MY TEENS

                                                                                                              

Hercules (bike)

When my brother was demobbed from the Army in 1947 and came back home to live he bought me my first bicycle a Hercules. He taught me to get on and off by carrying two bricks around for me to start off. Luckily I soon got my balance and confidence and didn’t need any more assistance.

Whatever the weather I would cycle one evening a week to Pett Youth Club where I enjoyed playing table tennis but there again regularly teased about wearing the same clothes because I had no others. They were washed at night and dried overnight by the range so at least they were clean if I did wear anything different I was asked if there had been a fire in our house!

There was also a weekly whist drive at the village hall every Wednesday evening and a local couple from Pett Level used to invite me to a lift in their taxi which was a very kind gesture. I was quite lucky most weeks and came home with either a whist or raffle prize.

Occasionally there was Saturday night Dances with live music which was usually at one of the surrounding villages but transport or walking in all weathers was the main reason I was often unable to attend.



mum Edith Luck



Every month of September my Mother would spend three weeks Hop-picking at Icklesham, East Sussex and I had to accompany her and fill bushel baskets with hops. Each one I filled mother paid me sixpence then emptied it into the sacking bin she picked into. I was always being told that as well as being a holiday the money earned by my Mum was used to buy my winter school uniform. I have always loved the smell of hops although I haven’t had the opportunity to see any for some years now...

In those days it was safe for children to roam and play in the countryside without the worry that parents have today. We had a village policeman and he cycled daily around our roads and lanes giving the residents a friendly ear, peace of mind and reassurance. I cannot remember crime as such and we never had to lock our doors when we went out.





JUNIOR SCHOOL

The Old Junior School now a house

During this time of war I attended Pett village school which was nearly three miles away from our house by road but shorter across the fields.  Mother would take me in the mornings and then come and fetch me when school finished. We would often get half way across the fields when German Planes would suddenly appear and start firing at us with their machine guns, I can remember many times ending up in a pile of stinging nettles with Mother on top of me.

I had a very varied young life but living in an area occupied by military personal I was restricted with playmates as most of the local children were evacuated causing me to make my own entertainment. The village school I attended in Pett taught about 50 children. While I was there we took the 11 plus examinations to determine whether we went to either Rye Grammar or Rye Secondary Modern School. My Sister and Brother were at Pett until they left at 14. All the time I was at Pett School due I think mainly to my parents having very little money I was bullied either about my clothes or because of my looks. Having to wear glasses because of a life time squint and having very short straight hair I was always called “Uggles”.  I very rarely had new clothes at this time in my life and could never understand how some children had  a different set of clothes for Sunday’s while I had the same made up clothes passed on for my mother to size down to fit me.

My Auntie and Uncle lived in Pett and with their adopted daughter Valerie who is nearly two years younger than me but although cousins we have always had a very close relationship throughout our lives. As she and her parents all lived very close to our school I used to have a lovely cooked lunch with them while the other children had to make do with school dinners or sandwiches.

I was still at the village school when my sister joined up for the Woman’s Royal Air Force to work with Barrage Balloons, she was sent to many places two of which included the South of England, the Tower of London and Scotland. Later my brother enlisted into the Royal Army Service Core driving amongst other things Ducks which drove on land and water. This meant that I was very much left to my own devices for amusement and would spend hours picking primroses in the spring, black berries in August and mushrooms, hazel nuts, and  chestnuts in the Autumn  or just clicking away with my Mums old box brownie camera! Looking back I can understand why it is now that I can cope with long periods of my own company and always find something to keep me occupied because when I was young I had no choice.

PARENTS

Father was offered a post of Coastguard for the local coast line and did daily patrols as it was feared that our area was very easy to access by sea. One day when he went on duty unknown to him a row of mines had been planted the day before and he walked down their path way. Someone was looking over his shoulder because each step he took went between the mines; his fellow colleagues looked on in horror not daring to shout a warning. His colleagues got a severe reprimand for not recording that the mines had been buried as part of the sea defences.

The Army and Air force arrived at our village because being so near to the coast the local cliffs were an ideal place to have search lights and gun stations to attack the enemy planes as they came across the channel. We were then asked to billet some women WAAF personal two of whom I remember well Audrey and Kit. They helped to man the local radar towers in our vicinity and the girls were like big sisters to me. The Soldiers used to use our house also for writing letters home and to have a bit of rest so they were like Uncles and I was never short of candy or chocolate hence my love of chocolate remains with me today?

