John Spence & Lilian Blacker
The Blacker line of our family joined the Spence line with the marriage of Lilian Blacker, Nanna, as she was known to us, and John Spence on 31 Jul 1919. Whilst I never met or knew John Spence, I have many memories of Nanna, who I’d see most weeks during my childhood.
My father’s mother, Lilian Blacker was born on 04 Mar 1897 in Swinefleet Common, Goole, Yorkshire and baptised on 18th April, as the Baptism records from Airmyn shows.
I don’t recall hearing much from Nanna during her lifetime about her past, or about her relatives and ancestors. Of course, I never gave it much thought at the time, nor did I have any great interest in genealogy at the time, but in recent times, in the course of researching my own family history, my own father and Nanna’s son, John Spence, told me how Nanna had “no time for the past”. Don’t be wasting your time thinking about the past, get on with the here and now. Wise advice, the mindfulness of yesteryear, or a missed opportunity? Either way, it’s not stopped my hunting out the facts about our past, and the stories about our ancestors’ lives.
Lilian was the 5th of 7 children in a busy hard-working farming family. Education was not top of the agenda, what with crops to plant, tend and harvest and equipment and buildings to maintain. For Nanna, and her sisters, their contribution was mainly focused indoors with cooking, mending and home-making activities.
I remember in old age, Nanna would usually be seen with a set of knitting needles or crochet hooks making or mending something. And her baking was always to be enjoyed. But she didn’t seem to be a big reader or debater, so all consistent with what you might expect from her upbringing.
My own memories of Nanna are of her visits to our home in Ayton, arriving in her little car, into her 80s, and seeing her onto the main road to know she was safely on her way home. Seeing her chuckle when doing something unexpected, like riding round on my father’s new lawnmower. Watching the wressling on Saturday afternoon TV. And watching hours of snooker, something which I also enjoyed when visiting her.
At her little house at 50 8th Avenue in Bridlington, late in life, she’d have a daily walk down to the seafront, sometimes along to Sewerby Park. She didn’t have many toys for the grankids to use or really much to do, but one of the things we did like to get out was a kaleidoscope – not sure it would cut it with modern grandchildren!
Stopping driving at 85 years old reduced the size of Nanna’s world, and over the next 10 years or so, her walking and mobillity reduced. Her final few years were spent in a retirement home, Coombe Hay in Scarborough, playing games, chatting with her fellow residents and watching the snooker! She died at 101 years old, having received the traditional telegram from Queen Elizabath and a legacy of over 30 decendants across 3 generations.
John & Lilian’s Family
John Spence & Moira Snowden
John & Moira are my parents, and as direct ancestors, they have their own section in our family history.