There were lots of cousins all more Maureen’s age so they were all moving in work circles or training to teach and I was very much the young lad who turned up after Mass on a Sunday to say hello. If at a few venues a threepence oddly shaped coin found its way in my direction to buy some sweets of course the visits were all very worthwhile. Uncle Bert and Aunty Vera had Tricia who did become a teacher. Aunty Vera Morris had Mary, who became a hairdresser and ran the Admiralty St hairdressers, Uncle Ernie had Biddy who became a librarian and Walter had a son and three daughters. His grandson Michael became a Labour Councillor for St Peter’s Ward in 1991 but that’s for later.
Grandma Riggs was a passionate Irish Republican and when a few whisky’s had been consumed would sing the songs of her time during the uprisings in Ireland. I remember one about a Kevin Barry giving his life for the cause of liberty and she talked about the “black and tans” not the drink the English Army in the conflict in a most strong way about the brutality of the times.
Quite a number of the parish priests were Irish and many had good voices for singing so they were regular visitors especially if there was whisky on offer and they would sing for her. All the family could sing pretty well and as long as the alcohol was flowing usually if a good standard. So Christmas parties were lively affairs especially as Uncle Bert’s birthday fell on Boxing Day more of that later.
On Grandma Ingham’s side of the family she came from a large family of Warren’s out of Charlotte St and Morice Town and they were almost all girls. Amy had no children and ran the Off licence in Fleet St and Grandma generally stayed here going down to Vanguard Terrace in the mornings, where Miss Manning from Keyham Barton lived in the upstairs flat. Hetty lived in Fleet St and had a disabled son Wilfred who grew up with Dad. Aunty Vera’s mum was another sister and two others lived at Stoke and were married to the Williams Brothers who were builders and famous rugby players. Grandma herself had two boys Frank who was a few years older than Dad and went into the RAF and had a very distinguished career settling in York where they had Peter,Pat and John and like me John thinks we were both accidents, and Dad. So the inter connections by marriage brought about quite a strong and lively family and it seemed to me as the youngest that they had a comeradery especially if there was a problem. All sorts of debates and arguments could happen but as soon as there was a problem either individually or collectively then they would stand together.
As a child I was always struck at how different to my Dad his brother seemed.True I only saw him when he visited or was down on holiday but he was so jovial and always seemed to have the answer for anything.John tells me he had the most lovely letter from someone who served with him during the War. He was a Plymouthian and after the City took massive bombing was worried and upset about his family. Apparently Uncle Frank arranged a long week furlough provided he guaranteed to be back on time,so he was able to come home to see his family was safe.
Tag: school
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Extended Family
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Family Connections
Growing up in both Admiralty St and Renown St there were some special moments that stick in the mind. Maureen leaving for London was a sad occasion the only close person other than Mum and Dad and suddenly I’m on my own. But Christmas was an entirely different occasion, apart from all the Church services and celebrations across the faiths, it was a time when all the family came together in different host homes over the period up to New Year.
This was a big family interconnected across both Grandma Ingham’s line and Granda Riggs line. Mum was one of fourteen children born and lived in Ker St. Of course not all survived an number died in early infancy and it seemed it was accepted as normal and probably was the reason why big numbers of children were born into working class families. Mum was the youngest and her sister Vera was the next up, Bert and Walter, Leonard and Earnie these were the ones who survived. I have no recollection of Grandad Riggs like Grandad Ingham he died before I was born. I recall Leonard as a child he lived at Wombwell Crescent with Grandma and Aunty Vera who became a widow in the War with the loss of her husband and also lived at Wombwell with her daughter Mary. Her surname was Morris. Leonard developed a brain tumour early in my life and whilst I can clearly recall him in stature, without the technology we have today nothing could be done and he died when I was about seven.
All of the male Riggs worked in the Dockyard as labourers or skilled labourers and at this time the Dockyard was employing up to 20,000 people but not all jobs were permanent, in fact when you became classed as an established employee that gave a permanence and security for the future.The opportunity for a mortgage became within reach and the Keyham houses two up two down were within the range of affordability once this status was reached. There were also a number of naval personnel who this also applied to as well so Keyham was a place where Naval and Dockyard workers lived.
