Ladd Family 1878

A Memory of Eastry.

My grandfather Ernest Ladd, born Eastry 1878, is buried in the churchyard. Although as a child when visiting my grandmother we would tend the grave and put flowers on it, I only have a vague recollection of its location. My mother and father were married at the church in 1938 (at that time the family lived next to the Andrews family in the High Street), as were her brothers and sister. All Ernest Ladd's children were baptised there, as were 9 of his 10 grandchildren; 1 grandchild was married there and 2 great-grandchildren were baptised there in the 1960s (one coming from USA especially), and another 3 great-grandchildren were baptised there in 1980s.
Ernest Ladd came from a family of ten children and although our side of the family all live far from Eastry and most far from our home county of Kent, Eastry holds a very special place in our hearts.
Taking Sunday afternoon walks down Buttsole or Brook Street, playing up the gunpark. Picking bluebells in Betteshangar Woods; buying ice lollies from the shop on the cross, special after church lollies that were flavoured with "bing" for 2d. Going shopping for my grandmother to Clarkes or Mr Piddocks the butchers, Mrs Pullen's shop, buying  huffkins for tea from Deversons or buying a special treat when I was recovering from having my tonsils out, from Woodruffs the paper shop. My sisters and I as children visited Eastry for all the important family occasions, Christmas, Mothering Sunday, family birthdays, and stayed with our grandmother during school holidays. Although we never lived in Eastry it was our second home.

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