Voices from beyond
Every month a reader writes to a loved one in the afterlife and Mandy Masters tunes in to share their reply. This month Rachel Broadway writes to her grandad, Gordon
Mandy doesn’t read your letters in advance. She is given only your first name and relationship to the person you’d like to speak to in Spirit
Dear Grandad,
We strolled together up the grassy hill, before heading for the woods where a sea of gorgeous bluebells carpeted the floor.
It was a lovely sight — until a wrinkly hand blocked the view. There, in your palm, were your false teeth!
‘Get those away!’ I giggled, as we fell about laughing.
It was one of your favourite pranks.
After reaching our destination, we settled down on our favourite bench so I could watch the world go by, while you read an out-of-date newspaper that Mum had brought up with us from our home in Mansfield.
You’d lived there before moving 130 miles away to Norfolk and you liked to keep up with the local news, so Mum would save up a big pile to bring over.
‘Suppose we’d better be getting back,’ you said, after a while. ‘Dinner will be ready.’ As we neared yours and Nan’s house, I could alreadysmell her famous onion sauce wafting down the street.
Inside, Nan was hurriedly serving up our Sunday roast along with my mum Joy, my dad Robin, and my siblings Jason and Donna.
It was the same routine every time we visited you and Nan — a walk in the fresh air with your dog Gypsy, before returning for a big family dinner followed by lots of tea.
Then we’d wave you both goodbye and head back to the nearby chalet park, where we usually stayed for a couple of weeks every August. And it was always in chalet number 46!
You and Nan loved seeing us kids and, in fact, you loved kids in general. Sadly you couldn’t have biological kids, so you’d adopted Mum and your three other children, Betty, Sue and Janet.
In those days, Nan also played in a Salvation Army band, which helped to findparents for orphaned children. When they asked if you were interested in being foster parents, you both agreed. And so it began. You fostered 100 children, having as many as five staying with you at one time, all crammed into your three-bedroom house. Sometimes they’d only stay for a week while others might stay for as long as six months.
By the time I was born, you and Nan had given up fostering, as you were both getting too old to run around after so many kids, but I knewall about the wonderful work you’d done.
It’s hard to imagine that either of you had time for anything else, but you were a painter and decorator by trade, and also a bit of an inventor too! Your inventions included non-slip shoes for walking on ice, and a road surface that reduced traffic speed.
