Grandads

[Section_31]

Started a similar thread ages ago but can't find it...

 

Found out recently my grandad was on first name terms with Roger Moore. Me grandad was a railway guard and he had an 'office' basically a luggage cage and a desk. Moore used to come and sit with him because he couldn't be arsed with passengers mithering him, and they'd sit there for the whole journey talking about racing and footy and generally putting the world to rights.

 

He also got sacked from his first job as a 16-year-old in Dunlops in Speke for 'persistent welly wanging'.  

 

Was boss my grandad. My dad fucked off when I was two and my step dad was a shithead, so my grandad was my dad and just generally fucking ace. Proper man's man but in an understated way. Stubble that could cut diamonds, old spice, and the DIY skills that could pretty much fix anything. 

 

Grandads in general a like dads without the bad bits. They have less the stress of work, realise what they've missed out on when their kids were growing up and are much more laid back and appreciative of  their time with you.  

 

 

[Bjornebye]

Grandads are boss. Agreed. Both of mine have passed on now like. 

 

My Dads dad died when I was about 6. The family used to call him (and still refer to him as) Pop. Union man , worked for the BICC Cables in Prescot for years. Big fat cigar smoker. Strict but apparently a very dry sense of humour. Season ticket holder at Anfield road, Kemlyn Road. Still got a picture of me, Pop and the boxer Brian London on holiday in Rhodes. Apparently I was punching Brian London because I heard he was a boxer. I was about 5. 

 

My mums Dad passed away a year and a half ago. The dreaded C. Lived a boss life, ex army, travelled the world all his life, owned a farm and a stationary business. Very well off. Keen golfer, absolutely loved it and spent a year as captain of West Derby golf club which was probably in his eyes the absolute pinnacle. 

[Remmie]

Both my biological grandads died before I was born, while my parents were still children. My grandma remarried to a great bloke who is my grandad in every way that counts. Incredible fitness, last year him and his partner cycled from Leeds to Krakow on a tandem in a month. Not sure how old he is but over 80

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Mum’s Dad was ace, Boy Soldier from 14, Despatch Rider in the war.

Drank with Sam Wanamaker when he ran the Shakespeare Theatre in town for a few years. Him and my Nan brought me up for a few years. Lived with them until they died.

 

Dad’s Dad was a Bank Robber. Won’t say too much more. 

[lifetime fan]

Think I’ve posted this before.

 

My Grampher was a local labour councillor for decades and he and my Nan were invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace. 

 

As a proud Cork man and a republican he initially refused to go until my Nan made him. 

 

My Nan and Grampher are in line to meet the queen, just as she’s approaching my Nan looks to her side to find my Grampher had done a runner. 

 

As she’s meeting the queen she can see my Grampher stealing cuttings from one of the queens rose bushes. 

[Bjornebye]

5 minutes ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

Mum’s Dad was ace, Boy Soldier from 14, Despatch Rider in the war.

Drank with Sam Wanamaker when he ran the Shakespeare Theatre in town for a few years. Him and my Nan brought me up for a few years. Lived with them until they died.

 

Dad’s Dad was a Bank Robber. Won’t say too much more. 

But he never hurt nobody 

[Tony Moanero]

Both of my grandads were brilliant. Sadly, both died of Cancer when I was a kid. My maternal grandfather at 66 when I was 5 and my paternal grandfather at 69 when I was 11.

 

Seems daft now but my maternal grandfather’s ambition was to take me for my first pint. He also had plans to take me on holiday, just he and I, for some proper grandfather and grandson bonding, once I started primary school and was old enough to appreciate it.

 

My paternal grandfather was ace, too. He seldom drank, preferring a cup of tea and a biscuit. He loved Walnut Whips (in the days when there were two walnuts per sweet - one in the inside and one on top) and Cadbury Flakes. His favourite television programme was Antiques Roadshow, even though he never showed any inclination to buy or own antiques. He couldn’t stand James Bond films. His catchphrase was “James Bond - seen one, seen them all”.  

 

I wish I had a DeLorean, so I could spend a few more hours with them.

[VladimirIlyich]

45 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

Started a similar thread ages ago but can't find it...

 

Found out recently my grandad was on first name terms with Roger Moore. Me grandad was a railway guard and he had an 'office' basically a luggage cage and a desk. Moore used to come and sit with him because he couldn't be arsed with passengers mithering him, and they'd sit there for the whole journey talking about racing and footy and generally putting the world to rights.

 

He also got sacked from his first job as a 16-year-old in Dunlops in Speke for 'persistent welly wanging'.  

