Morris Family The Gristmill Whitebrook

A Memory of Whitebrook.

My father Eddie Morris was last of of 7 children who lived in the Gristmill. Even aged 70, he was still hugged & referred to as Baby Brother. (Ron, Tom, Jack, Jim, Trudy, Grace, Eddie). Story is that his father was an alchoholic and would remove and threaten the children with his leather belt when drunk.....no proof that he actually used it. Story is that he was harsh to his wife, although this is unclear as she appears to have been a very strong dominatrix which perhaps itself contributed to his drinking. She, my grandmother is an enigma. Whatever. His children gave huge respect to alcohol in their later years, socially drinking, but always afraid of its potential devastation.

A story I would like to share is that as a child Dad used to catch the train from Whitebrook to Monmouth for school. He & his brothers often returned home pleading "sorry Mum, can't go to school, we missed the train". After a few weeks unknown to them my grandmother changed all the clocks in the house back by an hour - so when they next said they'd missed the train, she grabbed them by the ears & frog-marched them to the waiting train!!!

Another is they played Cowboys & Indians in the woods and used to fire catapults and bows & arrows across the (White) brook at each other. Although always forbidden, this was their greatest game. It stopped when Jack got an arrow fired directly into his eye. The kids didn't need to be told then, they believed the doctor that Jack would be blind and were petrified yet somehow his sight remained intact. But it was a wonderful story repeated with much laughter and guffawing at all family occasions for the next 50 yrs.

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