One of the pleasures of being a reading detective is the people you get to meet and chat with and Mrs Bedford is a lady with so many stories to tell about Grassmoor's history that she is a real "find". She has always written poetry and kept a biographical record of her life in the village that shows just how fast communities can change. Here is a poem about one of her passions, her grandchildren:
My Grandchildren
I’m a millionaire with wealth untold
Not in jewels, money, property or gold
But when my grandchildren take my hand it feels like a million grand.
When they visit and say hello
These are all the treasures I know.
I’ve had money, possessions and travelled far
But my children are my lodestar.
I wouldn’t trade my life for sheik or king
Compared to me they haven’t anything.
Contentment, I’ve found, is all within my family.
Every day I wake, prayer at night for their dear sake
I thank God for all my days
And hope it’s like this always.
By Harriet Bedford of Grassmoor
