Sometimes when I'm feeling low I delve back into memories of my past. I've said before I didn't have the best of childhoods but my one Aunty, Aunty Glad did her very best for me.
I absolutely loved it and while some of the stories revolved around Secret Societies, wrongly accused heroines, plucky girls getting caught up in some passing intrigue, ski trips, historical tales, it did occasionally stray into the supernatural tinged adventures.
Strange thing is it was written with middle class girls in view and I was well down in the pecking order of wealthy families.. It never occurred to me that I was so very different to them, I just accepted the stories as being there. I loved the 'Silent Three,' girls who got up to all sorts of scrapes. They were in a boarding school which was well beyond my imagination.. little did I guess that, at 12 years of age I too, was in a boarding school, which I loved.. I loved everything about it.
I shared a room with four other girls, one with whom I'm still in contact. Such a very happy time in my life, all paid for by my Aunty Glad. Such a lot to thank her for. When I was living in Essex and she was older, I used to visit her every third weekend, driving the 230 miles to see her. When she went through a bad state with arthritis in her knees I got a wheel chair from the Red Cross and we used to go to the prom for a delish ice cream, an escape from my gran for an hour or two and we drank coffee, probably Camp! Great times.
What about you, what are your happy childhood memories?
Chrisxx
8 comments:
Real Enid Blyton stuff. I love looking at pictures of old comics and periodicals for children. It was through them I firsts realised I could read. Mine were mainly Knockout, Dandy and Eagle, but I also took Famous Five and Secret Seven books from the library. Coincidentaly I have a part-written post on a similar subject.
Wasn't your Aunty Glad good to you! Like you, I would happily have driven all that distance as often as possible.
Thank you for this post. I smiled all the way through it.
They may have been class-ridden and class-driven, but comics like those were so innocent. Girls grow up so quickly now, with such dubious influences.
Your aunt was such a wonderful influence in your life. Great memories!
I remember getting Weekly Reader on Saturdays in the mail. If you didn't find me reading, I was riding my bike or playing with my dolls that I treated like real human babies. I love that you are still friends with people you knew from such a young age!
Childhood had it's ups and downs. Mostly Mother tried to make life pleasant. I did learn to read before I went to 1st grade at age 5. I love books ever since.
I used to buy books like that from jumble sales when I was growing up. I loved them! The whole boarding school thing didn't seem alien to me either, although I had absolutely no chance of ever going to one.
I love your memories of your aunt. I hope my nieces feel the same way about me. I also bought them subscriptions to magazines similar to what your got as a girl.
What a wonderful woman she must have been!
Despite being on the edge of poverty, my childhood was quite happy. We had no relatives close by, but I do remember fondly the 2 times our granny from England came for an extended stay. We adored her, and she loved us too--far different from my American grandmother who really did not like us at all---we always felt it but it was confirmed in her letters to her daughter, our aunt, which we found after our father's death. But we never doubted our Granny's love. She sent the sweetest boxes every Christmas, filled with inexpensive but very thoughtful, and very English gifts. And we would send her hankies we'd sewed, or pictures we'd made...great memories that make me smile.
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