Chapter Five

Paternal Grandparents

My paternal Grandfather, named Stanley Edward Wood, was a Methodist lay preacher, which meant he preached now and then in the church he went to and in other local churches. Probably, it also meant he could help with certain services taking place in the church and possibly communion. I think at that time he went to St Marks' Baptist Church. I feel so sad to say that I never heard him preach. My dad once asked me if I ever heard him preach and by what he said, he was a good preacher and my dad was always very proud of him. I called my grandfather Grandad.

Grandad was quite tall for his generation, about 5 feet 10 inches and he was quite well built. He always wore a hearing aid and he had a 'Hitler' moustache which I never liked at all! He was in India in the army during the Great War (WW1) and during WW2 he was an ARP warden, going around making sure no lights were showing in houses and he knew First Aid which he used on any casualties they found when digging out bombed houses.

I am very proud of all that he accomplished in his lifetime. He was a very good role model. My dad loved him very much and he was certainly a father and grandfather deserving of respect.

At my church, Easton Road Methodist, Grandad ran a mid week club called 'Christian Endeavour' which sounds very Victorian now. I longed to be old enough to join it as my sister went, but it was disbanded due to lack of support as the congregation dwindled down. This happened a lot in the 1950's.

As a younger man, Grandad worked as a tanner working with leather. Later in life, he worked at Clifton College which was a boy's school. I think as a caretaker of sorts.

Grandad was a terrible tease and as a child I didn't like it, but I loved him very much and he always had a twinkle in his blue eyes. He used to hug me very tightly. It was very much like a bear hug, squeezing the life out of me. His wife, my Grandmother, was called Florence May and he either called her 'Mother' or 'Flo.' I spent a lot of time with them both and Grandma, as I called her, taught me to play lots of games and cards in particular, which I have always loved. I love nothing better than a game of Wist! The four of us used to play now and then and I always partnered my lovely dad and my sister partnered my lovely mum.

Once a week I used to go to my grandparents house for tea. My sister was doing something else and never came with me. Grandma used to make lovely cakes with a cherry on the top. She made no other cakes than this, but it didn't matter as they were the loveliest cakes of all. Unfortunately, we didn't ask her for the recipe and, although nice, our fairy cakes are nothing like hers. She often gave me Ribena blackcurrant drink which was a real treat for me. We had bread and butter, jam, cheese and meat or fish paste sandwiches. She used to make a white blancmange with cornflour and sometimes she made a strawberry flavoured milk jelly. I loved it; well I am a foodie and everyone knows it!

Grandma encouraged my love of Rupert Bear and she cut out the stories from the newspaper and stuck them into scrap books. I read them often and for Christmas she bought me Rupert Bear annuals. Rupert Bear will always be my favourite children's story, although I have a fondness of others as well. I still have four of my Rupert Bear books.

My school friend, Geraldine sometimes came to play with me at Grandma's house. I think she came to tea sometimes too. She lived three doors down across the back lane. She was my closest friend at the time. Every week I was given sixpence pocket money to spend at the shop. I always bought a bag of penny sweets or a chocolate bar. There was a bar of chocolate then called 'Five Boys' which was Cadbury's chocolate with the faces of five boys printed on it. I think the first face was happy and the last one was in tears. How funny is that! I loved it, of course. Cadbury's is still my favourite today. If Geraldine was with me, she would get sixpence as well.

Grandad loved his little garden and had a pink Hydrangea shrub in the corner, I hated it at the time, but I love it now! He had green fingers and I think I've got those genes from Grandad. He always had an allotment where he grew vegetables. I stick to flowers, I'm not good at fruit or veg.

There was a concrete air raid shelter in their small garden and one time Geraldine and I played in there making it into a den. It didn't last long as it was dark and damp!

It has made me feel quite sad thinking about my grandparents. They were very kind hearted, upright people. I never heard them quarrel or say unkind words to one another ever, although Grandad would get very cross about things now and then. (I think I take after him!) Grandad could look quite stern at times, my cousin was a bit scared of him, but he was never stern with me or my sister. Grandad always carried Nuttals Mintoes in his pocket, which were cream coloured creamy mint sweets. I think they still make them, they were lovely. He sometimes had a tin of Fisherman's Friends (strong cough sweets) or a tin of tiny black things called Negroids. I think these were a strange taste, maybe also for coughs or colds.

My grandparents old Victorian house was demolished to make way for a new nursery school in later years and they moved out of the area to Fishponds. I saw them less frequently after that. Grandad started a worship group in Fishpond's community centre and was very much a part of it. He was the kind of man people could respect. Unfortunately, he grew very deaf with old age and it was very hard for anyone to communicate with him and he fell into a silent little world of his own at the end. 

Grandad still had an allotment which he dug until the age of 86 and he died of old age when he was 88. My son was six weeks old when he died. My Grandmother died of breast cancer three years later, my daughter was six weeks old when she died. If ever there were bitter-sweet moments in my life, it was then.

My old school was pulled down a few years later and a new school built and the road my grandparents lived on was swallowed up and disappeared within the grounds, although some houses either side still remain today.

I will say more about my paternal grandmother in a later episode.