Here is what Ina wrote about her Auntie Edie who she stayed with in summers in Newburgh in her childhood. There is a bit of overlap with what she wrote elsewhere about Uncle George and Newburgh, but also new things.
Edith Mark‘s father was from Yorkshire, her mother from Ireland. She had a brother, Leslie, who lived in Bangor, N. Ireland, and ran a sports shop. She also had a sister, Dorothy married to Vic and they emigrated to Australia to her great sorrow. She missed her very much and communications were not as they are now. Edith became a Christian and worked in the office of the Director of the Faith Mission in Edinburgh. She was a competent typist (she also played the zither and organ). She then became a pilgrim in the Faith Mission. This entailed working with a partner and travelling from small place to small place in the Highlands of Scotland. They slept in church or school halls. They had a uniform not unlike the Salvation Army with navy bonnets. In each village or small town they would have Christian missions, preaching and singing and hoping to make converts. Well, - my Uncle George went to one of these missions and was taken by her singing and words and invited her to visit his home in Newburgh where his sister, Izabel, looked after him and his parents lived after having to leave their farm in Raemore. He had been married twice – to Jean who died of a weak heart and then Charlotte whose house he lived in and became his when she died. Her sister, Meg Aitken lived very near. She had a house and a plum orchard which his nieces (daughters of his younger missionary brother, William /Bill) were invited to each summer [LM, these nieces were Ina and her three sisters, Beth, Agnes, and Ruth]. When Edith came and attended church Meg sat in front. Edith had a lovely singing voice and sang solos sometimes . When this happened Meg got up and walked out of the church. What a Christian!! Her nieces said they would not visit Meg again but Edith insisted that we should.
But first our meeting with Edith was at tea which Izabel had set out in the front room with special food. As the meal ended George said “How about a walk up the hill?”. “Ooh, yes” we replied. Never been for a walk with him before. "No, not you, just Edith”. So off they went and that was when he proposed marriage, I believe.
As we had been accustomed to going every summer and Auntie Izabel looking after us we thought this would end. Beth wrote a letter asking if this would be the case. No, no, no, we were to continue to go and she kept that letter all the time that she was alive. And when we arrived she would sing “happy days are here again”.
George and Edith had a honeymoon in Largs and they soon had a baby. They went on a caravan holiday up north with the nappies drying on a line on the roof. He was called after his father – George. Charlotte was thought to be having a child but it transpired that it was a tumour and she subsequently died. So the birth of George was wonderful. We nieces pushed him in his pra. As he got older he made friends and in a shed in the garden, made by his father, they would congregate. He started school and there were battles between parents. He had lovely blond curly hair and his father wanted it to be cut to look more boyish. His mother was desolate, crying, he looked so sweet. But the Scottish father prevailed. And his mother was more strict about his school attendance and work. His father was a very successful and skilled joiner and had made his own way with little education.
However George’s father got rheumatic fever and this affected his heart. He was laid up in bed for many weeks and a member of the church – a Melville - would come and play chess with him. Eventually he had to go to hospital and it was there that he died. Edith now had to make an income. She tried various things – working in a draper’s shop, driving a van for a plumber I believe, as far as Glasgow. She was a game woman, giving things a go. She advertised for bed and breakfast and had a honeymoon couple staying. Ever mischievous she tied their bedroom door handle to the bathroom door handle opposite. She encouraged us to hang a string with some small object on the end so that it tapped from the window above to their window outside.
She was a member of the Women’s Own at the church and organized their annual trip, sorting out eating places and menus and costs. A born organizer. She also had a few girls around to sing – her choir. The minister’s wife was a friend to her. I think she had also been a pilgrim and once or twice other pilgrims would come and visit. There used to be a special meeting in Perth Baptist Church for the Faith Mission to have a get together. This pleased her meeting old cronies. The minister, Mr. Bridges, and his wife would go to Arran in the summer and Edith was asked to pick their vegetables and send them on. We would go and help and they would be parcelled on to the bus to Glasgow and then transferred to a bus to Arran where they would be picked up. Meanwhile their son, Robbie, remained in Newburgh. It was salmon fishing time. We emptied the cigarette stubs so that they would not know and washed Robbie’s socks. All under the orders of Edith. Years later when Mrs. Bridges had died Edith would visit Mr. B. and get his pension and do any shopping. He moved some distance away to the new housing estate so it wasn’t easy for her. She also gave a hand to Mrs. Byers who lived next door. She was succumbing to dementia tho’ not much was known of that then. She was found walking to church at midnight in her best clothes and when accosted said where she was going. I found her coming down the steps and when I asked where she was going she said “to Mrs. Speed’s” [LM, Edie's]. Wrong direction. So Edith made labels for things in her house and would remind her of things and check. When the minister was on holiday locums would come to the Sunday service. They would come to 37 for the lunch which would be a tasty roast with trifle to follow. Brian [LM, Ina's husband] remembers our uncle George saying of one meal “this was food fit for a king.” She was a superb cook. I remember her pastry, her waffles, her coffee and walnut cake. What a treat it was after our plain and meagre food at our school.
Somewhere she heard of children from Glasgow – orphans – who were in care and she had 3 coming in the summer while we were also there. And Ruth Reid and Ann would stay there when nursing at the Bridge of Earn. Her niece, Aileen, also stayed while pregnant and another woman who was dying – can’t remember her name – was there while dying. Also a baby called Sandy and another called Meg, I think, were put in her care at different times.
But all the time of course her son was in her heart. She worried about him driving and having an accident and about what he would do in the future [LM, George junior was a lineman]. It all worked out to her satisfaction when he went to Skye. At first she just visited but then vacated the house and what fun we had dismantling things – I was deputed to take her for a walk up the High St. while Agnes and George took down the clock etc. [LM, this was when Edie moved to Skye to be near her son George].
See photos of Edie here.
See also: Ina's Story and related posts on Newburgh, on Newburgh again, and on Edie's husband Uncle George.