| A stay in hospital in 1952 was very
different to today. I was there because of my rheumatism and bedwetting; the
latter was an unacceptable thing to do, although my mum had never, ever scolded
me for it. One of the nurses was very kind and would awaken me at 5.30 a. m.
and change my bed before anyone else found out. They weren't all that nice.
(Point of interest: my paternal grandmother once suggested that I ate a baked
mouse as a cure. No! My mum didn't let me.) The children on the ward had to
stay in bed, regardless of their problem. Those who were able, that included
me, would jump out of bed and move around whilst the staff were away. I was
there for three weeks, my mum came to see me a few times but my dad didn't come
at all. |
| On the day that I was
allowed home, my mum collected me and we walked to Harold Hill - my new home.
This was over three miles away; I didn't know then but have since realised that
she couldn't afford the bus fare. We arrived at our new home, 35 Barnstaple
Road, Harold Hill. It wasn't a bad house; 3 bedrooms, bathroom, living room and
kitchen An alcove outside the back door housed a second lavatory, the coal shed
and garden cupboard. |
| The council had begun
building Harold Hill a couple of years before we arrived and continued to build
it up for some time after. There were very few shops, just one tiny school and
no amenities at all. I thought that everyone around us knew each other as they
had all moved there at least two weeks before me. I, of course, did get to know
the neighbours but the feeling of not belonging never left me, especially as I
went to school away from Harold Hill. Marion King lived next door but one, we
were the same age, became best friends and eventually worked together. |
| Once again I was sent to
school immediately. The only school available was in London Road, Romford. As I
was only there for six weeks it didn't make much impression upon me. The one
fact that lingers is playing '2 balls up the wall'. (I could do 3 balls.) The
autumn term brought a tremendous change in my life, one that has left its mark
on me for all of my years. I became a pupil of Romford County High School. The
most wonderful school ever. It was an all girl school, 460 pupils, and an all
female staff. The only men around were the gardener and the caretaker. |
| The uniform was mainly
bottle green. In the first, second, third and fourth years we had to wear
tunics with white blouses and green tie, the fifth and sixth years wore skirts.
Everyone wore the complete uniform all of the time. A green raincoat and beret
outside were compulsory - the headmistress would appear at bus stops to check
-woe betide any girl found lacking. During the summer we were allowed to wear
dresses of pink, yellow or green with detachable white collars and cuffs. As
long as we wore a blazer, a beret wasn't compulsory in summer; we just had to
have the school badge shown on either blazer or hat. The P. E. kit consisted of
a light green Aertex shirt (a sort of cotton mesh) with black, baggy knickers.
We were supposed to wear two pairs of knickers, all of the time! A white pair
with the traditional (then) navy blue ones on top. For some reason (that I
don't know about) I never did this, nor was I ever found out. The length of our
tunics had to be exactly right. To check this we would kneel on the floor of
the hall and the hem of our tunics had to just touch the floor. Summer dresses
had detachable collars and cuffs and the short sleeve was a regulation
length. |
| I was immensely proud to be
a pupil of Romford High. The school building was imposing and impressive: the
front gates and fence were of ornate wrought iron and a long, wide drive swept
up to the main entrance. This pathway bordered a large, well kept lawn, dotted
with trees, notably an enormous weeping willow. (Sitting on the front lawn was
reserved for Fifth year pupils only) The school building was built in the
1930s, although the school had been founded in 1904. It was built around a
quadrangle (sixth formers only!); a corridor along three sides with the front
of the building taken up by a very large hall that was two storeys high. On
each side of the hall was a front door (huge oak one), sweeping staircase and
cloakroom. |
| We had a large
gymnasium, dining hall/music room, art room, extensive library and three
different science laboratories. At the rear of the school were two brick built
outbuildings, one used as a physics lab and the other as two of the first year
classrooms (these were known as the huts). There was a rose garden (sixth
formers only) a pond area (fifth formers) large gardens (NO ONE allowed in)
tennis courts/netball courts, games shed and a very large field. Approx. one
third of this field was leased to a local boys school - no communication
allowed. |
| The staff were all
university graduates, never referred to as teachers, always mistresses. They
only wore their university gowns on special occasions; the head mistress wore
hers all of the time - she strode around the school looking something like
Dracula. Miss Bubbers, the head, started at Romford County High in September
1953. She really was a figure of fear; constantly reminding us that we were
above average girls, with above average brains, from above average homes. (She
had never seen our council house). |
| My council house on Harold
Hill was one of thousands . The estate was partly built when we moved there;
thousands of houses but no amenities. Shops were gradually added, as were
schools but that was it. There was absolutely nothing for the hundreds of
youngsters to do. A sports centre was eventually built - after I was married,
12 years later! I had to go a few miles by bus to get to school, cinema etc.
This wasn't really the problem it would seem to be by today's standards - few
families had a car. |
| Very few families had any
luxuries, except the Osbornes! My Dad was not much good at providing the
essentials of life but he did like gadgets. We had a television set in 1951. A
9" Bush, with a magnifier in front of the screen - this was like half of a
goldfish bowl on legs. Unless you sat immediately in front of the screen
everything became distorted. ( the set cost over £40 ) We had a washing
machine and vacuum cleaner long before anyone else - never mind what's on the
floor, just get the gadgets. Mum would have preferred to have the money to
spend. |
| 1953 was the year of the
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, my Mum turned our front room into something akin
to a small cinema. Quite a few of the neighbours came in to watch this great
event (in black and white). The television consisted of one channel, BBC and
was on for one hour for children about 4pm and restarted at eight o'clock for
adults. The set would be turned on five minutes before time to warm up.
