Longtime Ago People

What Do We Inherit Beyond Our Names

• M I L E S • Season 2 • Episode 4

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Jim & George - Ian 1947

grandfather/father/son 

A family line can stretch across continents and still feel like one village street. In this episode, I sit down with my second cousin Ian, and we unspool a life that begins in Windhoek, runs through Cape Town and “East London”, South Africa, and eventually finds its footing back in Sussex after his father’s illness forces a return none of them expected. The grief in that chapter is real and immediate, but what follows is practical, determined, and brave: his mother retraining at night school, finding work in Portslade, and rebuilding a home almost from scratch.

What gives Ian’s story its heartbeat is his grandfather, Jim — a restless Sussex character who auctioneered cattle and furniture, bought the Three Tuns, and, by moonlight, muffled horses’ hooves to haul French brandy over the Downs. He rented out his bathroom on Fridays, posted auction bills from a black trade bike, and taught two wide‑eyed boys to fish eels from the River Adur, pluck chickens, and turn allotment rows into dinner. These scenes of rural English life sit beautifully alongside Ian’s sharp memories of South Africa: Manikin Cigars flying from a carnival float, a grassfire racing up a hillside, and a beach lagoon walled off against sharks.

Years later, Ian and his brother return just before the COVID shutdown, driving the Garden Route in a Mercedes van, weighing up Cape Town property by wind and elevation, and confronting East London’s uneasy streets lined with wire and idle youth. Somewhere in the middle of all this, an almost‑career in aviation gives way to a calling discovered by chance in a sixth‑form classroom — a reminder of how a single opportunity can quietly redirect a life.

If you’re drawn to family history, migration stories, and the quiet heroism of starting over, this conversation blends memoir, social history, and the kind of details you can smell and taste: mackerel teas, blue paint on your hands, and the hush of horses crossing the Downs. 

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SPEAKER_01:

Today I'm actually joined by my second cousin. Ian, I'm glad you pointed that out to me because I wasn't quite sure where where you did fit in in my family tree. Um and of course it wasn't until you told me that uh our grandmothers were actually sisters. So we're gonna we're gonna dig into that today.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Um I'm gonna talk to you today, Ian, I think about just growing up in in Sussex and and and South Africa, and just tell me a little bit about your parents, your grandparents, and anything else. Stenning. Were you born? I couldn't pronounce it when I looked at it on your email.

SPEAKER_00:

It's actually pronounced the Windhoek.

SPEAKER_01:

Windhoek.

SPEAKER_00:

This German speaking area.

SPEAKER_01:

And whereabouts now?

SPEAKER_00:

South West Africa. We were South African by birth because my father was South African. The stupid thing is that the whole of the family are English, including his parents. But because they went to South Africa and he was born in South Africa, he became South African. Right. And well, I was born out there, and my brother was born out there. We were all South African. But of course, when we came back here, my mum said, you didn't need to decide whether you want UK citizenship or whether you want to remain South African. And I applied. How old were you then? Oh I was six when we came over. I then worked in in London. I was teaching in London and decided to make the application to go UK citizen. If you're older, the amount of stuff they can check it was unbelievable. They went into your family, they went into your uh neighbours and went knocking on the door asking if you're if you're reputable or not. And you had to fill this bloody great form.

SPEAKER_01:

So you had been back what ten years by then? Oh yeah, yeah, easily. So obviously we've got this shared family connection. Yeah. Um I didn't I didn't realise there was a gap. I thought you were the same generation as my mum, but in fact you're the same generation as me. So yeah, it's so yeah, so your grandmother and my grandmother were sisters. Sisters. So we've got the same great grandmother. I guess that's the way of looking at it.

SPEAKER_00:

But um yours were Regate, weren't they? Yeah, yeah. Which is why your grandmother is called Helen, but we always refer to as Ray.

SPEAKER_01:

Then let's talk about your parents. What's your first memory of both your parents?

