I remember setting a place at the kitchen table for my dad, yet the words kept ringing in my ears, ‘Sweetheart, daddy isn’t coming back.’

At three years of age, most folk would say that surely I could not remember this, yet this is not the only memory I have of that fateful time in 1960, when my dear dad died of a massive coronary.  However, my memories are very sweet, and I believe I have been so blessed to have been able to carry them in my heart  for all these years.

My dad was very talented at drawing and also adept at playing the accordion.  He gave me the creative gene. I recall he would often sit by the fireside and squeeze that ol’ instrument, usually playing a religious song, and I would find the whole thing fascinating.  He loved drawing and would sketch or doodle.

My dad worked in greenhouses (as we called them), growing flowers.  Mum and I would take him his lunch and he would pour me a flask cup of black tea, which I grew to quite enjoy, even at three! 

I loved piggy-backs and dad would often oblige, speaking to me in our own native tongue (which is Guernsey-French) so that I would become bi-lingual.  That actually never transpired properly, as after dad died so did the Guernsey-French patois lessons!

I grew up with these cherished memories.  One of them, also was to be held in my heart many years before I could act on it.  My father had been a widower when he married my mum, and he had a daughter quite a bit older than me.  I knew she existed but I was kept under the thumb not to make contact.

I never really understood it, and then my mum died in November 2009.

 I hardly knew my father’s side of the family nor had I grown up to have a sister relationship with my half-sister.

Taking the bull by the horns, which was quite scary really, I contacted her by letter Christmas 2009. Amazingly today, I have built up a wonderful relationship with her and have yet though, to meet her  after 51 years.  I also have a half-cousin still alive and she will be 90 in September.She vows she is going to hold on to life till she sees me!

I am raising cash right now with a venture of making some lovely Scottish stone pendants in the hope I will raise enough to pay for my flight and little over which will go to a Scottish charity or community.  In being blessed I believe we have to bless others.

This is the dream I need to fulfil.  My sister is 77 years old now, 24 years older than me.

She has helped me to cherish my memories of our dad even more as I now  have photos I never had  seen before which she has sent to me, and the various stories she has told.

Cherished memories are those that are kept deep within our heart and if someone was to take our life before our time was up they would go with us.  Nothing can ever remove those memories from my heart.

If you would like to see my work please visit www.folksy.com and type in ‘Uneek’ to find my shop, or at www.angelspirations. weebly .com