Moorhouse Inn
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| Uncle Albert. |
The first of May was the day on which Mum must have decided to get everything off her chest and then be at peace. If you can recall it was the day she told Papa and I that she wanted to be buried at Guiseley. Hilda and Tony visited that night and Dad took Tony to the Oddfellows for a drink leaving Mum and her sister alone. It was when they were upstairs together that a very poignant exchange occurred. Mum told Hilda that she was the daughter of Levinyer and Uncle Albert. She told Hilda that her mother (Levinyer) had disclosed this news when she herself was on her deathbed in 1957. Mum was so shocked that she only ever repeated this to Dad. (Dad told me of this in 1969). It was then that a bombshell came. Hilda told Mum that she too was the daughter of Uncle Albert, and neither had ever suspected that they were similarly sired. Both had spent the years from 1957 thinking they were alone, outcasts and virtual freaks. How sad that they both discovered that they were full sisters 18 days before one was taken away forever. How wrenching. I find it particularly annoying that Levinyer didn't have the sense to inform both her daughters together, to help them share the peculiar burden. I have always pondered, since I was told this story in 1969, on the structure of the Wilson family, and I decided long ago that Hilda must be Albert's child too. I cannot see Levinyer switching from one brother to the other and then back again. Dad says he cannot pretend to understand the relationships but recalled going along to St James's Crescent in December, 1953, to ask John Wilson for his daughter's hand in marriage to be confronted by the sober supposed father of the bride, who immediately responded: "Yes, you can marry Nora and I request that Hilda is the chief bridesmaid". Dad thought this was a strange proviso and now looking back he can see John's reasoning. The only people who could ever explain the antics of this ménage à trois are not going to reveal anything now. Poor Hilda. I must speak to her about this.
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