Sunday, November 19, 2006
Harry's Walk to The Quarter Mile
Harry's Walk
subtitled - the Rellies in Wellies!
Yesterday 16 family members gathered together to remember Harry - my Dad.
It is 10 years now since he died, though this seems incredible for he is so very much with us.
The main activity of the afternoon was to take a walk, a circular route round the fields at Ifield which the family have been doing for almost 50 years.
We are lucky that so much of it remains unchanged.
We can walk directly from the house into the countryside. The walk takes me to one of my childhood playgrounds, shared with my 2 brothers and lots of friends.
We roamed free in the woods and fields.
We walked along Tweed Lane and I mused on the people we knew who lived there when I was a child. The lane narrows into a footpath, where meadow sweet once grew. We cross the stream by a narrow, now quite rickety bridge.
Once over the bridge we now take a different route. There is now a fence to our left - there never was a public footpath across that field, but it was once more open.
The focal point for this walk is a long field, known as The Quarter Mile. It is a wide field used for growing crops, with a broad track down the middle. The Parish Church stands close by.
My first picture shows the men folk, walking in imitation of Dad - hands behind back, walking seriously, observing closely the changes in the seasons.
You can see it was getting quite late in the afternoon.
Here we have left to right, Roger (Dad's son), Matthew (Dad's son), Malcom (Dad's nephew), Joel (Dad's grandson), Simon (Dad's grandson) carrying Robert (Dad's great grand son).
This picture is at the start of the Quarter Mile.
Michaela (Dad's grand daughter) and Sue (Dad's daughter in law) walk on.
Behind is the gathered group, chatting and laughing - Megan (Dad's grand daughter) is on the left.
This was at the beginning of the walk - leaving the garden to cross the football field behind the house.
Matt and Ruth (Dad's children from his second marriage) accompany Malcolm (nephew) and his wife Chris.
Here we are in the field, having clambered down from the rickety bridge.
Michaela smiles at her son Robert who is enjoying the fact that we can see planes taking off from Gatwick Airport.
Simon carried Robert round the walk.
In the background are Jenny (Dad's second wife), Ruth and Joel.
There are a number of stiles to climb over on the walk.
Here, Jenny waits for Chris to get over the stile, with Matthew in the background.
Some of us will think of Dad with the words "get over the stile". He told us over and over again, as children the story of the old woman and her pig, the pig who wouldn't get over the stile.
Ruth and Malcolm share memories and news as they walk.
subtitled - the Rellies in Wellies!
Yesterday 16 family members gathered together to remember Harry - my Dad.
It is 10 years now since he died, though this seems incredible for he is so very much with us.
The main activity of the afternoon was to take a walk, a circular route round the fields at Ifield which the family have been doing for almost 50 years.
We are lucky that so much of it remains unchanged.
We can walk directly from the house into the countryside. The walk takes me to one of my childhood playgrounds, shared with my 2 brothers and lots of friends.
We roamed free in the woods and fields.
We walked along Tweed Lane and I mused on the people we knew who lived there when I was a child. The lane narrows into a footpath, where meadow sweet once grew. We cross the stream by a narrow, now quite rickety bridge.
Once over the bridge we now take a different route. There is now a fence to our left - there never was a public footpath across that field, but it was once more open.
The focal point for this walk is a long field, known as The Quarter Mile. It is a wide field used for growing crops, with a broad track down the middle. The Parish Church stands close by.
My first picture shows the men folk, walking in imitation of Dad - hands behind back, walking seriously, observing closely the changes in the seasons.
You can see it was getting quite late in the afternoon.
Here we have left to right, Roger (Dad's son), Matthew (Dad's son), Malcom (Dad's nephew), Joel (Dad's grandson), Simon (Dad's grandson) carrying Robert (Dad's great grand son).
This picture is at the start of the Quarter Mile.
Michaela (Dad's grand daughter) and Sue (Dad's daughter in law) walk on.
Behind is the gathered group, chatting and laughing - Megan (Dad's grand daughter) is on the left.
This was at the beginning of the walk - leaving the garden to cross the football field behind the house.
Matt and Ruth (Dad's children from his second marriage) accompany Malcolm (nephew) and his wife Chris.
Here we are in the field, having clambered down from the rickety bridge.
Michaela smiles at her son Robert who is enjoying the fact that we can see planes taking off from Gatwick Airport.
Simon carried Robert round the walk.
In the background are Jenny (Dad's second wife), Ruth and Joel.
There are a number of stiles to climb over on the walk.
Here, Jenny waits for Chris to get over the stile, with Matthew in the background.
Some of us will think of Dad with the words "get over the stile". He told us over and over again, as children the story of the old woman and her pig, the pig who wouldn't get over the stile.
Ruth and Malcolm share memories and news as they walk.The walk to The Quarter Mile was a happy occasion on a lovely crisp afternoon.
Dad would have enjoyed being there - and in some ways he was, for we talked of him a lot and recalled the affectionate way we all enjoyed his approach to life - his knowledge, his fair mindedness and also his foibles!
I will put more pictures on the blog, showing people back at the house, where we enjoyed pictures memories and games.
I hope, too, that I shall also put a selection of pictures taken by Roger, Sue and Simon - there were some good ones amongst them.
