Birth, Marriage: Ern MORSE.

Called Ern. The children remember how he made wooden toys for them at Christmas (there was no money around then), and how he encouraged the boys to do practical work like plumbing and woodworking, which has meant they are all good at d.i.y.  He also bought them their first power tools, when money allowed.
 
He didn't stand any nonsense, especially with the boys, and Madge was always the peacemaker - especially as he worked away a lot of the time.  Ted probably learned this strictness from his mother Lottie: she was nearly 40 when Ted was born (at least 2 girls died before he was born) - and she would have been brought up in the 1880's, when parents were much stricter. Further, Ted and Lottie lived with her mother (Granny Scott), who was born in 1858.
 
Terry can remember Ern going mad when he bought himself a 'Teddy boy' jacket, and he was made to take it off and put on something more 'suitable' - Ern didn't like modern haircuts, clothes or anything else, including the music.  Very fraught teenage years for the boys!
 
However once the boys all grew up, things changed and they all worked with him at some stage - and were told to call him 'Ern' - never Dad - when working on site. Claire had it a lot easier, as she is by far the youngest, and the only girl, and always seemed to 'wrap her Dad around her little finger'.
 
Ern mellowed as the grandchildren came along though - and they all adored him, as he spent a lot of time with them, showing them how to make things, and how to grow plants in the garden.
 
One of his floral tributes at En's funeral, was in the form of a bunch of vegetables in a basket, all done up in ribbon, with a big wooden spoon in the middle.  This perplexed the undertaker until we explained the significance - that in the end Ern couldn't distinguish between flower and vegetable seeds, and the family all ended up being the recipients of a weird and wonderful selection of plants, never knowing what they would grow into. The wooden spoon was for all the 'stirring' he used to do - both of his tea, and ruffling a few feathers as well.  Even the Vicar thought it was amusing.
 
Later in life Ern managed to get a motorised buggy to take him around (he had never taken a driving test), and insisted on driving at 8 mph on the pavement - scattering everyone in his wake.
 
Ern had a good, long life, but his death marked the end of an era, in the sense that no longer would everyone met at his house when they called in to see how he was.
 

– Carol MORSE