Everything was broadcast live then. Almost every street had a Coronation party
for the children. I still have the cup and saucer I was given that day. It was
all very exciting. |
| Many school
holidays were spent with my Nan Jackson in Hackney. Holidays away from home
were an unknown quantity, we rarely went out for a day. |
| My Nan, whom I adored,
lived in a house that really was a slum. There were three families in the
house, a large family on the ground floor plus the rat infested basement, an
elderly couple in the one room half way up the stairs and my Nan in the two
rooms at the top. There was running water and gas but no electricity. The flat
was lit by gaslight. Gas mantles are very difficult to describe; they were a
bit bigger than a table tennis ball, made of something that looked like gauze,
possibly made of silk. This would be attached to the gas lamp much the same as
an electric wall light. The gas would be turned on and lit with a match and a
shade put over it. Gas mantles were very delicate and after they had been used
would crumble at the slightest touch. |
| At the back of this house
was a pickled onion factory called Brother Bungs. Many of the women in the
area, including my Nan, skinned onions as 'homework'. The smell pervading the
whole neighbourhood was appalling! My Nan still lived in this house in 1958; it
was too decrepit to convert to electric and was eventually razed to the ground.
Like the two rooms that I used to live in with my mum, the filthy toilet was
downstairs and a bucket sufficed for upstairs. |
| I used to travel from
Harold Hill to Hackney on my own from the age of eleven. Three or four buses
into some very unsavoury areas - no-one seemed to take much notice then. I also
used to visit my mum's sister and husband, Elsie and Ron, and her brother and
his wife, George and Sylvia, all of whom have played a large part in my life.
The death of Elsie, March 1998. was to be a devastating event, but more of that
later. |
| My life at home was marred by my
Dad's neurotic behaviour. He would find fault with Laurie and me for the
slightest reason and then would maintain a regime of silence for about three
weeks. My mum remembers him hitting us - I only remember the mental abuse. I
don't remember Dad ever going to my school for any reason, Mum went once, I
seem to recall. This was just as well, really, as 99% of the girls there came
from well-to-do families. This was the beginning of the time that any class
could attend High school, not that the rich had more intelligence just more
money. Going to Romford County High was fine for me but a struggle for my mum.
We had a charity collection each Monday and the school supported a needy child.
(Little did they know that I sometimes came into that category) |
| My mum worked in various factories -
tailoring, cat gut factory, underwear etc. She worked full-time. Dad was a
conductor and then a driver of London Transport buses. I was rather fat -
dieting was a thing of the future! I didn't like it but became the jolly ha-ha
girl in the class so that I laughed at myself before anyone else could do it.
When I was 14 I weighed 12 stones seven pounds. I did not make the most of my
school days, I loved art, maths, history, English language and game's most of
all. I also enjoyed French and German (I began learning German in the second
year), but, unfortunately, the mistress I had in the fourth and fifth years was
very pleasant but allowed me to mess around too much. |
| I forgot to mention that we had a six
day timetable at school, A day to F day. This may sound odd but no one ever
forgot which day it was. During my first year at school each form had one early
day in six, this was a wartime measure to have fewer girls in the building
during the last half-hour of the school day. (No! I never did know why) Every
girl in the school belonged to one of six houses, all named after royal houses.
I was in Tudor. The houses changed in 1955 to three only, Ross, Hilary, Scott I
was in the latter. |
| When I was 14 I entered a competition
in the Junior Mirror (long defunct). It was for the funniest school story. I
recounted the April Fools joke that our art mistress acted out. We had been
told that a famous Italian artist was going to visit us and it turned out to be
Miss Smith. I won the competition but Miss Bubbers, the old bat, refused to
allow me the time off to collect my prize, saying that I had brought the school
into disrepute and should never have broadcast anything that happened within
the school. My mum insisted that I told her we were going, so off we went. The
prize was a meal in the Quality Inn restaurant, Leicester Square, followed by a
private showing of 'Fun at St Fanny's'. This starred Cardew Robinson, who was a
well-known comedian, he accompanied us throughout. It was a big event for Mum
and me though it may seem a bit childish now. |
| When I was about 13 or 14 I began to
attend Harold Hill Baptist Church. I went to each service on Sunday and had a
Sunday school class. I belonged to the Youth Fellowship - the only place I ever
went to for enjoyment. At 16 years of age I sat for 6 GCE exams - art, English
language, maths, history (all of which I passed) and biology and religious
knowledge, failing the last was a great shock, it was my best subject and I was
sitting an exam at church at the same time. I got over 90% at church and 40% at
school. |
| A short time before I left school I
began to seek a job. The first one that I applied for was at Glyn Mills bank in
London. I had the necessary qualifications, completed a long intelligence test
and got the position - subject to the medical. Unfortunately I was too fat.
This was in the days when all staff were meant to stay with the bank 'til
retirement and if women married they had to leave. Being over weight was an
unacceptable health risk. |
| I was a furious 14 stones 3 lbs and
promptly went to the doctors for help. He gave me an endless supply of preludin
(an amphetamin) to suppress my appetite. I stuck to my eating regime like a
limpet. I lost the first three stones in three months and another stone in the
next two. The time I remember quite vividly was when I returned to school four
months after I left. This was to collect my GCE certificate - I shall never
forget hearing the intake of breath as I climbed the steps onto the stage. I
had to wear the school uniform that had fitted me when I was over three stones
heavier. (Safety pins are a great invention). |
| I left school July 1957, got a job as
a clerk at the Provident Life Assurance Company, Bishopsgate. I had loved my
time in school but a new chapter was about to begin. |
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