Schoolboy Holidays With My Grandfather

A Memory of Pant.

My grandfather, George Pretty lived at a house called Belmont with his second wife Gladys, from the 1950's I assume until his death. I was a schoolboy at King's School, Worcester. My parents lived in Hong Kong and my mother arranged for me to spend the Easter holidays in 1960 and 1961 with my grandfather. My mother and my grandfather weren't close. He saw her as an ungrateful daughter and she had bad childhood memories, especially of her mother who apparently doted on her son, who was nine years younger than my mother. My mother's mother, died in 1948 and it was only later that my grandfather moved with Gladys from London to Pant. It was not a happy time for either of us; he was ill-equipped to cope with a teenager and I was bored and intolerant without entertainment, though he did try. But the ill-feeling between my grandfather and my mother was a constant undercurrent, which occasionally surfaced. Of course, as a schoolboy I didn't understand any of this, but in later life I assume he felt he had been manipulated into taking me and my brother in for the holidays. Getting to Pant by train was interesting. From Worcester I took the train to Birmingham, where I caught the Birkenhead train - Wolverhampton, Wellington, Shrewsbury, Gobowen - where I took the local train to Oswestry, then a taxi to Pant. My grandfather didn't have a car; I assume he got around by bus. His main recreation was gardening. I especially remember the damsons from his tree from which Gladys made jam. My main recreation was listening to records. It was arranged for me to spend time with another boy who had muscular dystrophy. He was a lovely boy despite his terrible illness, and took great interest in the pop music of the day. He particularly introduced me to Del Shannon's 'Runaway', one of the all time great country blues weepies. I learnt later that the boy had died, which made me sad and guilty, as I hadn't kept in touch with him; boarding school dominates your time. Belmont was/is opposite the Congregationalist chapel. I wasn't encouraged to go there, but to the Anglican church some distance away. I assume someone picked me up to go there, but I have no memory of who. In 1961 I was joined there by my brother. Having the two of us there, must have been too much for my grandfather, as we didn't go back again. To the best of my knowledge, my mother never saw her father again, as she emigrated from Hong Kong to Australia before I did, in 1963. I have visited Pant twice since I emigrated to Australia in 1964, in 2002 and 2010. On the first occasion I was able to find Belmont but nobody was home, and on the second occasion I couldn't identify the building.

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