The start of a long association with Ham – by Mildred Howes

I have lived in Ham for over 50 years and have had connections with the area all my life. As a child our family used to come to Ham regularly and had friends here…

My story really starts before I was born. My grandfather (who lived in Richmond) was lost at sea in 1918 near the end of the first world war and my father, who was 8, and his older brother were rather left to their own devices as my grandmother went to pieces and took to drink – nowadays she would be called an alcoholic, but then was labelled ‘a drunk’.