SPEAKER_00:

My mother was Joyce Elsie Taylor. She was born in Stenning in West Sussex. Lovely little village there. My father was George Parkinson Howcroft, and the Parkinson goes right the way through his family. Originally came from Manchester, but his parents then immigrated to South Africa. So he's, as I said, he was born South African. They met in the RAF during the Second World War. My mother was a radio operator based in Tangmir. Because she was in Tangmir, her youngest, younger brother Colin, used to get on his bike from Stenning and cycle right over the downs down to Tangmir every weekend to collect her washes to get back.

SPEAKER_01:

That's that's that's quite a long way.

SPEAKER_00:

It's it's uh about 50 miles on a return journey. Yeah, and again, all over the downs, you know, south downs.

SPEAKER_01:

South downs, and of course Tangmer's just outside Chichester, so it is kind of a journey. It's quite a way.

SPEAKER_00:

So my my parents got married, they married in Steny, but they decided to go to for a better life in South Africa. And um your grandparents attended the the wedding. Okay. I was born in 1947 in Vintuk in South Africa, South West Africa. Now I'm in Namibia. Um my father was an accountant who worked for South African Railways, and most of his family actually ran the railways out there. Unfortunately, my my father developed a brain tumour, which resulted in his face falling on one side. As a result, they moved to Cape Town to attend hospital specialists there. My mother was told that there are two types of tumour, a male one, which predictably is very hard and is easy to remove. And the other one is a female one, which unless you get every single part out, the thing grows again. And because of the position of it at the back of his head, they had to operate from two different, or said that they would have to operate from two different directions. Needless to say, my mother felt that uh she was absolutely distraught and felt that sorry.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no worries.

SPEAKER_00:

Felt that English doctors were likely to have a greater knowledge and skills. Um and so in 1952 we sailed back to England for the coronation of the Queen, the Queen Elizabeth II, and to see London hospital doctors. So how old were you? To visit my grandparents. I was six at the time, so it was six years after that. He'd promised that he would bring her back. They confirmed that the tumour was a soft type, and again it would require two operations. So the South African diagnosis was correct. In 53 my father underwent his first operation, which was successful.

SPEAKER_01:

You alright? Do you want to stop for a second?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. But uh before the second operation he caught pneumonia and died.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So did he was that uh did he catch that in the hospital or was he just he just caught it?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh well yes, he was in hospital all the time, so presumably caught in the hospital.

SPEAKER_01:

So you remember this even you clearly obviously remember this, even though you were only six at the time. So what so what happened? What did your mum do then?

SPEAKER_00:

She was uh really up the chute because everything was in South Africa. My house was in South Africa, all her finances, all her friends.

SPEAKER_01:

So you you you she left that behind.

SPEAKER_00:

She had she had to say, well, we can't go back to South Africa.

SPEAKER_01:

But but at the time she left it to come back, the coronation was going on and to get medical help. And then obviously uh the worst thing possible happened.

SPEAKER_00:

And of course we we had to fortunately live with my grandparents in Stenning, uh, which must have been a hell of a shock for them because uh my mum was uh used to having servants out in South Africa and uh we were in a much smaller house and finances would have been really, really tight. So yeah, uh it it was and she hadn't got any skills other than uh being a radio operator. So she went to um night school to improve her uh qualifications, took up shorthand and typing, and became a secretary and got a job down in Ports Ports Lade.

SPEAKER_01:

Portslade, yeah, yeah. So it was just you?

SPEAKER_00:

So it was of me and my brother, yeah Noel um with George on the way.

SPEAKER_01:

So George was on the way at this time.

