Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine Read Online Free PDF Page A

the exception of Sandy’s youngest brother Tur, spent a great deal of time trying to, and succeeding in, shocking her.  They had a passion for ruthless rhymes which they would recite within her hearing.  Many of these have been passed down and one my grandmother distinctly recalled Sandy reciting in front of Aunt Ankie went:
Tell me, Mama, what is that mess,
That looks like strawberry jam?
Hush, hush, my child, ‘tis your Papa
Run over by a tram.
     
    For all that she was very fond of the children and they of her.  When she was due to go into hospital for an operation in 1920 Sandy wrote her a cheerful letter enclosing some photographs which he hoped she would enjoy when she was able to sit up and look at them.  But he just couldn’t resist a shocking opening to the letter and wrote ‘Dear Aunt Ankie,  I am most awfully sorry to hear that you are going to be cut to pieces tomorrow.’
    Sandy was the first of the Irvine children to be born in Birkenhead.  Willie and Lilian had bought a house in Liverpool when they married but it soon became apparent that a larger home was required for their expanding family.  They decided to move back across the River Mersey to Birkenhead, the burgeoning new town at the head of the Wirral peninsula.
    l-r Sandy, Willie, Evelyn, Hugh 1905
     
    Number 56 Park Road South had plenty of room for the growing family and the children had a large nursery on the third floor where they had their meals and spent the majority of their time when not outside. Lilian would visit the children in the nursery or school room as and when it suited her but visits from their father were so infrequent as to be events of considerable note and worthy of comment. As a father Willie was a benevolent authoritarian and found parenting easier as the children grew up and he could establish more adult relationships with them.  When they were younger he preferred to see them in contexts he could readily understand, such as at church, although when he was on holiday he seemed to relax and enjoyed spending time with them, teaching them to fish or cycle.  It was almost as if he could not permit the home regime to be disturbed either for himself or for them.  He felt it his duty to instil in them the same values that he had learned as a child.  In the mornings the children rose at seven o’clock but were not allowed to speak to each other under any circumstance until family prayers were said before breakfast at a quarter to eight.  Sunday worship, matins and evensong, was a normal part of family life, with the children attending all services with their parents.  This was as much the case when they were away on holiday as it was at home in Birkenhead.
    Sandy’s place in the family had a good deal to do with the way his character developed.  The first three children were all born within three years of each other, there being only fourteen months between Sandy and his sister Evelyn.  He was a determined little boy and could be very demanding when he didn’t get his way.  Being the youngest of the three he had to fight for attention and was often jealous when Evelyn or Hugh stole the limelight.  The focus of his love was his mother whom as a boy he adored above all else.  Even into adulthood he communicated with her rather than Willie, as the others tended to do.  Although she was frequently frustrated by his mood swings and his oversensitive reaction to her teasing, she understood his insecurities and seems to have found a way to inspire his confidence.  For all that she was very tough on him and maintained her physical and emotional distance from him, as she did from the others. When separated from Lilian, Sandy missed her and wrote to her regularly with news updates from school and home, but always first enquiring after her health and well-being.
    The social life of the children revolved around the family and Sandy was always popular with the cousins, although it was probably because of his reputation