Sunday 3 May 2015

Ada...


Hello my lovelies!

Thank you for all your beautiful comments following my last post.
It's really lovely to know that reading my ramblings makes some of you smile.

When I started this new blog I was adamant it was to be just about my work, but, knowing the chatterbox that I am I'm sure you're not surprised to hear that I felt I wanted to share this little gem of a story with you all...




The Little Things...

As many of you know I live in the Cambridgeshire Fens... an area of the country that is well known for it's eerie Fen mists, folklore and flat arable farming land.
It is the backbone for producing a variety of arable goods and all my ancestors have all worked on the land and been Ag Labs ( aka farm workers)


I haven't moved very far from my birth town (all of twenty miles) but to the rest of our family we were considered as the rebels of the family for moving so far away!

I have been exploring my family history for a few years now, and with the fabulous bonus of the internet I have been able to find out some wonderful snippets of every day information that are priceless to me to add to my collection of memories, tales and photos.

So why am I writing all this?

I was blessed with two sets of Grandparents but sadly I never got to know one of my Nans.
I was this age the last time I actually saw her and so know very little about her....
(I'm the gorgeous one on the left!)




Doing the research I managed to find out all the facts about her....you know her birth date, her wedding date, her death date etc but I've always wanted more....

I firmly believe you are the person you are because of your background, your genes, your memories etc but more importantly your soul carries those blood lines onto a new generation.

I only have a couple of photos of my Nan...
Here she is at my parents wedding in 1964.

She is the lady next to my Dad (on the left of the picture)


I follow a few groups on Facebook and when a lovely stranger posted the following photograph at Christmas asking for more information, I was convinced that my Nan was in the group as I so look like her....


I didn't have a lot to work on as she is the lady on the end of the photo wearing a beret.
After sending a message to the lady who posted it I received such a beautiful present....
She had asked her Mum (who was in the picture also) if she knew my Nan and if so what memories....

I was delighted with her reply!


She told me my Nan was a cheerful lady who was well known for her hard work.
Nothing seemed to bother her and she would muck in with what needed to be done.
Following that news feed for a couple of days, another two photos were added by another stranger...



Now I could see my Nan and get to know her a little more...
She is a little older than I am now in these pictures.
Apparently she was well known for wearing a beret at work and in winter I live in mine too!

***
Hopefully I can capture her strong Fen spirit and create a beautiful collage to add to my family history collection that highlights the every day delights of her Fen life. 
I want to do her justice in highlighting her ethos for hard work and getting on with things no matter what....something I know I've inherited from both of my Nans!
I know life was never easy for her and she endured many hardships making her a tough old boot as they would say now but i know that family was her number one priority.
She loved nothing more than having everyone round a table of home baked food

 Often the simplest of details can lead to so many questions being answered by future generations....


I'm going to write down as many memories I have of her and include them in my collage with some hand embroidery alongside my treasured photographs printed onto fabrics.
It will be a long term project, a labour of love you might say that I can indulge in whenever I have some 'me time'



I am so  delighted at having found a small snippet of her life's patchwork simply through the kindness of a stranger's uploading of photos...

My only sadness in this tale is that I would love to have chatted with her as an adult and told her that her little curly haired granddaughter now appears on TV...
wears a beret just like her...
and has inherited her recognisable chubby cheeks, square chin and untamed wild Fen hair!

Watch this space my lovelies for my little collage 
which will be aptly named .... 'Tales of a Fen Spirit - Ada'


Ada Davison (nee Marshall)
 aka my Nan I never got to know...


Tilly
x x x

1 comment:

  1. What a lovely story Tilly, just shows how wonderful the internet can be!!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for popping by today and leaving a little message
I love to hear your thoughts and appreciate your fabulous snippets that make me smile....

Tilly x