Final good bye to Nana Greig

It's always hard to know what to blip on days like today... Here you have Evie with her "really?? another shot?" blip face!!

Today we said good bye to Nana Greig, I hadn't seen her for a few years, she was quite poorly with skin cancer, deaf and blind :( This may seem absolutely awful but at the funeral I cried for my dad.. It's never nice seeing your parent upset. I have fond memories of Nana and it was lovely to see all the cousins, aunts and uncles... Unfortunately this is the only time we really get together now.

About Nana Grieg:
Mrs Elsie ’Barbara’ Greig
•
Born in Linton on 22 November 1919 to parents who for most of their lives were part of the growers and farming community in Linton. Educated in the local Church School.

•
Brought up as a Salvation Army ‘Sunbeam’ whose Motto was "Do Right"
The Sunbeam Declaration was I understand that as a Sunbeam I should: Pray morning and evening, Speak the truth, be kind to animals, never steal, swear, gamble or touch strong drink. Barbara followed much of that declaration all her life.

•
Would assist in the selling of their produce, travelling around the village with her father on their Horse and Cart.

•
Left School at 14, 1st job was as a domestic at Homerton College, living-in.

•
Being away from the family home caused unhappiness and as a result moved back home and took employment in the tannery industry which was prevalent in the Sawston area, cycling the seven miles each way through all weathers.

•
Married May 1940, Alexander Fraser Greig a professional soldier in the Queens Bays Regiment during the 2nd World War, who were then based in Linton.

•
Married Life began on a 48 Hours pass before ‘Alec’ was posted to France eventually being evacuated from Dunkirk then being sent out to North Africa as a ‘Desert Rat’ where he was injured and medically discharged 1942.

•
Their first Home was in Anglenook, Suffolk where ‘Alec’ was employed at the horse racing stud there.

•
Moved to Liverpool 1944 and gave birth to 5 sons the last of which (was my dad) born 2 days after the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 resulting in her missing seeing the broadcast at her Mother-in-law’s, who had just bought the first television in the family for that occasion.

•
Barbara ran the family home until the death of ‘Alec’ in September 1962, she was aged just 42. She never re-married.

•
Moved back to Linton Cambridgeshire, January 1963 to be nearer to her own family.

•
Continued to run the family home as a single parent.

•
As successive sons left to marry and set up their own homes the family income dwindled to the point where she needed to supplement the finances by gaining employment herself.

•
Trained as a Telephonist with the (then) GPO: Later became the Telephonist at Institute of Animal Physiology ,(Babraham Hall) for a number of years incl. the period when Prof. Sir Roy Calne was undertaking his research into liver transplants at the Hall ~ (Prof Calne performed the 1st liver transplant at Addenbrookes in 1968). This saw large numbers of overseas calls (generally quite rare in those times) to other research stations across the world. These were the days of manual telephone exchanges, where most non-local calls had to be made via an operator and many individual wires criss-crossed before you could connect a caller. International calls had to be booked ~ some a few days ahead! She later re-joined BT as a telephonist ~ a job she absolutely loved. Remained at BT until her retirement at 60.

•
She enjoyed the early years of her retirement, but Arthritis soon restricted her life, resulting in both hips eventually needing replacement.

•
Poor health blighted her later years, suffering from a small stroke, further deterioration and pain from her arthritis,deafness, blindness from Glaucoma and in more recent year’s skin cancer to her face and head.

•
After a long stay in hospital for a leg infection, she eventually moved to Hilton Park Care Home in Bottisham, Cambridgeshire in Sept. 2008

•
She leaves behind her Brother, Sister 5 sons, 9 grandchildren & 17 great-grandchildren.