GLADY'S FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL AND STARTING WORK

GLADYS’ FIRST SCHOOL
It was soon after the Second World War when I started at St Matthews School, a small Church of England school situated at the far end of Great Peter Street Westminster although the boy's entrance was in Old Pye street. The church was attached to the school and we were encouraged to attend.

I was told that I was quite excited at the prospect of going to school, as my brother was already there being three years older than me and my Mum also worked there for a number of years, in this respect it was like home from home and I felt very happy and secure. Being that it was so soon after the end of the war, food was still scarce and rationing still in place.

On more than one occasion the school would receive food parcels from overseas consisting of fruit and nuts, this always caused a great deal of excitement.

The classrooms were big with an old fashioned open fire in one corner, it was to the side of the fireguard that the milk monitors would place the small bottles of milk just to take the chill off after having stood in the playground for a couple of hours these would be ready for our mid morning break.

Dinners were served in the Trevelyan Hall which adjoined the school, it was a big building with the dining room downstairs, upstairs was a big hall used by the brownies, cubs,and scouts or for school plays, there was always a musty smell about the place whether it was damp or the school dinners I never knew.
The school had a class for every year age group and I don’t think there were more than about 120 children in all, and most of them lived in the nearby Peabody flats or the council estates in Page street everybody seemed to know each other both in and out of school.

We would begin every day with assembly and prayers, followed by the lessons for that day. Most days would either begin or end with the chanting of times tables and a weekly spelling test was always given. Once a week we would go to the St Annes swimming baths just across the road from the school, I can remember being very nervous when the instructor made me jump in the deep end when ii could barely swim its true I did have a length of rope attached to me and I soon became quite good, a bit different from all the safety aids that are used today but equally as effective.
Every so often the school nurse sister Fowler would come to check our hair for nits and our general well-being those children who were a little undernourished or frail would be given cod liver oil capsules daily and a spoonful of Malt, I only had the malt and didn’t like it at all.

It was in February of 1952 that we were all gathered in the practical work room and Mr Burgin the headmaster told us that King George had died everybody was very sad.

KING GEORGE V1 FUNERAL

Because it is a church school great emphasis was placed on events in the religious calendar we would take part on special occasions such as 'stations of the cross' during Lent at which times the church appeared very sombre only to be transformed at Easter weekend by the appearance of many daffodils and primroses that had been collected by the older children who were taken on an outing to Oxshott by Miss Edwards a lifelong member of St Matthews she also ran the scout group and the Guild of St Albans. The flowers gave the whole place a new look, and we were rewarded after the service with a small Easter egg.

THE CORONATION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 2nd AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY

In June of 1953 a number of us were invited to go and see the coronation procession along the route to Westminster Abbey there were children from schools all over the place and we stood on the embankment opposite Big Ben the crowds all lined up and cheering as the royal coach passed it was very special and the new Queen looked lovely. I can remember rushing home afterwards to see the ceremony on the television, a very small black and white set purchased by my grandfather from the Army and Navy stores especially for the occasion, mind you we could hardly see anything as there were so many people who didn’t have a set themselves and had come to view ours.

After the Coronation the celebrations started and the parties were enjoyed by all.

In July of 1953 I left St Matthews to go on to Secondary school
And start a new chapter in my education.
Teacher’s and staff at the school still remain in my mind to this day including

Mr Burgin (headmaster) Mr Roberts (teacher) Miss Robinson (teacher) Miss Bean (secretary)
Sister Fowler (school nurse)

VAUXHALL PARK SCHOOL

SECONDARY SCHOOL AT VAUXHALL
The summer holidays of 1953 had flown by all too quick and it was time for me to start at Secondary school, It was an all girls school at Vauxhall and having passed my scholarship I was the only girl from my primary school to go there. When I arrived I felt completely lost, the playground was full of new arrivals I think there were about 120 new entrants almost as many as there were in the entire primary school, however, when we were settled in our classes the other girls were very friendly and although I did get used to it the work and the surroundings were very different to what I had been used to. And there was an awful lot of homework to be done, I think I enjoyed maths the most and Geography the least with music coming a close second

The school building itself was very big and had about four floors with classrooms on the roof as well, these were the art room, English room and a self contained flat that was used for house craft where we were taught how to launder clothes, general home maintenance and to cook, before we started cookery lessons we had to make a white apron and cap in our needlework class to wear while cooking.

P.E took place in the school hall, and netball in one of the two large playgrounds, for games like hockey and cross country running we went to the playing fields in Morden, Surrey and we would travel there by underground each week.

In the third year the cookery lesson was given at a school in Stockwell where they had better facilities.
When I reached fifteen although still at school I was lucky enough to get a Saturday position at Woolworth in Oxford Street and worked on the haberdashery counter measuring out the ribbons and buttons, I enjoyed the feeling of independence it gave me even though it was probably only about two or three pounds a week.

The store itself showed no comparison with the Woolworth stores of today with the big counters and polished wooden floor and personal service rather than the self service we now have.

I stayed at Vauxhall school until I was sixteen but I can honestly say I was never really happy there and couldn’t wait to leave .
While still at school I always knew that I wanted to work with children, my Mother worked in a nursery at a primary school and it always appealed to me to follow in her footsteps, until the time came for me to get married and have children of my own. It was 1958, I was soon to be sixteen and looking forward to starting work. The year had started badly when on February 6^th the Munich air disaster happened it involved the Manchester United football team who had been playing in Yugoslavia they were travelling home when the plane crashed as it took off on a snow covered runway, of the 44 people on board 23 died including players, Staff, journalists and others.

MY FIRST JOB
I was ready to leave school and my maths teacher kindly arranged for me to go for an interview at a well known company in Regents Street in their accounts department but to be honest I didn't really fancy working with figures all day so I decided to look for something myself.

