My Life Story by Elaine Dente (nee Horne)

Hi everyone, my name is Elaine Dente (nee Horne). I was brought up in Kings Heath, went to Kings Heath infant & junior schools. My early memories of my infant school was walking in the gate and all the mums were talking about a fantastic new rock & roll singer called Cliff Richards who had just made a song called Living Doll. I was so excited when my mum took me to see him in the film Summer Holiday. I really enjoyed my three years at the infants school, we mostly did painting and drawing and remember there was a big shell filled with sand in all the classrooms that we spent hours playing in.


I also remember that on Sundays the Salvation Army would go round Kings Heath estate playing their band and singing to collect money for charity, I was only 5 at the time. They would stop on the green opposite my house and when they stopped playing they would ask if anyone would like to sing for them. Well my mum had taught me “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” so I volunteered to sing this in front of a big crowd of onlookers, I sang it all the way through and everyone applauded me and the lady in the S.A. asked me to collect the money, so I went to everyone and they gave me a little basket to put it all in, when I finished I said thank you very much to everyone and started to walk home with it, I thought they had given it to me NOT charity, a lady came running after me, she took it back but gave me sixpence to get some peps.

Kings Heath Junior School about 1963

Later I then joined Kings Heath Junior school and also liked being there apart from when I was talking too much and Miss Ward hit me on the back of the knee with a ruler, she used to get quite a kick out of doing that to the children, needless to say she wasn’t very popular in the school but went on to teach there for many years.

Through my Junior School years my best friend was Denise Thompson (Beckwith now) who is also a NP member and she was the one who suggested me to the group, (I will be fore-ever grateful to you Denise. Denise and I played every evening after school at different games, rounders, hide & seek, throwing tennis balls against the wall, jacks, hop-scotch, and we played outside until our mums called us for our tea.

Kings Heath (I'm on the bike)

We used to go up the firs and pick mushrooms and blackberries with Denise’s dad, and our treat on a Saturday afternoon would be when they invited me to their house to eat a big bowl of winkles, they were fantastic.


As I got a little older I joined Kings Heath Youth Club on the park and always remember the number one hit was Tom Jones, It’s not unusual. We had great times there.


We then went to different Senior Schools, Denise went to St. Georges and I went to Spencer, my idol at the time was Twiggy and every spare minute I got I would draw her or cut her out of magazines, my favourite groups were of course The Beatles and couldn’t wait for my birthday and Christmas to get their album. I was always getting sent out of the class at Spencer especially in the maths lesson as I hated maths and would talk and joke all the way through it, and every time I was standing outside the class who would come walking along but Miss Nash the Headmistress. The biggest shock of all that happened to me at Spencer was when I was about 13 and I was on the bus going back to Kings Heath from school, and a friend of mine didn’t have any money to get home so as there were no mobiles then to call her mum I said I would let her have my school bus pass after I had shown it. Well I was just handing it to her when the conductor saw me and took my details down and reported me to the school. The next day my mother got a phone call from Miss Nash asking her to come to the school, I was there in her office when mum arrived and Miss Nash said that as I was disrupting the class by talking and joking and the incident on the bus, she was going to expel me. My mother gave me a glare and turned to Miss Nash and said you won’t have to expel her because when I have finished with her she will be the best behaved girl in the school, well you can imagine what I was expecting, my mum had never hit me before but I was expecting something and it wasn’t going to be a pat on the back. We left the school and my mum literally chased me from the school in Dallington to Kings Heath with her foot up my backside literally pushing me along to Kings Heath, up the stairs and into bed. Yes she was right my mum, I was one of the best students in the school after that, it certainly taught me a lesson. 

We would always go “up town” on Saturdays and go for a drink at the Desert Inn and then walk round town, up and down Abington Street, sometimes if we had saved our pocket money we would treat ourselves and go to Adnitts for a Knickerbocker Glory or College Street Fish & Chip Shop.


I used to love shopping on the market and it was always completely full on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, you could get everything there. Whenever I had some spare pennies I would buy a Gallones, chocolate nougat wafer was my favourite, I still go there and have a Gallones when visiting the town.

When I was 15 I decided that I didn’t want to stay on at school to do my GCE’s but preferred to go out and earn a living. At the time for the girls who were going to leave, an employment officer would go round the schools to ask what jobs we were interested in, when he got to me I said I wanted to become an actress, he gave a snigger and asked me if my mother would allow me to go to London on my own at 15 to attend drama classes (there were none in N’pton.) I thought about it for a few seconds and said I didn’t think so, he then told me to think of another career. I was so very very disappointed.