 

Was boss my grandad. My dad fucked off when I was two and my step dad was a shithead, so my grandad was my dad and just generally fucking ace. Proper man's man but in an understated way. Stubble that could cut diamonds, old spice, and the DIY skills that could pretty much fix anything. 

 

Grandads in general a like dads without the bad bits. They have less the stress of work, realise what they've missed out on when their kids were growing up and are much more laid back and appreciative of  their time with you.  

 

 

Both my Grandads died over a decade before I was born so obviously I never had any Grandads.It was one of the things I've most regretted about my whole life and I was really jealous of kids at school who would talk about their Grandads all the time. Both my Nan's were ace to be fair but it would have been great to have had a Grandad growing up and its made me determined to be a good one when my kids have kids of their own. 

[Section_31]

21 minutes ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

Mum’s Dad was ace, Boy Soldier from 14, Despatch Rider in the war.

Drank with Sam Wanamaker when he ran the Shakespeare Theatre in town for a few years. Him and my Nan brought me up for a few years. Lived with them until they died.

 

Dad’s Dad was a Bank Robber. Won’t say too much more. 

Outstanding on both counts.

[Mook]

I've been pretty lucky, my Dad's Dad was a great man who was a maths teacher & tennis coach, he helped my brother & me with out maths homework for an hour every night for a year & we both pissed our exams, he also helped us play tennis to a decent level & was an MBE for his services to the sport (although he never really wanted it). He died a couple of years back unfortunately.

 

My other grandpa (we call him Papa) is still kicking about, he was World archery champion a couple of times in the 70s and is probably one of the funniest people in the World, when he cracks up, the whole rooms cracks up with him.

 

I also had a great grandpa until I was a teenager, he was famous for poaching fish & used to pull 10ps out from behind your ear every 20 minutes.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

18 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

But he never hurt nobody 

Not to my knowledge squire. 

[SasaS]

Both died a long time ago.

My maternal grandfather survived a political assassination attempt after the WWII in ex-Yu when grandma had to take one for the team. The assassin fired through the bedroom window but had wrong information about the sleeping arrangement so he hit grandma instead. Fortunately she survived, full of shot.

They had  two elderly spinsters living with them in the cottage and one of them, while they all panicked, on being yelled at "do something, she is bleeding", grabbed some kind of a washbowl and put it under the bed so the floor wouldn't get dirty.

They lived like characters in some dark comedy.
 

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Would've loved to have met mine, but sadly both were gone before I was born. All their stuff was cleared out, and I couldn't even keep my maternal grandfather's titfer, as it upset my mum too much.

 

My nan was great though, we bonded over a mutual appreciation of me. Nans know the youngest is the best.

[Strontium]

11 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

Think I’ve posted this before.

 

My Grampher was a local labour councillor for decades and he and my Nan were invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace. 

 

As a proud Cork man and a republican he initially refused to go until my Nan made him. 

 

My Nan and Grampher are in line to meet the queen, just as she’s approaching my Nan looks to her side to find my Grampher had done a runner. 

 

As she’s meeting the queen she can see my Grampher stealing cuttings from one of the queens rose bushes. 

 

My dad's dad was also a Labour councillor and from Cork. He was the first GP in Huyton and would have been MP for St Helens had he not been persuaded to stand aside by party bigwigs. Always a dutiful party man, he obliged. Years later he was very badly let down by his friend Harold Wilson. Huyton was in desperate need of a new hospital and my grandfather made it his personal mission to get one. Before he was party leader, Wilson had promised him that, were he ever in a position to deliver it, then he would have his hospital in Huyton. My grandfather secured an agreement from Lord Derby that land at Knowsley Hall could be used for the hospital, but Wilson - now Prime Minister - reneged on his earlier promise. That was pretty much the end for my distraught grandfather's involvement in politics, and he died a few years later, over a decade before I was born.

 

My mum's dad I did at least meet a few times, though my mother was not especially close to her parents. He was not a particularly great character. A compulsive gambler, he would even steal from his children's piggy banks for betting money. He was nevertheless a clever man with a great love of plants who cultivated an impressive garden in what was otherwise a crappy house in Speke.

[Section_31]

My grandad is probably the main reason I'm not fucked up (I don't think). 

 

My dad was a bum, used to spend our rent money on guitars and bike parts and the like then fucked off. My step dad was a bum and extremely mentally unstable, and just a twat really.

