February 23, 2021
February 23, 2021
Five years today.
You shared this with me about a year before your death... I'm sharing it to the world, so you can know you did belong, and someone does miss you
Skeletons in cupboards they do exist
How my cousin became my half sister.
My mum and dad married in April 1938, and made their home in a little cottage at a place called Woodhouse Eaves in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire. They led a very idyllic life, hard, as it was in those days but they were happy
When war broke out in 1939 my dad joined up in the army and mum put their furniture into storage and moved back in with her mother.
My dad had a hell of a war, he was in the North Africa Campaign, then ended up fighting the Japanese in Burma, He was in the so called suicide squads, and was not in contact with the outside world for months on end, so he was posted missing presumed dead many times.
Meanwhile my mother was doing her bit for the war effort being a bus conductress, And with my dad away for so long she fell in love with the driver of her bus. Apparently he was already married with children.
Anyway she fell pregnant, and as it was in those days moved away to her sisters to save the family shame.
In the last week of her pregnancy my dad came back from the war!!! He had been away for 6 years. I just cannot imagine the emotions; it must have been so traumatic for all them. It took a while for the dust to settle but after it did, my dad said he would take the child on has is own…
But this was not to be, and I suppose given the times that they lived they had to come up with a more believable plan….Mum gave birth to a baby girl and her sister and husband (my aunt and uncle) adopted her and named her Elizabeth Ann .They brought her up as there own and to this day to all intents and purposes are her mum and dad…my uncle is now deceased. The family on mum’s side knew all about the goings on, but dad’s family did not. They were told my mum had been raped.
My dad swore everybody to secrecy, mum was adamant that I should not be told…and I wasn’t. For over fifty years it was kept a closely guarded secret… from me at least. Then when my dad was dying my auntie thought I ought to know.
My cousin now my half-sister… had known since she was a child and dare not let on, especially when my mum was alive. My uncles and aunts cousins, everybody else but me knew. I was the last to know, and for the life of me don’t know how it was kept such a secret.
I was perplexed for a long while as to why I wasn’t told, but I suppose mum thought I would think badly of her, then on the other hand she was close enough know I would understand.
I waited for my dad to tell me before he died, but he never did, I think that he had blanked it from his mind. If it weren’t for my aunt I probably would have never found out. Maybe Liz my half sister would have told me I don’t know… she said she would have done but who knows.
Anyway I have come to terms with it now, I do feel a little upset that I missed out on a sister for so long, and after that period of time it is difficult to form a different relationship to what we have known… we try but it doesn’t work really, I do call her my sister now though.
Strange how things work out, my aunt and uncle could never be blessed with children of their own. So it was blessing to them….
Liz as shown no inclination to find out who her father is, she knows she as half brothers and that’s all….My aunt as told me her fathers name so if and when she does want to know I can tell her.
So there are skeletons in cupboards, this one was a big shock to me I can tell you.
Mike Noble
You shared this with me about a year before your death... I'm sharing it to the world, so you can know you did belong, and someone does miss you
Skeletons in cupboards they do exist
How my cousin became my half sister.
My mum and dad married in April 1938, and made their home in a little cottage at a place called Woodhouse Eaves in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire. They led a very idyllic life, hard, as it was in those days but they were happy
When war broke out in 1939 my dad joined up in the army and mum put their furniture into storage and moved back in with her mother.
My dad had a hell of a war, he was in the North Africa Campaign, then ended up fighting the Japanese in Burma, He was in the so called suicide squads, and was not in contact with the outside world for months on end, so he was posted missing presumed dead many times.
Meanwhile my mother was doing her bit for the war effort being a bus conductress, And with my dad away for so long she fell in love with the driver of her bus. Apparently he was already married with children.
Anyway she fell pregnant, and as it was in those days moved away to her sisters to save the family shame.
In the last week of her pregnancy my dad came back from the war!!! He had been away for 6 years. I just cannot imagine the emotions; it must have been so traumatic for all them. It took a while for the dust to settle but after it did, my dad said he would take the child on has is own…
But this was not to be, and I suppose given the times that they lived they had to come up with a more believable plan….Mum gave birth to a baby girl and her sister and husband (my aunt and uncle) adopted her and named her Elizabeth Ann .They brought her up as there own and to this day to all intents and purposes are her mum and dad…my uncle is now deceased. The family on mum’s side knew all about the goings on, but dad’s family did not. They were told my mum had been raped.
My dad swore everybody to secrecy, mum was adamant that I should not be told…and I wasn’t. For over fifty years it was kept a closely guarded secret… from me at least. Then when my dad was dying my auntie thought I ought to know.
My cousin now my half-sister… had known since she was a child and dare not let on, especially when my mum was alive. My uncles and aunts cousins, everybody else but me knew. I was the last to know, and for the life of me don’t know how it was kept such a secret.
I was perplexed for a long while as to why I wasn’t told, but I suppose mum thought I would think badly of her, then on the other hand she was close enough know I would understand.
I waited for my dad to tell me before he died, but he never did, I think that he had blanked it from his mind. If it weren’t for my aunt I probably would have never found out. Maybe Liz my half sister would have told me I don’t know… she said she would have done but who knows.
Anyway I have come to terms with it now, I do feel a little upset that I missed out on a sister for so long, and after that period of time it is difficult to form a different relationship to what we have known… we try but it doesn’t work really, I do call her my sister now though.
Strange how things work out, my aunt and uncle could never be blessed with children of their own. So it was blessing to them….
Liz as shown no inclination to find out who her father is, she knows she as half brothers and that’s all….My aunt as told me her fathers name so if and when she does want to know I can tell her.
So there are skeletons in cupboards, this one was a big shock to me I can tell you.
Mike Noble
