28. David’s cheeky grin by Doris Marshall (David’s aunt in Worthing)
It was 1993 and my husband David Marshall and I were in charge of James and David for a week while their father Edward (as Graham was known to us) was at an international public service association conference in Finland. He was president of the PSA in New Zealand at that time. David and I had taken a week's holiday so we could look after them.
During our week together in and around Worthing, we had some good walks on the South Downs National Park and I remember explaining to David about stinging nettles. David, of course, then had to sting himself to see if it was true. He found it was and we had to hunt for dock leaves pretty smartish to stop the stinging!
Then we went to a festival in Worthing on the seafront and David M went with the boys into a giant crane, which shot into the air. David rocked the cradle furiously, making us gasp from our ground view. We also took them to the chalk pits museum in Amberley, where they quite liked the old buses.
I found the boys were calmer without their Dad and we soon had a routine going similar to the kind of things we allowed our children to do. David always had a cheeky grin and I can see him now feeling the peaches in the bowl gently to see which one was ready to eat, with permission of course. I allowed them one can of fizzy drink a day and one ice lolly from the freezer in the garage. David also liked going down to the local sweet shop (which he confused me by called a “dairy”) to buy his lollies. But he was wearing braces around his teeth in those days and I wondered how he would get on cleaning his teeth after all those lollies.
His Nan and I took the boys to Butlins in Bognor Regis and they had a great time on the go-karts. We also took them to London on the train. Their half-brother Tim Curtis met them at Victoria Station and they spent the day and that night with him, seeing the sights of London. I know they enjoyed their open-topped, double-decker tourist trip around London. Tim brought them back by train the next day and the first thing David said to me, very excitedly, was: “We went everywhere by taxi!”
During this week, their Granddad Allan from New Zealand came to stay. He was on another of his grand tours of the UK and Europe. It was lovely for the boys to have him around. David M gave him a bicycle to use so he could get himself around Worthing. He spent time with my mother Doris too and they would go to the park together to watch the bowlers. I also remember the time he took us all to lunch at the Rose and Crown.
When Edward returned from Finland, they had one more week with us. He and the boys would often walk into town together, buying burgers from Porkies burger shop on their way home. They said they were the best burgers they had ever had. The shop had closed down on their next trip to the UK six or seven years later.
One day, David had had a bit of an argument with his father (as he often did) and he decided to head off on his own. I remember seeing his little blond head streaking past me as he arrived back at the house. A very worried Edward arrived home ten minutes later asking if I had seen David. He was very relieved to know he had got back safely.
It was 1993 and my husband David Marshall and I were in charge of James and David for a week while their father Edward (as Graham was known to us) was at an international public service association conference in Finland. He was president of the PSA in New Zealand at that time. David and I had taken a week's holiday so we could look after them.
Then we went to a festival in Worthing on the seafront and David M went with the boys into a giant crane, which shot into the air. David rocked the cradle furiously, making us gasp from our ground view. We also took them to the chalk pits museum in Amberley, where they quite liked the old buses.
I found the boys were calmer without their Dad and we soon had a routine going similar to the kind of things we allowed our children to do. David always had a cheeky grin and I can see him now feeling the peaches in the bowl gently to see which one was ready to eat, with permission of course. I allowed them one can of fizzy drink a day and one ice lolly from the freezer in the garage. David also liked going down to the local sweet shop (which he confused me by called a “dairy”) to buy his lollies. But he was wearing braces around his teeth in those days and I wondered how he would get on cleaning his teeth after all those lollies.
His Nan and I took the boys to Butlins in Bognor Regis and they had a great time on the go-karts. We also took them to London on the train. Their half-brother Tim Curtis met them at Victoria Station and they spent the day and that night with him, seeing the sights of London. I know they enjoyed their open-topped, double-decker tourist trip around London. Tim brought them back by train the next day and the first thing David said to me, very excitedly, was: “We went everywhere by taxi!”
During this week, their Granddad Allan from New Zealand came to stay. He was on another of his grand tours of the UK and Europe. It was lovely for the boys to have him around. David M gave him a bicycle to use so he could get himself around Worthing. He spent time with my mother Doris too and they would go to the park together to watch the bowlers. I also remember the time he took us all to lunch at the Rose and Crown.When Edward returned from Finland, they had one more week with us. He and the boys would often walk into town together, buying burgers from Porkies burger shop on their way home. They said they were the best burgers they had ever had. The shop had closed down on their next trip to the UK six or seven years later.
One day, David had had a bit of an argument with his father (as he often did) and he decided to head off on his own. I remember seeing his little blond head streaking past me as he arrived back at the house. A very worried Edward arrived home ten minutes later asking if I had seen David. He was very relieved to know he had got back safely.
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