Memories of grandfather Leslie

 Grandad Leslie's Shed

A shed at the bottom of the garden near to the back gate that became his special place for thinking and writing, somewhere his imagination could run wild, encouraged by the rain and wind outside. 

As you entered the shed through the door directly to the left was an old wooden cabinet and the doors had panels in the center with a mesh/wire netting type material that was partially see through. The shelves inside the cabinet were wooden shelves painted in a very light mint green color. Each shelf was full of Jam jars he had saved and full of bits and bobs like nuts and bolts, screws, picture hooks and that kind of thing.  To the right a work bench which was open at the bottom with a shelf where he stored more things. It had a piece of carpet attached to it that he would tie closed when he wasn't getting items from his workbench. 

He stored in his shed garden equipment , tools mostly hand tools, a push bike with a rack on the back to strap a picnic basket to and various items like paint and glue. I always wondered if the temperatures would ruin paint and solvent and the glue became lumpy.  

The floor was concrete but he had a carpet that ran the length of the  floor from front to back. I think it was a dark color and may have had a flower print on the rug.  

When I was a young child in elementary school , I drew a picture of a hot air balloon that he had taped to the wall in the shed for many years. 

Sometime in the 80's when I was very young temp got to 95 F one year and for good old Suffolk- it was considered sweltering! The shed got hot and it didn't have any windows for ventilation so it had the door propped open to let a breeze through while he was working in it. The shed didn't have any insulation so it tended to equilibrate with the temperature outside.

Favorite pub to drink at- Steamboat Tavern in Ipswich.

One of Leslie’s favorite pubs to drink at was the steamboat Tavern in Ipswich, Suffolk. A popular riverside single bar pub which features live music and good food prepared on the premises.

There's a beer garden, live music including Jazz on Sundays and Suffolk song writers would play here.

The pub is located close to the impressive (Grade II listed) Felaw Malting buildings - one the largest traditional malting sites ever built in East Anglia (built in 1904 & 1911 respectively), sadly malting finished here in 1981. Now the two buildings are used as offices. The malting buildings replaced the even earlier St Peter's workhouse ( erected in 1836-1837) to accommodate up to 400 inmates. 

Beer garden or other outside drinking area: river view at front and evening meals served. The railway station about 0.7 miles away and it had traditional pub games.

Vintage Cloisonne Style Heart Hatpin

There is always a story to tell within my famiy history-- but I like to focus on the One of A Kind treasured Keepsakes that once belonged to one of my ancestors and show case them!

Here is a beautiful Vintage Cloisonne Style Heart Hatpin 3" Hat Stick Pin Brooch Blue Floral. It is in great condition with some wear to color. Fastening holds well. Heart is about 1" and I believe the setting type is enameled. 

My great-grandmother was a lady who took pride in her appearance. Most of the time she wore a dress or a skirt with a nice top. The components of day wear did not change during the 1920s, but what did change was the hemline. This had been creeping up since the beginning of the war and continued to move upwards until around 1927- usually the year people have in mind when they think of 1920s fashion in UK. Patterned day dresses came in florals, plaids, dots, and other abstract prints.

You could put on a one-piece 'frock' or a skirt and blouse/jumper combination, bearing in mind that to achieve the low waistline popular for most of the decade, blouses had to be worn on top of skirts. Outside, dresses were covered with matching or contrasting jackets and coats, often lined and/or trimmed with fur. 

They were not a family with a whole lot of money- but that didn't stop her looking her best with what she had avaible to her. I would describe Daisy and her husband Fred as frugal people. Definitely careful about spending money or using things when they did not need to: they used things in a very careful way. More than likely they tried to buy quality items, but probably waited for a genuine sale or some way to off set the cost. I would not mistake them as Cheap but definitely frugal in their ways. They may have spent more upfront on occasion, but the goal was buying items that lasted and consuming less overall.

She wore hats and she liked costume jewelery. She had everyday hat pins and brooches but this was one of her nicer ones that she used on special occasions.