TALES OF MY PARENTS
-oOo-
-oOo-
This series contains a number of stories about my parents. The series is divided into two sections: firstly, a series of Tales of My Father, followed by a series of Tales of My Mother. However, the majority of tales will deal both of my parents, but since my mother would have played the major role, they have been included in her section.
Some of the tales will be amusing while others will be of a more serious nature. Whatever the type of story and whatever section they appear in, I hope the reader will enjoy them.
-oOo-
MY FATHER – INTRODUCTION
-oOo-
My Father ……. Jack-of-all-Trades, Master-of-None ……. an enigma
-oOo-
What can I say about my father? Indeed, what can I say about him besides his being mostly an unknown quantity to both my mother and me! Perhaps he is best summed up as an enigma!
Certainly I would like to say that he was the best husband and father, but in all honesty, I can not. I would also like to say that he was the most thoughtful and caring of fathers, but again, I cannot in all good conscious say this either.
So what was my father like, the reader may ask? There lies the rub for this is not an easy question to answer I am sorry to say. To be honest, I am not certain that I can actually answer this question sincerely. However, after some thought, I can perhaps talk about him with more honesty if I consider what he was not!
Like many people, only a mass of contradictions seem best to describe my father. However, I think that it is only fair to say that I believe his difficulties and problems stem from certain childhood ailments that were not recognised (i.e., Absence Seizures (Petit Mal) and possibly a Childhood Behavioural Disorder – but more of this at a later time). I feel certain that these medical problems affected his schooling.
My father had no interest in education and had hated school. I remember him telling us that he never learned much while there including how to read. He admitted that he did not attend school often and was scolded often by his parents for not paying attention and for his lack of interest. He said that he taught himself to read once he left school.
During my childhood, my father was perhaps at his most irresponsible and did not seem to know that being married and having a child brought responsibility. To be honest, I cannot honestly recall if my father offered me any advice or had any impute into my upbringing.
Perhaps my father was not exactly the best husband and father, however, there were a few occasions when he came close to being awarded these accolades. Perhaps he was not the most reliable and dependable man alive, yet again, there were times when he surprised us. In keeping with his contradictory nature and behaviour, he could be amusing, irritating, hilarious, unkind, thoughtless, charming, careless, demanding, easy-going, difficult-to-get-along-with, as well as sulky bordering on childish and intolerant.
Despite this mass of contradictions, one thing about him I can be certain of was his ability to always be entertaining ……. very entertaining! Few people that I have met in my life have been able to make me laugh until my sides ached as he could with ease, both from the telling and retelling of his stories, as well as from his behaviour.
-oOo-
Despite my overall inability to describe my father’s virtues, one thing that I can say about him was that he was almost universally loved by dogs and babies! Of yes, he also made the best cup of tea that I have ever tasted! And I doubt if I shall taste such a delicious drink again!
I feel that I also need to add that although I am hoping to be brutally honest in my writings about my father, the reader should in no way assume that I did not love him and that I hold animosity against him. I miss him and, where necessary, have forgiven him for his faults, failings, indiscretions and inabilities.
-oOo-
MY MOTHER – INTRODUCTION
-oOo-
My Mother at The Vatican, 1966
-oOo-
To best describe what my mother was like, I think it would be best to say that she was the opposite to my father! For example, my mother was very much a dependable person who remained steadfast and true, whereas my father occasionally lacked loyalty and very often let one down in a situation. She was more often supportive of my plans when I was young whereas my father lacked the patience to listen to them.
As I said earlier, my father was at his most irresponsible when I was young. As a result, I was brought up by my mother.
Unlike my father, my mother knew the value of education, and knew that without it, one was doomed to living a mundane and unfulfilled life. She was also practical and realised that without a decent education, one was destined to a low-paying and perhaps uninteresting job. My mother never attended school very often, but this was through no fault of her own. She said that she spent more time in hospital than school. This was the result of violence heaped on her by her stepfather and from malnutrition. Most of her school years were spent on her knees scrubbing for the more wealthy people living on Hackney Road, and all monies earned were promptly taken from her and spent by her stepfather and mother in the Pub. To say that my mother had a hard life and perhaps one reminiscent of a Dickens‘ novel, would be an understatement, as some of her stories will reveal.
-oOo-
I hope that this series of tales amuses you as much as they did me, both then and now.
-oOo-
Hello Charles. Great to read your website, particularly about Slough & Langley and your comments headed “Slough in the 1950s and 1960s” on the Slough History online. My interested in Slough comes from the fact that my parents and I moved to Slough in 1958 where we lived at 7 Malpas Rd off Wexham Road near two schools, the infant school and Upton Lea Junior school (now gone) both of which I attended. After passing my 11 plus in 1965, I went to Slough Technical High School on Northampton Ave until 1970. After, I completed my A levels at Slough College of Higher Education, I started my own business in 1972 manufacturing plastic wallets in premises that were on Mill Street off Petersfield Ave, they were old ramshackle buildings now gone. In 2019 I went to Mill street, wow, what a change the only building remaining from the 1970s is now the Active8 Gym and my old premises are now a modern tall office block . I also knew Langley fairly well as my best friend lived in Trelawney Avenue and I sometimes stayed there in the late 1960s/early 1970s, ha ha, we also went to pop festivals like Isle of Wight and Hyde Park on my motorbike. Anyway, I have very fond memories of living in Slough and the surrounding area and like yourself, I too have parents and grandparents buried in the area at St Mary’s Farnham Royal Church. Unfortunately, I don’t often get chance to go back as I retired to Berwick upon Tweed on the Scottish Border in 2018. Thank you very much for the website memories and information about Slough. Pete
Pete: Thanks for letting me know about your visit to my website and the pleasure that it gave you. Your kind comments are greatly appreciated. Charles