Message from Angela Baum

A tribute to my Uncle Sidney

‘Shia Nucham we have to leave!’

The voice of Aunty Mildred

Would ring out, round up

And assemble her group.

My uncle Sidney

A serious, intelligent man

Flung into the fashion world

By two brothers

Morry and Issy.

One likened to the Prince

Of Siam. The other

My Dad, business man

With pencilled in moustache.

Post war times were

Tricky times to carve

A future, with Yiddishkeit

And family values.

The world around

Was looking for excess.

Mildred and Sidney

Were a magical couple

My absolute reference point

To creating a family.

I thought I would have a Jaqueline!

My four boys are terrific too!

I remember trips to the library

Pushing baby Anthony along

The Hendon paths.

Holidays in Westcliff-on

Sea, where the sea seemed

To be on holiday somewhere

Else. Happy times for me

Living the chaotic life between

The shtiebel in The Ridgeway

And the beach in the South of France.

I remember the tall spittoons outside

The lounge where I used to play the piano.

Changed overnight to a mini shul

Booba Etka hated the manners of men

Spitting on the floor!

She talked about Letchworth to me

Where everyone lived and visited

During the war. Sidney, Pearlie, Ray

And Cynthia and my Mum, Lily

I was there too, as a tiny seedling..

Booba brought back lilies from Letchworth

To plant in the Golders Green garden.

I always thought of that market town

As a place in Poland!

I remember Seder nights at No. 46

We sat around the white-clothed table

In the dining room, uncle Alex cracking

Chicken bones with his teeth

and singing Pesach songs

well into the night.

*****

After I married, I worked

in the Hackney factory

Alongside two brothers ,both

With Goschalk/ Lazarus volatile

Tempers..Uncle Sidney would

Never shout, just throw

The papers on the floor

And walk out.

Uncle Sidney was a devoted brother

To my Dad, always visited in

sunny Spain, even tried to eat the soup!

( He and Mildred never liked soup).

He was always there to mourn with me

Remind me of the yeirtzeit and say

The Kaddish too. My Dad died in his arms

In the middle of May 1995, Sidney cared

for us all, in his gentle way.

I remember a loving uncle

Ready to listen, embrace

my family without prejudice.

Laugh with his whole body

And celebrate life.

Angela (Goschalk) Baum

Jan 2022