Morebattle Games

Daughter and I decided to give Mr C a rest. We drove the boys over the border into Scotland to the small village where I went to primary school. (I lived on a farm 2 miles away). Firstly daughter wanted to show the boys the cottage were my parents retired to, at the bottom of Teapot Street, where she used to go on holiday. Then we took the path down to the river Kale where school friends and I build up a dam of stones to get it deep enough to teach ourselves to swim. (There was no swimming pool in the nearest town then). We returned by the churchyard to inspect my parents’ grave - after seeing the state of the churchyard where Sylvia Plath was buried I was concerned it might be in a similar condition. Happily it was mowed and weed free. We also looked at my great-uncle and aunt’s - James needed a picture as he was also called James. They were intrigued to see my grandparents’ grave - I have my grandmother’s first name and her surname as my middle name. She died aged 58 so I never knew her. The church was open so we went inside and had a sit in what was the family pew. I pointed out the place where the hymns were listed and told the boys I’d be so bored as a child I’d play maths games with the numbers to pass the time. The last time I was in the church was our wedding in 1967 (and that was only to please my parents).

We drove down to the games field. #2 daughter was determined to see the cup my parents presented to the games in 1990. My father had been involved in its running (no pun intended) since it re-started after WW2. He used to run, then trained local lads, then helped organise it. There’s a picture of him and his running school on their website. I took a picture of the 3 of them with the cup. A woman from my primary school class was pointed out to me so I had a chat. She said I’d not know anyone in the village now - it is mostly holiday homes.

We had a pleasant afternoon sitting in the intermittent sun, watching the races. The boys want to go next year as they think they’d could win money in the visitor’s race.
They are convinced their mum could get at least £5 in what was called “The Married Women’s Race”.!!!! However I was really surprised and pleased to see most of the adult races with handicaps were mixed.

Another lovely day. Mr C picked me up at New Moor Cross Roads to save Fiona the drive.

#3 daughter and family had a timed slot at the Alhambra today. She sent 61 photos - when I went it was pre-digital so I have 5.