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Jac goes home

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After her stay at Jim Perrin’s house in Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant — her ‘recovery period’ of barely three weeks when she damaged her ribs — Jac went home to her family and her cats and continued with her life as before. Jim Perrin organised the sale of his property and then, in September, the move to our sister’s house — (the move which he had orchestrated and, it became apparent later, had been his plan all along). 

However, this was not at all straightforward as frequently such arrangements can be problematical particularly when there are children involved. So far, before Jim Perrin arrived, their time together had been very short indeed, a matter of only months and then only intermittently, but Jac carried on with her life and her stained-glass work and he continued with his writing — a crucial deadline was imminent and he needed to finish the book on which he had been working. There were incipient problems between Jim Perrin and Jac’s sons, some of which were sufficiently serious to cause real concern, but they all attempted to work through these together.

In the Summer of 2004 Jim Perrin was given the news of which nightmares are made; that one of his sons had taken his own life. Our sister supported him with all her pity and care: but how could a father, in such circumstances, and such deep grief, be comforted? It was a period of utter desolation.

Jac’s sisters.

A question of identity?

It was on The Guardian thread after a review by Sir Andrew Motion of the book West, 24/07/10, that a commentator, ‘Melangell’ became extremely animated!  (And we may say straightaway, and pin our colours to the mast, that we are completely convinced that ‘she’, ‘Melangell’, is an alias used by Jim Perrin… )

We have said before that it had never occurred to us to have a site of our own. If ‘Melangell’ (JP?) had not been so determined to ‘put us right’ at every turn or to so explicitly express Jim Perrin’s views; if she had not been so virulent in her insinuations or had not caused our first comment to be deleted, in all probability it would never have been created. We are now going to answer some of the comments that she — Jim Perrin — made.

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Some of the remarks were, plainly, silly:
‘Melangell’:   ‘When I visited Jacquetta in hospital within twenty-four hours of her death, none of her family were there, Jim’s was the only photograph by her bedside.’

The reason for the latter was that our sister had no idea when she left home that day for the hospital that she would be staying — never to return, and she had taken with her only her handbag. It was Jim Perrin, later, who, brought in his own photograph; and it is certain that he would not have taken her any others!

‘Melangell’:   At her funeral his were the only flowers on her coffin and he was the only person I saw weep.’
Ref. Jim Perrin: West, page 285.  ‘No-one had seemed to weep for her.’

Some were overtly threatening, and with an increasing use of emphasis:
‘Melangell’:    ‘Jim undertook never to write about her family though he has strong feelings on the matter.’
Ref. Jim Perrin:  West, page 6. ‘The guilt of those who neglected and exploited.’

‘Melangell’:    ‘… and I think was right to do so in view of the Pandora’s box this could open.’ Continue reading →

Things began to change

scan20102We said earlier that: ‘Jac’s accident was a pivotal point in their relationship’. She had sustained this serious injury whilst visiting Jim Perrin at his house in Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant and she stayed there then while trying to recover from her agony: she was, essentially — to protect her ribs — sedated to the point of immobility. Ref. West, page 193. ‘The brandy treatment proved acceptable, a bottle a day and Guinness at night’. Plus the added effect of the painkiller combination! (In his own words later — to us and to others: ‘I had to keep her PISSED [!] on brandy and painkillers — he didn’t write that in his book! Our sister was, as it were, entirely confined in Jim Perrin’s house, and she was entirely under his supervision.  She would frequently take the opportunity to telephone us when he was out, but then say — as soon as she heard him returning — ‘I must ring off; I must go now’.

She was as comfortable, in these circumstances, as she could be: log fires and candlelit suppers, and brandy and painkillers; hopefully her damaged ribs would soon begin to heal — although she had not been seen by her doctor… Continue reading →