My dad died nearly 27 years ago and

[ssd]

I've only today threw out the brushes he used to clean our shoes with, old fashioned well made brushes, he'd written 'brown' and 'black' on the back of a couple of them. We were clearing out the shed and came across them. They are gone now (well apart from a small one i hid in the garden in thick foliage..)

Its funny how we can't be parted from some stuff, isn't it. Those wee brushes brought my dad right back today. He was in the navy in ww2 and always kept his shoes and boots well polished. He is from such a different era i can't imagine what he'd think of things today...although if he walked up this path right now (I'm sitting outside), i wouldn't be surprised to see him. Its more of a surprise I've not seen him in so long.

My Dad was the same about polished shoes. I don't think anyone polishes their shoes nowadays.

I still have a box of his shirts and jumpers in my attic. I think I'd rescue the brush from the foliage and keep it. Must be a use for it somewhere!

My Nana died almost 33 years ago. I still have her magnifying glass which I use at least a couple of times a day to read tiny instructions on various things. I always think of her doing the same thing all those years ago.

I've got some Victorian hair clippers that belonged to my granny. And her glass baubles and Christmas tree.

I've got a few things from my Grandma as well, including a mother of pearl brush and comb set. I don't use half of these things but can't part with them.

(I still polish the children's shoes and dh polishes his boots)

That is a lovely OP. My dad was of the National Service generation and I too have memories of him polishing my shoes quite efficiently and speaking of the military ethos of shiny shoes. Probably the key thing that the army taught him.

My dad died 23 years ago. I have an old ice-cream tub on the worktop that contains his shoe brushes, labelled with brown and black. I use them every evening to polish my daughter's school shoes.

@ssd your post gave me a real wave of nostalgia, my Dad was in WW2 and he always wrote on the shoe brushes too. He used to clean our shoes everyday when we were at school. I still have a cleaning kit (with my writing on the brushes) but it's just one more thing that's dying out.

Get the brush outta the bush and use it to polish your shoes. X

My dad died 33 years ago. I have his marching compass from WW2 and his campaign medals. He had a jumper he wore for beat when I was a little girl and I still wear it now

My dad died in 1990 when he was 51 , we own a small 3 shelf unit that he made in woodwork classes at school . It goes with absolutely nothing else we own but has to stay .

June will be 4 years since my mum died. I've kept a few things of hers, her Christmas tree and decorations, its far too big for our front room, but I will always use it for our future Christmases we just have to do a sideways shuffle to get past it 🙂 I kept other things of hers, including her perfume she always wore and a ring she had for so many years. It's absolutely tiny, she had little hands and it would never fit me but it's a keepsake and I'll never part with that or any of the other stuff I kept. I even kept her prayer book she got on her confirmation, it's yellow and literally falling apart..but again it just lives in my bedside drawer and probably always will.

Mine died 15yrs ago. I'm currently wearing his motorcycle sweatshirt, luckily it seems to be made out of indestructible cotton.

I regularly polish my (leather) shoes and whiten my trainers. I brush my walking boots & clean out the cleats too.
I stand in my back garden, polishing away in the sunshine. It’s soothing and brings back Dad memories of when he polished all our shoes ready for school.

We still have my Dad’s army shoe brushes with his service number painted on them from when he did National Service.
I’ve cleared most of his clothes but can’t bear to start on the ties. He collected obscure rugby club and trade union ones.

I've still got the orange plastic box containing all the shoe brushes which my Dad used to get out on a Sunday morning to polish everyone's shoes. I still use the brushes. DF has been dead for 12 years. I'm 60 and remember the box from my childhood. It won't be thrown out until I'm gone.

Thanks all

Im going to rescue that brush tomorrow and put it in the box of mums stuff. No actually I'll put it in my dads dads box from ww1. My dad kept everything there x

DH still has the shoe brushes bought by his parents from 1983 when he joined the RAF.
He still has his No 1 shoes, he’s been out of the mob since 1996, they are in a cloth bag and still shine like glass.

He occasionally does standard bearing for the funerals of ex services, in case you think he’s just a weirdo.

After my mother died we found my late fathers WW2 medals - only Campaign ones, still in the parcel with their ribbons.

My dad had the most beautiful handwriting. I’ve got a jar of his garden labels written on along with his special pencil for the job in my shed.

What a lovely thread.
I've got other bits and pieces to keep, but somehow can't throw my mum's handbag away. It's not even leather and isn't worth anything, but it was the thing that went with her everywhere, right up until when she went into hospital where she passed away - she didn't ask for it when she went which was so unlike her.
It's been over two years now and I keep moving it from place to place.

I've got the metal tin my Grandma kept hair grips in

I've also got her only wedding present a glass bowl which is almost 100 years old

I still have all the brown and black shoes brushes my late DH had, and use them. His work shoes were perfect, bu then he had booted and suited job.
Now I think of it, his dad was in the Merchant Navy.

I'm 70 and wonder if it's a generational thing or merely because shoes were leather and had to be shiny to look good.

Anyhoo I cannot account for the hat brush, undoubtedly from my late PILs, whose use I only divined when watching Downtown Abbey.

Ive got so much of mums stuff too. And I've got my dads demob papers with his war records. And the paper my mum was reading when she died.
But i need to start clearing some stuff so that my dcs arent clearing it along with our stuff...

My mother died in hospital 31 years ago. That night, after coming home I took her pillow from her bed to comfort me. I've used her pillow every night since(except for holidays and hospital stays).

My Mum still has my Grans knitting needle collection, she died nearly 40 years ago. Amazes me that those needles that made baby cardigans for my Mum in the 1940's are now being used to make baby cardigans for my Mum's Great Grand Children.