I was sixteen when I started work at United Dairies in Longmoore Street, Westminster as an office junior and the pay was £4.10s a week. I worked on the small switchboard and would record orders from local residents and businesses, customers would ring and place their orders, people from Dolphin Square for instance would ring for half a dozen eggs or a carton of cream etc and these would have to be delivered within a couple of hours.
There was also an element of maths involved in the work which would be done in between taking calls, I enjoyed the work and soon got to know the regular callers.
After about a year I was transferred from the junior position to the main office and you would be responsible for the accounting of the deliverymen’s books which had to be balanced each week..

COURTING AND MARRIAGE 1960's

Life for me was good and I enjoyed the my teenage years. In September 1960 I went on an outing with Suggs the factory based in Regency Street it was billed as “A Mystery Trip” which turned out to be Folkestone and it was on this trip that I met the man who was later to become my husband. He lived local to me, just down the road in Warwick way he was 20 at the time and working as an apprentice sheet metal worker we both still lived at home with our families he with his grandparents, Mum and sister and I lived with my mum (my brother had married the previous year), our courtship followed quite a normal course of the time.

We would go to the pictures a couple of times a week sitting in the five bob seats between Monday – Thursday but if we went on Friday we would sit in the seven and sixes as it was pay day, Saturday afternoon was spent shopping with my mum and Mick would go to see Chelsea play, the evening Was spent in the pub either celebrating the teams success or drowning sorrows. as it was weekend I wouldn’t have to be indoors until eleven thirty while weekdays had a curfew of ten thirty and my mum was always on hand to remind me by calling out “that it was time to come in now”

We got engaged in June 1961 after Mick had finished his apprenticeship and his wages were increased from six pounds a week to 20 pounds At this time I was earning six pounds we were therefore able to save for our wedding. we would be paying for everything ourselves as our families were not in a position to do so as my Mum had been widowed during the war, we had a lot of help from my brothers wife Sheila who was a dressmaker and made the wedding dress and four bridesmaids dresses,( she has since come to the rescue in recent years making wedding dresses for two of my daughters) We saved in total about five hundred pounds over the next year and this paid for everything including a sit down meal for 90 at a cost of 7/6d head and a running buffet at 2/6d in the evening for 100. The wedding took place at St Matthews church Westminster and the reception at the Ministry of Works hall at the back of the Tate Gallery. It was a lovely day and there was a band to supply the music, our honeymoon was a week at a guest house in Paignton Devon the total cost for the week was £11.10s this included breakfast and evening meal and two hot baths.

We started our married life living with my mum on the Peabody estate. we had put our names down for a council flat and just had to wait our turn I carried on working for a few months until I became pregnant and that meant I had to finish work by the December of that year as the baby was due at the end of March,1963 my daughter was born on the 27th it was a long labour with little pain relief my stay in hospital was a little bit longer than the usual ten days confinement period (unlike today when mothers are discharged after a few hours)it was great being a mum and apart from the sleepless nights the baby was just wonderful

It was in November 1963 when President John F Kennedy was assassinated, I remember hearing the news while waiting for our fish and chips at the shop in Regency Street the shock waves went all around the world as pictures of the dying president were shown in the arms of his wife Jackie.

The months soon past and I was expecting again, when my daughter was fifteen months old I gave birth to my Son who slept at night but kept me on my toes during the day.

After the birth we received a letter from the council offering us a flat in Lupus Street which we gladly accepted as space with my mum was getting a bit tight although it meant she wasn't always on hand to help and support.

Time passed and the children thrived and were happy

WORLD CUP VICTORY .

In July 1966 there were celebrations as England beat West Germany in the world cup winning 4-2 in extra time.

In October 1966 it was a different type of news story that broke, it was the Aberfan disaster, a coal tip had slid on to the village school and 144 people were killed 116 of them school children the scenes were heartbreaking, watching the despair on the faces of those who had survived and those looking for loved ones. I can remember watching the scenes on television and you couldn’t help being moved to tears, the heart had been ripped out of the village.

In August 1968 I gave birth to another daughter, life was good but hectic and it was March 1969 when we were advised of a flat to rent in Churchill Gardens we were very pleased but worried in because of the amount of rent, it would double our current rent and at £13 a week and wondered if we could afford it but we moved in and I managed to get a tea job at a firm of architects in greycoat place one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon it paid about £5 a week but on the second week I accidently broke one of the bone china cups and rather than say anything I went to the Army and Navy stores to replace it, the cup cost me £1.50 which made a big hole in my weeks wage, so much for me trying to boost the family income.

My mum looked after the youngest child as she had retired by this time and the elder two went to the local primary school.

MOON LANDINGS

July 1969 and we were on holiday on the Isle of Wight when we heard the news that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had landed on the moon it was such an achievement and they stayed on the moons surface for two and a half hours the media had great coverage of events.

When the youngest of my three children started school in 1971 I was able to return to work on a part time basis of three days a week and once again Mum came to the rescue I would take them to school and Mum would pick them up in the afternoon I went back to Unigate at Chelsea it was a great office and it was here I stayed until 1978 when I became pregnant with my fourth child as the law had changed on maternity rights I was able to take four months off work and return to the usual three day week afterward when mum would take over again. I could not have managed without her, in fact I stayed at Chelsea until 1982 when doorstep delivery had started to decline with the supermarkets undercutting prices and the convenience it provided for people who worked not having to leave the milk on the doorstep all day while they were out.These changes in lifestyle forced the dairies to close some depots and in turn this meant redundancies. After 13 years it was like breaking up a family but things had to move on. I received some redundancy money and as this was my fortieth year and they say 'life begins' I decided to spend the money on learning to drive and to buy a second hand car this proved to be one of the best decisions made as it enabled me to take my mother out and about as by this time she was less mobile although fiercely independent she had done so much for us and now it was payback time.