 

My grandad though sort of showed me that parental love isn't about big gestures, it was about the little things. Coming to pick you up from school early when you're sick, coming to watch you at sports day with a bottle of lemo and some crisps (even though you never win).

 

Some of my happiest memories are of doing some reasonably mundane things with him. Going to walk the dog at Oglet shore and it started raining, so we built a shelter out of a car bonnet from a burned out car wreck, sat under it with his radio playing to wait out the rain. 

 

Going around arcades in Wales when we were on holiday, he'd be on the fruit machines and I'd be on the games, if I ran out of coins he'd give me some more from his winnings.  

 

He was reasoned, stable, reliable - everything those men weren't. Also unlike them he was a grafter and would bike it miles to work in the rain well into his 50s. And he just had time for me, unlike the others. If I ever have a kid that's what I'll do, make sure I just give them my time. 

 

 

 

[Captain Howdy]

Maternal or Paternal Secsh?

[ZonkoVille77]

My Maternal Grandad was an alco. Never abusive to anyone or anything like that but just put drink before his 9 kids and called all his grandchildren by the only names he ever cared to remember. Apparently he started drinking when his brother had to leave Ireland and went to the US due to IRA related activities and he really missed him. He would be 91 if he was alive today. Originally from Waterford but lived and died in Dublin. 

 

My Paternal Grandad I never really knew. Originally from somewhere near South Wales, he moved back to the UK from Ireland when we in turn moved back to Ireland from the UK when I was a kid. That overlap meant we never really saw him and when my folks split up I was defo never going to see him. Apparently I get my musical love from him. Not sure what he was like as a father so can't really say much about him. 

 

My kids grandad on my wife's side is ace and would do anything for his kids. A great benchmark for me in the future. 

[Section_31]

9 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

Maternal or Paternal Secsh?

Maternal mate.

 

My paternal grandad was ace but I only saw him once a week. He had tremendous nose hairs.  

 

He worked as the manager in a famous army stores but used to dress really dapper, braces on the kecks and nice overcoats. He loved cigars too. Me mum reckons that's where I get it from, when I was in uni I used to always dress dapper while everyone else was in the scruff. Used to smoke cigars too until the insurance went up.

 

Him and my nan were darts captains of their teams at dunnies social club in Speke. He'd retire to the bedroom about seven and watch telly all night. Again, a lifestyle I could relate to until I got married. 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

When my maternal Grandad was younger he also work as a caretaker in Liverpool University. He was very good with numbers and would occasionally correct an equation he would find on a blackboard whilst changing bulbs or fixing desks.

He was watched doing this one day by a Professor of Dead Hard Maths and the Professor took the credit and got him sacked. 

[Edward.]

.

[Edward.]

Easier to post this. He was an Evertonian and took me to my first match at Goodison 4 - 4 against Newcastle, just didn't seem right to me. Didn't really know my Mums Dad. I know he used to drive trains.

 

[Bjornebye]

19 minutes ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

When my maternal Grandad was younger he also work as a caretaker in Liverpool University. He was very good with numbers and would occasionally correct an equation he would find on a blackboard whilst changing bulbs or fixing desks.

He was watched doing this one day by a Professor of Dead Hard Maths and the Professor took the credit and got him sacked. 

He had an impressive hair-do as well mate

 

[magicrat]

My parents were both the oldest siblings so by the time I came along the three surviving Grandparents were old . I still have fond memories mind you especially on the maternal side. 

I got a lot of  information about Liverpool and its history from them.  They were all gone by the time I reached adulthood and like lots of people I guess I wish I could go back and ask them lots of questions. I think about them more the older I get 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

I was lucky, out of my 8 grand/ great grandparents I remember 7. Only one died before I was born.

[SasaS]

My maternal grandfather died when I was a child and I caught only his seriously declining years, after his stroke, so didn't really get to meet the real man, paternal granddad died almost 20 years before I was born. I did get to hear a lot of stories about them as they were both characters, and as I get older I tend to recognize more of me in them, and much less in my father, who I am very unlike.

Both granddads were contrarians and it seems liked to shirk from responsibility a bit, the paternal one quite literally, he was a POW during the WW1 / Great October in Russia and it was rumored he left a wife and three children behind somewhere in Siberia when he finally returned home. He also lived in the US as a very young man and worked as coalminer, returned home because he allegedly got sick but there were also rumors he ran away either from "paternal responsibility" or decided back breaking work wasn't for him. The other one also wasn't exactly a grafter, if my grandma was to be believed.

I know next to nothing about the next generation, which I increasingly regret as I get older. I may end up as one of those boring fuckers researching ancestry websites.