AUNTIE IRIS AND UNCLE ‘BUN’ (FRED)...
MY FIRST RECOLLECTIONS:
Uncle ‘Bun’, really Frederick Kitchener Hedges, was a carpenter by trade, an ex-Air Force man who usually wore a blazer sporting a Suffolk soccer badge, acquired when stationed there during the Second World War.
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| BUN & IRIS, FAR RIGHT, DURING A DAY OUT IN STOW... (L TO R: IVY, JACK, MY MUM, ME...) |
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| ANOTHER DAY OUT, LINDSEY IN FRONT OF ME (IN SHADES? REALLY?) BUT IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE'S PUT A DIRTY FIDO IN BUN'S TEA... |
Bun? Ah, well, my mum reckoned that my grandfather called Fred ‘Sonny’ and the word became corrupted to ‘Bunny’… The family called him Bun, although his wife Iris always called him Fred, which always sounded odd to me! She also wrote in Christmas cards: ‘…from Iris and Fred…’ But he was, to me, Uncle Bun…
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| VERY EARLY 1950s AT A HOLIDAY CAMP (RARE FOR THE HEDGES FAMILY...) WITH BUN & IRIS 2ND & 3RD FROM LEFT... THEIR SON JOHN IS ON THE LEFT OF THE THREE BOYS... |
He worked a lot in schools, repairing desks etc, as I recall but walked in later years with a supporting stick. I recall also his dry quips and tricks like leaving brown, clay models of faeces on stairs at family parties. I’m told he was good to his sisters during wartime, though.
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| UNCLE JACK, DRESSED AS A GERMAN SS OFFICER IN CIVVIES, LEADS THE FAMILY DOWN A SLIDE... BUN FOLLOWS THE KIDS, MY DAD HOLDS ME & IRIS IS BEHIND US... |
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| ALBERT (CLARENCE), MY GRANDAD, BUN & JACK... |
His wife was Iris, a dressmaker by trade, they lived in Durlston Grove, Hall Green and their son was John who we always thought looked like singer Frankie Vaughan. He would be about the same age as his cousins Dave and Derek, he still loves his football and like the twins, sadly, followed Birmingham City but then Kidderminster and maybe Stourbridge too!
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| MY DAD IMITATES SOME KIND OF SEA MONSTER & IRIS SHOVES HIM DOWN. BUN IS AT THE CENTRE, BEHIND HIS SON JOHN... |
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| SO WHERE'S DEREK? HAS HE EMIGRATED TO THE STATES ALREADY? |
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| LINDSEY SIMPLY WILL NOT LOOK AT THE CAMERA, DESPITE IRIS' POINTING FINGER... |
Lindsey, his sister and two years younger than me was always lovely. She was committed to wrapping gifts and never failing to send greetings cards to family members. She lived with husband Jimmy in Croft Road, off Barrows Lane and her two daughters have done very well for themselves. Lindsey and Jim moved to Desborough in Northamptonshire to be nearer to their daughters’ families several years ago…
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| BUN, 2ND FROM LEFT AT THE BACK & IRIS, CENTRE, SEATED, AT MY WEDDING IN 1976... |
Iris died suddenly in 2009, some months after my dad was cremated, upsetting Lindsey and John desperately. Fred had passed away in 1998…
THE EARLY DAYS FOR IRIS AND FRED…
Their daughter Lindsey and son John have been good enough to fill in some details as far as they were able to about their parents’ early lives. Thanks to both of them!
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| IRIS' PARENTS... |
The family history of Fred is that of my grandparents too, both of whom are featured elsewhere on this blog but Iris’ background needed exploring. Lindsey reckoned that her mum’s mother was Jessie Clements, who married Charles William Cooper. William, as he became referred to was an engineer but he died when John was only 5 years old and therefore Lindsey, like me in fact, never knew a grandfather.
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| YOU SEE, LINDSEY, WHEN YOUR MUM IS TOLD TO LOOK SOMEWHERE TO HAVE A PICTURE TAKEN, SHE DOES IT... |
William had been a lovely and funny guy, apparently, often pulling on his daughters’ hats and peeping round doors to make folks laugh… The family had lived at 175 Stuarts Road, Yardley, Birmingham and Jessie and William had both been born in 1885. In the 1939 census, he was described as a brass finisher and works manager, whilst Jessie’s two daughters living at the address at the time were Lilian Marjorie, born in 1915, working as a clerk and also our Iris Joan, born on 26th April, the same date as her nephews Gary Hedges and twins Dave and Derek Eastwood, amazingly… Iris had been born in 1918 though and was by then a dressmaker.
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| NO IDEA WHO IRIS & MY MUM ARE GETTING WET WITH... |
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| OF THE THREE LADIES, IRIS IS ON THE LEFT... (GODS, LOOK AT MY AWFUL HAT...) |
Iris was brought up at 96 Victoria Street, Bordesley, although William had been living at 39 Ryder Street when he married Jessie, who hailed from Hednesford. Jessie’s mum Emma Price was from Blakenall and on the 1911 census form, the first to be filled in by actual householders, her dad (originally a baker from Hampton Lucy near Stratford) allowed one of two boarders to fill in the form! He was Samuel Price, a police constable, who was living at Ryder Street with the family and another policeman, Charles Taylor… Amazing…
THE ROMANCE!
