My mother keeps reminding me that she is 96 this year, only 3 years to go until she beats the age of her great aunt Kate, who kept The Cock Inn at Birdwell nr. Barnsley. ( Honestly). You can see the Inn from the M1 as you drive towards Sheffield from Barnsley.The Cock Inn is at the bottom of a deep slope that ended in a turkey farm, owned by her father a butcher and landowner. The first such farm in England. Unfortunate he was a gambler and it all went to the bookies.
At the age of 99 Kate Carr fell down the cellar steps and died of her injuries. She was a big woman and had her dresses made in Sheffield with a secret pocket in which she kept her brandy flask. On Sundays my mother and her siblings had to go to the Inn for Sunday Tea. My mother, Annie, a mere slip of a girl and not inclined to walk anywhere, refused to walk up the hill on the way back, reasoning that Aunt Kate had a big car that could drive them home.
A compromised was reached by little Annie being given brandy from this flask mixed with port. She was only four years old but it was not unusual in those days for children to be given spirits. It can't have done her any harm as she now takes sherry in the afternoon followed by gin and tonic. The time of this tipple slowly edging forward to mid day.
So sup up Annie, and good health, you'll get the telegram yet.