My Mother was a member of the Woman’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) and she along with other volunteer ladies from the village used to go to the local forces canteen in the evenings to cook, mainly eggs or sausages and chips for the service men and women and to keep the Tea Urn going. My Auntie who used to stay with us and my sister before she enlisted used to also help out when they could. The canteen was only down the road from our house but there was a sentry box on the way and the guard on duty would shout “who goes there” and ask “friend or foe”? We were not allowed to pass through until we had shown our identity card.

My mother worked all the war years for the WRVS and was awarded a badge and medal but I have no idea where they ended up when she left our house to go into sheltered accommodation.

The earliest memories

Sister Edith, brother John

The earliest memories I have of my brother John “baby sitting me” was him having to take me fishing and dragging me along the river bank on a sack because I couldn’t keep up with him and his pal Louis Parsons. On other occasions he would take me to a very steep incline near our house called “Chick Hill” sit me on the handle-bars of his bike and free wheel from top to bottom. When my Mother was told by a neighbour what he was doing with me I think he was well and truly chastised! On another occasion he took me to the beach near our home and as the tide ebbed he lay on the shore line and jumped up when the waves flowed back. He then told me to do it but being barely four or five I was not quick enough to get up and the incoming waves drenched me! Mother was not happy yet again with him when he arrived home with me on his back soaked to the skin.

Luckily some of the houses Mother worked at were wealthy and she was given very good hand me down clothes which being a good needle woman she was able to alter to fit us. New clothes were definitely not an option for me especially as by the time I was five everything was on coupons.

Living in the Country but very near the sea Father was formerly a Farm Worker therefore we lived in a tied cottage which was built for our use in 1934 at a cost of £200 and our family moved in when I was six weeks old. I am told some of our house contents were transported by horse and cart as I was born barely a mile away.

My first home in Pett Level 

Our new house consisted of downstairs toilet, kitchen and pantry, front room with range fire and upstairs one large one medium and one small bedroom accessed by a steep flight of stairs. You will notice we had no bathroom so Friday nights Mother got the outside copper boiling and out came the tin bath in the living room and we all had our weekly soak.

We did have a front and back garden where Father kept us supplied with every fresh vegetable you can think of although Mother also a keen gardener did insist on having a flower border but had to pull out all her Lavender bushes when the perfume from them caused me to have severe headaches and vomiting from a very early age. I have never been able to use any product with this perfume until this day.

Also at the rear of our house we had a corrugated tin shed which stored Fathers tools and our bikes, a copper house for washing day, a rabbit hutch and a wired in chicken house and run for a minimum of six hens to keep us supplied with eggs. I mustn’t forget the outside safe to keep our milk and meat in?

During the war years and as we were surrounded by military personal we were given two air raid shelters a Morrison and an Anderson one for outside and one for the front room. As soon as the air raid siren started to scream we dived for whichever one we were near to and then waited for the all clear. During the critical war days there was hardly a day went by without a visit from German Planes and almost every field surrounding our house ended up with a bomb crater. I think we were charmed in some way because apart from losing roof tiles and having our ornaments shaken off the shelves and broken we were remarkably lucky. After a raid my brother and I would go out looking for shrapnel and bomb fragments, not the sort of past-time our children have today!

Yes we were very poor financially, farm workers wages were I am told in the region of £1.10 shillings a week so my parents had to be very self sufficient to keep a family of five, especially prior to and during the war years. At the start of the war we were asked to take evacuees and we did have two young boys by the name of Stan and Ken but it was not long before our area was considered a threat from enemy action and they were transferred to a safer part of the country. My mother was asked to send me away to a place of safety but she refused saying “we would all take our chance together”

In the beginning

"The mistake" minus 75

Being the age now of 76 years young and having survived World War 2 with many other hurdles of life to contend with I think it time to put pen to paper if only for the younger element of my family and friends.

I was born on the 28^th of September 1934 weighing 8lbs 2ozs the youngest of three siblings. I have a sister who is 14 years my senior and my brother 9 years older than me. When my parents reached their forties they did not want any more children so my Mother had a great shock at 43 to find she was expecting me hence I was always introduced as “The Mistake” and thus was treated as a thorough intrusion on my brother and sister’s lives as they always had me to look after while Mum worked. Mother had to go out to do either house cleaning or on the land so unfortunately for them my sister and brother were forced to child mind me which I have been endlessly reminded of throughout my life especially by my brother! While I was young enough to need a pram my sister tells me she was continually embarrassed by people assuming I was hers?