The debt I owe my loving grandparents
THERE has been much discussion about whether grandparents make a difference (Mail), so here is the view of a grandchild. My father’s parents, Alfred and Agnes, lived around the corner from my childhood home. On the way home from school, my brother Albert and I would call in for a slice of granny’s apple pie or cake. On Sundays, granddad would take us for walks and explain to us how the locks worked and tell us the names of all the water fowl, wildflowers and plants we saw. He would give us each a threepenny bit for pocket money, and we would buy a penny bun, an apple and a bag of chips — that was the high life! Granddad, who had served as a sergeant in the North Staffs Regiment and had been wounded twice at the Battle of the Somme, had a fine collection of books, and I would spend hours studying them. Anything I couldn’t understand he would explain to me. It only occurred to me in later life how much he added to my education. G. LENCH, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.