大象传媒

However, 1947 was a wonderful year for me, as my son, David was born in February . It was a weekend and when the pains began, my brother in law offered to run me to the nursing home. However, he decided to have a wash and shave, and as he was in the Warrington Male Voice Choir, he gave us a full rendering of the 鈥淢essiah鈥�. As you can imagine, this took some time, and it was some hours before we set out in his Morris minor. By this time, I could not sit still and he became worried that the baby would be born in the car. When I arrived at the nursing home, I was told that I should have a bath, and this is did. Before another ten minutes passed, I was frantically ringing the emergency bell. The baby was born soon after, and as there was no cot available, a temporary cot was made from a large drawer from a chest of drawers.
When Eric came two hours later, at visiting time, he asked when I thought the baby would arrive, and I was pleased to tell him that junior was in the baby unit. I was so proud of my son, and have been so ever since.
We were still living with our sister-in-law, but as she had a young baby as well, things became more difficult, but we couldn鈥檛 find anywhere to live, as there were so many men coming out of the Forces at the same time.
About this time, Eric was admitted to Childwell Hospital with infection of the shrapnel, which was still in his leg. I was desperate to move, and ended up taking one room in a small house. Borrowing the money, I bought a bed settee and moved with the aid of the local coal man. In the room there was a table, chairs, a cot in the corner and of course, the bed settee. Eric was quite surprised when I told him that he was coming out of hospital to a different address. For a while, we lived in this room, covering the light with a cloth, so the cot in the corner was in darkness and our son could sleep. We couldn鈥檛 talk much, and we had to go through the lady鈥檚 living room to reach the toilet at the end of the yard, which meant we had to limit out excursions during the evening, as we did not wish to disturb the old couple.
The toilet, which was at the bottom of the back yard, was not a flush one, and the large bucket was emptied once a week. Behind the bucket was a door, which opened out on to the backs of the houses. The bucket was dragged out and emptied by the men on the wagon. One made quite sure that you didn鈥檛 go outside on the day the wagon was due. No wonder I wrote home to say that things were very primitive in Warrington..
It was a very lonely life, as I used to walk to town most days, but never saw anyone to talk to, as I was rather reserved. My other sister in law, was marvellous to me, but I could not expect her to welcome me every day. Needless to say, this could not continue for more than a few months, and at last, someone told us that there was a house coming empty in a district three miles from town centre. I rang up, and obtained first option on the house. I didn鈥檛 see it, but taking the word of a friend of Eric鈥檚 that they were alright, I borrowed the 拢68.00, (the deposit on 拢680.00 which was the price of the house) and caught a bus to Manchester, where I paid the money. I came home clutching the receipt and feeling that the world was mine. When we visited the house for the first time, we found that it didn鈥檛 have a bath, but we managed, by putting a bath in the back kitchen and installing a gas heater over it. When not in use, it was covered by a large board, which served as a table.
When we moved in, David could not get used to being able to move all over the house from room to room and even upstairs. We certainly, enjoyed our stay in our first house. Of course, we had very little money, and I then tried to make my own clothes and David鈥檚 too. Clothes rationing did not end until 1949, so it proved useful, as I liked designing clothes. Chocolates and sweets were also taken off ration. Petrol was no longer rationed, and it would have been lovely to have had a car, but we decided that a house was our first priority.
1949
Clothes rationing ended, and chocolates and sweets rationing was ended in April. First passenger jet takes to the air. The Comet.
1950
When David was three, we had still had very little money, and so I took a job looking after three (later four) American boys and also doing the cleaning, washing and ironing. I felt that David was happier in the nursery, where there were many different activities, and other children to play with. I used to take him there, then hop on a bus, work hard until three o鈥檆lock and dash back to the nursery. When I deducted the bus fares, it meant that I only earned about 拢3.00-拢4.00 a week.
February 1950 to April 1952
The Americans had a different way of life, and a different attitude to their children. To start with, I was expected to feed the twins from one tin of baby food with one spoon, sitting between the two high chairs. I objected to this and from then on, there were individual plates for the children. The eldest boy was very spoilt, and expected to have his own way in everything. Soon after I started, I was going up the stairs, and because he objected to something I had said, he turned round and kicked me in the chest. For this I put him in one of the cots, as I said he was acting as a baby. There was a difference of opinion with his mother, and she did not agree with my action. However, I said I would leave if my authority was undermined, and there were no further disagreements. Another thing which I did not understand, was that all the children had the same initial, Danny, David, Donald and Dwayne. No second initial, so that if a letter came when they were older, unless the full name was given, it would be a problem to sort out to whom it belonged.
Frequently, the Officers Wives club came to the house, and played bridge. On these occasions or when we had visitors to the house, the children (now four) had to be dressed up, in exactly the same way and paraded as though they were objects, and I felt the children did not like this. There seemed to be very few cuddles, as their mother was nearly always out and their father working.
One morning, I arrived and the parents were in bed, I went upstairs and found that one of the twins had rocked in his cot, and it had moved over the bowl fire. The mattress was smouldering, if I hadn鈥檛 have caught an earlier bus, I hesitate to think what would happen. The Major and his wife did not seemed unduly worried.
This attitude was very evident, when the new baby was only a few weeks old, and the wife鈥檚 father came over from America.
They took him for an extended tour, and the three of us went to stay at the house to look after the children. One of the twins developed chicken pox, which David caught, and then the other twin also. I was terrified that the young baby would catch it, and sent a message via the Base, saying that the children had chicken pox. I expected that they would coming back immediately, but merely received an answer saying they had complete confidence in me, and there was always the doctor on the Base. I was amazed. However, everyone recovered, and were all fit and well, when they returned from the trip I grew to love the children and when they left to return home, it was like losing my own family.

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