Page 54 - recollections of a life in Porthleven

property around Porthleven, Helston and the surrounding area.

In the late 1950-60s the Squire of Penrose died and our father was offered
the house to buy, which he did, some way or another. We always thought
the sale of the house may have been used to pay off death duty tax.

Gran was what I call, ‘prim and proper’. We were brought up in a very strict,
Christian way but also a loving way. The first memory I can recall about
Gran was the first day I went to school. Not about getting ready in the
morning or walking through the village to get to school but I remember
looking up to Gran when we got to the start of Church Row. She was standing
very proud with a happy, smiling face and pushing Stephen in what seemed
to me was an enormous pram with Margaret holding onto the pram as well.

I can remember walking into a massive, long room with children running
around making (sorry about my language) one hell of a noise with groups
of elderly people standing around, I presume talking to each other. I found
this all too much for my liking and although I had Gran’s hand hold I let go
of it, ran into a corner of the room and cried and cried. It was not long before
Gran came over to me, cuddled and comforted me with Stephen in her arms.
My crying then started him off as well!

Gran and the other parents made their way out of the school, Margaret came
to me and we played a few games with the other children. I remember
someone put a box of beanbags next to me and throwing them around was
great fun. From that moment, school was OK in my eyes.

At the end of the day Gran was there again with Stephen to take Margaret
and I back home to Trewarvus. The days at the Church School became more
and more interesting and enjoyable. I can remember having a small bottle
of milk which I drank through a straw. In the winter months quite often the
milk would be frozen and the silver tops would be pushed off.

Diner times were fun but that depended on the weather of course. Not so
good in winter times but much better in the summer times. The reason for
this was we had our diner about a 25 minute walk away from our school.