SPEAKER_00:

So that was another shock because uh she found herself pregnant. She she obviously knew beforehand that he never got to meet George. And uh he died at the age of 42. So and he's buried in uh Silly Churchyard. We go down there, and my mum wanted to be buried with him. So we go down from time to time and tidy all the churchyard up, graves, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So no, thank you, Ian, for um um um sharing that uh difficult time, and it it's amazing that obviously you were only six and it's still it still hits hard today.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um how did your mother cope?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean she got this job in in Portslade and Well as I say it must have been quite a shock because she didn't have to do a lot in South Africa. But uh she was a very tenacious person. She could got quite a good job down there. But uh money was tight. We went to school in Stenning and used to spend many holidays with your grandparents over in Sandown on the uh Antonese guest house there. Eventually a very good friend of my mother's sold the house in South Africa and transferred money across. How long did that take? Must have been five years or so. Yeah, we were with my grandparents for quite a long period of time. But um then uh uh a gentleman was visiting Marion um Peter, my st became my stepfather. Yeah, and uh Marion didn't want him, but my mum did. So Right, okay. She snapped him up and uh and um using the money from the house in South Africa. We bought uh they bought a very nice house in Shoreham in Shoreham by Sea down in Sussex. Part of a tea planter's house. A bloody great house it was. It'd been divided right down the middle, and we had half of uh one house over there.

SPEAKER_01:

And he became your stepfather?

SPEAKER_00:

He became my stepfather. He was he was in the merchant, he was an engineer in the merchant navy, and he used to do all these sand toppers they run along the coast and they suck up all the sand for building supplies and things. So they were called the Sand Martin and uh Sand Griebe, Sand Something, whatever.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I had quite I had a quite good time because I used to go out, he used to from time to time take me on board boat, sail from here down to Portsmouth or um Felmouth. Um a lot of the stuff was pumped off the Isle of Wight, funny enough, off the needles there. That's where they used to get all the sand from.

SPEAKER_01:

Was he a stepfather that filled your father's shoes or or or not?

SPEAKER_00:

We didn't see a huge amount of him really because he was away at sea most of the time. They married, but unfortunately her love was always for my dad. Yeah, I can tell. And it formed quite some problems in future years. Yeah. Especially her wanting to be buried with my dad. I mean, Stanley.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I can imagine that would have caused some problems. But um he was the love of her life, wasn't it? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it must have been I mean, how does it shape you as a young as a young boy, young man? I mean, you know, it it was obviously extremely difficult, especially back then.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, well, I I mean we've we're talking early 50s, so there's nothing about much, you know, sort of cars were all black and uh little Austin Sevens and and Ford Prefix and things like that. Stepfather bought a a Riley. It was a lovely looking car, but the paintwork wasn't too good on it. Being a practical chap, he decided to get some blue paint and he painted this thing by hand, yeah, not sprayed, by hand he painted it blue. As he did the washing pole and things like that. And every time you touched it, you got blue dye all over you. It was absolutely crazy. But uh yeah, we had some quite good times. And then they bought um uh a camper van and a big old coma. My mum used to drive that, and the thing was so underpowered, it was unbelievable. We used to go off down to Wales and all up these mountains and things. This thing was so struggled to go up one hill, we just didn't manage to get to the top, had to back all the way back down again. Incredible.

SPEAKER_01:

Just before we finish talking about South Africa, you've got quite vivid memories of of of the culture and the lifestyle out there.

SPEAKER_00:

There are certain things that I do remember. I can remember we lived in from Cape Town, we moved to a place called East London. It was quite strange because I was talking to you about when I applied for nationality and moved down to Chatham, and the school that I actually went to was called Chatham South School. When I looked up the address that my mum had all the correspondents had come across when we bought the house, we lived at uh 10 Chatham Road, East London. East London. South Africa. South Africa. It was a little crazy. Yeah, one of the things I do remember was we went to a carnival out there. My took me, dad took me to carnival. I mean, as I say, I was probably only about four at the time. He had me on his shoulders and things, and they had all these carnival parades, and they were promoting one of them ones was promoting mannequin cigars. Right. And they mannequin cigars were in a little tin, and and this fellow was standing on the back of me, throwing these tins into the crowd. So I reached up to try and get one, missed it, but then it hit me on the head. Uh and I was so distorted because I hadn't managed to get a packet of these mannequins. Were they slim ones? Yeah, very, very slim, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Happened to Bell for some reason.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yeah. No, that was I don't think they'd be throwing out cigars nowadays, would they? And then we lived in uh a bungalow and it was only years, so there wasn't a huge amount of stuff around. And I can remember going to a friend's house and at the bottom of the the road was basically grass and trees and things. It was sort of semi-jungle, really. Somehow the the the whole of this grass had caught fire, and it you could just see this billowing smoke and these flames sort of spreading up the the hill towards us. You know, that's uh that was quite interesting and frightening.

