MARY ANN CHIPPERFIELD

Minnie Bartlett 30/9/1905-7/7/1988

As far as I can remember Aunty Minnie was a domestic servant for many years then worked in a laundry somewhere in Bournemouth.

Before she died she lived for many years in a static caravan in Northbourne near Bournemouth. Aunty M was strange. She loathed men to the extent she would move chairs to get away from them when in a social situation. The last time I visited her in her caravan she offered me a cup of tea and disappeared to the kitchen. I could hear the teapot lid being repeatedly taken off and replaced- accompanied each time with her calling to me in the other room "Wont be long now sonny" (and me well into my fifties by this time). When the tea came it was the colour of tar. I had a surreptitious look inside the teapot to discover there were well over thirty teabags inside. Obviously everytime I heard the lid coming off/on she was putting in another bag. Poor Minnie had forgotten she had already put one in each time.

Buying a Christmas present for Aunty Minnie was difficult. We usually ended up buying her tea! or perhaps some honey and a calendar. We suggested once she might like, say, the Readers Digest each month. But she declined as she "didn't like parcels as they might be letter bombs".
But Aunty had a heart of gold and our three children always received money for their birthdays and Christmas. Money must have been very tight yet she always managed this generous gift.

 

Right, here's a little more information for you, to help in fitting the jigsaw together. I wrote to Aunty Minnie once, asking if she could give me any information about the family tree. Her reply is dated 25th June, but no year. However I suspect this letter was written either in 1983 or 1985. There was very little information in her reply. Here is the only relevant extract.

".....I do not go away (on holiday). I have a day with half sister Emily, once a month I go to Fordingbridge. She comes to Bournemouth April, June, August and September. Our cousin Doris Percy celebrates their golden wedding April 21st next year. They were married at Hyde church......"

There it is again....Hyde Church and Fordingbridge. Hyde keeps cropping up. No doubt a look at the church records would reveal much hatching-matching-and-dispatching of this part of the family

Back to first Chipperfield's page
Click to return to family tree