I often walked home from school past Nana’s house and dropped in to give “Pop” Cave a cup of tea through a tiny teapot.  He was suffering from cancer.

My School was Penleigh Girls School in Moonee Ponds.  We lived at 1 Rita Street in Aberfeldie.  Nana lived at 115 Park Street Moonee Ponds. When I walked home I could use my bus money to buy freckles at the local milk bar.

In 1954 Nana was very proud of me when I was selected to perform at the MCG for the Queen’s visit to Australia.  The fifth grade from Aberfeldie school performed the Maypole. A dance around a tall pole. The dance originated in Scandinavia. An article In Black and White from the Sun Newspaper describes the event.

Nana’s father, Joseph Maslen, was an undertaker. The family lived on the premises.  They used horse drawn carriages for the funerals.  He had been a coachman in England before migrating to Australia with his wife in the 1880’s.

Nana told many stories of playing amongst the coffins after school with her sister Aunty Letty. Nana had a tough life having lived through the great depression of the 1930’s.  Her first husband Norman Ross was a gambler.  My last memory of him was on a visit with my mother not long before he died.  He was living in a tent alongside a river.  I am not sure where.