My maxi dress age 17

Has luck had it my cousin knew the Personnel Manager at Express Lifts and they needed an office junior so I applied for the job and got it, I started off do filing etc. and then the company sent me twice a week to the Northampton. Technical College in St. Georges Avenue to do a secretarial course. I passed my exams in typing, then shorthand and I worked my way up to Secretary in the Personnel Department. I remember when I was about 17, hot pants were the new fashion and me and my friends started to wear them for work. One day I had to take some documents into the Drawing Room where there were about 200 drafts-men working, when I walked in the whole place just stopped working and were whistling, I remember I literally went the colour of a tomato and put the papers I had in my hand in front of my face and I walked into a desk!! I have never been so embarrassed in all my life. If it happened now it wouldn't be an embarrassment it would be a bloody miracle!

taken at Express Lifts

After 5 years I left Express and went to work for Avon Cosmetics as Secretary in the Personnel Department. While working there the Managing Director of the World Headquarters in New York visited and I met him and told him I would be visiting my relatives in New York in 3 weeks from then so he arranged for me to be met and shown around their brand new building in Manhattan, it was a lovely experience and Avon Northampton put a photograph of me on their newspaper saying I was the first employee from the U.K. to visit their new H.Q. in New York, which was a great honour at 19 years old.

Lings Forum 1977.

I then saw a very good job come up for a personal Secretary to the Transport Manager of the Northampton Transport down St. James and I worked there a year before applying for another job on the council as “Girl Friday” for the Leisure & Recreation Department, this was such a fantastic job as I got to work in the Tourist Information Office, Teaching babies to swim in the mother & tots group at the Mounts Swimming Baths, Hostessing at any concerts in the town looking after the celebrities and V.I.P.’s and Hostessing at the Northampton Town Show in Abington Park. I really loved my job. Then the Lings Forum was being built and I felt I would like a change so I applied for the Secretary’s job and was accepted, this was another great job organising sporting events, wedding shows, health & beauty evenings, professional wrestling nights and music concerts, after 5 years I wanted a change so applied to Diversey in Weston Favell as Executive Secretary and got the job.


The first time I went to a disco was at the Gaye Way at the top of Abington Street, then I started to go to all the different discos in the town: The Salon, the 66 club in Giles Street, the Drill Hall, Two Much Club, Fantasia, Cock Hotel, Blisworth, Nags Head, Sywell, Billing Acquadrome, Shades, The Plough Hotel, The Angel, The Grand, Cinderellas, Circles, The Windmill (where I met my husband), my favourite pub was The Abington Park Hotel. I really loved the 70’s in Northampton, they were the best years of my life.

When I met Pope John Paul 1981.

During my last year at Lings Forum I met my boyfriend who is now my husband and after a year of “courting” he decided he wanted to return to live in Italy (he was born there but emigrated when he was 8 to the U.K.) so we split up and I decided to also leave the town and get a job as a Nanny in Rome. I rang him to say I was also going to live in Rome, so we decided to go back together. I worked for Roman Aristocrats and they had a n enormous house in the centre of Rome. It was a dream job and we went to their villa on an island between Sicily and Africa for the summer and to their wonderful chalet in the dolomites in the Winter. Every weekend we would go to their 200 room castle in Rocca Sinibalda near Rieti just an hour away from Rome, which was like living in a dream. I had a really wonderful time living with this family and I also got to meet Pope John Paul while working for them as they had a private invitation to a church he was visiting and I met him, he spoke to me in English and blessed me which was very emotional for me.

rocca sinibalda

After 18 months with the family I returned to Northampton to organise my wedding (as my boyfriend popped the question at the Trevi Fountain and gave me an engagement ring (very romantic), We got married at the Cathedral in the Barrack Road and then had our first night’s honeymoon at the Saxon Inn. We then drove the next day to the Cotswolds for a few days and then said goodbye to our families and drove to Rome and we have been here ever since. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on 5th June this year (married in 1982). And to celebrate in style we are going on a 20 day cruise to Asia on 5th October this year.

jubilee day

I have settled down well on the coast of Rome between Ostia and Anzio and made a lot of friends both English and Italian. 21 years ago I founded an ex-pats club of ladies from the U.K. America, South Africa, Australia etc. and there are nearly 50 of us. I organise “girls nights out” every two months and we go for a meal, (it’s usually at the local Chinese as we eat Italian and English at home). I am a housewife in the mornings and I teach English to students in the afternoons, it’s surprising how many Italian children are walking around with a Northamptonian accent, me duck!.

