What lovely things do you remember about grandparents?

[ipercy]

My little one goes to my parents house two days a week when I'm at work and for an afternoon snack, my mum always makes him a boiled egg as part of a little picky tray.

He has started calling boiled eggs "grandma eggs" and I think it's really sweet!!

It's got me thinking about things I remember from being little and I always remember sitting in my grandads shoulders and playing hairdressers

What memories do you look back on and smile?

After my grandad retired he'd pick me up after school if it was raining so I wouldn't get wet. If I was ever slightly cold my grandma would usher me in front of the fire straight away, like I'd get pneumonia otherwise. My other grandma was a lovely lady too. Other grandad died when I was very young but he was a lovely funny man. I was blessed with all my grandparents.

My granny taught me ‘colours’ using smarties. Also aided my numerical skills by getting me to count out her cigarette coupons to see how much she needed for say an electric blanket from the catalogue. My love of jigsaws came from her as well, also highland dancing.

She had not the best of lives, very poor, and never got to fulfil her potential due to her own family circumstances.

She died aged 93, and was as fit as a fiddle up until the last 3 months of her life.

She passed on learning couples using smarties to my 3 DC, also country dancing to my now 23 year old dd, and I can still see her ways and mannerisms in all of my children.

They called her ‘Granny Dearie’ because she always called them ‘Dearie’. She was the best.

Both my grandads grew food in their back gardens. I live in a flat with no outside space and I've always wanted a garden of my own. My maternal grandad grew stawberries so summer for me was going to my grandparents and having strawberries and cream. My paternal grandad would give us loads of veg when we visited on a Saturday: leeks, potatoes, carrots, all looking very different from the supermarket ones and tasting so much better. He also grew gooseberries which i don't see anymore.

My maternal grandad died in the late 80s but my Gran carried on until 1997. She loved music & films and rented a film out for us every time we stayed. She also let us raid her 7 inch singles and we'd play records until bedtime.

My paternal grandad died in the 90s and kept trying to tell my cousins and me about his wartime experiences. We were young and ignorant but now I wish we'd listened. My Nanny was a Land Girl during the war and she also worked at a local hospital in the 50s. Despite having 3 kids she worked continuously from Wartime until her late 60s. She was an epic cook and taught my cousin how to make the gest bread pudding...my cousin still won't give me the recipe!

My daughter doesn't see my parents much (distance) and her paternal grandmother died decades before her birth...she recently lost her grandad and she was devastated. She misses his family stories especially about her Nan who died young. They shared a love of good cake. They both always left a bit of dinner to fit in pudding. They both speak to people equally regardless of rank, they are both animal lovers and they both hate injustice and discrimination. She is very like him, and misses him. Grandparents give us so much.

My grandad used to take us to see the ‘scabby donkey’ at the pit museum and stop at the top shop for Toffos. He died when I was five but I can still remember him.

My gran used to make the best roast dinner and always made a party tea of salmon sandwiches, jelly and crisps.

My maternal nanna

• Always making me the best homemade chips and soft eggs for dinner so i could dip them.
• Making homemade rice pudding with Jam - I didnt really get what this actually was and one day as a teen i tried to make it at home and literally just boiled plain rice and added jam - she thought it was hilarious when i called to find out what i'd done wrong.
• Sitting in front of her heater watching The Bill as a kid with her sitting on the lounge behind me with her ironing board set up doing her ironing. She'd let me iron the hankies and knickers and i was so happy with that hahahaha
• Her letting me do her hair while she watched tv
• She taught me how to sew and bought me my own sewing box one birthday, i only just got rid of it a few years ago as it was no longer salvageable - i still have the jar of buttons from her sewing basket which was given to me when she died.
• Sharing music, i listened to her Micheal Crawford, she loved when i burned her all my boyband cds - boyzone and westlife of course - she wasnt impressed with BSB
• Watching her do DIY, i really thought she could do anything.

I didnt see my paternal grandparents as much

• i remember my grandad would always tickle me and tease me. he had a really thick accent and i honestly couldnt understand half of what he said to me.
• Nanna always had strawberries growing and we would go into the garden and pick them and she let me sprinkle them with sugar as a treat.
• She introduced me to Rupert Bear as a kid and i still have the books she gave me.

I look so much like my paternal Nan but my mannerisms and outlook on things are exactly like my maternal Nanna. I really miss her.

