English Aunties

English Aunties have a special place in the English heart. They often play a mentoring role to nephew’s and nieces. In some ways they serve as a second set of parents. I guess the role of God Parents might be similar but clearly living as a family in relative proximity gives them a special role in the family.  I think today as our families are dispersed throughout the country we lose this special role of extended family.

 We spent the day visiting Julie’s very special Auntie Audrey in Coventry. 

Auntie Audrey is 90 years old and is a real character. She has a wonderful gleam in her eye and has a lovely sense of humor. Auntie also has very strong opinions and is not shy about sharing them.  Family tales about when and where she set someone straight abound. I first learned of her from Julie when she told me how she trained her as a young girl to not speak with a coventry accent. She wanted her to sound more refined. Julie truly loves her Auntie and spent much time with her as a young girl.

Audrey in her youth had a first love who she will readily will tell you about. We learned of Ron and how he was tragically was killed in the War. This loss caused her to never seek another and she lived unmarried throughout her life. 

Our plan for the day was to take Audrey to Lunch, and then to visit Julie’s 93 year old cousin Billie, who unfortunately was in the hospital suffering from a stroke. My thoughts tonight will reflect on our reunion with Audrey.

Over lunch I posed a similar question to Audrey as the one I posed to Peter ; “where was she during the Coventry Blitz of 1940”. 

Audrey was 15 years old and worked for the Standard Auto company which later would become Triumph motors. They made cars like the Triumph roadster later merging with Morris Mini which years later was bought out by BMW.  The Blitz occurred over many days in 1940. The Germans were targeting the heavy industry and the workers homes of the city. Audrey shared a story which apparently got repeated often throughout the family. One day at work the air raid siren went off and the girls in the office were quite busy so they delayed leaving the office until the last minute. Finally a friend said “We’ve got to get to the shelter”. The shelter was out the door and across the street. As they ran across the street a German fighter plane came low in the air and began strafing the street with machine gun fire. Audrey, though terrified, thought to herself, “If he’s going to shoot me I’m not having him shoot me in the back” She turned around, put her arms on her hips and faced the pilot down. As she recalled to me “We all fought the war”. 

Audrey at 15 decided she wanted to join the effort and join the auxiliary fire brigade. She went to the recruiting office and presented herself for service. The officer said how old are you - she said “15”. “Too young” was the reply, “you have to be 19”. She went back to work discouraged and decided to go back in two weeks. When the man asked “how old?” She said “19”. He replied ,” okay you’re in, go get your uniform and report for training”. 

On the night of the big raid Audrey was out at a nearby pub with friends when they heard the sirens. The pub was in an area that overlooked the city. They all came out to see what was going on against the advice of the barman. She said she looked over from a hill and saw the city all ablaze. She watched stunned in horror thinking of her family and whether they were safe. After the raid she and her friends went to their neighborhoods to find her parents. She arrived to her home to find that her home had taken a bomb hit. She frantically searched inquiring with neighbors about her parents and eventually found them safe that night. They had survived in their backyard shelter. She told us a sweet story of the following week. She was with her mom picking through the remains of the kitchen of their house when she went outside and saw a group of men walking down the street reviewing the damage. She could see what she saw was the King in the front of the group. She ran inside with great excitement and told her mother “The King is coming down the street”, Her mother scolded her, “Stop telling stories”. She went out and looked again and said “No Mum it’s the King, it’s the King”.Her mother replied, “Well you better wash your face then and get out there”. She threw water on her face and went to the front steps and stood. The King walked up to her and she said “good morning sir”. He spoke to her and said “Is your family alright?” . At this point in telling the tale Audrey looked at me with her finger pointed and said “And he didn’t stutter a word!”. 

We had a wonderful time lingering over lunch together as Julie and Auntie Audrey reminisced about family members, most who have all passed on. I can attest from our brief day together that Audrey is truly one special English Auntie. 

This morning we are off to the last leg of our trip. We travel to the beautiful area of Shropshire..