Winifred and Donald Gowing
Page Two
To the right of the page I have drawn up the relevant miniature family tree. In the case of a subject marrying more than once, only the marriage relevant to our family is shown.
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
 |
 |
 |
Left picture, Colin in his favoured attire, Middle, Terry in his new car. Right picture, Fay Tina at two years old looking astonishingly like her own daughter, Cara.
Fay Tina was born in1960, one of a twin but the other child did not survive. From the very beginning she known as Tina and she was not a healthy child. From the early days she was a constant visitor to the Ear ,Nose and Throat Hospital in The Grays Inn Road, London. One of the ironies of life is that every visit to the hospital was a matter of yards from her Fathers place of birth in Harrison Street and neither her or her Mother knew it. She followed in the footsteps of her brothers and sisters, going to Burleigh School in Blindmans Lane, Cheshunt, and on to Cheshunt Secondary School (renamed "Riversmead" around 1967 when "Secondary" Schools became "Comprehensive" Schools and later renamed "Bishopslea" when the school was amalgamated with another school. Keith was the only child who missed this experience, going on to Cheshunt Grammer School instead.
1962 saw the death of Raymond Leslie Hollings, he never married and spent much of his time under medical supervision. He was still living with his sister Sarah Ethel up to his last days. It must have been a sad time for Donald Jack who would have looked to Raymond as a big brother during his younger days.
They say every cloud has a silver lining and to Keith John, that must have been how it appeared. In the last stages of school, he was shipped off to live with his Grandmother as company and to get some much needed peace and quiet to enable him to study. Young Keith had never had it so good.
The top picture shows some of the family around the apple tree. Left to right, Marilyn, Terry, Sandie, Tina, Colin. Over to the right is the swing. This picture gives some idea of the size of the garden. The lower picture (taken by Audrey a few years earlier, from a different angle in the garden) was before the birth of Tina. Left to right, Sandie, Marilyn, Terry, Keith and at the front is Colin. It is difficult to put a name to the man in the background.
One of the major memories of the next few years was fostering of the two Nigerian children Lola and Dayo. Winifreds love of children has been well documented in these pages and the arrival of the Lola in 1965 and Dayo the following year probably suprised nobody, least of all Donald. The responsibility of "joint Motherhood" fell on the older girls in the family, Audrey, Sandie and later Marilyn, the children's blood parents (Little Mummy and Little Daddy) visited most Sundays, until the sudden death of their mother, which complicated things considerably . The children were fostered, which is a sort of short term adoption, and we always new they would one day return to their own parents, but the way it happened was a shock to all.
Little Dayo in her mothers arms and Lola to the right, in the garden of 12,Briar Close. No attempt shall be made on the names of their parents. Lola and Dayo knew them as "Little Mummy" and "Little Daddy".
Under Nigerian Law, in the event of the death of the Mother, the Grandmother takes control of the children, NOT the father. When the two children visited their grandmother in Nigeria Christmas,1969, she refused to allow them to return to Great Britain regardless of the fathers wishes. It was many years before we saw them again and that was only or a brief visit about eight years later. Most of the children went to Sunday School, every Sunday afternoon at three o'clock, at the Labour hall in College Road, run by the Collins family (no relation), even Lola and Dayo.
The last time Winifred May saw Lola and Dayo, Lola was fifteen years old in this picture Dayo about thirteen.
Also in 1969, after a few years of working for a living, Terry, at the age of eighteen joined the R.A.F. for a five years. He spent a fair amount of time at R.A.F. Fairford in Gloucester shire, which was the base used for the Concorde trials, It was here he learnt to drive the large vehicles the R.A.F. used to transport men and equipment. He came out in 1974, and after a short time at home moved into a small cottage in Wormley West End, Hertfordshire, with three of his friends. They stayed there for a year or so and then moved to Enfield Town, to a flat over a shop in the town centre.
Terry
Raymond, aged 18, in full R.A.F. uniform
This was a time of strikes and power cuts. It would not be unusual to be sitting around a candle on a chill winters evening. On 14th September, 1968 Sandie married Robert Denty, and embarked on a new life. They were married at St Mary's Church, Churchgate, Cheshunt, and moved to Holdbrook house, Waltham Cross, and later, in 1970, to Cecil Road, Waltham Cross, very close to Sarah Ethel, who was still living at Springfield Road. At the time Robert was a draughtsman, his mother was living quite close in Waltham Cross but his father had died in 1965. He had a half brother Reginald and a half Sister Eileen. In 1973 they moved again, briefly to friends as a "stop gap" and then on to a new house, in Marsh Close Waltham Cross, in 1974.
Two years later and it was Marilyn's turn to marry. On the 20th June 1970 she married Peter Linstead also at St. Mary's Church, and after a brief honeymoon they lived with Peters mother Joan and her partner Bert, in Bush Hill Park, Enfield before moving to Northgate House, Turners Hill, Cheshunt. From there, a few years later they moved on to Clyfton Close, Wormley, (north of Cheshunt) and after a short time there they moved way down south to a little village called West Moors on the outskirts of Bournemouth, Dorset. After several changes in occupation Peter and Marilyn now own an hotel in Alum Chine, Bournemouth and are doing OK, thank you. The biggest sadness in their life is the inability to have children, despite all the medical help available. Peter was an only child, his father left when he was seven years old and he has not seen him since, but his mother, Joan, is alive and well and enjoying life in Bournemouth too.
Five months after the marriage of Peter and Marilyn, on the 6th December 1970 Sarah Ethel Gowing, nee Hollings, died . For a time she had been in the Cottage Hospital, Church Lane, Cheshunt, and on the day of their wedding Marilyn and Peter had visited her so she could see the wedding dress, but her condition deteriorated and she ended her days at St Michaels Hospital Enfield. She had been there for a while, and I think at nearly 82 years old there was a fear that she may never come out. I suspect it was not unexpected, but nevertheless it was a shock to the younger ones, and very sad for Marilyn and Donald Jack, coming at such a time.
Sarah Ethel as I remember her, top picture relaxing in the front room at 12,Briar Close. Lower picture, in the "Lean to" built by her son Donald Jack, same house.
|
|
|
Gowing page
Homepage
Table of Contents
Contact me
