Holiday Delights....& Upsets!

A Memory of Chester.

It was probably 1947 when I was first introduced to Chester. My grandmother Minshall had many friends, most of them had one thing in common, their appearance....without being too unkind, they were all kind of 'odd looking'...well, certainly to a young child. Anyway I was introduced to this aged brother and sister who lived in Chester, they were regular visitors to Whitchurch and on one such visit it was suggested I should go back with them for a holiday. Seemingly they had a niece my age who was an only child. I didn't mind because it meant I didn't have to stay at Mill Street! So began a love affair with the beautiful city of Chester.
My 'uncle', as I was told to call him, was gardener for the Bishop, who at that time was, I believe, Bishop Crick, forgive me if I have got it wrong. Living in the Cathedral Close was a lovely family called Jenkins, Mr. Jenkins used to ring the curfew bell every night and on one memorable occasion he took me with him and allowed me to ring the date of that day. I'm not too sure about the year, but I do remember it was the 28th of August and very exciting. As I remember the curfew had ceased during the war years,so my experience was just after it resumed.
I remember spending hours on Chester station, fascinated by the station announcer, convincing me it was the best career in the world. Other times my 'aunt' would take me to the river, sometimes going on the pleasure cruisers.....then there were the magnificent Rows to explore. So exciting, when I think how I used to walk from Handbridge to the station and back, from the age of ten, on my own, it's sad to think that today no child would be allowed to.
Now for my only 'upset'. At this time I was at boarding school in Oswestry, only been there a year and one Sunday evening 'aunt' and 'uncle' picked me up from the Jenkins' and we went to evensong at the Cathedral...lovely, all was going well until we were singing the hymn with the lines ''death where is thy sting and grave thy victory'' [well, something like that]. Well, my 'uncle' was in full 'throttle', head thrown back, heard above all others, I was looking around to see if people had noticed, when glancing across the nave I spotted her, a girl from my school...and yes, she'd recognised me, even though we didn't actually know each other, she smiled,I was mortified! The ''what ifs'' came fast and furious - what if she thought they were my grandparents...worse still, my parents. Please remember this is how a small girl saw these two gentle, caring, aged people. If they were alive today I know I would still be visiting them and proud to call them 'aunt' and 'uncle'.
Chester is still one of my favourite places, and last year my lovely daughter and son-in-law took me on a nostalic visit, standing there looking at the stone cottage where Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins and their daughter had lived brought it all back....how lucky am I to be able to look up at the Cathedral and say, ''Yes, I went up there once and rang out the date - 28th.August!".