I think this is my favourite thread ever. ❤

My mum's mum, passed on her love of sewing to me , she'd always make me clothes for my dolls on her sewing machine , gran would make sugar on toast for breakfast then followed it with fruit salad , my grandad grew beautiful blue moon roses and sweet peas . My dad's mum always had wrapped biscuits in a tin with views of London on it and kept bottles of pop from the pop man in a line down the hall . I didn't know my dads dad as he died long before I was born .
There are so many memories of them all it would take an age to write them all down . I miss them all and I'm sorry I didn't know my dads dad as I've been told he was a lovely man .

I only had 1 Grand parent growing up and she was mostly horrible but I have lovely memories of my friend's gran who did us all an amazing sunday tea, that's the kind of gran I want to be if I ever am.one. Also my children have known all 4 of their GP's and had nice relationships with all.

My grandma and grandpa used to run a guest house in Devon. When ever we went to stay even after the guest house was good the food was amazing and always well presented. We used to get home made Chinese spare ribs with finger bowls!

My grandpa used to make things out of nothing. He took the innards of watches and made pictures on ceramic tiles, he was ahead of his time.

My grampy used to let us play with plasticine on the other side of his tray. He also used to play jokes with his false teeth!

If I was sick I went to Nanny and Grampy's house. They gave me oxo in a metal mug with a slice of think white bread no butter to dip in it. We used to watch snooker on their black and white tv and my Nanny would be knitting so click click click the whole time.

I wasn't close to my dad's parents, but mum's mum was a brilliant gran. She had a fascinating house, with a box room full of exciting things left by her 5 grown up children. Little green pots with spoons me and my sister would pretend to cook revolting things in (to feed to our favourite uncle when he was there too). Ceramic French dolls with velvet clothes and lacy kniickerbockers. Old LP's such as Fats Waller/You feets too big and Sound of Music album. She still had a 1940s radio/record player until the late 80s. She had a piano and ''hid'' the key as her and mum didn't want to her us plinkety plonking on the keys, however we would always find the key as it was hidden in the same place every time.

She was a funny mix of slight hoarder (pantry full of tins - she was a wartime bride) yet nun like austerity. Her bedroom was quite sparse. She had never been well off but sort of turned this into an art. The comforting smell of her face powder (make up kept in kitchen on top of twin tub washer), her making gravy out of the juices from the beef on a Sunday. Her delight when we picked bluebells from the bottom of her overgrown back garden (land of the giants). Of course now I see she could have picked bluebells any time she liked, but she always looked like we'd brought her the best bouquet ever and stuck them in water in a milk bottle. The smell of baking sponge cake. Singed tea cozy (teapot on stove to keep tea warm but she would always nearly set fire to cozy). Staying with her and she showed me how to make egg white fluffy sweet omlette with peaches in. She was wise and kind, and even when dying in hospital she told me ' don't be sad I'm going home to be with my god' (Catholic but never preached).
I just remember feeling loved and secure. She was an eternal presence and had a great sense of humour and the absurd - always ready to laugh at herself and her foibles, sometimes crying laughing and rocking away in her chair. I hope I have inherited this and will pass it on. Back garden contained mysteries such as a cherry tree reputed to have been planted by my mother, old roses in the long grass, once a toad under the rhubarb - the first one me and my sister had ever seen, so like a mythical beast - and a coal hole - irresistible to any kid. Estate where she lived was fascinating, lots of young families so always kids to play with, ice cream van, park at end of the road where they had a lake and deer and peacocks. One large family a few doors down upped and left one night on 'a moonlight flit' (debt I think now as an adult), and we thought that was just breathtakingly cool and mysterious as children. My sister used to dare me to drink a bit of holy water from the tiny bottle of our lady (souvenir from Loudres someone brought her back, kept on her bedroom mantlepiece). I tasted it and was underwhelmed by its taste and unmiraculous powers. 😂
Fascinated by her clothes dryer that you winched up and down over the kitchen table. God knows how she washed for 7 of them. She did have a clothes line out in the back garden but god knows how in winter. It was always cozy with the coal fire in her sitting room when it was cold out. Certain smells evoke her, like vim, as her bathroom always smelled of it.

To this day if I hear a peacock it makes me think of playing outside at my grans.

She had a talent for sewing and knitting all her life and made us all sorts, including bridesmaids dresses. I could not have wished for a more wonderful gran. She was an avid reader, like mum and that's another thing I have inherited.

Glad I had the idea as a teenager to go and record her memories and stories. She was a great one for stories of people she knew - her family, friends and relations. She had a vast store of knowledge of her community (Manchester Irish Catholics) and my knowledge of the 2 WW came directly from her experiences - walking home from dances through bombed out city centre with her dancing shoes crunching on broken glass.