SPEAKER_01:

So have you have you been back to South Africa since?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we went uh we went in 2020 with my two brothers. Wow. It was just before COVID. We got out just in time.

SPEAKER_02:

What did you do?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, we we we went uh we did we flew down to Cape Town and explored Cape Town, a lovely place. And I can always remember my mum talking about the the price of property, and in Cape Town you had two things to consider. One was height, the further up the mountain you went, the more expensive it became. And also there is a continuous wind that blows across from the Atlantic, so you need to be right round the back of the mountain to get out of the wind.

SPEAKER_01:

So I guess the wind in the summer would be warm and in the winter. Yes, it will be cold.

SPEAKER_00:

But it but you know, I I can remember Mumma telling about that, and of course, when you got to Cape Town and and you remembered this again.

SPEAKER_01:

That's amazing. So did you go back to where you w lived?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well what we did was we uh hired a Mercedes Vita van, which took all our luggage and things and got seats in there. And there's enough seats for all of us, so just to we went along the garden route. The garden route goes from um Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. So we went all along there and uh it's a bit like Australia. It's such a bloody great country that you go you had a little township and then you're miles and miles and miles of just stone and uh grass and trees and things before you get to the next one. Yeah, it took quite a long time to to get along there. But we then decided to go on to East London. We went and found the house and Chatham Road. I love that. East London. And you found the house? We found the house and found that they'd built a blessy great motorway right across the halfway down the end. That's what happened. So uh yes, you didn't get the views of the belt that you had previously. But we went down to the the beach down there, and uh the beach was very much as I remember it, you know. They had a uh a sort of big wall out into things. It's almost like a lagoon, really, to keep the sharks out, of course. So you had a uh a bathing area in there. It was very sad. There's three parallel roads that go into East London, and uh we d we drove down them and you didn't feel safe. The the the the thing was This is in 2020. This is in 2020. Uh um the shops and the roads and things, people's just sitting at the side of the road. Uh hundreds of of young people from teenage years up to about 30 just sitting about doing nothing. And you could see why the crime area in South Africa is so high. All the houses that you came across had barbed wire on the tops of the fences and security signs, you know. Yes. Did you feel unsafe? We felt unsafe in the centre of East London. Once you were out in the outskirts and things, it was fine. It was fine. But um no, it it's it it's not somewhere I'd want to go back and live.

SPEAKER_01:

But I suppose you you wanted to visit it, you wanted to see.

SPEAKER_00:

I wanted to see.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um beautiful golf courses there and some beautiful houses. But um, as I say, security was the main thing.

SPEAKER_01:

But you're glad you went. Yeah. And so just quickly tell me, so you what what happened with COVID?

SPEAKER_00:

Did you you literally got back into the We literally flew out just as they shut everything down.

SPEAKER_01:

Back back in the UK or back in South Africa?

SPEAKER_00:

Back in the UK. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Blummy just got home in time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, to be shut down again.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, to be shut down again. Yeah. So uh yeah. Just got a bang in time for that then. Oh dear. Um, let's just go back a bit. Um what what how old were you when you left home then?

SPEAKER_00:

As I say, we moved down to Shoreham and from there I went off to to teach a training college. And so I spent from about 18 then I suppose I went off and I spent most of my time in London. Made you want to become a teacher? Uh I didn't want to become a teacher. I wanted to become a pilot like Des.

SPEAKER_01:

Like Des, yes. Yeah, Des was in the other.