ANOTHER FIRST DAY

In November 1982 I was lucky enough to get a job at Westminster city hall in the finance department it was great, the people were nice and the work enjoyable mind you things change even in local government and the privatising of many services bought changes in jobs and locations for job operations I was to see many changes during my twenty five years service and just before my retirement in 2007 many of the tasks which had been performed in our department were sent out to Warrington and Scotland this resulted in many of my colleagues being redeployed or redundant fortunately this didnt involve me because of my age I was about to start a new chapter in my life.

These changes in my working life caused me to reflect on the events of the past twenty five years.

1981 it was announced that Prince Charles was to marry Diana Spencer she was twenty years old and very beautiful they married at St Pauls Cathedral and were had a television audience of 750 million, they had two sons William (1982) and Harry (1984) but despite their luxurious lifestyle and priviliged position the marriage was doomed to failure in 1991 came the news that they were to seperate,and they later divorced in 1996.

DEATH OF PRINCESS DIANA

The following year 1997 the Princess was killed in a car crash in Paris and there was a great outpouring of grief by the public, I remember taking my grandchildren to the Mall where the crowds had gathered, there were flowers covering the pavement outside the palace and all along the Mall were candles burning and people were openly crying, a scene I will never forget is the sight of the Queen Victoria memorial in front of the palace, it was full of people and they were singing 'Kumbaya' it was sung in hushed tones and quite eerie but very emotional.

A GREAT LOSS

My personal life had seen many changes, my mum passed away in August 1998 she had been widowed at the age of 35 and left to raise two chidren, it can't have been easy for her but she was always there to support us and always looked on the bright side of life, she was proud of her family and her nine grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren with her passing came a great sense of loss.

FAMILY CHANGES

With my growing family came romance and marriage and three of our children had flown the nest in the late eighties and early nineties and then ultimately our youngest daughter in 2005 , they did us proud and have presented us with eleven grandchildren (so far)they came along fast:

Christopher '91 Karis and Kerrie '92, Aron and Matthew '93 Ryan '94, Lee '95, Kira '96, Reece '97, Daniel 2001 and Summer '07 they are all great kids and a credit to their parents.

The lives of our granchildren are so different from our own childhood ,with computer games television and the latest designer clothes, supermarkets full of every commodity imaginable, they can't imagine what life was like before constant hot water, there was a hot water tap in the middle of the estate where you could get a bucket of hot water, looking back it was really dangerous but I never remember there being many accidents. Mum used to do her washing on a Monday in the big sink , it would take ages and then have to be put through the old iron mangle and hung in front of the open fire to dry we always had shepherds pie on mondays as it was quick being the leftovers from the sunday roast it was minced and the pie was able to cook while the washing was completed. the children today ask how we managed without a mobile phone but a landline was a rareity then if we made a date we just had to stick to it or communicate by post letter. there was the public telephone box but it was only useful if the other person had a telephone sometimes people

THE MILLENNIUM

The millennium came with much anticipation ,there were dire warnings that computers could crash because the early design of computers meant that only two digits of a year were used and nobody knew how they would cope going from 99 to 00 this in turn would affect banking and commerce but in the event everybody was well prepared and the day went smoothly. There were celebrations in nearly every town and country and we stood at the foot of Vauxhall bridge to see the fantastic firework display, it was quite spectacular. On a personal basis New Years Eve 1999 was my daughter's twenty first birthday and this made the day even more memorable.

TERROR ATTACKS SEPTEMBER 2001

September 11^th 2001 an aeroplane crashed into one of the twin towers in New York, at first it was thought to be a tragic accident but the reality of the situation soon became clear when a second plane crashed into the other tower causing the collapse of the two buildings 2603 people that were in the building or on the ground were killed, and 24 are still listed as missing. At the same time the Pentagon was being targeted by another plane and 125 people lost their lives in this attack. The hijacked aeroplanes that were used to carry out these atrocities were carrying 246 innocent people all of whom died. The news footage could be seen live on television and the whole ghastly act was unbelievable and very traumatic even for the viewer. it is something that should never have happened and I would never want to witness those scenes again.

THE END OF AN ERA

In November 2003 my mother in law passed away aged 91, she was a great character and quite unique, with a heart of gold and a sharp tongue she could match anybody with her sense of humour, like her parents and grandparents she had lived in the area all her life in fact her Grandfather was a Farrier in Pimlico Road in the 1850's when the horse was the favoured mode of transport. Rose has been missed by us all.

LONDON BOMBINGS JULY 7th 2005

ON THE 7^TH JULY I was working at Westminster City Hall when the news came through that the London transport system had been targeted by suicide bombers 3 bombs exploded on three underground trains and another on a bus in Tavistock square the death toll from these bombings were 56 this included the four bombers, 700 people were injured and the whole of the transport system was badly affected

These attacks were carried out by British Muslims and said to be motivated by the war in Iraq. The whole country was shocked and saddened by these events.

The previous day there had been such euphoria when it was announced that Britain would host the 2012 Olympic games.

I retired from working life at Westminster Council in February 2007 after 25 years having met and worked with some very nice people and since then I have wondered how I ever found time to go to work, the days are flying by.
Looking back on my life so far I am grateful to have been born into the family I was and to have married into my husbands family to have been blessed with my four children and many grandchildren. As far back as we know , at least to 1842 my family have lived in this area and like my Husbands family it seems that the connection will end with us, not always by choice but simply because the area has become too expensive to buy anywhere local or even be considered for social housing, this in turn means that the support that we recieved from our extended families is no longer feasable to be passed on to our children on the same scale. The last six decades have seen such advances in science, medicine, technology and living conditions and although I have highlighted some of the worst events there have been many more good ones. I am looking forward to the future.
My Family and My Husbands Family

leila

ASHBRIDGE FINISHING SCHOOL

STARTING SCHOOL AT 6 years old

I started s

chool when I was six in Mumbai ,which was then known as Bombay.it was a missionary school, and very elite and the teachers mostly Irish and muc

h given to hymns and sermons. We did the British curriculum and the same exams.At lunchtime our cars came with our ayahs bringing our “tiffin carriers” with hot cooked lunch. At four in the afternoon our cars came to take us home.In1949 Lord Mountbatten came to our school and we were all thrilled to see such a handsome figure. India was going through turbulent times fighting for independence.