Ex pats club

My husband Jim is a Carabiniere (Policeman) and I have two wonderful children, Riccardo who is 29 and Cristina who is 26 and a lovely 15 year old Cavalier Kings Charles Spaniel Nicki who we brought over from the U.K. My hobbies are chatting to friends on Northampton Past page, reading, taking photos, cooking, making cupcakes and venturing out with my husband and friends on Saturday nights for a meal and Sundays on their scooters travelling around the region of Rome (Lazio) We also love cruises and will be celebrating our 30th wedding with a cruise to Asia on 5th October, although our anniversary date is on 5th June.

I must say I have had a wonderful life, and it is made it even more pleasurable to be able to chat to so many Northamptonians on the NP page and feel right at home again and I don’t feel I’ve been away. Thanks to Frank Baverstock for starting up the page and to all him and his Admin. Team for all their hard work.

Elaine Dente (nee Horne)

A 1960s Childhood in Northampton – Part 5 School Days (Senior School)

The Front Door 44 Derngate

Main school finally released us from the dreaded hats! It was a big change for us and the school buildings felt very big and confusing. Through the lower part of the school there were two forms per year group with about twenty five pupils in each form, but when we got to main school there were three forms per year group with about thirty pupils in each form. Our numbers were swelled by pupils from county schools who had passed their eleven plus exam and gained a place at the school under the government direct grant scheme. Much to my relief I was not able to sit the eleven plus because I lived in the borough, I don’t know if the borough had already abandoned the eleven plus or if those who passed were sent to a different school, but only county pupils came to our school.

Platform shoes were in fashion at that time and I’d had my first pair of shoes with a (very small) platform the previous year when I was a Towerfield pupil. I had a new pair of shoes for the start of the new term in main school, they had a slightly higher platform and I was very pleased with them but I was less pleased with the rest of my uniform. My mum had made sure that I had everything I needed for school; during the holidays we’d made our usual trip to Sanderson’s and I had endured the usual ordeal of trying on countless garments to ensure that I had sufficient room for growth.  I had two new skirts, white blouses, two jumpers, a new blazer and a new winter coat as well as an aertex shirt, wrap over skirt and a track suit for PE, all with neatly sewn name tags. At the time I had no idea how expensive the uniform must have been or how much time it must have taken my mum to sew all those name tags into my clothes, I must have seemed so ungrateful.  When the term started one of the new girls called Sally had a lovely fashionable skirt with a hemline a couple of inches below the knee.  I longed to have a skirt like hers, but I knew that it would be ages before I grew out of my new skirts. I had to wait a whole year before I was allowed to buy a more fashionable skirt for school. 

Dunlop Blue Flash

Slide Rule

As well as the new items of uniform, my kit list included a hockey stick, hockey boots and a tennis racket (with cover and press), so after our trip to Sanderson’s we went to Collins Sports shop in Gold Street to buy the sports equipment. I wonder if my mum knew what a waste of money they would prove to be, I was absolutely useless at tennis and I detested hockey. There was one other item of essential equipment that we had to buy, a slide rule for maths lessons. It was very well made and it came in a rigid plastic case. I liked maths a lot better than sport and I became quite fond of my slide rule.

The School Gates

Each morning we would enter the school through the big blue double gates on Derngate and walk down the ramp into the cloakrooms which seemed to be under the school. Mr Powell who taught Biology was my Upper Third teacher; our classroom was the Biology Lab at the top of the science block which was a modern building on the Albion Place side of the school grounds. At the back of the room there were glass fronted cabinets with assorted specimens preserved in jars. We got plenty of exercise going up and down stairs and walking to and from the various school buildings for our lessons, but it wasn’t a hardship we just got on with it. We had so much to learn, there were stairs for going up and not down and vice versa, there were doors which we were not allowed to use and there was a lawn which we were forbidden to walk on, but we soon got used to the school routines. Like most pupils I was afraid of Miss Lightburn our headmistress, and in awe of her deputy Miss Harrison, but I can honestly say that I only remember one teacher being unkind and unfair, and she didn’t last very long.