Iris and Fred met at the Masonic Hall, Yardley and were married in 1943 at Yardley Old Church. They lived in Stuarts Road with Iris’ family, before renting in Kings Heath. They then rented 8 Durlston Grove in Hall Green, before buying the property, which is where I recall visiting them as I grew up.
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| IF YOU CARRY YOUR BAG IN THE OTHER HAND, IRIS, BUN COULD HOLD YOUR HAND. GET A GRIP! |
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| THAT'S BETTER! NO BAG IN THE WAY... |
In wartime, Fred was in the RAF and worked on Spitfire aircraft, likely servicing them in some manner as a flight engineer. He spent time in Italy, Algeria and, John reckons, Tunisia too. Sadly, a depression came over him and a breakdown of sorts affected his nerves in some way.
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| GOSH, THE SMART FRED IN WW2 UNIFORM, WITH SISTERS IVY, GHRETA & MY MUM, ALSO HIS MUM... |
After leaving the armed forces he worked nights at Cadbury’s and his kids recall him bringing home small brown bags of misshapen chocolate… He then worked at Lawrence Cabinet and he really was a brilliant carpenter, spending home time working in his own shed at the top of his garden.
He was known to make spitfire models from threepenny-bits, something I would have loved to have seen… He then worked for Birmingham Council and in schools, as I have mentioned above.
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| IRIS' SIBLINGS WERE THE BRIDESMAIDS... |
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| FRED'S ARM IS NEAR HIS MUM'S... |
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| NICE ONE... |
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| 25 YEARS ON... |
At one time he was working three jobs to bring in money but sadly this brought on another breakdown. He did however follow Aston Villa, which probably also contributed to his depression…
John told me that Fred was a fine half-mile runner, 880 yards in his day, rather than the 800 metres of today. He won a number of cups and medals, it appears. He was a good footballer too and represented the RAF against Norwich City at Carrow Road during WW2. I have the match programme:
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| A C (HIS RANK AT THE TIME) HEDGES, INSIDE-LEFT FOR THE RAF... (ODD THAT HIS BROTHER'S INITIALS ARE 'AC' TOO...) NOTE HE IS DOWN AS NUMBER 13, FOR IN THOSE DAYS, THE HOME TEAM WOULD BE NUMBERED 1-11, THE AWAY TEAM 12-22... |
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| MY DAD DRIVES & IRIS STANDS NEAR... |
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| BUN IS LUMBERED WITH CHILD-SITTING... JOHN IS ONE OF THE OLDER LADS WHO IS CLEARLY NOT A TWIN... |
John reckons that his dad was a Geoffrey Boycott type of batsman when he played cricket, plodding on, not getting out but scoring frugally…
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| LINDSEY & HER MUM ATTEMPT TO EJECT JACK AND BUN FROM THE OPPOSITE END OF A SEE-SAW... |
Iris worked evenings in a pin factory, it seems but did play tennis in her younger days, according to Lindsey, who played a bit of tennis herself… Iris liked to keep fit but more importantly she was an excellent seamstress, working for several high class dress shops like June Mackay and Katherine Draisey.
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| IVY (GB) & JACK (GERMANY) LINE UP FOR THE WHEELBARROW FINAL AGAINST IRIS (THE SEWING BEES) & VIC (GLEBE FARM STROLLERS...) I RECKON THAT IVY IS ABOUT TO YANK OFF JACK'S SLACKS... |
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| IRIS, GHRETA & MY MUM... |
She altered clothes for TV stars like Noele Gordon (of ‘Crossroads’ fame) and also for some of the wives of West Bromwich Albion’s footballers.
She was fun loving, enjoyed meeting people and liked to have a good time, whereas Fred was more reserved, despite loving family Christmas parties, which I recall too. He had no musical talent, Lindsey admits, but played, er the Jew’s harp!
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| BUN LOOKS LIKE A MEMBER OF AL CAPONE'S GANG, AS HE STROLLS ALONG, FAG IN MOUTH & ALTHOUGH IRIS HAS HER RIGHT HAND FREE, HE SEEMS IN NO HURRY TO CLUTCH IT... I SUPPOSE I'M IN THE PRAM... |
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| DAY OUT NEAR IVY'S WEEK-END CARAVAN... |
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| BUN DISPLAYS RATHER A SAD HAT... |
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| FANCY DRESS COMPETITION, WHICH I WON, WEARING A NAPPY & CARRYING A BAR OF SOAP. GLAD I DON'T REMEMBER IT... |
There were awkward times for John as he grew up however because although Fred took him to a few Aston Villa home games, living in Hall Green made it a long trek to Aston. Birmingham City FC was not only closer to home but his mates were mostly Blues fans and as John attended Bordesley Green Technical School, close to St Andrews, it seemed logical for him to become a Bluenose… Villa, having won the FA Cup seven times always offered Fred the chance to goad John with “We’ve had more cups pinched than you’ve won…” Villa of course famously had the FA Cup stolen from a shop window in Birmingham in 1895, after beating West Bromwich Albion. After Fred died, underdogs Blues did win a cup at Wembley, beating Arsenal and thus John sent off a quiet, if smirking prayer to his dad… Nice one…
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| IS THAT LINDSEY NOT LOOKING AT THE CAMERA AGAIN? |
John has played non-league football as a right-winger, oddly playing for my local team, Highgate United. He was in the reserve team one day at Coleshill Town when lightning struck the home pitch during an Amateur Cup tie against Enfield, fatally injuring central defender Tony Allden, who died a few days later. John had been at school with the guy…
