蜜芽传媒

CONNIES LIFE (1909 to 2003) including WW2.
Written in 2002 at the age of 92

Mum has had a hard life with lots of disappointments and I asked her to write her life story, not expecting a novel but鈥︹��

I was born on 28th December 1909
My father was a widower with 3 sons who mum helped to bring up.
We lived in a big house and there was a key to use a private garden rather like Eastenders.
28 Cartwright Gardens, I don鈥檛 suppose it is still there, I used to see it when I was growing up.
I remember the first war of arteng.
I don鈥檛 remember my stepbrothers.
I think they were all in the army. Bert , Earming and Ted, I know Ted died, his widow was named Florrie.
I can remember Bert being a Tailor, during the war we used to take shelter in some council office in the road where we lived (32 Bedbough St) we had a 2 bedroom flat on the first floor, we had our own toilet on the landing and a cold water tap and sink, and a dining room called the living room, but a single bed was in the corner where my sister and I who was 3 years older used to sleep, my brother Jim was the older and Frank was 3 years younger than me.
I remember the air raids, one in particular when a zeplin bombed St Pancras station, my father flung me against a wall and stood over me, I once saw a zeplin. I went to school called Thanet St and didn鈥檛 do too bad, we had a very old maid to teach us everything, not for particular subjects, she was very nice to me, I started talking during a lesson and we had to hold our hands up to be rapped with a rule as punishment, she rapped my friend then waved me away.
She always had my sewing on pinned on the wall, run and fell and a seam for the parents visit.
I don鈥檛 think Mum ever did see them, she was always working in her spare time, she knitted and crocheted, I have still got some clothes she did in cotton crochet, Mum had a cousin we had a boarding house in Guildford St Bloomsbury, where I was always being sent to help on days off school, I helped with the cooking and laying tables in the dining room, often staying the night, I had a bed in the cook鈥檚 room (Mrs Mackenzie).
I went to work in a box factory, using a machine that pressed a flat piece of cardboard into a box, after doing much more simple things

I started in a mixed school but the last 2 years I was there it all changed, we were separated from the boys and for the first time had a headmaster, Mr Whittam, I left at 14, he gave me a good reference, I still have it somewhere.
As a child I had pleurasy and was sent to Great Ormond St hospital, it was Christmas time, I can always remember what I got off the Christmas tree, a flannelette petticoat, I cried as I wanted a toy !

Meantime my sister got a job at the Great Eastern Hotel as a chamber maid. When I was eighteen she got me there with her only on a different floor. That鈥檚 where I met my first husband. He was a window cleaner. I also had another boyfriend I liked very much Ted Mitchum. He was 6鈥� 4鈥�. We started to go out together. He took me home, they lived at Littleheath, Chadwellheath. I went to his house several times. He had a sister, Connie. I used to see his dad quite a lot a twerpove Street. I think he worked in an office. My visits to the house began to get less and less. We鈥檇 go to the cinema or the seaside. It began to dawn on me that his parents did not think I was good enough for Ted. I started to back away. I always had Chris who was always after me, always asking me out. In time he took me home also to see his grandmother in the next road. What a difference in the two families. Quite a small house with a scullery and two bedrooms.

After my dad died, I was 19 and started to go home more. It was a very sad time as dad always seemed so well. He caught a cold and died of pneumonia. He wouldn鈥檛 have died today, and was never taken to hospital.

About my job as a chambermaid - I used to work one nighters in and I always got half a crown tips so on a good week I went home and bought mum some butter and marg, sugar and flour. She made a cake. I鈥檇 take a few slices with me. She was having a struggle to manage. My sister was married to John Johnson and lived in his mum鈥檚 house which she owned. That was the lady who gave me my first good earrings to have my ears pierced. I lost them while I was living at Frank鈥檚 as I had a job to get them out, so I stopped wearing them and couldn鈥檛 find them anywhere.
Eventually Chris and I got married. A cousin of Chris鈥� offered to do the wedding at her house in Romford. I was married in navy blue with fur trimming. We could not afford photographs those days, as no-one had a camera.

