The Treetops #MakingMemories Project encourages people to create and share experiences with loved ones. Sincere thanks to everyone who’s shared these photos and personal stories so far:
She is my world and I miss her so much
I was fortunate to be able to look after, care for, and enjoy riding Summer Shades for 10 years. During this time I developed a very strong bond with her and built on her wonderful temperament. She would allow me to do anything around her and I often sat in the stable with her.
She was tall and slender with beautiful eyes and a wispy sorrel coloured mane. I quickly found out that being an ex-race horse there was a lot of fire under the bonnet!!
She was most contented to hack out with very light rein contact but would be very good in traffic and wait patiently at road junctions. She was happy to ride out with another horse but liked to be at the front if a few others came along.
She enjoyed cantering around the edge of stubble fields and the perimeter track of a local park where I taught her to stop after a steep grassy hill whilst we both got our breath back! She was very much admired when we were out and waited patiently whilst people enquired about her history and stroked her. She seemed to like the attention.
My commitment to Summer was that I promised that she would never suffer in pain or endure a poor quality of life. So one day without warning she developed serious colic I took the vets advice that she needed peaceful relief from this condition. She is my world and I miss her so much.
Adrian
A love of nature
I was left a lasting legacy of a love of nature by my maternal grandmother. She, as I do, loved trees, flowers, birds and animals. One of my fondest memories is of us creeping quietly as she put her fingers to her lips to ‘sshhh’ as we listened for the cuckoo. She then put her foot in a rabbit hole and fell face first into the hedgerow, our howls of laughter drowned out any cuckoos that might have been near. Of course, as a child I did not recognise the value of what she was teaching me, it is only now that I can look back and appreciate this gift.
As I wander through the bluebells in May every year, I am reminded of her and the joy we had, and I have come to realise that I too have passed this legacy to my own children. I now delight in the messages from my daughter that tell me she has a dunnock on the bird feeder or to ask what ‘this’ plant is in her garden.
I have been lucky enough to have seen humpback whales in Australia that took my breath away and had a once in a lifetime encounter with a Tawny owl in the woods nearby. My holiday trips now mostly revolve around seeing birds or animals in their natural habitat, to wonder at the beauty. I find solace walking the dog in the woods and will set my alarm to hear the dawn chorus even at the weekend.
I intend on spending the rest of my life sharing these experiences and stories and creating more nature memories with my children and grandchildren as I feel especially now, when our world is threatened, there is no better legacy to leave.
Julie
A legacy from my lovely nan – Dorothy May Goldsack (née Bennett) born on 25 May 1901.
Born into a wealthy Victorian family (her father was “Gold Lacer” to the King), she was sent to Dr Barnardo’s children’s home, being the eldest of three, when her father gambled away all his money and they couldn’t afford to feed the children.
My nana was a kind, generous and loving person. When she died in 1978, she left behind two beautiful African Violets.
My sister and I still have these plants which have been propagated through the years using a single leaf each time. When we look at the plants, we know that our wonderful nan’s “spirit” is still alive in her African Violets.
Sue
It brought back memories of my father, and a sense of connection to him, that I had also thought long-lost
I have recently turned 40 and after a friend of mine died leaving 2 children, a similar age to my own, it got me thinking about what I would want to leave my children were anything to happen to me – or even what I want to share with them now before anything ever does!
So I have started sorting through old prints and trying to catalogue and back up digital photos. And I have also started making digital photo books for my own 3 children aged 10, 8 and 3 years.
Part of this process is capturing their short lives so far – their important milestones, trips and visits we’ve made, significant people in their lives. But part of it is about going back a little further, telling them a little bit about their family history… their heritage… unlike the popular Alice Merton song, I don’t want my children growing up feeling like they’ve got “No Roots”! I think both a sense of belonging, and a sense of identity, are so important.
Rosanna & half-uncle
So the pictures I have chosen to illustrate this are of myself meeting my long-lost half-uncle 11 years ago in Argentina, aided and abetted by my then new husband.
My grandfather
During this intriguing encounter, we discovered the true story of my father, who died when I was 9 years old, and who tragically never knew his own father, my grandfather. We were told of scandal and secrets, and adventurous ancestors who settled several generations ago in South America, but who continued to live like true British colonials.
I was deeply moved by setting foot on the land on which my father was born and spent his early years and by the mixture of foreign and familiarity I met at half-uncle’s beautiful, remote guest house so far away from the country of my own birth. It brought back memories of my father, and a sense of connection to him, that I had also thought long-lost. Perhaps not just a pictorial or ancestral legacy, but also an emotional one.
Rosanna
Time to talk to me about the memories that I record
“My father-in-law died a year ago, at the age of 85. In preparation for his funeral, my husband scanned all the old family photos, which brought back so many memories for everyone. Also, as a family, we found that there were many interesting things that we had not know about him, that emerged as friends and relations gathered together in the first few weeks, and for his funeral – things that we wished we had known while he was alive so that we could have talked to him about them.
“My children gave me this book at Christmas, and challenged me to complete it by next Christmas so that they will have the time to talk to me about the memories that I record, before it’s too late. It has many sections including the things that I remember about my childhood and things about them as children – it has been an enjoyable process filling it in and I’m looking forward to the conversations that will follow.”
Liz
The legacy of my Mum to me and mine to my daughters
“Our family didn’t have a lot of money when I was a child but Mum always managed to put good food, well made, on the table. I took this for granted at the time! When I expressed an interest, she guided and encouraged me to develop my cooking skills. The highlight of our week was the Sunday roast.
“I’m proud to have learned these skills from my Mum – one of her lasting legacies to me – and I’m also proud to have passed them on to my two daughters. The Sunday roast still takes pride of place in our collective cookery repertoire. In a family of gravy-lovers, mine is legendary and I was given the title of ‘Sunday Dinner Queen’!
“It’s been wonderful to have this opportunity to reflect on the legacy of my Mum to me and mine to my daughters…just a small expression of the love between us all.”
Cheryl