After I graduated from college, my parents sent me to a “finishing school “in Hertfordshire called the House of Citizenship. Here they only took three girls from any country.
THE HOUSE OF CITIZENSHIP
This was an Elizabethan manor house, set in landscaped grounds in Hertsfordshire, with a profusion of rhododendron which in season in bloom were a profusion of pinks and reds. The house and grounds were often filmed for period settings, with underground passages and a great hall and even a ghost. The policy of the

school was to take three girls from each country. We had one Pakistani girl out numbered by the two Indians so she got the brunt of our disdain. There were also 3 Thais, one lone Brazilian and various South Africans, Norwegian and Scots. We took various subjects including economics, flower arranging, courtesy Constance Spry and the correct way to address the nobility. We also had outing to places of interest; the V&A, National Gallery, The Electrolux factory ( just to appreciate the architecture.) Unfortunately we had to learn French which we foreigners had to do under the stern gaze of Madomoiselle Grandperrin. Being foreign we were not deemed proficient enough in English to do the secretarial course.

The highlights of each day was breaktime when there were treats of tea and doughnuts. There was always a mad dash for those. Other meals were stodgy stews and pies and plenty of potatoes. We had all put on 10 pounds by the end of eighteen months!!

The principle was a very straight laced lady who always corrected our accents and our pronunciation. I shall always remember the governer of the institution who prefaced each with grace, "For food and fellowship give thanks," intoned in a sonorious monotone. He was Admiral Sir Dennis Boyd who I am sure had a hearty dinner when he went home to his lovely house in the school grounds.

At the end of the course we had to write a theses; mine was on Poetesses of India and the fun of this was the many trips to India House to do some research in the library (or so it was claimed) and to visit my sister who

led a very bohemian life as an art student in London's St martins School of Art.

It was with great sorry that I left Ashbridge as I had made many good friends who I am still in contact with today 2009. The reunions took place yearly until the demise in 1980 when the institution of Ashbridge folded up, although the house is still used for business seminars etc, I believe. Although Ashbridge and its curriculum seem to be outdated nowadays , at the time it was seen as a giving a good grounding for going on to university education.

India was too far to go for holidays so my good friend from Norway would ask me to go home with her. I saw large quantities of snow and went to lots of parties where my sari was a talking point. I was like something out of another world. There were very few Indian people there at the time. I NEVER SAW ANY. I also broke my ankle on my first skiing lesson. I was taken to hospital in a reindeer sledge and back in Oslo my photo was in ‘Aftenposten’ as Indian leg in Norwegian plaster.

UNIVERSITY AND MARRIAGE

UNIVERSITY AND MARRIED LIFE.
I wrote long letters to my friend in Geneva which were posted by

my parents driver(for a small consideration) and he wrote long fervent letters back, this went on for a longish time but time and distance proved too much and our correspondence petered out.

I met many young people and men but none were considered good enough by my parents until a young man from Calcutta arrived on the scene. He was a friend of my brothers and worked for the British Tea Company in Calcutta. Although at such a distance he came on many trips to see me as often as he could, he was aided and abetted by my grandmother who along with my mother thought he was perfect,

he was a very ardent suitor and vowed to erect a tent a lawn if I did not say yes to his proposal of marriage, after many months of this relented and we were engaged.

We got married in Bombay, as most of our families were living there, with much pomp and ceremony, my father was made Solicitor general to the government of India, the capital, and we moved to Delhi, we lived in a big bungalow, with large expanses of green turf, beautiful flower beds and shuttered windows and doors.Vinod and

I went on a honeymoon to Ceylon as it was called then, on a BOAC propellor Dakota plane to Colombo, which took six hours!!I did not have time enough to change my passport so I travelled as a “miss”this caused quite a few strange glances as this was the fifties and not , many people did that! Life began for me in Calcutta, Vinod worked as a tea taster in his company which was a huge colonial building with long wooden shutters and twenty foot high ceilings, this was where Warren-Hastings council met, this was the home of General Clavering. Vinod was the first Indian to join a wholly British firm and rose to become its chairman in 1963 this building was demolished and a new modern one was erected during the demolition they found an ancient Hindu statue which must have been from the twelfth or thirteenth century, this was kept and is still there in the office.

Pandit Nehru was asked to inaugurate the new building, and as Vinod was chairman, he showed him around and he was offered a good cup of tea which he enjoyed thoroughly. He died shortly afterwards (I hasten to add it was not the fault of the tea!)In the seventies we moved to Delhi, once again in a lovely house, which we bought and renovated, at this time

Vinod worked for the government of India in a very senior capacity, as founder of the urban and housing development society and from then in his second job he was chairman of the state trading company.

He came into contact with many different trading companies all over the world including Russia which was still behind the iron curtain. He travelled to many of these countries. In India he would meet with Mrs Gandhi and other notable political figures.



Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity
I joined Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity till I became pregnant, and she told me not to continue. She and her helpers would pick these dying and ill people in a van, to a big shed, where they had pallets of gunny bags and where they were fed clothed and medicated. Most of them were beyond help, but at least they died with dignity. In Calcutta social life was very hectic. Parties at various friends’ homes, cocktails and dinners, polo matches and the races on Saturdays, where we had our own box. The social life was at its most hectic, in winter, when visiting dignitaries and company big shots from overseas visited. I remember the visit of Queen Elizabeth to the racecourse with all the flowers in bloom and the army band playing! Mr Kruschev also made a visit to the city, but this was more a political one and there was no fanfare. Life went on like this for us till 1972,when we moved to New Delhi and another phase of my life started.

Two events that were significant in my life.

When I lived in Bombay as a school girl, our home was a villa by the sea and overlooking a large empty plot of land. Mahatma Gandhi used to hold prayer meetings there and as a child I sat at his feet with other children. At the end of the session he would give us his autograph for five rupees. (40p in English currency of the time!)

