Today would be my Grandad’s 103rd birthday, which means that it’s been just under 20 years since he died. I loved my Grandad, he was a good grandparent in the best sense, I know that one day Oli and Joe will feel the same way about Ma as their Grandma.

He wasn’t perfect but he did all the right Grandad things, and I am aware that he wasn’t a perfect human being but I loved him.

Grandad on the blog mostly lives through his bread pudding recipe but I’ve been scanning some photos so this seemed like the right time to break them out…

Sometime between 1938 and 1945 and yes my brother does really look like him….This is his wedding photo which places it in 1944, I think, if I’m wrong Ma will tell me (hi Ma!). That’s Iris, my grandma and she and my Mum have the same shaped hands (genetics are strange and marvellous) I have no idea when this is but this is my great-grandad Hull, my great aunt Phylis, Grandad, my great aunt Edith and my great aunt Ada. One of the things I didn’t really understand until he died was that he was a big brother as well as my Grandad.This is my first communion, that’s Jan, Dad, Grandad and my uncle Mick. Grandad wore a suit, he probably complained about the amount of times he had to get up and down during Mass too, this was a regular feature of Grandad at Mass, Salvation Army services did not really go in for bells and smells and kneeling but I know that he was pleased that Ma and by extension, Ben and I had come back to Jesus. Grandad’s influence on my faith was gentle but strong. Grandad didn’t preach but he was a great model of faith, especially when it’s hard and especially when you fail. When I was confirmed we had to do some form of ‘service’ which is how I ended up  ‘helping’ in a Sally Ann youth group once a week until I was 19.

This is the first Christmas after we moved out of Fulham and the first Christmas without my Dad. This is a much more typical Grandad picture. He was 80, we had been to Mass in the morning. I still have that armchair, but had to have it reupholstered. It has a throw on it in this photo because Grandad’s brylcreem had done for the original material. Yes,  I know he had almost no hair but what he had was always slicked down!