Trying to catch the moon

Over Community Singers & Drummers’ next event is a Big Sing at Over Community Centre on Sunday 23 March.

A soft glow in the sky over the Ouse Meadows at St. Ives this afternoon

It appears there were two versions of the truth about who my paternal grandma’s dad was. I reckon Aunt Ada knew!

My paternal Grandma Myrtle received a postcard from her 8 month old cousin Beryl in 1906 when my Grandma was 6 and Beryl was 8 months! Beryl was born and spent her early years in Aberporth. Rose Phillips nee Creasey was my great grandmother’s younger sister who had married the local rector.

As my mum’s father died before she was born, my mum ended up being brought up in the 1930s by her mum, her aunts and uncles and her grandparents. This included numerous trips to Cleethorpes from Essex to stay with her Aunt Kizzie. The trips north were a family affair.

Looking back at 2024, one of the outstanding discoveries for me was ‘The Couple’ standing 5 meters tall and 300 meters off the coastline at Newbiggin by the Sea. A smaller couple was located on land, looking out to sea.

Great Granny Brewer nee Shelley ( my mum’s paternal Gran) at her front door at her cottage in Elsenham. Her husband Frederick George had looked after the horses for the fruit orchards that belonged to the Elsenham Jam Factory.

Task for self. Can I name everyone in this 1928 family Easter gathering in 1928 at Woodgates Farm, Broxted, Essex? Great Grandparents Fred and Sarah Gentry in the middle. Sarah was one of the Barker family from Stebbing. Fred was born in Mountnessing.

The Christmas Tree at King’s Cross station this evening

The Albert Arms which my paternal Grandparents ran in the 1930s before moving to Newport. Was located in Railway Place (now Malcolm Place) in Stepney. Unfortunately long gone.

My dad wrote about memories of Whiteditch Farm during World War 2. In a Dunmow History Soc book he recalled when a doodlebug was shot down 100 yds from the farm blowing out the front windows of the house. Years later my grandad sold the remains of the bomb to a scrap metal merchant for 10 shillings!

When I was younger I got to visit a derelict Whiteditch Farm with my dad. That was before the a big chunk of land was dug up for the M11

Before retiring and moving to Bricketts my grandparents owned Whiteditch Farm, also in Newport, having purchased the farm at a relatively low price. They moved there in August 1939 having run the Albert Arms in Stepney. Some timing! Neither Bricketts or the farm exist today.

Received today. Written by my paternal grandma’s cousin when he and his family journeyed through Southern Africa in 1962. Not sure what to expect but it will be insightful. Not sure I will get to read John Creasey’s other 900+ books!

If you love singing and / or drumming and live in mid Cambridgeshire

Have put up a view of Bricketts on my profile. The bungalow was the 1st building as you entered Newport, Essex from the south on the old A11. It is where my paternal grandparents moved to when they retired in 1959. Grandma had a large area of land to keep chickens there until 1975.