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Wartime memories of an evacuated school teacher Part Two 鈥� Life in Bedford.

Part two of an oral history interview with Mrs. Gwenllian Ruth Clarke (n茅e Parris) conducted by Jenny Ford on behalf of Bedford Museum.

鈥淭he children were scattered into billets all over Bedford because we never kept our own school or anything. The only one I know didn鈥檛 return that I brought out with our school, I always call her Dorothy. She鈥檚 always telling me about my cookery classes, of course she is getting on a bit. She was not a baby though, she came out as a young girl, I think she was 12. She鈥檇 been in an orphanage from when she was five, she and her sister, their parents died and in those days it was into an orphanage and so she鈥檇 been there since she was five. They came out with the school. Most of the children in that orphanage would go to the same school. She came out and as I say she still teases me about making potato pastry and all that.

I used to give lectures on wartime cookery and the use of the hay box. You had to half cook it and then put it in the hay box and I had to get it in, in the morning ready for the mothers - I used to give lectures to the parents as well as the children. I had to keep my fingers crossed that it would be cooked when I got it out because I鈥檇 never used a hay box! Here are some of sort of things that dished out to the parents. Every week we would have them at the school usually on a Saturday morning. We鈥檇 have it during the day because you didn鈥檛 do much after hours because there was blackout and goodness knows what. It was getting on in the wintertime.

Well of course we all did our fire watching. I did fire watching until my first child came along, I didn鈥檛 do it after that of course. But we did fire watching and entertained the American troops. The school authorities would get up sort of meetings and then they鈥檇 get the staff - you鈥檇 come along and be a sort of hostess for it. I didn鈥檛 very often go. I went once or twice before the babies were born but not after that. I must admit, I never ever during the war, although it was full of Americans all lounging around all sitting on doorsteps and they would speak to you but if you didn鈥檛 show any interest they never ever pestered you, never! I used to go out, I used to go to a Keep Fit class. I belonged to the Women鈥檚 League of Health and Beauty if you know what that is. Prunella Stack and all that, I only retired at 83 from that! I used to go a class and we used to come home at half past nine, ten at night and never had any fear of walking through Bedford, not a bit of it. I used to walk all the way up from town to Victoria Road, I never felt a bit intimidated. Yes, we went dancing. And of course as I say I went to my Keep Fit, Women鈥檚 League which was a lot of dance in there. That was held in those days it was in the Dujon, the old Dujon Caf茅 in the High Street, upstairs. To the St.Peter鈥檚 Hall, opposite the St.Peter鈥檚 Church where the nightclub is now. There used to be a Church Hall up there. Then we went to where the swimming pool is now, the corner of Union Street and Warwick Avenue. We used a hall from the College there and then we went down to Newnham Avenue, Newnham School there and that鈥檚 where it was in the end, Polhill Avenue. I was 83 when my teacher retired at 80 so the class folded.

We had one bomb scare, a big one when all the windows were blown out. That was on the way back from Coventry - when the German planes were coming back from Coventry they ditched their bombs. (14th November 1941). They dropped two parachute mines and they鈥檇 been following the river, that鈥檚 what they鈥檇 been doing and they tried to ditch them in the river. Well our house in Whitbread Avenue is very, very near the river. Now Mrs. Turvey had been standing in front of the big window ironing, I was in the other room machining and suddenly there was an almighty wallop! Fortunately at that moment Mrs. Turvey had turned away from her ironing in front the window to take the things she鈥檇 ironed to hang on a horse somewhere else because it blew that window in and the wooden fireplace behind her was plastered with bits of glass like daggers. If she鈥檇 been there, there would have been no hope. I found myself, I鈥檇 been machining - I found myself in an armchair with the machine I don鈥檛 know where. But none of us were hurt fortunately but a bit a damage. But that was the first time that I encountered any real sort of disruption from war.

During my teaching we watched them drop bombs over the railway area. We were our way down to air raid shelter so it was a good job they hadn鈥檛 come over our way, we would never have got there. (23rd July 1942). But apart from that I don鈥檛 think I ever had any encounter with real war.

And then I went out to Goldington Green, that was after I was married (in 1942) and I had my first taste of teaching boys cookery. I had two or three classes of boys to teach there and the boys loved the cookery but would they clear up? So I used to have boys in the morning and girls in the afternoon so we had a sort of - if the boys did any bits of repairs that wanted doing the girls would wash up and wash their tea towels, it was a sort of interchange. I was there until shortly before my first child was born in May 1943. Well in those days you retired, you didn鈥檛 sort of get maternity leave, you just retired. So I was then out of teaching for ten years because I had my three children and I had no intention of going back whatsoever, I was quite happy being a housewife. As I say we were happy here though, I can鈥檛 say that I鈥檝e been unhappy since I was evacuated to Bedford. Of course I was very lucky!鈥�

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