My Grandfather, Ken Marshall, passed away today at the age of 88 after a fall last week which gave him severe injuries, followed by the onset of pneumonia.
I last saw him in early 2004:
My Grandparents have always been a very central and special part of my life. When the four of us children were growing up, my parents had separated and we were cared for by my Mum – she did a fabulous job and worked extremely hard (I remember her going out many evenings to work in addition to working in the day); we lived close to my Grandparents and ritually visited every Sunday, but at Christmas we had the very special treat of not only visiting but staying at Nan & Grandads, enjoying a full Christmas of food, presents, and various games.
As I grew older I learned much from my Grandad, substituting for my Dad I guess – woodwork tools, electrical wiring … I remember sometimes visiting Nan & Grandad after school. It was my Grandad that first took me to Bath University, when I left home.
The somewhat frail man in the picture above is not the Grandad I remember – he seemed to get old only once I emigrated to USA (and didn’t see him so often).
For me, Grandad was a very busy and hard working man – he worked from home in a jointly owned business for many years, loved gardening, and was always ready to help.
For me, this is Grandad:
This picture was taken in the late 1970s, and shows the Grandad I know, happily burning garden trash and pouring what I remember as gasoline onto the fire to help it burn (I’m guessing it was really something a little more tame like paraffin, but my memory is of gasoline!)
I’ll miss you Grandad – I hope you find your family & friends with you now.
M&I / GBMINI 
Actually Ian, you were quite right about the gasoline! Once by mistake, Dad picked up the wrong can – he realised his mistake when the flames shot back into the can – which he dropped very quickly as you can imagine.
However, it seems fascination with fire runs in the family I can remember a very young Ian setting fire (accidentally) to the shed at the bottom of the garden – obviously not the one in the photo – that was the replacement courtesy of the Insurers.
Happy memories as you say. xx