My dear aunt Phythian, a lifelong love of animals

I have already posted this in SCRIBBLES, however it has caused so much interest that I thought it only fair to post it in here also


Alas & Alack , I have sad news. I have, just this morning received an e-mail from my ginger twin cousins Ronald & Donald Balfour who have somehow recently learnt of my correspondence concerning my late (there’s a clue) dear aunt Phythian.

Suffice to say that she passed away peacefully in Penge just a few days short of her hundredth birthday.
Perhaps providing positive proof, pending professional publication that will result in a full biography from notes made over a number of years by her acclaimed ambidextrous ailing amanuensis Annabel Abbott. Did I mention her?

Re: My dear aunt Phythian, a lifelong love of animals

More \about my aunt Phythian


RobertJunior Fri 29-Mar-13 11:26:17
Just to put you in the picture, our dear Aunt Phythian will be 100 years of age next month.
She has not enjoyed good health in recent years .
This is due to a rare bronchial reaction to mites.
We think she picked them up from the exhibition long haired Angora rabbits which she kept for so many years. Many of us still have Tam O Shanters made by her with hand spun wool from the spinning wheel of her older sister Agnes .
Her life has been one of unselfish service to the community.
Made even more worthy of congratulations when you consider she had to bring up 17 children, on her own.
7 of them after the early and unfortunate death of her beloved husband Will.
As president and life member of the FARNHAM FAREHAM & FULHAM rabbit club she was an enthusiastic supporter
Always full of fun, she reacted with typical pragmatism when her hair fell out during the war.
The simple answer was typical of her no nonsense attitude to life. She simply trained long haired Peruvian guinea pigs to sit motionless on her head.
No one spotted this harmless deception and you have to give her credit for stopping when she discovered her pets suffered from vertigo.