Great Aunt Nina

Found this photo of my Aunt Nina who was my grandpa’s sister. What a lady she was, in every sense of the word.

From humble beginnings, she went on to become a Matron in the Southern General in Glasgow. She had another sister, Jane, who died of Spanish flu in 1920.

I wish I had found out more of her life when growing up, but you never think to ask back then.

In the 1911 census she was a ‘servant’ (I detest that), a table maid in a big house near Helensburgh to a tobacco merchant. I wonder how she ended up there from Errol. But when the 1921 census came out last year we could see she was a student nurse at Stobhill, a teaching hospital. She was on her way.

She was a lovely woman. I remember her flat being IMMACULATE. She had beautiful ornaments and she had a phone!! We didn’t have a phone in the house till the mid 70s and I used to pick up the phone in her hall and dial the numbers. She made the best ever lemon meringue pie, and always made it for us coming. The table was beautifully set and there was sandwiches cut to perfection. Another thing I enjoyed was putting the rubbish into the chute at the end of the outside corridor, hearing it fall into the bin below.

Dad, Graham and I would then go a walk to the park, over the foot bridge over the River Cart so Aunty Nina and Mum could have a chat without us there. She also had friends in far flung places of the world and she kept me the postcards she was sent. I used to pore over them loving the pictures and wishing I could go there.

I have a lot of stories from Mum of A Nina which I cherish. A woman that grew up with 11 brothers, left the small village of Errol and became a Matron in a big hospital in Glasgow. Never married but had a wonderful fulfilling life.

I wonder what will become of all these old photos I have of the Cowper’s and the Hally’s . I mean my daughter hasn’t even met any of that generation . It’s making me think.

Today I had a hygienist appointment. That was the sum of my day. Lots done in the house though.