Bernard's Birthday
Bernard Carroll, my beloved father-in-law, was born on 7 March 1932 in Manchester, England. During the war he and his siblings were evacuated from Manchester to the countryside village of Ramsbottom (aka Sheep’s arse), where their mother later joined them.
In about the 1950’s the family came to Australia as 10-pound Poms. His youngest sister learned to walk on the boat. Bernard has worked all over Australia from the Snowy Mountain Scheme to Darwin and back, sending money back to help support his (large) family.
He has married twice and raised 5 children. He has 3 grandchildren, son- and daughters-in-law, whom he welcomes into his home freely and lovingly - although being a stoic Manc, his affection is expressed by way of feeding us, giving us ‘treasures’ from his garage sale bounty, and telling us how pleased the dog is that we are there.
On Sunday the family threw him a party beyond his imagining. 60 guests gathered in the Dora Creek Hall, sat down to a roast beef lunch, and swapped stories of Bernard’s life. His sister composed a filk to the tune of ‘You Are My Sunshine’ which was sung by the guests (and continues to earworm me). His fishing mates presented him with a plaque describing his best attributes (A High Speed Driver in Reverse; the Don Burke of Dora Street, and so on). His radiant wife was by his side, his children and children-in-law were on hand, preparing and serving food, greeting and mingling with guests and generally making merry. His grandchildren were running about with glee. There were balloons and a massive cake. The hall and cake were decked out in his favourite colour, sky blue.
All in all it was the perfect birthday party for an 80 yr old Manc.