He was assassinated in 1948 and as my father was the prosecutor for the government, this meant living in Delhi for the six months of the case. I do not remember too much of the proceedings but it was very widely publicized all over the world. I only wish I had kept some of the signatures of both Mahatma Gandhi and the assassin Godse

MARION J CORK'S SCHOOL MEMORIES 1920

Marion Jeanne CORK d.o.b. 31.10.1919 Written 16th January 2009

In the 1920’s I went to a small private school at Havant, in the south of Hampshire
The fees were £2.20 a term, dancing class on Wednesday afternoon was extra. Books cost 9 old pennies or 1 shilling and 6 pence that is 12 1/2 new pence. The teachers were called governesses and I imagine Miss Simmons who ran the school was a former governess.

There was a ban on Beatrice Potter. We learned a sentimental poem
‘Hush, hush whisper who dares,
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.’but we were not allowed Eeyore or Piglet. We had Tennyson’s The Brook read to us.
I learned there that if an English town had a name ending in Chester or Cester a Roman camp had been there.

Once a week Sergeant Spencer (who must have served in the 1914-1918 war) came
And took us for drill. We all had our autograph books, and if you gave yours to Sergeant Spencer it came back a week later with a beautiful painting. As I handed him my book I suddenly felt nervous- he might say, “Oh, I haven’t time for that any more, however he took it with a slight smile and without a moments hesitation he handed me a painting. What excitement the following week as everyone crowded round to look! The book with the silly little rhymes had long since gone, but the painting has been cherished, and now hangs on my wall framed and mounted. I was 7 years old. The school had closed by 1930.

I had to attend a state school for 2 years to be allowed to sit the scholarship examination. I went to a little Church Of England School where all the 9 years old were knitting socks and turning heels. As I was clumsy with my hands this was a shock.

That school served us splendidly. In arithmetic I came up to compound interest, and felt insulted when at the Girls’ High School I was asked to add decimals. Spelling was a game. We stood around the walls and the one who got the answer right went to the top.
I remember one word was chauffeur. I had a visual memory: and we learnt grammar. I chanted “ an adverb answers the question how, when, why or what, and still use adverbs and do things quickly not quick.

All the candidates for the scholarship examination passed. One girl was allowed to take it a year late because she had diphtheria the year before.
My mother left school at 14 in 1906. She could write a letter with perfect spelling, punctuation and grammar and in a clear hand. They were trained to do this so that they could apply for a job.

I urged my mother to put money in the Post Office Investment account when they were (unbelievably) paying 15%.  

She turned the idea down with scorn.  "Those young men in The Post Office can’t count.” Collecting 2 weeks pension at Christmas he wrote down the amount, then again underneath, and added them together. Mother had done the sum and got the answer right before he had got it down the first time. My sister was given too much.

At Westminster School a 6th former said to me, "I do wish I’d been taught grammar.” My nephew, a consultant, cannot spell. The word halt has a U in it when he spells it. 

Illiterate teachers invented the theory that correct spelling inhibited a child’s creativity.

Houda's early school days

I was five years old when I went to a French nun's school. Beirut had trams only and no buses. We used to travel on the trams and not so much cars at those times. The buildings were in brick and the weather was cooler than now. I went to school with my dad and before the school finished I would wait for my dad in the nun's room where they would call me clever and joke with me. I had 2 sisters and 3 brothers from 2 mums. I live near the beach in Beirut city Ras Beirut. My dad was a journalist and he wrote many political books. My mum just a house wife as women were not allowed to work at that time.
HOW I MET MY HUSBAND

I was 18 years old when I engaged to my husband. He was living in West Africa, so he can’t come to Beirut for the engagement, but he said he will be there for the wedding. The months past and the wedding day was soon, and again he wasn’t able to come for the big day. However, the marriage paper has been made with out him being present. So one month later, I went to meet him in Africa. I have got married to a wonderful man. We are together for 47years

Anne's School days

Annes Story

Primary School 1947-1953

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I started school in the September before my 6Th birthday. My school was Manley Park County Primary School in Manchester I was in a class of 36 children. One of my first memories was that after having one of the dreaded school dinners we all had to have a rest period for an hour on small canvas type beds. I didn’t want to go to sleep like most of my classmates and it was torture having to stay still and quiet for so long. After the rest period however we had ½ hour playtime which was really fun as we got to play with dolls prams and tricycles etc which not many of us had at home because such toys were scarce after the war. We all learnt to recite our times tables from the blackboard. I learnt to read from words on the blackboard and we had a spelling test every week on a Friday. In my 3rd year we had a new teacher Mr Walker who was very strict but fair. At that time the school was mainly just overgrown ground and during the lunchtime he would encourage us dig the ground by throwing pennies on it. We all became keen gardeners and two years later we won the trophy for the best school garden in Manchester. When I was 9 the whole class were taught to knit including the boys. We all had to knit a 3 inch square and I remember that apart from 2 of the boys I was the last to finish my square despite having both a mother and grandmother who were keen knitters.
Across the road from the school was a bakery which sold little loaves for a farthing. It was one of the only places left that used farthings as they were almost extinct, so if you didn’t have a farthing you had to pay a halfpenny. We used to take it in turns to nip out of school during the lunchtime to buy them hot from the oven. They were really delicious. We bought our first television just in time to watch the Queens Coronation and all the family and friends crowded around the set.

Secondary School 1953-1959













I was accepted at Whalley Range High School for girls after passing my 11+ exam and started there in the September of 1953. I was lucky as 5 of my classmates also started there and four were in the same class as me. It was a very different world to what I had been used to. Each year consisted of three classes A, B+C. A was the top class and C the bottom and I was in the C class for everything but maths where I joined the B class. My subjects were Maths, English (Literature and Language), Science (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), Geography, History and French. We also had music and art. In the 2nd year we started pottery and we had a kiln and potters wheel. On my 1st attempt on the wheel I had a lovely pot one minute and then it collapsed into a flat plate because I didn’t have it centred. My father on seeing some of my early attempts laughed and said I should bury them in the garden and someone digging them up might think they were old relics. However in my 5th year I made a family group model which won 2nd prize in a schools competition and that was the last I saw of it.