I forgot to mention that when I met Chris he had a Norton motorcycle we used to run everwhere on it with me on the back, I loved it at the time, we used it getting to Romford before and after the wedding, in fact we were out at weekends somewhere, he had a brother who I cannot remember, I know his son Alf went to Australia for 拢10 and lived in Camps until they could get a house.
I think he was killed in the war after Chris died, his Dad died, his Mum went to live with Lily and Bert at Walthamstowe, she treated my children like her own grandchildren, Frank went to stay with them for a week during the school holidays

Of course I left my job where I was working in the hotel. The lady boss asked me to go as a stewardess on the Northern Belle. It was a --- train that took 20 passengers to Scotland. Coaches used to meet the passengers and take them to various famous places and bring them back in time for dinner on the train. That鈥檚 when we were on duty if they wanted anything done. There was plenty of waiters and cleaners, 3 men stewards and us 3. When they went Friday morning we were always in the corridor to say goodbye, I used to get 拢5 and 拢1 notes from the ladies I looked after. After Chris and I got married I had a letter from King鈥檚 Cross asking me to go again which I did. It was just a name change it was only a seasonal job but I enjoyed it. Unfortunately Chris got a bit jealous and it caused a lot of bitterness because as soon as passengers had gone for the day we used to go out with the men, so that came to an end. We had just booked two seats in the Palladium for our second anniversary when Chris left early on 10th December. It was on a Tuesday, bitterly cold. He got to work and had a heart attack aged 26. The inquest stated he had a weak heart and should not have done all the outside things he did today, any taking part in sport would be examined. No-one knew. I got 10 shillings a week widows pension. I asked the railway for a job.
My other brother Jim died when he was only 21, he had married a girl named Bella and had a lttle girl, we did not see them much and I often wondered why, anyway the used to come to Mums for dinner on a Saturday, one week mum has sausages and Jim complained of pain, he went to the doctor on the Monday as he was still in pain, but died in the ambulance, the inquest blamed food poisoning, either a duck egg he had for breakfast or the sausages. Can you imagine what would happen today, it did get a mention in the papers but no action was ever taken..

They offered me a job at Liverpool Street station where I met Len. He was chipped by his mates about the smashing widow working in the buffet so he came in to have a look. After that he was in two or three times a day. His father also came in to look at me and spoke to me. He was a dapper little man who thought he was god鈥檚 gift to women. He went up the west end once a week - for what I could only guess.
Len and I started to go out a lot. I had a flat in Leyton Park Road 鈥� sitting room with kitchen and bath; bedroom in the front. Mr and Mrs Richards owned the house. She let me 鈥�. I used to go in and talk to him, I can鈥檛 believe this now, it is not done today.
I got on well with Len鈥檚 family and it was not long when I realised we would have to get married, I was in the family way after all this time.
Mt Brother Frank gave me away at the wedding (and his wife Clair) , we did manage to take some photos which are in my album.
Len鈥檚 Mum did the wedding, I bought a nice outfit, we went to an estate agent, this was the first time I saw Len鈥檚 surname.
We got an upstairs flat Goodhall lRoad Leyton, after a while we moved to a ground floor flat.
After the war started Frank and Clair got married at Caxton Hall, very posh.
I had a boy named Lesley, he was not very well after his vaccinations, the doctor admitted him to Great Ormond Street. Len had a cousin who lived in Leytonstone who took phone messages for us and always phoned the hospital, Lesley eventually died, It was a very sad time but by then I was expecting Frank.
Frank was 6 weeks old when the second world war started.
We were to be moved away from London, we arrived at the station and were taken to a public hall, and the public were allowed to pick who they wanted.
I was soon chosen by a lady, I suppose she thought no trouble being a mother and baby. He was a stockbroker in the city and they were both very concerned for me, I was breast feeding Frank so that was no problem, they saw I was well fed, I had my meals with them and it wasn鈥檛 long before I was helping her, washing up etc. I only stayed 3 weeks as the war did not start, before we were married we bought a tent and all the equipment, it was all packed in a bag, every time we left and put in a shed by whoever owned the field.
, my brother Frank and Claire had one as well, I cannot remember who got one first.
We got a free railway pass most weekends if we were free, when I returned from Woodford that鈥檚 the first thing we did go to Shoeburyness for a weeks holiday with Frank, there are photos somewhere of Len and baby Frank.
We heard rumours of an invasion by the Germans it was a bit frightening being near the coast so we decided to make for home, the platform was full of people we would not have got that train but they let me on as I had a baby.
We never saw our tent again, the field was taken over by military.
The soldiers must have taken it.
I can鈥檛 remember the date but I believe it was September 3rd when I heard the first German plane, it was very distinctive. I heard bombs dropping and I stood by our big wardrobe with Frank in my arms too scared to move. We had a shelter in the garden so we went to bed there as soon as it got dark. In the shelter one complex next door as well.
One night Len dashed home from work, on his way home he鈥檇 seen a lot of trouble. He decided we would go to Stratford. He was worried about his mum and dad, well that was a very bad move; we went right into it. They were after the docks. All the streets were covered with rubble and fine soil. All the windows were broken at Sandle Street. They were all in the shelter. I was pushing the pram along the street and some man went for them, until he explained where we were going. I stayed with his mum until things began to settle down.

