the Anderson shelter with lots of blankets and a flask of tea. It must have been very scary being evacuated and not knowing where you were going or who you'd be with.

[Plantaholic]

I was evacuated with my older brother and sister to a farm in Wales where my father was lodging, he was sent there to work in the hospital where they took the wounded service men and women, he was a nurse, so I wasn't on my own. My mother fetched us back after 18 months as she felt we were just running wild, which we were. The lady was a cook at the hospital, her husband was the farmer, both she and my father did shift work so most of the time the older children looked after the young ones. She had two sons, two of her sisters boys from London and us three plus my dad. When Mrs. Miles died a few years ago we went to her funeral and met up with the others again.

[Enfys]

I can remember being in a push chair, Mums auntie was pushing me. It was pouring with rain, very windy and she gave me an umbrella to hold over me. The wind took it from my hands and I remember watching her running down the road trying to catch it. We were living in Bedford at the time and left there when I was about 3 so I gues I was about 2.1/2.

i also remember being very very frightened when this strange man came to our house, picked up my mum and swung her off her feet whilst she was crying. I was told that this was Daddy, he was wearing his RAF uniform, no idea how long he’d been away.

[Daisy]

Enfys - it must have seemed very odd having a 'strange' man come into the house like that, but I suppose a lot of children born in the war must have had absent fathers in their early days. Sadly, there must also have been many who never returned. I was lucky in that my dad was doing war work relatively locally so wasn't away for long periods.

Plant - it was good you had your dad and a brother and sister with you. It sounds as though you had quite a lot of fun with all those children and a whole farm to play in.

[Plantaholic]

Oh Enfys, it was a strange time, I bet your mother was so happy to have him back safe and sound

[WeeGranny]

My earliest memory is of the night my DB was born. I went to my Granny's who lived in the same building and the doctor came to her door but Granny sent him upstairs to my house which I thought was strange. Anyway, sometime later I was allowed back home and there was Mum in bed with a baby! I gave the midwife half a crown for bringing him. For a long time after that whenever we saw the midwife, Nurse Bosworth, I asked when she was bringing me another baby, much to my Mum's embarrassment! I think I thought she kept them in her nurse's bag!

I remember my first day at school and sitting beside a boy who was crying which I thought was a very strange thing to do! I was desperate to go to school.

[Daisy]

WeeGranny - how sweet. It must have been quite a puzzle as to how the baby had appeared just like that in your mum's bed.

I can remember my first day at school too. The little girl who lived across the road cried and I couldn't understand why - school was interesting.

[Sunshine]

My earliest memory was the day we moved house when I was four. I remember sitting on the grass in the back garden. It was long and quite prickly. I was playing with the kitchen clock. I was very carefully turning the hands. I kept wondering why one hand moved quickly round the clock face, but the other hardly moved at all. I was quite surprised that I was allowed to play with the clock. I knew it wasn’t a toy, so I treated it very carefully, but I still wondered why neither of my parents took it off me.

[Gemini]

OH and I were talking about children's choices in clothes. This was prompted by my GD being bought some dungarees by her grandpa and OH for her birthday, which she exchanged for trainers. You can't just buy clothes for a fashion conscious 10 year old!

We then talked about clothes we liked or disliked as children.
I remember clearly going to party at my small primary school. I presume it was a Christmas party. We had been told we could come in our own clothes, like a pretty party dress. My mum made all my clothes, and as she has never been very feminine, her choices for me were never girly (and I was girl who wanted all the girly stuff!) I was sent to the party in a plain looking pinafore dress in some muted colour scheme.
I still remember one girl whispering to another that that wasn't a pretty party dress.
Bad enough I don't have one, without being whispered about as well!
Funny what things stick in our minds.

[Daisy]

Gem - poor you. You must have been really disappointed not to have a party dress and then to have other girls whispering about what you were wearing.

I agree about fashion conscious children. GD1 has always had a good sense of what suits her and likes to put an outfit together. GD2 is equally interested but has a much more unorthodox style and if very confident about her choices. I hope she never loses that. This is the GD who wore a StickMan t-shirt for a playgroup photo shoot, when all the other little girls turned up in party or princess outfits!

I can clearly remember when I was about 4 or 5 having a summers dress that was white with quite large navy blue spots. I adored that dress. It was also the dress I was wearing when I decided I could fly. I stood at the top of the stairs and jumped, convinced I would flutter into the hall like a butterfly!

[Gemini]

Oh I hope you didn't hurt yourself Daisy!!

My GD definitely has her own style which is different from the other girls . This is no surprise really, as her mum, was really aware of what she was wearing from an early age, whereas her older sister did not care at all! My SIL was into looking different as teenager, so GD is following her parents!