My grandma - My dad's mum
My grandma who is my dad’s mum was born in Worthing, England. She came to New Zealand by an old ship in 1955. She said that this trip to come here took six weeks. Her house that she and her family lived in while they were in England was a semi-detached house which had three bedrooms, one bathroom upstairs and a living room and kitchen downstairs. In New Zealand, she said that they had a typical house in the 1950s which had three bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen and a dining room. There were four people that lived in their house. These four people were her, her brother and their parents. She recalls her house being pretty noisy at the weekends when they had friends and relatives around at theirs. As a child she was involved with girl guides untill she was asked to leave. Sh ealso had many hobbies when she was younger like reading and jigsaw puzzles which she still loves to do to this day and she also useed to run around with her friends in the reserve near her house.
My grandma said that she went to Sunday School as a child for a year or two but decided that it wasn't for her.
When asked what her earliest memory was, she could recall quite a few. Some of these were: playing in the park at the top of their road and picking bluebells; knocking on the wall between their house and next door to wake up her friend George (that’s how thin the walls were); having her hair put in ‘rags’ so it would curl.
Her mother left all her family behind when her mum and father emigrated to NZ which my grandma thought was very brave of her. Her mother never regretted living in New Zealand though. Patricia's father’s aunts and uncle were like grandparents as they brought him up. They used to go and see them every Sunday by taxi (they paid for it). Her aunt Elsie was a fabulous cook and we always had a roast with Yorkshire pudding. Her father was quite strict but also they had some fun times. She said her mum was the one they went to when they needed advice or a cuddle!
My grandma never knew her paternal grandparents or her maternal grandfather. But her grandmother (my grandma's mum’s mum) was a real matriarch. She lived with her and her aunt when my grandma went to the UK (at 20 years old) and she scared the hell out of my grandmother even then.