The School Hall

We had prayers every morning in the assembly hall; it was a very formal event. When we had all filed into the hall Miss Lightburn entered through the glass doors at the back of the hall and walked briskly to the stage with the head girl trotting along behind her. We usually began with a hymn, my favourites were ‘Oh Jesus I have promised’ and ‘When a knight won his spurs in the stories of old’. Then there would be a Bible reading a few words from Miss Lightburn and a prayer. At that point the glass doors at the back would be opened and the late comers would file in (trying not to notice Miss Lightburn’s disapproving stare) before the notices were read. 

In the Lower Fourth we discovered the pleasures of Latin with Mr McNicholas, he was as tall as Mr Powell was short, and he was exceptionally clever, I liked him but I wasn’t so sure about Latin. The stories about Caecilius and his family in our Latin text books didn’t really interest me, they seemed to be mostly about slave girls, werewolves and a dog called Cerberus. The Lower Forth also brought us the joys of Domestic Science lessons, definitely not my favourite part of the week. The Domestic Science Room was below the Art Room in the Cripps Block - a modern uninspiring building in the lower part of the school grounds near Victoria Promenade. It was torture to me to be so close to the Art Room as I would much rather have been in an art lesson. Domestic Science was unbelievably boring and when we were allowed to cook we were forced to make things that we would never eat and never cook again. One of the first things we cooked was Eggs Mornay, my family were used to good plain food, not ‘messes up stuff’ as my grandmother would have called it. I also recall making lemon curd; I have never made it again since then. Thankfully we made choices about our O Level subjects at the end of the Lower Forth and I dropped my least favourite subjects, Chemistry and Domestic Science. Oddly I quite liked Physics and Biology but I hated Chemistry.

The back of 44 Derngate

My Upper Fourth classroom was the Geography room, a bright airy room in the main school building with French doors leading out to the garden. I remember that one day I accidentally stapled my thumb during a Geography lesson, but I was so afraid of Mrs Durham our Geography teacher that I chose to suffer in silence with the staple stuck in my thumb rather than admit that I had been fiddling with my stapler. I later found that Mrs Durham had a very kind heart. 

It was during our Upper Forth year that some of the girls began to have boyfriends and to go to discos. Looking back I think some of the girls who had come from mixed primary schools were a lot more comfortable with boys than those of us who had attended a single sex school since we were four years old. I had no time for boys, when I wasn’t at school I spent most of my time riding and taking care of my horse. I couldn’t see why some of my friends found scruffy lads in smelly Afghan coats attractive - I had a keen sense of smell and those coats stank, especially if it had been raining  

The Lower Fifth year was wonderful, we had the cellar classroom, I loved that room, it was tucked away beyond our cloakrooms at the end of a gloomy corridor, it felt almost dungeon like in the corridor, but the classroom felt special, it was our room tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the school and no one came to bother us. Mrs Haynes was our class teacher, she taught one of the less able French groups and I made quite sure that I got into her group and stayed there, she was a fantastic teacher. Mrs Vestergaard who was head of French, taught me for the first two years in main school. She was a very elegant woman and I don’t recall her ever shouting at us or telling us off sternly, but for some reason I found her terrifying, I didn’t enjoy being in her French group and I was much happier when I was moved into the other group.

Fiona, me, Fiona and Caroline

The uniform changed slightly at the start of the Lower Fifth year, we kept our navy skirts but our ties and white shirts gave way to open neck blue blouses worn with blue jumpers. We also had very nice winter coats. I was pleased by the change, but the blouse (which had to be bought from Sandersons) proved very challenging to wear. The blouse had a stiff collar which was not intended to be worn open without a tie and my short neck made matters worse, it was a constant battle to prevent the collar from touching my ears!

I was sad to leave Mrs Haynes and our cellar classroom, but the Upper Fifth year, spent in one of the mobile classrooms with Miss Williams was a good experience. The mobile classrooms were fairly new and very pleasant, tucked away in the beautiful school grounds. I had known Miss Williams since kindergarten, but I only found out she was human when she was my form teacher - she was superb. She was a PE teacher with a boundless enthusiasm for sport (which didn’t endear her to me) but she was also a very good geography teacher, I enjoyed her lessons and I can still remember many of the mnemonics that she taught us to help us to remember important information.