There were six houses all with different colours. The houses were all named after famous explorers. Livingston was yellow,Stanley was blue, Scot was red,Nansen was green,Frobisher was mauve and Mallory was pale blue. All stars gained for good work etc and races on sports days were turned into points and a cup was presented to the top house each year. I was in Livingston house.
I loved PE, Games and Swimming. We played Netball and Hockey in the winter and I became a member of the school Netball team. In the summer we played Rounders. In the 5th year we could learn to play Tennis but my 2 friends and I didn’t like Tennis so we played Rounders instead. The rounders pitches were at the other end of playing fields than the Tennis courts and so we used to just relax and talk as the teacher was kept busy with all the others on the Tennis courts. When the others found this out they started to swap Tennis for Rounders and then our nice easy time came to an end.

In the 3rd year we were allowed to ride our bikes to school and then I went home for my lunch or sometimes went to my grandmother’s who lived nearer to the school. In the winter my mother made me wear a liberty bodice which was very old fashioned, so as soon as I got to school I used to take it off and stuff it in my saddle bag. One day I forgot to put it back on and was in real trouble when my mother found it.
In the 4th year my friends and I found the trapdoors in the classroom floor leading to all the heating pipes, so that you could go round the whole school exploring underground or just skipping lessons .After several months we were discovered and marched to the head teacher mistress’s office where we all had a lecture on safety and had our palms severely rapped with a ruler, then to our amazement the head mistress laughed and said that she would like to have joined us as it sounded like fun.

One of the subjects I took was Domestic Science (cookery) which I really enjoyed, and I decided to take it as an O level subject which I failed at the first attempt as I had to do a children’s tea party and put ice cream on the menu, forgetting that I would have to make the ice cream. I passed on the 2nd attempt as I had afternoon tea for three old ladies, making cakes from three different types of pastry.
In the 6th form we joined ballroom dance classes at the local boys Grammer school. the only trouble was that twice as many girls as boys attended and as I was one of the tallest girls I had to be a male partner. I learnt to dance really well as a boy and for years after was always trying to lead a boy around the dance floor.

I was a keen Manchester United fan and on the 6th of February when I returned home after sitting one of my mock exams I was greeted with the news that their areoplane had crashed at Munich airport killing many of the footballers and press. Bobby Charlton and Harry Greg were the only two players who walked away from the crash.I was very upset as had met several of the players. The manager Sir Matt Busby and Duncan Edwards were badly injured as well as several other players. Duncan Edwards died later
In June 1958 I passed my O level exams in History, Geography and Biology. I stayed on in the 6th year and passed my O level exams in Mathematics and Domestic Science (cookery) in November 1958. I left school at Easter 1959 to start my Nanny training at Princess Christian College in May returning in June to take my O level in English Language for the 3rd time, which I fortunately passed.

College and Work 1959-1966

When I was 8 years old on my way on to the dentists I spotted the Princess Christian College(nannies and nursery nurses) from the top of the bus and decided that was what I wanted to do when I grew up. I never veered away from this and when I got to 16 my parents looked into getting me into the college, unfortunately the fees were much more than they could afford as my father had retired the previous year. My parents were active Conservatives and some of their friends suggested that they should apply for a grant which was granted and so in May 1959 I started my training at
Princess Christian College, founded in 1901 by people that thought that training in care of babies and young children was important and that given proper training it would provide a fine career. There were about 32 students in training, which were resident and the course was for 18 months. There were 6 nurseries with babies from 1 month to children of 5 years. The curriculum covered the care of the child in health and sickness, nursery management and hygiene, needlework, housewifery, nursery laundry, cookery, diet, Public Health and Medical Services. We worked for 3 months in a nursery and for 3 weeks on the maternity ward of the local hospital. The work was hard as we only had 2 half days off a week and one weekend every month but I loved every minute of it. We all spent one month working in the kitchens cooking meals for staff, students and children. I hand sewed a babies flannelette nightdress with hand smocking which my own children wore and designed my own pattern for a child’s dress, then bought the material and machine sewed. My daughter wore the dress a few times but by then it was a little old fashioned. I learnt how to make all the different patches and all embroidery stitches. I had to do casebooks on two children, one being a baby and the other a toddler, all about their welfare, diet, health, daily routine, their favourite toys, clothes and things they liked to do. Towards the end of the training we had to look after a baby exclusively and we ate and slept with baby in a separate room and then had to give a daily report on the baby’s health and progress. On the first day of my training on the maternity ward at the hospital they had a very rare case of twins in the theatre at the end of the ward and everyone kept going in to have a look. Suddenly I heard one of bells going and at first I couldn’t find out where it was coming from as hadn’t realised there were separate cubicles at the end of the ward. When I finally answered the bell I discovered that the mother was about to deliver and that I was the only person on the ward. I had to get a midwife out of the theatre and she was only just in time to deliver the baby. When I was leaving the hospital one evening I bumped into the caretaker who had been to visit his wife and he offered me a lift back to the college on his motorbike. He dropped me off around the corner from the college but at supper the principal said ( she didn’t think it was really appropriate for students to be riding around on motorbikes in their uniform) I should have known that I wouldn’t get away with it, as she always seemed to know exactly what each student was doing.

In 1960 I passed my examinations in Child Study, Doctors Lectures, Hygiene, Nursery Management, Cookery and Laundry. I received my testimonial book which included a college report, Principal’s report and my first certificate.

