Mum and Dad Bill and Ruth Parsons
Mum and Dad where country folk like Dolly and Basil ,But they where farmers or worked on a farm for the majority of their life .Dad was born into a family of seven Brotheres and Sisters at Swanmore a small village near Winchester.His Dad My Grandfather was a carpenter and also connected to the local church .They where a poor family but did not go hungry as my Grandmother was very inventive on how many ways to use the vegetables from the garden.  Mum was born in Long Parrish North Hampshire and like Basil my grandfather on this side of the family was also a  gamekeeper she had one Brother and one Sister.Where my Fathers family stayed in one village Mums family moved around Hampshire and Sussex wherever there was a job available .
Mum met Dad at the time Keeper Newman(as he was always known)had a job at Swanmore Park .Shortly after they met the family moved again to Slindon in Sussex where Keeper Newman stayed until he retired .But by this time my Grandmother had died quite young of cancer. Ruth my Mum had the job of looking after her Father and Brother, Norah the elder Sister had gone to live with an Aunt to ease the burden .
To keep the romance going my Dad used to travel to Slindon on one of the first BSA motorbikes this took two and a half hours nowadays by car it would take half an hour but in the dark you had to keep stopping to relight the headlight (I will explain later ) Dad now worked on his first farm job.
His first employment was to Clarke`s farm in the village .This meant a very early start and a long day. Twice a week he would drive their lorry to the market in Portsmouth .The lorry`s in those days had a a cab that was open to the weather no windscreen as such and traveled full speed twenty miles per hour .The journey took them over Portsdown Hill and if there was a strong wind any passenger had to get out to walk up the hill to help the engine, also the gas lights where ofter blown out and had to be relit many times .In those days there was only one main road into Portsmouth and the trams took priority on this road. and many times the lorry`s wheels would get stuck in the tram lines which could have disastrous results if action was not taken quickly.But he and the lorry survived several years before he moved on to Watson`s farm. It was on one of there trips he saw one of the first German airship fly over.
Mum and Dad got married on a bitter November day . Her Dad and family did not attend as he did not want my Mum to leave home as by this time she was his and her brothers housekeeper and to replace her he had to pay someone to live in . They then moved into a tied (tied means it goes with the job ,leave the job you are homeless) bungalow on the farm. Dad by this time was joined by his elder Brother who now lived next door with his wife and two children . Jim, Dads brother was the horseman and looked after two working animals and they also had steam engines and a steam tractor . Dad had a Ferguson lorry and was much more modern than the first lorry he drove and part of his job was to drive the farms produce to the shops in Winchester and in those days their where many characters with many stories to tell (one was the Andrews family they ran a faggot, pie and chip shop where poorer people could get a good meal for a shilling now ten pence .Faggots where made from boiling pigs head down and the meat was minced and formed and then baked .
I was born in the second World War .Dad as a farm worker was exempt of being a soldier as farm workers where considered essential to keep the country fed. But he had to join the home guard as many people did in the village ,Mum had to go out nights to look for incendiary bombs that where drooped by German aircraft .Dad after working on the farm all day spent nights with his mates on duty.  Although we lived in the country, near to where we lived the authorities marked out a false town to draw the German bombs away from Portsmouth and Southampton .One night a bomb dropped close to our home and when exploding brought the ceilings down Mum and Dad found me in my cot covered in plaster but not hurt. There where quite a few incidences like this and we had quite a few aircraft crash localy where damaged planes could not get back to base. But we survived and as soon as I was old enough to help I was expected to feed the farm animals (cows pigs and chickens among others) and as soon as I was able to reach drive a tractor (can you imagine in todays correct world a small child driving farm implements).Â
Holidays where non existent but just after the war ended they where able to buy a Ford eight car as at this time cars could be had quite cheap a petrol was hard to get . They used to drive out on Sundays after all the animals where fed and somtimes made it to Slindon to see Granddad .We used to stop half way there to cool the engine down .But there where other times when they would go and visit Mums Sister who was married and now lived in London, a coach company called Southdown ran a service that stopped in the village on the way to London (but this will be another story later in my blog) Life moved on I grew up and started work in a provisions shop called International Stores. Mum and Dad now took up camping and the car was changed to a Ford Prefect (very modern )
Just after I started work my Mum fell pregnant at the age of forty ,it was a very big shock for them but in those days termination was not heard of .Ian was born in July and changed their life as they seemed to grow younger and they started a new family as just after this I left for National Service (another story) Just after this they decided they could no longer live on the farm and looked for a house to buy. they found a bungalow in its own ground in Forest Road about a mile from their old house it was up for sale for the grand total of two thousand pounds !!! they borrowed and with the money they had purchased it and with the help of Dads brother in law built a new kitchen ect they lived happily their for the rest of their lives this was many years .It wasn`t long after this they decided to have their first of many holidays in Europe .Dad by now was working for the local council with much better pay and a pension at the end .They traveled through the UK  and Europe on coach tours with Dads Sister Ida and her husband Earnest and the four of them had great times.
Mum was still working on the farm that had expanded in to Greenhouses and then onto a vineyard .She worked and drove a motorbike well into her late seventies Dad also had a part time job working on a mushroom farm and he worked until he became disabled .In the later years of her life Mum worked and run a local branch of The Cheshire homes . she raised many thousands of pounds for the home at Lee Court in Liss .Her main aim every year was to attend their fete at the home and raise more money than the year before and she normaly with the help of friends succeeded.
Dad became wheelchair bound after loosing feeling due to nerve damage in his legs and for the next few years Mum was his main carer. In her early eighties she was diagnosed with stomach cancer and given six months to live .This was a big upset not only for the family but for her and she decided she wasn`t going to die and lived another six years ,she always looked forward never backward and planned for the future of her garden .Housework was left but her garden was her life .She still looked after Dad until she died in a local hospice,  she woke up one morning had a cup of tea and just fell to sleep .
Dad tried to live on in their home but it soon become clear he wasn`t coping without her and even after employing help and with council carers didn`t want to continue .I found a home that would look after him but from the very first day he hated it and everyone who worked there .They tried to involve him in daily events but he insisted that he stayed in his room and talked to no-one .Visiting for us was “what mood will he be in today” He decided he wanted to move to a place nearer to where he lived where he could be happy . After many weeks I found a place where he stayed before when Mum was not well and a room became vacant at the right time .He moved in within two weeks but again as soon as he was there didn`t like it yet again .He took to his bed and would not get up ,he stopped eating and also stopped drinking knowing what the outcome would be .He only lasted four days and died a very painful death .But this was his choice he decided in his nineties he had had enough .
Both Mum and Dad funeral was attended by a chuchfull of people. They where known by a wide circle of friends ,workmates and family In all they had a very full life and in the majority a happy one .
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