I know my mum and her had a fractious relationship later in life but to me she was full of love and joie de vivre. She left nothing to the family in terms of money/stuff, she lived in a council house until she went into supported housing in her 80s, but she left us with so many happy memories, so many riches.

Nannys house always smelt of air freshener and apples.
She always had icecream for us. She was very supportive of my mixed marriage and happy I reverted to Islam even though she is a strong Christian. She encouraged me to find God and marry the man that makes me happy. She passed 2020.at the age of 83. A very unique lady.

Grandad was good fun and kind and caring. They were truly lovely. He took us to random places for days out, like an icecream factory, so we could watch behind a window for people who wanted to watch vanilla ice cream being made. He then would take me to blockbusters and let us choose a video and get us honeycomb ice cream for after. He would also make a sheet tied to the corners of the fence to protect us from sunburn when playing out in the garden. He died when I was 16. 2003. Love him. We share the same birthday too.

Didn't know my fathers parents. But my mothers parents were lovely.

I used to stay with my Nana and Granda every Saturday night. They'd let me stay up to watch Dynasty. In the morning I'd lie in bed with Nana listening to Desmond Carrington, then Granda would take me to Mass and I'd get a quarter of sweets when he got the paper.

Nana was a terrible cook but Granda used to make soup every Saturday. They stayed in a tenement flat in the East End of Glasgow.

Granda would tell he about his time in the navy, we'd watch old movies on Saturday afternoon, followed by the wrestling. Or Nana and Mum would take me shopping. The boys would go to the football. Nana made clothes for me.

It was a lovely time and I'm glad that I've got that link to the past through their stories and that I had that link directly with them.

My wee Gran (Dad's mum) was a lot more reserved and we didn't see her so much, but we were welcomed and loved and she had a great cat who I looked forward to seeing (more than her, to my shame )

I used to stay at my grandparents every weekend when I was little. On a Saturday, my grandad would go to the shop to put the lottery on and would always buy me and my gran a Turkish delight. Saturday night I'd have a bath and we would watch Blind Date, Gladiators and Casualty and I'd eat it while sitting in my jamas and my grans dressing gown while my grandad brushed my hair.

Every year I'd put their Christmas tree up with my gran and she would make me sausage and 'proper' chips (my grandad made THE BEST chips in the chip pan!) for my tea before we did it. This continued into my late 20's!

I had two of the best, and I miss them terribly

Knitting. Always knitting.

And she taught me to knit too, every time I cast on I hear her voice in my head 'needle though, wrap around, needle through, slip off'

I didn't know my paternal grandparents very well, my grandad died before I was born and my grandma died when I was about 4....she had terrible asthma and I remember her always struggling to breathe.

Was very close to my maternal grandparents, we saw each other at least once in the week and we went to their house for Sunday lunch and tea every week. My Little gran was tiny and very thin, but was always on the go, always had her apron on and made the most wonderful chips I've ever tasted, she used the frying pan for them. She died when I was in my early twenties so she did live to see my eldest, I have a photo of her holding my little one on my shelf unit.

My grandad was my best friend, he'd play with me for hours on end and get up to all sorts of silly things with me. He died when I was 13 and I still miss him and little Gran.

I can remember every detail of their house and often dream I am there. They had a massive garden and grew strawberries and mint and rhubarb, had a pretty rockery and a huge wild patch at the back of the back garden which was fabulous for playing in.

I was blessed to have all four grandparents until my late teens (I even had two great grandmothers until about 8ish)
One side weren't that interested in us, nice but distant but we spent a lot of time with the others. Grandad had come from Eastern Europe and had had a very difficult war. We got told watered down versions of his 'adventures' and as an adult I am shook by what they really meant. He grew everything in their tiny back garden and even kept rabbits - I had no idea they were to eat! They kept that on the down low. Gran was fun and used to cook and craft with us all the time. She was an amazing knitter and seamstress. Used to tell me all about her childhood and family stories. She used to let us make a 'Dagwood' sandwich from old films - it was anything you like in layers and layers of sliced bread.
My children are very close to their grandparents too, only one left now. I really want to be that grandparent.

Granny made the most amazing gooseberry pie. She called us ‘lambie’. She had an infinite interest in people and new things
Grandad had an African Grey parrot that he let out of the cage - usually whilst we watched Dads army. My Granny taught the parrot to ‘dance’ to Scottish band music - much to my Grandads annoyance!

