May's bequests

May gave me these three figurines



and this book. I wonder how much it was used for family readings?


They are going to go "the way of all things I can't fit into my house any more... the Charity Shop", unless someone wants to claim them as a keepsake? I will keep them until June.

I hope they will bless the life of someone else as they have mine while I have had them.

Alice Mabel Strutt

I wondered what she was called? Glenn says he knew her as Maysie. Vi says she was called May.

And then a story:

May told Vi's mother, Emily, that she wasn't going to call her Emily... she was going to call her Martha.

So Emily said "Well then I will call you Maysie."

And so Maysie she became known as, as well as May.

I don't know if the Martha stuck!

Young Adult Dennis

Found whilst sorting out a cupboard.

Alice Mabel Strutt

I wonder what she was called... Alice or Mabel? Or perhaps something else.

Last night I asked Glenn what he remembered about his grandmother.

Cigarettes
Tea
The (wheelie) chair he made for her when she broke her leg: converted from a canvas garden chair, a plank and some wheels.
Yorkshire pudding
When she was making a point she would put her hands on her hips, stand with weight on her one leg and lean slightly forward (he showed me how)

Henry and Alice

Vi about her parents-in-law:

"They were different people. They used to go to the bioscope often and leave their children alone at home to fight it out. Dennis used to leave the house and go to the slimesdam and sit there until time for them to come home. If he didn't Wally and Reg would pick on him.

"In my family it was all about the children. My parents spent so much time in making us better children."

Henry Norman Bray

Vi (daughter-in-law) about him:

"He was such a quiet man. He would go to his garage and potter around and dust and polish his car. Later in the evening he would come into the kitchen and give her (Alice his wife) a peck on the forehead and say "Goodnight.""

Alice Mabel Strutt Bray

This evening sitting in the lounge: Vi (daughter-in-law about her mother in law)

"She was difficult to live with... and she had good things about her too. For all she called you (looking at Glenn - her grandson) "The Brass Band" she made you overalls! I didn't sew then and I was pleased to have them."

"She was a very upset lady when she came to us. Her husband had just died. They (I haven't yet established who) burnt all her photo albums before they brought her to us. She was very upset about that. They didn't tell me they were bringing her to stay with us. They just brought her. I had Wally and Phyl's kids with me. Luckily they took their kids with them. I had to put her (Alice) in the room with Brenda. But she smoked so much, and would be up in the night and Brenda couldn't stand it. So we moved Brenda onto the verandah. Glenn and Brenda shared a room until they got older. Dennis later made a porch for Glenn to sleep in."

"She used to sit in the kitchen and knit and sew. I used to go in and say goodnight to her... I knew she just wanted to talk. She would talk and talk and I just listened. She asked me why I was praying. I was listening with my hands in a praying position. I just prayed that she would finish talking! I had heard the stories before. In the end I would say 'Well, I'm off to bed Mom'"

"If I had known better then, I would have been kinder to her. I ask forgiveness for how I treated her."

Henry Norman Bray

I found this in my cupboard whilst cleaning up.

Henry Norman Bray, Dennis' father, was a member of The Sons of England.