O & G's Diamond Wedding Anniversary

This is the article about O and G which was in the Watford Observer a couple of weeks ago:

Diamond couple put marriage down to dominoes

A diamond couple have put their long and happy marriage down to a daily hand of cards and game of dominoes.

Fred Hawkins met his future bride Elly when the pair worked at the Oxhey Grange mansion.

Elly, who was born in Switzerland and raised in Austria, came to England in 1938 to learn English.

After being picked up at the train station in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce, Elly was taken to the house, where she met a young son of a building labourer from Pretoria Road, who worked in the gardens.

Elly, now 89, said: “I came to learn English so I came to a family in Oxhey Grange and Fred worked there. I worked in the kitchen and around the house and he was a gardener.

“So that's where we met.”

In 1939, when World War 2 was declared, Elly found herself marooned from her family in Austria.

She said: “There were four girls who worked in the house, but the three other girls were Welsh so they went back to Wales.

“But in 1940 Oxhey was declared a restricted area for all foreigners so I got another job working for a family in Hempstead Road.”

At the age of 19, meanwhile, Fred signed up to the newly formed Local Defence Volunteers, who were more commonly known, later on, as the Home Guard.

After hearing about the newly formed LDV the night before, Fred and his pal made their way to King Street at 7am the next morning, where they signed up inside Meredith's Wood Yard.

Five months later Fred was conscripted into the army and found himself stationed near Dover, where he helped make guns.

In 1945, Elly returned to Switzerland and then Austria, having had no contact with her family and unaware if they were alive or dead.

Happily, Elly managed to find her family in Austria and shared letters with Fred until she returned to England in 1949.

Fred, also 89, added: “I went over once to see her and we talked things over through letters and we agreed to get married so she came back over.”

The pair were then married on August 1, 1949, in Holyrood Church, in Watford, and celebrated their marriage with a reception at the Windsor Club, in Loates Lane.

Sixty years on, Elly and Fred - who now have two children, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren – will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on Saturday with a family meal.

Asked what is the success to their marriage, the pair, who live in Bushey, say they share one hobby.

Elly said: “We play dominoes every morning after breakfast and then in the afternoon we play cards.

“We play for money.

“We play five games of dominoes for 5p a game. The money then goes in a jar and then when we want to go out for a meal the money comes out of there.

“We also play ten games of cards for a penny a game and every game goes to a mission in Africa.”

We had a truly lovely celebration on the Saturday of their anniversary ~ O and G enjoyed it tremendously!!

Firstly we went to mass at Holy Rood ~ the church in Watford where they married, where many of us were baptised, confirmed and made First Holy Communion . . . and in Stella and Richard's and Cat and David's and Frankie and Alex's case married too. That was beautiful and O and G also received a Papal Blessing which J had organised. Oh yes ~ and they had had a card from the Queen arrive the day before!

While we were waiting for mass: Jpie and Cpie:


Kpie ~ and of course Budin came too!



Then we zipped off up to Il Pappatore in Bushey ~ one of my most fave-of-all-time restaurants for a family meal.

In the restaurant: Em, Eric, O ~ and G just trying to get out of shot!








Lizzie and Janey








The children had their own table-for-four. When he had finished his first glass of orange, Jpie ordered another round for himself and 'the gels' ~ taking the 'man's' role already . . . and he's only five! here they are: Lpip, Jpie, Cpie (back of her head) and Kpie)


And then back to mine for tea and caake ~ and Kpie entertaining us with a tuneful medley on her violin.



Here they are about to cut the caake.












A lovely day ~ we were all so happy to see them enjoying themselves so much! they deserve it!





coming soon . . . . The Calke Abbey Concert Week-end . . . .

The journey home

Nice view of the Motorway? I think so . . . but just as well as I spent over an hour looking at it!
Started off at 9.00 a.m. after a, fortunately substantial, breakfast and hadn't gone more than a mile when my ABS light came on. Stopped to check the manual which said that it was ok to drive as the brakes would still work ~ which they did.

On my way down the A9 I stopped off at the House of Bruar ~ and spent far too long and far too much there! Really it's a day's shopping experience ~ E&J called in later in the day and reported a helicopter taking off with a group of shoppers ~ now that's style!!

Anyway I carried on but by the time I reached the outskirts of Glasgow I did wonder if the slight swaying in the steering had more to do with the car than the wind! So I stopped at Happenden Services and looked at the back ~ but it seemed ok. By the time I set off from there it was gone 4.30 p.m. and I was all set for a long drive home listening to music and quietly mulling over my hols. Pah!

Just onto the Motorway a dreadful rattling started and the car began to swing about alarmingly. Stopped at one of the phone boxes and called the AA.
It took over an hour for the first chappie to come, decide my stub axle had gone and that I should be relayed home. Still, it was good weather while I waited, I had a book and it wasn't raining! This is the view northwards.

In all it took 5 vehicles and just over 10 hours to get home from there. The drivers were jolly helpful and mostly a good laugh ~ but it was a l-o-n-g night and I was glad to have my little car off-loaded at home at 4.30 the following morning. I was dead-beat and longing for a bath!!
And as post-script: the car was mended the next day and now appears to be as right as rain.
Back soon with news of O&G's 60th Wedding Anniversary Celebration.

