This is the centre of Meriden (my husband Phil's home town) taken probably prior to the turn of the 20th century and these next two were taken by Phil's cousin's husband this year and emailed to us (Leslie incidentally is now 92 (it his birthday day in fact) and quite a dab hand with computer technology):
As you can see not a lot has changed in over one hundred years; just been prettied up a little and these boys are, of course, wearing modern clothing, and it still seems a popular place for the youngsters to get together. The road showing on the left has now been bitumenised whereas in earlier times it was a dirt road. It was a little further along that row of shops where Phil's dad had a greengrocers shop for a number of years.
Meriden is said to be geographically the centre of England. Whether this has actually be physically proven is not really known but until it has been proven otherwise, the people of Meriden will stick to that theory and be proud of it.
Life was very different in England when Phil was a boy; their house in Meriden was 5 miles outside the city of Coventry. He has so many happy memories of his youth and I am always trying to get him to write short stories of those memories. Some of them are quite funny about people he knew who were so different to the people we know today.
He was of course there during the dreadful blitz of Coventry and they were very fortunate not lose friends or loved ones during those air raids. He was 11 at the time and remembers it all very well.
He emigrated to South Australia with his first wife, Susan, in 1960. The ship had berthed at Fremantle on the way to Adelaide and Phil and Susan went on a bus tour while here. They fell in love with he little they saw of Perth and determined that when they had spent the obligatory 2 years in Adelaide they would return to Perth. They both had good jobs in Adelaide but decided to try their luck in the West. This they did in 1962 and eventually built a house here. It appears Susan was not happy in their marriage and they were divorced in 1966. Now he has me to contend with. : ) I must admit I've always been glad he decided to make Perth his home or how else would I have met him?
He has never returned to England and my mum's step-mother (remember me mentioning Mary's visit from England?) told Phil to remember England as it was when he left and not to go back. I feel it was very sound advice and he has never regretted not going back for a visit. At the time of the deaths of his mum and dad we couldn't afford for him to make the trip and now he feels there is nothing left there anyway.
Through me now being on the internet and doing lots of genealogy I have discovered some of Phil's cousins who still live in Warwickshire and we are in touch with them via email. They have sent numerous family photographs which has given him an insight about what has been happening with family members over the years.
This is a photograph of the green in Berkswell (also near Coventry) where his maternal grandparents lived all their lives.
This is of Blind Hall Farm in Berkswell where Phil used to help out on weekends when he was a boy.
I always comment to Phil about how green the countryside always looks and of course his response is "Well, when it rains as much as it does over there, of course it's green!". It was partly because of the weather. among other things. that he decided to leave England. He has certainly been a lot healthier in Australia so I guess he had a point about the weather.
You know it's true, you can never go home again.
ReplyDeleteHow true. A very well known West Aussie sportsman and sports commentator wrote a book some years back and in it he said "You can back to the place but not the time". It may even have been the title of his book. Nothing stays the same and so disappointment can often be found in trying to recapture the past.
DeleteNeither of my parents ever returned to their countries of birth.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for the bus one morning a recently arrived Englishman told me something I had never considered. He told me that since arriving in Australia both his boys had broken their arms - falling over playing in the yard. He said 'In England that would never happen!!! All the rain means the grass is soft and at worst they would get muddy'. A bit simplistic, but not something I had ever thought about - and yes, our ground does get baked hard.
That Englishman sounded a tad homesick. I wonder did he stick it out here or go back home. If a little trifle like hard ground was upsetting I can imagine how many other things in his eyes were wrong with Australia. Perhaps he should tell his boys not to play so rough!!
DeleteMy mum came out here in about 1920 but she never made the journey back. I think both she and Phil wanted to remember 'home' as it was when they left. Mum had actually been told that the street where she and dad lived in London had been completely destroyed in the WW2 blitz and it would have been sad for her to see that.
What a lovely area to grow up in! I think Phil writing stories of his youth is a great idea. Buy him a couple of notebooks to get him started.
ReplyDeleteYes I feel he was very fortunate. So was I down on our farm until I was 6. Neither of us are city people but circumstances force us to live near medicos etc so no choice.
DeleteHe may have a uni degree but he's not a dab hand at writing, even greetings on a Christmas card. It's all in his head. I've often thought of perhaps having him tell his stories while I draft them out. Have to work on that. Something we could do together.
Oh I so think you should get together and write those stories it is a big part of my life writing family stories and I know yours would be very interesting. Hug B
ReplyDeleteI'll do my best Buttons. They are only little stories of his memories of his life as a boy in countryside England but they make me laugh so perhaps would others too. I'll work on him. xx
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteHey there Mimsie - been absent due to all sorts of techo trubs and of course plans for going back to the land of my birth - so this post is timely!! I had never imagined going back, but spiritual journey has brought this 'closing of the circle' into life and it remains to be seen how that pans out. As you will have seen on the MY MENO... blog, I have been playing tourist in OZ this few weeks back here, so as to soak up as much of it as I can before heading to the winter. I note that I consider Australia 'home' and Scotland is the place I was born...
I'll be reporting on it of course! YAM xx
Yes, I know you've been over in our big brown land for a while and I hope it's been kind to you, particularly weather-wise. Heard there had been bad weather in the east (just sunny in Perth for days and days and days).
ReplyDeleteI have ancestors who hailed from Inverness in Scotland. Came to Victoria in the 1800s. I just dream of visiting places like that. Never enough of the ready to go further than New Zealand a couple of times.
Hope the winter you are heading to is not too cold. Perhaps the Aussie warmth will stay with you to see you through it. xx
If Phil is not much of a writer, how about getting a tape recorder and recording him?
ReplyDeleteI do actually have a small tape recorder so could try your suggestion and thank you for it and for popping in. Lovely to have visitors.
ReplyDeleteI knew your family well living in Meriden as a young child. I am the village historian now as an old lady. When I fiest lived in Meriden my parents rented an old house from Lord Aylesford next door to Cyril's in laws. Of course I recall the shop n the Green but before that there wasa cart pulled by Molly. Doreen
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