Nana

 E is for Elizabeth, Elizabeth Elen to be precise, my nana, or grandma a term many of you will use more frequently. My middle name was after nana and our middle goose, Dolly was named again in memory of this great person.

My mum's mum, (my nana) was a Schumacher.
ie, her maiden name was Schumacher before she married my grandad, a farmer from Thetford in Norfolk, when her name changed to "Self"
Her dad was german and moved to England when the unrest in Germany started.
He was a clockmaker.
He moved his family to York, where he had a clockmaking shop.

When the war started he had his shop windows smashed repeatedly, so he moved his family.

I wonder if I am related to the legend F1 driver?

As I explained , mum secured a job as a secretary at ICI Wilton when I was a child. Whilst she was there she met Jack, a great friend who took a shine to mum and wanted to help her get the house sorted. As electronics was his speciality he helped with the re-wiring and other electrical stuff!

Mum eventually introduced him to her own parents.
My Grandad, a man of few words took him out for a walk!
He wanted to know his intentions as Mum had been through so much.
Jack assured him he had her and mine best interests at heart.
Grandad was re-assured and a great friendship was kindled between them.


My Nana really took a shine to Jack.
He would sit with her and talk about this that and the other.
Nana was ill and as her health deteriorated in 1970 we kew she was gravely ill.
On one of his visits as jack sat with Nana she drew him close and asked him to promise he would look after Madge and Denise....he promised.
On June 17th, 1970, Nana died.

I rember nana quite vividly. The storiesour family recall show a family, who, although surrounded by adversity and limited funds had a rich dialogue of their exploits which remain with me to this day. I guess this is where I get my love of story telling from. Tears would flow down our cheeks as each family member recalled events, which however sad were always laughed through, with great understanding.

I remember nana always in the kitchen cooking, fatty cakes, a very basic scone mixture served with gravy.

I still use her green gravy jug which has been used for the same purpose for 3 generations.

I guess I have to keep to some chronological format and write more about my early years.I am going to have to set the scene and this means I have to tackle F for Father.