More Photos from Bonny Scotland

This is the view from one of the eight sides of the tower. None of us was sure who owned this bit of land . . . but it was certainly very productive!







Another view of Stella and Rich's room.






Budin having a quiet moment on Kpie's bed

I thought this was a cupboard under the eaves . . .



. . . but in fact it was the ensuite!




















The Drawing Room ~ comfy rather than posh . . . and all those books!!














Jpie, Cpie and Kpie at the gipsy caravan at Cawdor Castle






In the Wild Garden at Cawdor







Nature Trail at Cawdor


RP at Ja's Party!







F'ster!!

Bonny Scotland!

I'm back from Bonny Scotland after a wonderful holiday ~ only 5 days but truly memorable!
This was the furthest north I have ever been ~ and I'm wondering what took me so long!
Over 40 people were there to join Ja for his 18th birthday party ~ me, E and J in B&B, nearly 30 in a large house in Nigg and the rest in the wonderful wonderful wonderful Poyntzfield House.. Wow! This house was unbelieveable and impossible to adequately describe! Look it up on the web and the photos just don't do it justice ~ it's much much nicer than that ~ I urge everyone to go and see for themselves!!
Poyntzfield House ~ the main section with the wings form three sides of the courtyard. You can just see the top of the tower ~ accessible from the top floor ~ windows on all eight sides so you get a wonderful panorama of the surrounding countryside.

Close up of the tower












This is the little window in the middle of the top floor. It looks quite big here but is only just the size for a small child to crawl into ~ which of course they all liked to do! the photo shows how very thick the walls are.















Day One:
Arrived after a 13hour journey that passed all too quickly. Fr and Al had come by the evening before I left with my birthday present: a poppy mug and set of coasters (my fave flower) and lots of foodie bits for the journey up ~ which was really great as I didn't have to waste time going into service stations etc for sustenance. Fabulous scenery especially through the Lake District and along the shores of Lochs Lomond, Lochy and Ness and then over the Beauly Firth to the Black Isle. Quite staggeringly beautiful. Checked into my little B&B and then headed over to Poyntzfield where St, Ri and the Pies were staying along with Ki and her little brood of three. All the children were playing in the courtyard ~ it's a really fabulous and safe place for children ~ and then they all took me for an excited tour of the house. Settled with a long-awaited coffee and enjoying a chat when Jpie ran into something and split open the cut on his chin ~ so a quick trip to Inverness A&E for him, St and me! (He was ok and they just glued him up a bit!). Then a bit more chat and 'home' to the B&B and a long sleeeeep.


Kitchen at Poyntzfield with children snacking





Kitchen: desirable dresser and farmhouse table

Poyntzfield: trampolining in the garden: Th, Jpie, Ki, Cpie and Rich









and Jpie getting in on the act!






Dine in Style here!


The 'boys' lavatory




and the 'girls' lavatory



Stella and Rich's bedroom ~ wooden beams, wooden floor, double aspect and shutters!!!







Corner of the Main Staircase

Day Two
This was the day I went to Pitcaln House, which was where almost everyone else was staying. This is a very large house down a long and impressive drive-way between trees and bushes and with views over the Firth. Heaps and heaps of people were staying so one could never be at a loss for company ~ and David did ALL the cooking for them!! He made a super roastie lunch with all the trimmings and then pudding as well. Despite the fact that there were close to 40 people we were all able to sit down together in the dining room ~ so you can imagine how large it is!!


F'ster on the swing at Pitcaln













Day Three

My birthday!! St, Ri , the Pies and I went to Cawdor Castle which is a castle well worth seeing. We toured the garden first as it looked like rain ~ beautiful formal gardens, a wild garden and even a nature trail.

In the garden: Cpie, Stella, Jpie, Rich and Kpie
Kpie and Jpie
The castle was very interesting with lots of witty and whimsical commentary cards all over the place. Very cosy!! and almost, but not quite, as impressive as Poyntzfield!! We had a picnic in the grounds which was a treat ~ and a bit of a nostalgia trip for me as we often celebrated my birthday with a picnic when the girls were little. We went back to Poyntzfield for tea and lots of people from Pitcaln nipped in too. I was quite tired that night so didn't stay late ~ just long enough for a glass of wine and a general lol about in the drawing room. Arrived back at the B&B to find a half bottle of sparkling wine and a tiny birthday cake with one candle from the B&B people! How kind is that? (Quick plug: Newton Croft Bed and Breakfast at Conon Bridge on the Black Isle ~ lovely place!)

Day Four
Ja's 18th Birthday!! Brilliant Day! Ja looked very grown up indeed and was a lovely host.
Here he is with Stef:
The sun shone and we all had the most stupendous time. Even more people had turned up by this time: from Hertfordshire (mostly), Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Ireland, Warwickshire and Portugal. David did all the barbecueing ~ the man's a wonder!! ~ and everyone else just sort of chipped in when needed. We sat around eating, drinking, chatting and laughing mainly. All the young-ish people played a game of rounders and the children (and a fair proportion of adults) had goes on the tyre-swing. Ja's grandma, Ann, had her birthday that day too so a double celebration. It was a lovely 'family' affair and ages ranged from 2 months (RP) to 70 with absolutely every age in between. Marvellous!!

The Birthday Boy and his little sis!

Day Five
The journey home . . . was somewhat more eventful than the journey up!! But I'll leave that story for another time . . . .