SPEAKER_00:

I had a long chat with Dez and he said, I said, you know, did you have you enjoyed your time? He said, Yes, I have. But he said, I wouldn't do it again. Why? Interesting. And I said, Why? Yes, it must be quite an exciting life. He said, Look, when you're flying, he said, you get three minutes of excitement taking off, and you get three minutes of excitement landing, and the rest of the time you're sitting on your ass looking out over the horizon, making sure you don't knock into anything. Which is very important. It's the biggest symptom I know for piles and lines around the eyes. So that put me off a bit. And then one day I was in the sixth form, and it was just after the moon landings, actually, because I I had a load of pictures on my wall taken by the Hasselblad Caram that they took up with them, some fantastic pictures of the moon landings, and uh um So that puts us in 1969. I was in the sixth form, and one day they hadn't got a member of staff for uh for the class, and they said, Would you take a class? So I went in there and I loved it. I really enjoyed doing it. Yeah, that's what persuaded me to become a teacher.

SPEAKER_01:

Your your grandfather, Jim, he owned the pub in Stenin. It is that where you you went initially? Was it was it with him?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. I mean the trouble the trouble is when when you're very young and you um look at your grandparents, all you see is an older person, don't you? You know, you you you don't uh pr appreciate what they must have been like when they were in their teens or early years. And I think he must have been quite a dynamic bloke because um he he got a job. Stenning was a a very thriving market town at the days, and he used to be an auctioneer in the market, and um then the market declined. So he he he started off dealing with cattle at first, and then I don't know why the market declined really, but he went then to furniture and property, and so he became an auctioneer there, and he must have done quite well because as you say, he at at some point he and his father bought this pub called the Three Tons in Stenning. And that Jim decided that he wanted to really go into that and build it up. And I think it was uh coming up to the first world war because he did he I think he could see this this war coming, and so he decided that what he would do is to to buy a lot of expensive wines and um spirits and things, and he wasn't averse to a bit of uh smuggling.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh okay, tell me more.

SPEAKER_00:

Well one of the things I do remember is that every Sunday morning me and my brother uh used to uh get into bed with him, either side of him. Yeah. And he would tell us all these stories about all the things he did because it was a very rural area, so it was fishing and hunting and shooting and smuggling.

SPEAKER_01:

And smuggling, which he just told you about.

SPEAKER_00:

Again, we were talking about Colin going over the downs and things. Well, he used to take uh uh uh uh him and probably several mates took horses over the downs, and uh they used to meet a gentleman on the shores at Worthing and get a couple of barrels of whiskey. No, it's probably brandy, it would have been brandy from France. From France, they'd shipped it across. They shipped it across from France.

SPEAKER_01:

Some things don't change.

SPEAKER_00:

They used to to have a uh a barrel of brandy on these horses and bring them across. And they had all the feet muffled so they didn't make a a row as they went up Siding High Street. Because I mean it's it it's really dark and rural. And have you ever been over the back of uh the downside?

SPEAKER_01:

I drive across the south downs all the time, but I've never really, really explored them.

SPEAKER_00:

So it must be quite interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

Between Werving and and um and Stenin is beautiful. That road that you that goes across it is lovely.

SPEAKER_00:

But uh yeah, so now he used to wrap all the the horses' feet in cloth so they didn't make a noise. And then used to store it in the in the cellars in the Three Tums. He went off to war in the First World War and unfortunately got gassed. Right. But uh when he came back uh um he found that his gr his father had drunk a lot. So he was left with absolutely nothing. And they never spoke again after that.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00:

But previously they they they must have made quite a bit of money out of the pub anyway, because they bought a big plot of land. Uh do you know Jarvis Lane? Yeah. There used to be a garage on the corner there. And they bought this plot of land, and my granddad got the the tough bit with the hill aside in it, and he got my great-grandfather got the bit of the And he was a great-grandfather that drank all the great grandfather that drank all the the spirits and he got the bigger part of the land. But there when I went up there there was uh just a fence across. I never ever met my grand great grandfather. I didn't even know he lived there. No. It was only later that I found out from Colin that uh apparently grandfather never spoke, Jim had never spoke to him again since since he drank his stash.

SPEAKER_01:

So your your your grandfather Jim uh Jim, he must have um he must have been like a father for give for you at that stage because obviously he filled him when you lost your dad.

