Treasured Objects

Do you have any objects in your home that you love and would never part with? I'm not talking about gadgets, or genuine family heirlooms with significant monetary value. I'm talking about those odd, old things that have sentimental value to you, but to anyone else might appear worthless or even, dare I say it, hideously ugly.

Now, I am not a hoarder. Indeed, I am more inclined towards the 'obsessive declutterer' end of the possessions spectrum. I inherit this from my mother. In the days when the Smith Family and the Salvos would have collection days for which they even provided the plastic bags, my father would joke that he expected to wake up in a bag out the front, my mother having tired of him.

One of my treasured objects is this tray, which belonged to my grandmother.

I'm not sure what it is made of; possibly papier mache or even bakelite. I think it dates from the 1940s or 50s. My husband thinks it is awful; I can't tell, I love it so much.

Whenever Gran had visitors for morning or afternoon tea she laid out the food on this tray before covering it with a teatowel or linen napkin. The tray sat on the kitchen table until the guests arrived.

I often brought my little children to see Gran on a Friday afternoon. The children would run up the driveway to her back door (no one ever used the front door) where their great grandmother would smother them with hugs and kisses. The next thing they would do is peer under the cloth to see what she had made for afternoon tea. It might be butterfly cakes with lemon butter, or little date nutties, or perhaps home-made shortbread. Lastly, we would move into the sunroom to eat and chat.

Even in her last year of life, at 93, Gran unfailingly had afternoon tea on the tray. That last year she provided bought biscuits, but the excitement was the same; "What would Gran have under the tea cloth?"

Sometimes, when I am more organised than usual, I lay out my children's afternoon tea on this tray before they come home from school. I often use the tray for guests, covering it with a clean cloth as Gran used to do. Perhaps one day I will use it for my own grandchildren and maybe even great grandchildren.