A Child of the 1950's

Chapter Ten

The Photograph On The Mantlepiece

Always, on our parents mantlepiece in their bedroom was a large sepia photograph of an attractive woman with fair hair swept up onto her head, she had light coloured eyes and she was standing, poised, by a chair. She wore a long sleeved probably white, frilled blouse and a long dark skirt.

When my sister and I asked who was in this photograph, we were told it was 'Grandma.' It bore no resemblance at all to the woman we knew as 'Grandma,' but we passed no comment, until a few years later when my sister was about fifteen and I was ten, we remarked, 'but it doesn't look like Grandma.' Mum then told us that it was our dad's real mother. It came as quite a shock to us to know that 'Grandma' was actually our dad's stepmother and not his real mother.

Grandad's first wife was called Florence May James and at one time she owned a fish and chip shop. She at one point was also the Fore woman at a factory, which in those days was quite remarkable. I think she was remarkable. She was a committed christian and walked around the streets preaching. I think she must have been very 'down to earth' and not at all self conscious. She married my Grandad and they had two sons, my dad Kenneth and my uncle Raymond. Unfortunately, she caught pneumonia when my dad was six years old and my uncle was four. She was dead within 48 hours. Isn't that the saddest thing? I feel that I have missed out not knowing her, which is what we feel when things like this happen in families.

Just to confuse matters, Florence May James had a very close friend also called Florence May, but her surname was Brown. Florence May Brown often had to prompt her to buy a new blouse as Florence May James was more interested in spiritual matters than in material ones. It has been mentioned that she often left her boys with someone else whilst she went out preaching around the streets and her husband (my Grandad) did not approve. He felt she should spend more time with her boys. It must have come as a great shock to him when she died, however.

After a couple of years he married the second Florence May and she became mother to Kenneth and Raymond and she relished the role and was the best step mother anyone could wish for. She was a quiet, unassuming woman with a very sweet, happy nature.

When her sister-in-law Amy, died at a young age, Grandma looked after her nephew for her brother in law. She had him with her and the family for at least three years, then his father came and took him away and she never saw him again. It was quite heart breaking for her. I wonder how callous people have to be to do that? I have a photograph of a very handsome little boy aged about five or six with blonde white hair. I think he was called Michael. He would now be in his eighties, if he's still alive. I wonder if he can remember the time he spent with Grandma and Grandad and his cousins?

Both Florence May's and my Grandad had signed 'The Pledge' meaning they would never drink alcohol. Drunkenness had become a big problem amongst the poor during the Victoria era and committed Christians brought into being a group called The Temperance League. They encouraged others not to drink alcohol and therefore buck the trend.

My mother said that although her father was a drunk, they never looked down on her because of that.

I loved my grandfather and grandmother very much and spent lots of time with them when I was small. They lived opposite the school I went to, Bannerman Road School in Easton.