The Lady Magazine 28th October 2016 Back Issue

Dear Readers,

By his own admission, the writer Raymond Briggs has mined his childhood memories before – who can forget the tear-jerking When
The Wind Blows? And his latest animated film is no different. It’s a tale of two devoted ordinary people, his mother, a lady’s maid, and his dear old
dad, a jocular milkman held back by class and circumstance. Our
utterly lovely cover star, Brenda Blethyn, plays Raymond’s mother
and tells us that she didn’t have to stray too far to get into the
role – her own mother had worked her way up from being a scullery maid to a lady’s maid.
These days, we tend to think of people ‘in service’ as from the
past, but of course what we do know is that more than six million
of us employ some kind of domestic help; thankfully, now we just
don’t think that they are anything less than our social equals.
Increasing numbers of us also employ carers to assist with those
in need of extra help, particularly those who have relatives living
with dementia. As a world expert on ageing, Sir Muir Gray tells
us the prospect of dementia can seem scarier than it is and there
is plenty that can be done to manage living with this complex
condition, even strategies to help avoid it. For Liz Hodgkinson,
the thing she dearly wishes she could avoid is looking after her
grandchildren – she has far better things to do. If they didn’t
know that before, her children might want to turn to page 20 to
read her full hilarious message.
Until next week, best wishes
Sam Taylor