After leaving college I worked for a Jewish family looking after their two children for a few weeks before starting my first real job. I began working on the 27th of December looking after a little boy called Richard. His father was a lecturer at the University and his mother was a History teacher at one of the local High schools. My salary was £4.10.0 a week, payable monthly together with full board and half the cost of laundering my uniform. I had my own bed-sitting room with a gas fire and could invite visitors round. I had 4 weeks holiday a year, one day off a week, one weekend each month. I took all my meals with Richard except the evening meal where I joined his parents and we would discuss the day’s events. Richard was a delightful and intelligent little boy and was fun to look after. I remember on one occasion when I came back from my day off I was greeted by his parents with a tale about how they had had to break into one of their cupboards as they couldn’t find the key. The key was found next day hidden under the carpet.

I started my next job in Aug 1962 down in Worplesdon in Surrey. My friend Sue who was at college with me recommended me for the post as she worked for a family just down the road. I was employed to look after two children Claire who was nearly 3 and Guy who was 16 months old. My employer was David Stratton who had been deputy leader of the Trans Antarctica Expedition under Sir Vivian Fuchs. He used to tell me all about his experiences and it was very interesting. My employers used to give dinner parties and I could join them if I wanted, one evening I joined them at a dinner party that Sir Vivian Fuchs and Sir Edmund Hillary attended. Most of the time I didn’t want to join my employers at the dinner party so I either went out or sometimes my friend Margaret who was a nanny next door would come in and we would earn pin money helping with the cooking and serving the meal and then clearing away and washing up afterwards. We had great fun and the extra money came in really handy. One winter we got snowed in and my employers skied to the shops and my friends and I got so fed up with staying in that one night we put on big gum boots and walked across the common to the local farmer’s pub where we had a great evening. I bought a moped in 1963 and it was great for getting around on as it was a mile walk to the train station and the buses were very infrequent and in 1964 I exchanged it for a Lambretta scooter. In November 1963 my friend Margaret and I were making a cheese souffle for our supper when we heard the news on the radio that President Kennedy had been shot dead in Dallas. In the evenings we all used to go to the Atlanta Ballroom in Woking. We met many other nannies here who became my friends and also soldiers from Pirbright Camp. The ballroom had one of the best sprung floors in Surrey and the ceiling was festooned with parachute material. It was here that I saw Rolling Stones in 1964 and Lula and the Luvvers when she was only 15. The Atlanta ballroom was to play an important part of my future. I met my first real steady boyfriend there in1963. He was a six foot tall handsome Italien called Vincenzo nicknamed Haines.He worked inthe mushroom fields just outside Woking. At the time I was very much in love with him but things didn't work out and he returned to Italy.However he had plenty of friends I danced and went out with. In 1964 I met my future husband John there.He was a soldier in the Scots Guards at Pirbright Camp. I leftthis post in April 1964.

I started my next job in May 1964 working at Sendhurst Grange in Send near Woking which was a home for mentally handicapped children. Life there was rather chaotic and it was there that I met the G's and J's. They were 5 girls who lived in the village and were part of a family of 11 children and all their names began with a G or J. Their names were Jean,Jaqueline,Gillian and the twins Julia and Georgina. The work was really hard as we were always short of staff and I often found I had to bath and get 10 children ready for bed in an hour.
After I had been there for a few months the cook and caretaker left suddenly and as I was the only one who knew anything about cooking I found myself cooking all the meals for all the children and staff with the help of one of the other girls who worked there. I did this for about 6 weeks until the G's and J's oldest sister Janet And her husband Sid were employed as cook and caretaker.
We never had much time during the day to do anything but the normal routine so we often used to cook birthday cakes and prepare party food in the evenings after returning from a night out at the Atlanta Ballroom and often didn't get to bed until after 2am. I have often wondered how we found the energy,but we also had great fun and the cakes always seemed to turn out well and the children loved them. One night at the Atlanta we met a group of Irish Guards who played in the band and they were really interested in our work and the children and they promised to come and play for the children. We didn't take them seriously but a few weeks later they turned up one evening just after we had put the children to bed. We rushed around looking for children who were awake and even waking up some of the older ones. They all got on very well with the children and played songs and rhymes that the children knew and everyone had a great time and they did't leave until nearly 11pm. There were some very tired children the next day.
I got engaged to John in August 64 and we went up to Scotland to meet his father and sister in the September. While we were there we went to see the opening of the Forth Road Bridge. At the end of September John left with his Battalion the 1st Battalion Scots Guards to do a 3 year tour in Malaya. I stayed at Sendhurst Grange until March 1965.
In April 65 I started a new nanny job in Sunninghill near Ascot looking after six week old twins and their older brother and sister. I was only employed there for a few weeks but because we all got on well together I stayed until they left to go to Nigeria and I returned home to prepare for my wedding

1966-1980

I got married on the 23rd of April in 1966. John had returned from Malaya a few days before as he was going to start training with the SAS in Hereford. We got married in St Margarets Church in Whalley Range Manchester the same church where my parents had got married. My father paid for my wedding and reception which was at the local Liberal club. At the time my father turned to my sister and said he hoped that she wouldn't get married for another 5 years as it would take that long for him to save the money for another wedding. She met her future husband a few weeks later and they got married in the following March and my father found the money to pay for her wedding. We went to Aberdeen for our honeymoon and on returning John left to start his training and I stayed with my parents. John failed the course because his knee gave way everytime he did a parachute jump and he was sent back to join the regiment in Malaya. I was meant to join him later but I was pregnant and by the time they got all the paperwork done I was too pregnant to fly. In June 1966 we all sat round the television watching England win the World Cup. It was a real celebration. I took on a few part time day jobs just to keep busy. In October we were all horrified to hear the news of the Aberfan diaster when so many children and teachers lost their lives in a mud landslide.