While Len鈥檚 dad was working on the railway he had a friend who until he returned was a ticket inspector. After retirement he bought a pub at Fen Ditton called The Plough, had a son Sid and daughter Maggie. Dad used to visit him at Fen Ditton. It was Mr Gooden that suggested mum and Joyce who was 14, and me and baby get a place in Fen Ditton. Anyway a farmer had a cottage at Horningsea that he couldn鈥檛 use because the farm hand was called up. It was furnished 鈥� no electric 鈥� no running water. We had a barrow on wheels we used to go down to the village pump. We used oil lamps. It wasn鈥檛 until after the war we had the electric laid on and a tap in the kitchen over a plastic bowl; it wasn鈥檛 long before we had several neighbours getting water from our tap.
Len was called up in 1940/41 he went to Bristol Mead Station, eventually his boss went abroad and took Len with him.

After the war in Fen Dittone, we were the first to get television and the room was full the year Oxford boat sank in the race.
We had a great pole stuck in the garden for aerial. I always remember when we moved that was first to go. Dad used his railway van to come weekends. I went back several times to our flat, we was still paying rent. We鈥檇 been at Horningsea several months when the farmer gave us notice because the man had written him to say he was coming back. At the same time an old man had died at Fen Ditton. Sam Gooden bought the cottage for 拢100 and offered it to us. He could collect a weekly rent from the Evacuated Funds. (I鈥檓 in a muddle here because I鈥檓 trying to remember) This is where we had the water and electric laid on because Len was home then. Mum had gone back to London, Joyce had a job at Marshalls airport by this time. Dad collected all my furniture from the flat. We had to shut Frank in the toilet because he was so energetic - boy did he scream. We had a lovely apple tree in the garden. The apples were no good. All the toilet was emptied in the ditch nearby but it never put us off. We had loads of visitors from London come to stay at times. Len got a job driving horse and carts for BR because he was used to horses from his dad鈥檚 job, he had a lovely old horse he used to tie up to our shed. Sometime after he got a new motor. He used to teach new drivers in Cambridge. Suddenly the council was building 4 houses. He went straight into the council offices. Who should be in charge but Mrs Ellis who had a house named after her where I got a flat. When she told him that as Maggie had 3 children she had priority Len moved towards her. She got out of her chair. She thought that he was going to attack her he was so angry. Anyway it wasn鈥檛 long before we were offered 64 Whitehill Road which was better anyway. Before this went on I got mum out of hospital to live with us. She was pleased and had a much better life. Roger was born in 1947 a year after dad got home. I got a Saturday job in Woolworths and I noticed girls used to tear the dresses they were given to wear; I mended some dresses and the supervisor told the office and it ended with Woolworths delivering a box full of dresses to be mended. I had to put in a bill for work done and send it to head office and I charged by the hour. 1/6 an hour I was glad of the money. My machine was in the kitchen, I made aprons out of dresses that were too old and they were very pleased. The girls on veg used to wear them.
Frank was 6 weeks old when the second world war started.

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