I did not enjoy gym and dance lessons because even in the senior part of the school we had to wear horrible aertex blouses and navy blue knickers, which made me feel very exposed. For hockey, netball, tennis and other outdoor games we wore short wrap over skirts. Our playing fields were at the bottom of Church Way so we were taken there by coach, for hockey in the winter months and athletics in the summer. It is hard to choose which I liked least! The worst part of all was that we had to change on the coach in order to save time, I am sure such things would not be allowed these days. Every item of clothing and PE kit had to be named with an embroidered name tape sewn on neatly – a very time consuming job. I don’t remember this being checked at Spring Hill but further up the school, we had regular inspections to ensure that all our clothing was labelled.

It is hard to say that I had a favourite teacher, because there were a number of interesting and inspirational people at the school. I still remember many of my teachers with affection and gratitude. The unforgettable Mr Fiddes taught art, he was a very good teacher, I loved his lessons and I realise now that as well as sharing very sound advice, he taught us to think for ourselves and to have the confidence to express our opinions.  Miss Elliott-Binns who taught Divinity (and so much more!) was an amazing lady, she never shied away from difficult questions and her answers showed surprising insight and understanding. I remember Father Fred Baker; he was the school chaplain and Rector of St Edmunds church. He used to take us for very occasional lessons, I am not sure what for, but I remember he told good jokes and could stand on his head. I remember Miss Smith who taught English (and despaired of my spelling) because she introduced us to poets and authors that I still enjoy reading, John Betjeman, Ted Hughes, James Kirkup, Charles Causley, Saki, E M Forster, Katherine Mansfield, D.H. Lawrence and many others.

I have so many memories of school life. On Ascension Day we all walked to All Saints Church for a special service which always included the hymn 'Praise to the Lord the Almighty the King of Creation'. Every year I seemed to end up sitting behind a pillar! We had the Gift Service before Christmas when we all brought toys. For reasons that were never clear to me we always sang 'O Come all Ye Faithful' in Latin. When the weather was too bad for us to go outside for games we sometimes played French cricket in the hall and at the end of term games lessons were abandoned in favour of 'shipwreck’ in the gym. Another end of term ritual was cleaning our desks, we had to bring in our own polish and a duster. Perhaps my best memories are of ordinary days, sitting in the area outside the gym enjoying a hot chocolate from the drinks machine on a cold day and sitting in a shady spot in the garden on a hot summer day. In my Upper Fifth Year taking my turn to run the Spine and Jacket book shop at lunchtimes (under the watchful eye of Mrs Tresias). Most of all I remember the people, inspirational teachers, the gardener who kept the grounds looking beautiful, and my friends. 

The school grounds c1920s were little changed in 1970s

Derngate was a happy, friendly place, Mr Fiddes once described it as an ivory tower and of course he was right, but I am grateful for those years. For me school was a safe, protected and predictable environment at a time when my home life was dominated by worry and uncertainty. A lot was expected of us but I think that was a good thing for me, I probably needed to be pushed in order to do my best, but school wasn’t just about results. I did better than anyone expected in my exams but more importantly I left school with a wealth of poetry in my head, passion for history, a love of art, a desire to read and a need to write, and all those things have remained with me ever since.

Just a Boroughs Girl - Part 2

By Hair Hardwick

And now, as requested, a few memories I have of my life throughout the years.

Heathville and things I recall from that time, or perhaps have been told as I grew, and to be honest I picture some of it just as it was but other things are a little vague.

There one of our neighbours had rabbits and I would always go walk about with no one really worrying because they knew where to find me, generally in his garden sat on my backside, with a rabbit too big for me to hold onto, clutching it like mad while I sat on the ground, winter or summer.

My father grew Gladiolus and I do remember being shown how to pick tiny heads from some other plants he had so that the cluster around them had more room to grow.

Also there was a dolls house my father made for me out of an old corner cupboard, and my mother making me a family for it out of dolly pegs.

My first dog, though more a family pet, who had to be put down due to boys playing on Kingsheath green hitting her over the head with a cricket bat, injuring her badly.

My first day at school, which was at the time was Spencer infants. On that first day at playtime I was stung by a bee and so went looking for my sister who was in the juniors. There when I got into the hall, via the playground gate that split the school areas, I came slap bang upon the head that went raving mad at me. She did not check the finger I had clutched in the other hand but sent me packing back through the gate and into the other playground, telling me I should go back inside, my tears meant nothing to her. I didn’t. If I couldn’t have my sister I was going home to show my mum. I walked, age just over four, from that school right along past the park, through Dallington, over the road and up the hill into Heathville to get home.