SPEAKER_00:

He was a great person, yeah. Really really good. And good company to be with because she there was he was always doing something, you know, he's always out and about somewhere.

SPEAKER_01:

I love the fact he was telling you guys stories. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was great. Um but um he used to do chickens and ducks and geese and uh the odd spawn things. And we we went out, we used to go to the River Ada, which wasn't too far away then, and we learned how to do fishing and uh um spear fishing there, spearing eels and things. So whatever you you had, you tended to have these particular bits and pieces. So if it was fishing day, we used to have fish and o'erels in the evening for dinner and things. Eating spoils. If it if it was a Sunday we'd probably have a a chicken or something. So we had to learn how to wring their necks and pluck them. So we had chicken for for dinner. Then of course we'd go shooting, so you'd go out and uh you used to have a spaniel dog, which you used as a retriever, so you go out and shoot in rabbits, and the dog would bring back the rabbits to you, and so you went back and you had rabbit stew for dinner.

SPEAKER_01:

He must he must have missed you guys when you 'cause if you lived them for five years, he must have missed it when you when you left.

SPEAKER_00:

And and later on he um he bought a boat with a mate of his uh again and out in Lansing, actually, just across the uh up the the coast from Worthing. And uh we used to go out there fishing and uh so we'd have mackerel for tea that that day. But um I'm so glad you had him. Yes, he he was great. But i you know, as I say, it must have been a hell of a shock, certainly to their finances when we all arrived.

SPEAKER_01:

But didn't hesitate though, did they?

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, no. But um and uh he used to have an allotment, I mean, standing by the cricket ground up there. And he used to take me up and he used to grow all sorts of fantastic vegetables up there. So all all the food, basically he provided all the food from all these activities he did hunting, fishing and shooting and and also growing crops and things. Echo remember he took me out there when I was I was six years old. And I was a very prim and proper young man. And he'd go all these things there. It was in the summer, and uh he said, uh, oh you like a peach boy? He said, Oh yes, please, Grandad. You see, like some strawberries, boy? He said, Yeah, out yourself to strawberries. Good impression, and uh he said he said, uh I must have been jiggling up and down a bit because he said, You want to pee? I said, Oh yes, please, granddad, or go over a bunch over there.

SPEAKER_01:

You you must have had quite uh a South African accent when you were six, when you I suppose so.

SPEAKER_00:

It must have been quite strange for him.

SPEAKER_01:

No, this is I mean, this is one of the reasons why I wanted to to do this podcast, is just to just focus on stories that and then the uh the other thing is, of course, having built his own house, he was one of the only people who had a bathroom in the house.

SPEAKER_00:

So up behind the house was a whole terrace of cottages and things. And of course, they wouldn't not a single one of them would have had a bathroom. So they all had sort of tin baths in the kitchen with hot water to bathe in. And again, he was a great entrepreneur. Every Friday night there'd be a knock on the back door and a chap with a towel under his arm because he was he's uh renting out his bathroom. He's renting out his bathroom, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He still had uh sort of links to the estate agents and things up there, and so he used to do a bill posting round where you had all the auctions on a big uh poster and used to cycle. He had a uh big black trade and big basket on the front, and my job is to mix up all the paste for the bills. We we'd I'd then sit on his crossbar and we'd go, we'd cycle 15 miles around all the villages around the the outskirts, putting these bill posting things up. It was quite quite uh a night out of that.

SPEAKER_01:

So do you have this relationship with your brothers as well?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh yes, yes. I mean we took it in turns to to be able to do things. George was a bit younger. Noah Noah's uh three years younger than I am. Yeah. No, George became um used to visit them a heck of a lot, you know, and things.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, because he he went to Australia, didn't he?

SPEAKER_00:

He went to Australia, yes. He's still out there now and uh having a wonderful life out there.