Uncle Bert had a house in Fleet St and he had married Vera who was my Dad’s cousin from the Warren side of Grandma Ingham’s family line. Earnie had married and lived at St Budeaux but they couldn’t have children and it was only recently that I found out that his daughter Biddy who was the eldest of my cousin’s was in fact adopted. It would seem that Grandma Riggs true Irish Catholic that she was played a big role with Canon Gaynor to bring pregnant Irish girls out of wedlock to the area to have their babies and the children were adopted here locally. Apparently in Ireland the disgrace would have been overwhelming for the girl and there was no knowing what the family would do, probably thrown her out, so this provided a solution all round.
I had no idea of any of this until only a few years ago when Maureen and Mary related the story, Biddy herself confirmed that she had tried to trace back to her mother and had the name, whatever came from that I don’t know.
Walter was also in the Dockyard and lived in Ernesettle he had three daughters and a son and in later years his Grandson Michael Riggs was elected as a Councillor in 1991,,which we will cover in due time. Walter was the most full of life of all of the brothers, they could sink a lot of beer but he seemed to be entertaining all the time. The one feature they all had was Grandma Riggs white hair they all went pure white and Mum had such fine hair with it,that eventually she took to having some wigs done in white. -
School Plays
Looking through the photo album, I came across a photo of our time at Keyham Barton when I was about 9 or 10 years of age. One of the things Sister Denis was very keen on was drama and speech improvement. I have no idea why that was but we were organised and trained to learn a play called “Zurika the Princess” and I can’t remember at thing of the plot. All I know was I played the King in this drama and having gone back to mum to tell her she set out to do the best King’s outfit you could possibly have. A crown made of strong cardboard covered in gold paper and the four straps of the coronet all liked together in the middle with a ping pong ball wrapped in silver paper holding them all together.A cloak and pantaloons with long white sock material for each leg. It was some costume! The play was a huge success played at the newly built Honicknowle Secondary School and had a run of a week at the Globe inside the Royal Marine Barracks in Stonehouse. For us it was an exciting experience and the ability to go from one side to the other underneath the stage was quite unique.
Looking at those in the photo they were Cederic Chapple, Peter May, Jim O’Connell, Jennifer Smyth, Julianna Hayes, Carmel Collett, Maureen Frost, Janet Harold, Theresa Gemmett, Pat Burchell, Edward Sheppard, Catherine Fielder, Michael Ryan, Richard Cavanague and Martyn Collier. These were all resident in Keyham except for Richard Cavanague, Peter May, Janet Harold and Theresa Gemmett. Edward Shepherd was one of the children of that era who had polio from birth and have calipers to support his lower legs, but he got stronger and better as our time at Keyham went on much was down to everyone supporting him in every way.
We have lost a number of these people over the years but looking at the photo they will always live in my mind for the times we had together growing up as children in Keyham. Some of the boys went on to St Boniface’s with me and we spent another five years there in the 50’s. At a time when things were changing in society very rapidly. Rock and roll happened along with the Tony Curtis hairstyles and flash clothes although I wasn’t allowed because according to mum it looked common. This was my mum who liked Little Richard can you believe when no one else thought he was any good at all. Always a surprise in store with mum.
The summer holidays were a huge time for leisure and because there always seemed to be sunshine we were up at North Down fields for football most of our days and along with families from both North Down Gardens and Royal Navy AVE we would make up teams and spend the day playing. The pitch was on a slope so play tended to go in one direction but these were good times. The Bartrops, the Edges, Michael Ryan, Tony Clark, Ken Squires, occasionally Terry Meager and Mike Cusack from Fleet St would play but the last two were good players who played at quite a high standard later on, as did Ken Squires.
In the light evenings Top park or Alexandra Park was the venue for many of us to meet up, kick around a bit, play a bit of cricket but again it was such a steep site invariably we would end up at the top plateau just sitting around. It was here we watched HMS Amethyst return from the Yangse incident to Devon port badly damaged a very famous incident that had the whole country following on the radio.