Snapshot: Feel the force of love, little Luke
My elder two children are lucky enough to be growing up surrounded by cousins and family friends of the same ages. As I am the second daughter of only children, I did not have this experience and I delight in seeing the bonds that come out of knowing someone since birth.
However, when I was pregnant again last year, I spent much of my pregnancy concerned that the eight-year age gap would mean that my boys wouldn’t have shared interests and that my soon-to-be middle child would find the transition difficult. I did try to believe the tales, though, that the baby would bring out my daughter’s maternal side and that she would be like a second mummy to him.
Once Luke arrived, my worries about his relationship with his elder brother were put to rest as Calum was keen to be involved and, as usual, he was also content to entertain himself; making it easy for me to enjoy my newborn. My daughter, Holly, was also incredibly loving with little Luke and this too was a great relief.
Only one year on it is clear that the age gap is of no bearing – not yet at least. In this picture we are visiting Stirling Bridge and Luke was only too pleased to help his elder brother to re-enact the first war of independence: the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, where Andrew Moray and William Wallace defeated the combined English forces of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, and Hugh de Cressingham.
Luke is neither the easy third child who “raises themselves” nor the challenging baby who has overturned family life for the worse. He has slotted in very nicely to our little gang and, despite the mess, noise and sleep deprivation that he inevitably brings with him, we all feel incredibly lucky to have him.
Sarah Neary
Playlist: My Jack survived to whistle his good news
Big Noise from Winnetka by Gene Krupa (instrumental)
On 6 December 1944, my husband-to-be Jack’s ship, HMS Bullen, was escorting a convoy in the north Atlantic when it was torpedoed. Hit amidships, it was rapidly sinking. The carley floats (rafts) were full so he jumped into the icy waters with mountainous waves and swam towards HMS Hesperus. Lucky to be picked up after swimming for two hours, he was covered in oil and traumatised.
The captain and 71 men were lost. There were 97 survivors.
After a long train journey from Thurso to Chatham, before being sent on two weeks survivors’ leave, Jack rang the Empress cinema in Bradford, which was owned by his uncle and where his dad worked, also sometimes his brother Jim, a student. Jim answered. He’d had a fearful feeling of foreboding all the previous day, so was elated to hear: “It’s Jack.”
But then, lost in emotion, Jack was unable to speak. Instead, he started to whistle a passage from one of their favourite records, Big Noise from Winnetka, by the famous drummer Gene Krupa, where the tune is whistled. When he heard it, Jim knew his brother was safe.
The next day a telegram arrived at the family home in Bradford, from the Admiralty: “Safe and well – Jack.”
I was the girl-next-door-but-one. We were married in 1949 and for 51 years were very happy and had four children.
Kate Meynell
We love to eat: Jessie Ellen’s bread and cheese sausages
Ingredients
4 slices of seeded wholemeal bread
A good handful of grated cheddar cheese
1/2 smallish onion
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 egg, beaten
Blitz the bread in a food processor to create fine breadcrumbs, add the remaining ingredients and pulse for a minute then tip into a bowl. Mould to form six to eight sausages. Place on an oven tray along with a little oil. Cook for about 20 minutes at 180C, turning once or twice. The sausages are best served cold and I like to dish them up with a carrot salad made from grated carrot sprinkled with sesame oil, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
I adapted this recipe from one that my grandmother Jessie Ellen made. I use seeded bread to give nuttiness to the sausages; she used any bread she happened to have left over and her breadcrumbs were made without a food processor. They were delicious additions to a packed lunch and always formed part of a picnic tea. I still make them today and they are a family favourite.
Jessie Ellen was a trained cook, and my grandfather, Aubrey Cecil, was a tailor. Aubrey survived the first world war – in the cavalry, he was sent to the front and as there were not enough horses he rode into battle on a bicycle.
Jessie and Aubrey had a long marriage and adopted five children. I spent most of my childhood with them. Thanks to their influence, I became a good cook and a competent needlewoman at a very young age, and I went on to become the domestic goddess I am today!
Mary Bilous
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