I gave birth to my son John(Johnny) on the 12th January 1967. It was quite a difficult birth as I gave birth in the evening just as staff were finishing and didn't want to get involved and I was nearly pushing before any one came to see me. The doctor was supposed to deliver the baby but he arrived too late. I remember that the midwife said that I had a lazy baby who didn't want to breath and found out later that it could have lead to brain damage also he became very jaundice because he wouldn't breast feed and I wasn't allowed to give him a bottle.of formula milk. I was supposed to stay for 10 days in the hospital but discharged my self after 6 days. John came back from Malaya 6 weeks later and we moved into a hiring in Edinburgh in July and so we began married life. David was born at home on the 2nd May 68. It was a lovely birth with the midwife and student in attendence, whilst my husband and mother were giving Johnny his tea. In June my friend Margaret(also married a Scots Guardsman)came to the flat to get changed as the Battalion were being presented with their new Colours by the Queen and Prince Philip. When I went into my bedroom to get changed I was suprised to see my new outfit hanging on the back of the door only to discover that Margaret had got the same outfit and in the same colour. I couldn't wear anything else as nothing else fitted after having David so we were both presented to the Queen standing side by side in the same outfit with a different hat. At the time it wasn't funny but we have had many a laugh about it since.

In December 68 we moved to Butler House in Chelsea Barracks London.We watched and read all about the moon landing in July 69 and in November 69 we had both the boys christened at the church of Scotland in Chelsea Barracks by the Battalion's Padre.We moved to Pirbright Camp in January 70 and John left in February to go to Belize on a 9 month unaccompanied tour. On the day he left it started snowing and we had snow drifts of about 2 ft which then froze solid. I tried to take the boys shopping at the NAFFI but abandoned the pushchair lessthan half way there and made the boys walk by the time we got there Johnny was really playing up and threw a trantrum in the middle of the NAFFI resulting in us being thrown out without our shopping. Luckily friends had seen this happen and complained on my behalf and so I got a free basket of food delivered. My parents came down for Easter and had a difficult journey as it was snowing for most of the journey, however the weather changed dramaticaly a few days later to become really hot and sunny and it turned out to be a very hot summer. In July John returned from Belize to become caretaker of the army ski lodge in Glenisla in Scotland. We moved to an army quarter in Dundee in August. I had planned to have my baby at home again but rather embrassessingly my waters broke in the middle of Woolworths. I was sent home in a taxi with a gift for the baby and my midwife took me to hospital where my daughter Sarah was born in the early hours of the 8th October which was also my 29th birthday. The midwife collected and drove me home later that morning. We had the phone put in and saved us having to go to the phone box at the end of the road. We also bought a big chest freezer and used to get lots of meat from the local farms. I still had to wash all clothes by hand and boil all nappies in a big pot on the stove. We had 3 lovely years in Dundee and stayed there even after John and had gone back to the battalion in Edinburgh.

Early 1973 saw me on an overnight sleeper on my way to 16 Coopers Drive, Pirbright Camp. My sister Helen and her husband John saw me off at Dundee Station. I was travelling with 3 children aged 6,4 and 2, two goldfish in a bowl, two gerbils in a cage and one very big heavy suitcase In London we had breakfast in the station cafe before taking the tube to Waterloo and there caught the train to Brookwood station where we were met by the families officer and taken to our new quarters.

David started school in the September and I with my friend Jean, 2 officers wives from Deepcut Camp opened a new nursery school in the grounds of Deepcut Camp. I joined the wives club and we did many exciting things .and went on many different trips. We had lots of dances ,parties and social events. One of the gym intructers used to take us for fitness classes in the evenings. We used to go on the assault courses .One was called the Queen Mary which involved swinging from one platform to another across a very muddy wet ditch needless to say I found myself stuck in a pile of mud on my first attempt as I had let go of the rope too soon.We all had plastic wrapped around our waists to collect the sweat and then went to the swimming pool for an hours swimming.

In 1975 I started driving lessons and on one of my lessons as we were going down Guildfod High St my instructer saw a young girl beeing assaulted,so he jumped out of the car to help her and shouted to me to call the police on his radio. It took me a while to find out how it worked. The police duly arrived arrested the fellow and were about to take my driving instructer away to make a statement and told me to follow them till I explained that I couldn't drive. However one of the policemen finally drove me round to the station where I was stuck for hours as my driving instructer was taken to hospital with a broken nose. It was 2am in the morning before I got home.

At the end of the year we moved to 121 Queen Mary Buildings Stillington St in London. Sarah and David attended Burdett Couttes School where I got a job as a dinner lady and also helped out in the nursery.In March 76 we were watching a football match when David came rushing in to say that Johnny had got his arm stuck in the laundry spinner dryer.He had broken his arm in 3 places and discolated is shoulder and was very lucky not to have lost his arm. In September we were on the move again returning to Pirbright Camp.This time to 79 Beech Grove as John had got a post at the Guards Depot in charge of the gun stores. I took up my driving lessons and passed my test in May 76 and we bought our first car a few months later which was a blue ford escourt which we called boo as that was the reg number. At the wives club I suggested that it might be fun to start a shooting club, which was very popular idea. Captain Stockley agreed to become our tutor. We did 22 rifle shooting and also pistol shooting. We also went on the outdoor ranges a few times. It was great fun especially when we had a competition with our husbands and the wives won . I have got 2 cups at home for shooting and still have some of my targets. There were lots of really good parties ( vicars and tarts, guys and dolls, come as you were caught, and fancy dress) I got jobs cleaning offices,school bus escourt,and working for Surrey council as a home help as well as baby sitting. Johnny attended a school in Camberley. One day when I collected him from the bus they told me that Princess Anne had given him a riding lesson but Johnny didn't believe this as "she wasn't wearing a crown". Someone must of told Princess Anne as the next time she took then riding she brought a tiarra and explained to him that she didn't wear it when riding as she always wore her riding hat. In June 1977 it was the Queens and Prince Philips Silver Jubilee and we celebrated with a big street party for the children followed by fireworks and a big bonfire.On Saturday 25th we had a big dance and dinner in their honour which went on until the next morning when we all had breakfast before going home. In September 79 we were on the move again returning again to Stillington St. Number 133 Queen Mary Buildings which was exactly above our previous Quarter.