Dolls House

When our girls were small Annette made them a dolls house. This was very simply made from a set of shelves with each shelf subdivided and with an embroidered curtain across the front. This curtain has a picture of the outside of the house with the shelving unit covered in “brick design” paper.

Although the shell was simple the contents were made with loving care. Windows were made with mirrors and covered with curtains on rails. A lot of the furniture was hand made with some scrounged. The rooms had carpets and rugs

At the time Annette made and sold some Sindy clothes with some made specially for Sindy  which graced the dolls house. The bottom level housed the stables for the Sindy horses. Although there was a nearly 4 year age gap Alison and Frances always got along very well together as indeed they did with their elder bother who after all was only just over a year older. This general harmony ( the occasional squabble aside ) made for a much easier life for their parents. I may say we were duly grateful.

The suitable age gap and our thriftiness meant that Frances inherited Alison’s hand-me-down clothes. Alison in turn inherited some from her cousins. We did of course still buy much. One particularly successful purchase was matching track suits. As well as being very practical they looked very charming in these. We were quite flattered when on one ferry crossing we were complimented by an Italian family who rather wistfully said they would like to take them home.

When we moved to Beechcroft the dolls house found a home eventually in our smallest bedroom which also housed the bunk beds. Originally the bunks were for our own children when small but were put together again for housing grandchildren. The girls Ellie, Alice and Ellen would disappear to play with the dolls house. We were amused that Ellen on her latest visit carefully organised everything with great precision. They have also had fun over the years playing with some of their parents toys. A giant box of Lego makes a regular appearance during visits.

Now the time has come where Annette is doing a “decluttering” and the dolls house is going to Alice. Ellie has outgrown it and Ellen rarely visits so Alice it is. It is a pang to see it go but to a good home for a while at least.

Alison was very helpful to her younger sister in their teenage and early twenties years. After I had a stroke and it was difficult for me to be in Oxford all the time while having treatment in our local area Alison had Frances to stay with her while she was at university there. Frances was at Cheney school and we wanted to interrupt this as little as possible. This was a strictly unofficial arrangement as Alison was in a hall of residence at the time.

Rather later while she was a research student Alison arranged a place for Frances at her departmental library. This gave Frances a years working experience before doing her MA in librarianship.

It is unfortunate that they are now so widely separated with Alison in Guildford, Frances in Birmingham and Martin in North Yorkshire. When they were closer they would arrange occasional get togethers. We try and arrange occasions to all meet up, last year at Crich tramway museum and then on to here.

We are booking a large house in Derbyshire to meet up later this year. This is rather special as we hope to include Debajit’s boys. for the first time for the wider family. I don’t suppose the elder boy who goes to university in the autumn will have so much opportunity in the future. It is sobering to think that Ellie and Alex are now well into secondary school years.

Alex joined Whitby air cadets last September and seems to have taken to it. It was something of a shock when he turned up in uniform the last time we were in Whitby. As he is now a skilled trumpeter he goes on training weekends with an air force marching band. He has developed a keen interest in aviation. We plan to visit the RAF museum at Cosford when he visits at Easter.

Have you heard about the new book ”Real Ales of the UK” It’s by Bart Enda