-
Featured
Secondary School
My next school was the Girls’ High School. That school was in its final years before the changeover to the comprehensive system, and the upper school was already under construction. Nevertheless, the school kept to its old-fashioned organizational and disciplinary system, so the all-girls school had four houses with a system of house points and… Read more
-
Featured
Routines
Counting the money was a major part of doing the papers. I’d watched Dad on a Sunday afternoon for so many years, as he spread newspaper on the table and emptied out all the leather moneybags, that when it came to my turn I barely needed any instruction. In turn, I picked out each denomination… Read more
-
Featured
The Sunday Papers
I’d already had a paper round for several years before I got a daily one in Sudbury as a teenager. When Dad gave up the village shop in Lavenham and moved to Sudbury, he didn’t give up the Sunday newspaper supply and deliveries. From before I was born, he would get up before first light… Read more
-
Featured
Memory Lane 1 – Lavenham
On a recent visit to England, Dinah and I spent an afternoon in the south Suffolk countryside with M and B, trying to track down places where Mum, Dad, or their parents had once lived. It was a clear and very cold afternoon, and our trip took us to Long Melford and Lavenham. Although I… Read more
-
Featured
Accidents
Although Mum didn’t work full-time when we were children, she did work: on the market on a fruit & vegetable stall once or twice a week, and a 4-hour early evening shift at CAV, although not at the same time. We had a series of babysitters to look after us when Mum wasn’t there. One… Read more
-
Featured
Day trips
When we were children, we occasionally had family outings at weekends, and they were of two kinds. Either we’d go out to forage for seasonal produce, most often ingredients for Dad’s excellent home-made wine, or we’d be all dressed up in our Sunday best to go for a drive to a picturesque country village. Later… Read more
-
Featured
School days
We always used to walk to school. My first school was Tudor Road infants school, which is still there and now, I think, called Woodhall school. I don’t remember who my first teacher was, but I do have a few memories from there. There were benches and coat pegs outside each classroom, and we had… Read more
-
Featured
Nanny Joyce
On the fifth anniversary of her leaving us, today’s memories are of my Mum – not from my childhood, but from the children’s. M was born in hospital in Bursa, and Nanny Joyce was here for the occasion, although I think she probably wished she wasn’t, at times! She was pretty horrified (as was I)… Read more
-
Featured
Music & Ballet
The front room of the house was kept for “best”. It was always hushed and calm, in contrast to the living room and kitchen where 4 or 5 of us were constantly doing something: eating, playing, fighting, watching television, or doing homework. The front room was always tidy and there were no toys. There was… Read more
-
Featured
Outside in the garden
Opposite the kitchen, across a small concrete yard, were two creosote-black shed doors. On the right was the coal shed. The coalman used to come regularly to deliver coal, emptying sacks of it onto the small heap at the back of the shed. Mum or dad would go out to the shed a fill the… Read more
-
FeaturedMonday was Wash-day
With four children under 5 years old, there were always nappies – terry-towelling nappies soaking in buckets, being laundered, hanging on the washing line, and being ironed. How did she keep up with it? Wash day was only once a week, on Mondays, and pretty laborious. Everyone did their laundry on Mondays; it was time-consuming, and… Read more
-
Featured
Another baby sister
Dad went to fight in the Second World War, but can only have been 16 when he joined up. He was stationed somewhere in northern India, close to Burma perhaps. He didn’t talk about the war, but he never wanted to travel abroad again. He had a “war wound”; he’d lost the end of a… Read more
-
Featured
More about Harold
Dad told me once that he never bought anything he couldn’t afford, so he wouldn’t take out HP (a hire-purchase agreement that allowed you to pay in instalments), but instead saved up first for what he wanted then paid in cash. They did have a mortgage on the house, at 1A Newmans Road, and I… Read more
-
Featured
Early days
In one of my earliest memories, I’m standing in the living room, carefully placing freshly washed and dried cutlery into the top drawer of the sideboard. The sideboard is teak, and I understand that it was expensive and must be treated with care, as should the dining table and chairs that go with it. All… Read more
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Fading Memories 