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| Aunty Tilly |
Please join me for another post in my Sharing Memories series. Thank you to Olive Tree Genealogy’s Blog’s for providing me with the idea and motivation to write a little about my family history as I remember it.
Aunty Tilly as we all fondly remember her was the subject of
my last blog on The Other Half of My family, Born on the 14 November 1900, Matilda Holman(nee Taylor) lived for over a century and being an ardent royalist one of the
proudest moments was when she received a telegram from Queen Elizabeth on her
100th Birthday.
I did not meet my husband’s great Aunty Tilly until the late
1970’s. However, she soon became one of my muses and inspirations for delving into
our family history. Her fascination with
family history, and tendency to collect “all things past” inspired me to
explore my husband’s family history as well as my own. Aunty Tilly was only too happy to share her
stories and because of my obvious interest entrusted me with many family
photos, letters and stories. Her stories about her family and relatives in England sparked my interest
into her Great Grandmother Elizabeth Taylor (nee Rushworth) on whom I have
written a number of blogs. Today I would like to write down a few of my
memories of Aunty Tilly, as part of my “Sharing Memories” series.
Aunty Tilly was very determined and many would say somewhat
stubborn, but she always seemed to be able to organise (or sometimes demand)
people to get things how she wanted.
Perhaps this was part of her survival strategy, as she outlived all her
siblings, husband and children. Whenever
a male relative of the family visited Aunty Tilly, at her home in Cowra, they were welcomed with open arms and lots of
charm, and then a list of chores and small maintenance jobs that she had been
saving up for them. It was common knowledge
if Aunty Tilly was cooking a Sunday Roast (which she liked to do), all the
chores would need to be completed before lunch.
One of the first memories of Aunty Tilly that springs to
mind was in 1980. I liked to dabble, in
different craft
work, one of which was making cards and pictures from pressed
flowers which I sold to friends and at local markets. Aunty Tilly admiring my handiwork invited me
over for the Cowra for the local “Quota” Craft Show. I was at this time about 6 months pregnant
with my first son, so I packed up all wares into our family car and set off for
a weekend with Aunty Tilly and her daughter Joan. (Joan was her single daughter who lived with
Aunty Tilly until she passed away about 10 years later).
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| Aunty Tilly and Joan at our wedding 10.5.1980 |
As soon as I arrived Joan and Aunty Tilly took great delight
in my arrival, fussing and organising me. Joan and I headed down to the craft
show to set up my stall, with hot thermos’s of sweet black tea and another
thermos full of Cauliflower in a rich cheese sauce for our lunch. That makes me smile! Who would think of making up a lunch of
Cauliflower and cheese sauce!! (only Aunty Tilly). Mind you it was pretty
yummy. I really don’t remember if I sold
anything off my stall, but I had a wonderful afternoon with all their friends
fussing over me and rubbing their hands over my rather prominent baby bump.
A great story, but the classic moment was after breakfast
the next day!! We had just finished our breakfast at the small table on the
back porch of Aunty Tilly’s house. Joan
had packed up the dishes and said, “It is a great day, let me show you the
garden”, Aunty Tilly rose to her full 5 foot nothing, grabbed my arm, and gave
Joan a meaningful stare!! “You had her
yesterday, It is my turn today!”
Who were we to argue! Joan sat down meekly and picked up the
paper, and Aunty Tilly guided my bulky form out the back door to introduce me
to all her canaries, who were singing away in the cages just near the
door. By the time we had checked out the
orchids, and reached the famous, sprawling mulberry tree at the back of her
yard, Joan had meekly snuck up and joined into the conversation and the rest of
the tour. They had a wonderful and
supportive relationship for many years, but I think Aunty Tilly was always the
boss and had the final say.
I have many more Aunty Tilly stories, which I think I will
keep for another post.
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