My Brother COLIN, my English Idol....

This is my big brother Colin, he lives in England (as do all my family) and has just retired from 40 years in our family's cardboard box factory, which has now been sold. Our grandfather William built the factory in the early 1900's catering to the hat trade, as we were born in Luton which was the birthplace of the straw hat and he saw the potential, but that is another story.

Colin beat me into the world by 7 years, the war years intervening with my parents' relationship, which unravelled completely when I was but two and a half and Colin was 10.

I managed to stay with my Mother, but Colin was bounced back and forth quite a bit and they were not so happy years for him. I missed him dreadfully. He was and still is my big brother who I love dearly and miss so much. After school he went into the factory, but then went for a stint to a Real Estate's Office before going into the Guards. Yes, my brother was a Grenadier, I was just so proud of him...he saw action too, (they don't ALL stand outside Buckingham Palace!) in the mid 50's in Cyprus and missed being killed by a landmine due to the fact he was in the jeep, his buddies in the armoured truck behind weren't so lucky.

He came home a changed man, and went into the Factory where he remained and carried on when our Father retired at 54. Colin is an amazing handyman, he has a great eye and does most things to perfection. He is a "fixer upper", a builder, carpenter, you name it, he can do it. Very mechanically minded as well. I sure could use him in my house for a month!!

Although he is a big,tall man and can look quite daunting, he has a very soft side, which is just wonderful this became very obvious when he became a grandfather. He married Wendy Batt in 1969, they had two boys, Noel and Jonathan. Noel went on to have twin boys and Jonathan has three girls.

Colin has a marvellous sense of humour, can recite jokes for hours, whistle just as long and has the most sarcastic english sense of humour I have ever heard, I used to be able to keep pace, but that was long ago. Now I hardly understand his lingo!

It was very difficult emigrating to Canada with Romy and losing that strong contact with my brother. We only saw each other for short periods of time after that, when we went on vacation. When my children were younger and flew over alone, he made a point of taking them on an outing....they have souveniers, a patining of a double decker bus, pictures of feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square, a cuckoo clock as they were fascinated by theirs etc. He was referred to as Big Uncle Colin, to distinguish him from my son "little Colin".

Colin moved away from our home town when he retired and lives in Grantham, Lincolnshire which is slightly north and to the right of the middle of England. He has been travelling since retirement, but unfortunately Wendy doesn't like flying, so a trip to Canada isn't in their plans.

I have been trying to get Colin to come on his own around hunting season, he loves the outdoors and does a lot of r'ving. He doesn't want to leave Wendy on her own, which of course I understand.

Memories of my brother Colin are all good, except when he chased me round the piano and I needed stitches after hitting my eye on the corner of said piano, or when we fell off the motorbike he had been forbidden to give me a ride on to school, and so couldn't tell my Mother why I was limping or how my coat came to be so dirty!

I do remember knocking people over on the train platform, when he returned from Cyprus, we were so anxious to see him and check he was all in one piece. I wasn't happy when he used to come after my boyfriends and haul them out of pubs, because "did they know I was underage!!!"..or "you are too old to be taking my sister out, if you lay a hand on her etc. etc."..........he was certainly a daunting sight for said boyfriends. Even when I dated a fellow Grenadier and one of his buddies one time, he came along! Boy, talk about being protected!!!

We had one last holiday together, it was 1968....and we met them in Brittany, France.
Romy, was stationed with the RCAF in Germany, where I met him and we were engaged. Colin and his young family and our Father, stepmother and younger siblings were vacationing there. We camped close to Guerande, they were r'ving, we had a tent.

Great memories of that holiday, we showed them how to look for satellites and a huge roar went up when we saw one....they were few and far between in 1968.
We were the family who ate the most Langoustines (huge prawns) in one sitting, commandeered a small bus to take us to a market (both my Father and Brother have a commanding presence, which people don't like to mess with). I also remember their stunned faces, when Romy came onto the beach in american style longer swimming trunks,(all men wore speedo's back then) his CLOGS, aviator sunglasses, a beer and a cigar. The fact he was also "only" 5'7" alerted them to the fact I was very serious about this guy!

I only dated tall guys!....My Father, three brothers AND my sister are all over Six Feet. (I am the runt, it was the war......)Actually my sister says she isn't six feet, she is Five Feet Twelve and a half Inches!!

So my brother is very, very important to me, he was and still is my Idol, when I grew up, I couldn't wait to have a son so I could name him after my brother, and now I am hoping he can persuade his wife to come out and visit me here in Canada someday.

Love you big brother.....

NOW HERE IS WENDY, My Sister in Law...



I don't know a lot about Wendy, her Father was in the Royal Airforce as a Wing Commander and they travelled the world quite a bit, I know Wendy makes the best Chinese Food there is. She loves gardening, likes a clean house and doesn't like wishy washy people. She was hairdressing when my brother met her, a very petite girl, well she still is, she never had a weight problem. Lucky girl.

Being under 5'2" my brother dwarfed her, but she was tough enough to bring up two boys, Noel and Jonathan. She then helped with the raising of Noels twin sons, Sam and Ben with my brother, when Noels' marriage fell apart.

Wendy has one brother and one sister. Her beloved Father died some time ago after retiring from the forces and opening a sport shop. Her Mother quite recently.

Wendy is one of those people who always looks "put together". She could fall into a pool, brace a hurricane,or nearly drown in a downpour, and she would come out ot it with her hair in tact and her nailpoish and jewellery still perfectly placed. Even the pendants she wore didn't seem to ride up the neck as so many do. She continued to style peoples hair from her home, and when the empty nest syndrome hit, took up lawn bowling which she did very well in, likes to go r'ving, enjoys a drop of plonk as my brother does, but hasn't managed to give up smoking yet.

The last time we saw Auntie Wendy and Big Uncle Colin was May last year, when our little Canadian family went on a memory lane trip to Europe for four weeks. Little Colin and Big Uncle Colin were finally together. We met close to where our late parents had lived, had a nice long pub lunch and a walk around the famous pottery factories in Poole.

When we meet up, its like we were never apart, its just like going back in time, we just pick up where we left off, we went through a lot together, sometimes our childhood was difficult, more so for my brother. Luckily he met Wendy, had two fine sons and now has grandchildren to keep him content.

Calli, thought Big Uncle Colin was just the cats' miaow, her little sister Marin was still 3 months away from being born, and has yet to meet her Uncle and Auntie across the pond....next year hopefully.

Happy Retirement, Colin and Wendy!