They loved each other for the better part of 70 years - and welcomed all into their family

Wonderful people

My granddad was Irish, his garden was very long and at the far end was a bit wild. He would take me up the garden and we would try to see the leprechauns who lived there. They were never around when I was visiting but I remember those hunts very fondly.

My grandparents used to take me and my Mum on holiday most years as Mum was a single parent and money was always tight. My Grandad would always buy me a rubber ring on the first day to bob along in the sea on all week. Grandad used to grow the most delicious vegetables in the garden so I remember him giving me tomatoes, peas, beans etc to taste. Playing Monopoly with Nan on Saturdays when my Mum was at work, she'd always let me win! Going with Grandad in his car to get fish and chips. Nan's ham, egg and chips that she'd cook me after school - the best! ❤️

My grandad used to collect the wildlife posters you used to be able to get from the Daily Mail (I think) and send them to me - this was about 15 years ago and I still have them now 🥰

I was very close to my maternal grandparents who gave us so much happier and richer a childhood than we would otherwise have had.

They had one of those VW camper vans with a loud air-cooled engine. They travelled all the way round Europe in that thing, including to some regions which were then behind the feared iron curtain. Gran always brought me back a doll in national costume. You could hear them coming from blocks and blocks away, and we'd be waiting for them by the door or gate. That camper van was our playhouse all through childhood. It was bought the year I was born, and my grandfather didn't sell it until I was 15.

My grandfather was a skilled carpenter and a very practical man - a standing family joke was that everything in their place was on castors and that if gran stood still long enough he'd put them on her too! He loved classical music and one abiding memory is of him clanking his ladders down the street in his blue dungarees and northerners' flat cap, whistling Vivaldi. He could whistle and sing beautifully, too.

My gran was the maternal sort and a very efficient housekeeper. Her cupboard under the stairs was packed with tins (a hangover from rationing?) and the house often smelled of clean baking and laundry. She sang a lot too - old music hall numbers mainly. The stories she used to tell about the war (they lived in one of the most heavily bombed regions in the UK) were better than anything I ever read in books. Grandfather was a nature-lover: we watched David Attenborough together and he taught me every bird song He knew. I've carried that love with me through life.

She was kind, wise and maternal, I could ask her anything and she'd help me find my own answers rather than providing them for me. And he was never without a joke or a funny quip. Just seeing him made your day.

It's odd someone has posted this thread. Around two weeks ago I visited the house they lived in until I was about 12. First time I'd seen it in years, and as a child it was the only place I ever felt safe. The front garden is exactly the same. And at the back of the house, the garage built by grandfather for his camper van is still there. Precisely the same one he built, the door had very distinctive panels, painted since their time but otherwise unchanged.

Love this thread and the chance to read of others' memories too. I was so lucky to have these wonderful people in my life.

My very tough and strong grandfather had a huge sharp knife that he used to remove splinters, completely painlessly. He was a woodworker and worked in the mills so he knew his way around splinters.

DD never met him but I told her he trained me and so she 'remembers' him too whenever she has a splinter.

Everything, every single thing. I loved them more than I've loved anybody other than my DC. I miss them so much

One granny, we used to go there a lot in school hols etc while parents worked, she used to just let us play while she did whatever household stuff she did. She was quite strict but hands off. Odd combo really! But I remember her teaching me to make a pasty (we're Cornish) I was about 4 or 5, I had to stand on a dining chair to reach the worktop. She's still alive, and she sent me home from dinner at her house a few years ago, with some cake on a plate. And I've kept the plate because it's one of the ones she taught me to cut around to get the pastry circle. I'm naughty, but she's not getting it back! she also used to give us sugar cubes when she made a cup of tea. They seemed really posh - I didn't know anyone else that bought cubes.

The other granny was completely different. She used to crawl around in her garden with us looking for fairies. Take us blackberry picking and we'd never bring any home, just eat colossal amounts straight from the hedge. She always had grapes, I used to stand and eat a whole bunch while I talked to her on the kitchen. Years later she told me she didn't like grapes, but always bought them if she knew I was coming. She always always had cake in a tin in the cupboard. We used to go the supermarket and buy weird exotic fruit we'd never heard of and plant the seeds - and they'd grow! She could grow anything. Her house was full of plants and weird nik naks and half finished craft projects. She died in her 90s and I have a half finished tapestry I remember being in her living room all through my childhood. I'm going to finish it for her.