SPEAKER_01:

If you was looking back at your parents, your grandparents, as a man today, how do you think they've affected your life as well?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, and undoubtedly I'm you know, I've got my work ethic from them and yeah, we liked doing a bit of fun things. I really really enjoyed being with them. It was fantastic. Yeah, as you say, probably much more like parents because my mum was always out at work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

He must have missed you, you know, dad, when you eventually left uh uh left his nest.

SPEAKER_00:

Um yes, possibly so, uh but uh they were two very different people. Uh my grandmother was very much um a stay-at-home and do the things because they didn't go out. You only ever had one person out to work in those days.

SPEAKER_01:

No. And uh that's a theme that I've noticed, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, she was a great smoker, but I've noticed as well. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. So I used to be sent up to Stenning High Streets um on a Saturday morning for twenty packet uh packet of twenty players. Yeah, or better. And uh and uh a quarter of sugar almonds. Yes, down to the the the co-op still down there at the the bottom of the high street there. Used to be a sweet shop down there and uh you go in and they weigh out all the old-fashioned sweets where they'd they'd weigh them out into a little bag for you and things. Yeah, a quarter of sugar almonds and twenty playos.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it's remarkable that you've stayed in touch with like my mum over the all these years. What why do you think that is then?

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know, and Tony and I have always been fairly close, you know. It's this business of of really not having particular family about for for about ten years we used to go um on these ledger coach holidays to different parts of Europe and things. And we had great fun doing those, and we went all over to Austria and France and Germany and Spain.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Went down to Spain one one year.

SPEAKER_01:

Anything else that you want to talk to me about? Uh jumps out of the page at you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, uh your parents were really good to me. Right, that's nice. Yeah, they were very nice. And um we're talking about uh Jarvis Lane, and along Jarvis Lane on the side of my parents' house, uh grandparents' house, was this whacking great garage called Wood's Garage, and they used to have coaches and things in there. But they then diversified a bit into selling cars as well. So your parents decided they wanted to buy a car, and they went into Wood's Garage there, and uh the the there was about five cars and the sort of four or five coaches there, all black, apart from one, and one was a bright red convertible sun beam. So they took me up and said, We've just bought a car. Which one do you think we've bought? And uh we went out to to um uh Beading and uh Bramber and all around that area there and this car. And we pulled up on this garage forecourt, and they wanted to turn round and go back again. And could we find reverse gear on this thing? Apparently it was a column gear change, so you used to have to pull out the little knob at the end, push it right down, and then downwards. Yeah, and that that was reverse.

SPEAKER_01:

So this was the car my parents had.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a parents your parents crib.

SPEAKER_01:

I unlocked a memory in mine about uh my mum telling me a story about uh when I I was in a crib in the back and dad nearly lost me going over a humpbike bridge and braiding on the Isle of Wight. Because it wasn't seatbelt, I was just laying on the back seat.

SPEAKER_00:

I still it's still it's one of the uh the classics that has always i whoever designed it was should have won an award. It was a beautiful looking car. Yeah, it really is. And uh you see one or two of them about now and again.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, like you said, my parents were uh kind to you. I I know for a fact that you're we've mentioned uh obviously you can talk about your grandfather Jim, but I I believe from talking to my mum that at some stage in their life he helped them out as well by the time. Did he actually uh so she's told me that before.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh good. Yeah, she's told me before. She said uh in Oh, it was a very close family, you know, sort of uh around the Slending area. Yeah. That's cool, man. And uh it's a still a a very charming village, isn't it? Yeah, no, it's a beautiful village. It's changed its character quite a bit because it's expanded a huge amount and it's now a sort of commuter.

SPEAKER_01:

It is, but it's still got its charm. I mean, Auntie Chrissy still lives there, she's she can still get in and out of town and all this sort of stuff. It's it it it's a beautiful Sussex town for sure. Yeah, it's yeah, uh I think it's really nice. Um Ian, thank you very much for your time today. I'm I'm sorry you lost your dad at such a young age, but I'm so glad that you had a granddad like Jim because he looked like he stepped in and looked after you boys. Thank you very much for your time, and um it's been a pleasure. It's been a pleasure to talk to you.

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Miles

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