Childhood Memories

If you travel the road between Ledbury and Hereford, in Herefordshire of course, you will come to a village called Tarrington. Around a bend you come across 3 semi detached cottages, number 6 Garbrook is where my father lived with his 9 brothers and sisters, and his mother and father.
When I was born there was only my grandmother, grandfather (passed away shortly after my birth) and my aunty Grace (extra photo) and her husband, uncle Bob, living in the house. All the others were married and living in Ledbury, Hereford or further into the village of Tarrington.
As a small child I have the most incredibly happy memories of spending time in that house, going hop picking, trips to the lake at Llangollen, steak restaurants in Hereford, the pig roast in Ledbury, such wonderful times.
In the 50's these houses did not have running water, there was a pump in the kitchen and water was pumped up from a stream that ran underground beneath the houses.
I remember walking to my Uncle Cyrils, about 1/4 mile up the road, to go to the toilet because they had running water and one of the bedrooms had been turned into a bathroom with a flushing toilet. Garbrook houses had a 'dry' privy toilet at the bottom of the garden. We were always there in the summer so it was always infested with flies, wasps and anything else that would be attracted to such places! Uncle Bob had the glorious task of emptying the bucket.
After a few years they had a large cesspit and running water installed.

Aunty Grace is the baby of the family of 10 children at 84. There were 5 boys and 5 girls, only 3 girls survive, Grace, Mary and her twin Betty aged 87.

I had a dental and hygienist check up this morning and straight afterwards I biked it to Hereford to see Mary and then on to Ledbury to visit Grace. Lovely to see them when it isn't a funeral, which I'm afraid is where most of us cousins meet up nowadays.
So I also, after the tree planting last Wednesday, dropped in on my cousin Mike, also in Hereford.