Home in Dallington

Needless to say my mother was livid about my walking the streets like that and no one at the school even knowing I had gone. She removed the bee stuck to my finger where I had squashed it with my other hand, and treated my finger; I still have a tiny bump on that finger today. Then I was left with a neighbour and I do not know what happened but I do know the following day I started at Kingsheath infants where I remained until we moved to Herbert Street.

Herbert Street is clearer in my mind.

Herbert Street 1963 

Herbert Street demolition

I sat one day on the kerb just outside our house and a boy from next door I think, sat next to me, he was, (sorry this is not nice but is relevant,) picking his nose, rolling what he got into a ball and flicking it here and there. My mother came out to find him doing that clipped him around the ear and sent me packing indoors. When she came in I was stripped, dragged down into the cellar kitchen and stood shivering while she filled the sink with warm water. Next thing I knew she had pored vinegar in to, telling me off for sitting with him and dousing my head and all of the rest of me in the smelly water she sat me in she ended by saying ‘I aim to see you don’t get his fleas my girl and it serves you right if you get cold or it stings.’ Funny thing was mum never spoke to us like she did to folks in the area. She was really quite a lady in her speech and yet just seemed to slip from one mode to another with ease.

She was right though, he had been picking those out and showing me them before hand.

Green Dragon Bearward Street

Memories of sitting on the steps of the Green Dragon and other pubs on the Mayor Hold are quite clear to me. It was great for me as I was always given a penny or two from the men going in and coming out. Can you imagine letting your children do that today?

I recall refusing to sit back down next to a boy again, in what was my new school Spring Lane, because he had wet himself and my mum had instilled in me that if I wet myself I would stink. In my head it meant he would even if he had been washed down since.

I also have fond memories of a dinner lady at the school, she was my cousin but being older and married, I always was told she was my auntie and so called her that. She spoiled me, knowing that mum never had much she always gave me a bit extra, and coaxed me to eat a little of what I didn’t like to get extra of things I did. I wish I could recall her name but I am sorry I don’t at this time.

Spring Lane School

Once in the juniors we all had to write a play and they were to be looked at by the headmaster who was Mr Griffiths. He was going to give a prize to the best one chosen. It was mine and I received a big bar of chocolate I was so proud to take home to mum. I remember it was the first time she said I never had to share it, but it was so big I did anyway. I was prouder when my play was used as it was for the school. I had to go and tell people where to stand and how to do things. Ha ha I loved that.

I remember my sister attended a church and took me to Sunday school there. I had to learn a verse of a hymn and if did I would get a small bar of chocolate. I remembered it all, the whole thing and got my chocolate plus a pat on the head which I recall annoyed me, done by the minister there. I was a big girl and you did that to little kids not big girls like me. Funny how I remember that so clearly, and yet question sometimes if I dreamt it.

One thing always makes me smile though when I think of it, though it wasn’t very nice for one of my sisters.

While there our toilet was a small brick built shed at the top of the garden away from the house, we hated it, it was scary and at night we used pots indoors which had to be emptied and washed every morning. But you see there were many rats and mice in that area where houses were being knocked down around us, so it was not safe or nice to go out there at night really. There was also no light.

Outside the back door mum kept a tin bucket with water in it. It was always kept full in case anyone was in a hurry; of you know what I mean. We had to take it with us and use it to flush the toilet when we had done. Then we had to fill it afterwards and put it back ready for the next time.

One day my sister went up the garden in the day time, bucket in hand, nothing to be ashamed of as everyone in our street had to do that. She went, used the loo and as she stood up and wiped herself she looked behind her and saw, to her horror, she had been right on the head of a rat that was in the loo. No! She did not stay to flush the loo. She came hurrying down the path, screaming her head off and trying to run and pull her draws up at the same time, so was almost falling over with every step she took. She screamed so loud half the street heard her as well as us, and everyone rushed to their back room windows which over looked the gardens. She got teased a lot about that time I tell you. She was about 15 then and had just started work I think.

Does anyone recall the toilets that used to be next door to the co-op on the mayorhold I wonder? I ask as it was there my sister used the loo from that day on.

I did learn one thing in that house, and that was when mum said something more than once she meant it. I found that out when she told me to see the coal in and told me several times before she went out; to make sure the door between the cellar and the kitchen was tightly closed. Oops. What a mistake NOT doing that was! It resulted in me, all alone and aged about nine, having to wash the whole kitchen down dishes, pots, pans, the lot, before mum got home. No I never managed it and she was so mad she made me finish it as well. If you have no idea what a mess coal dust can make you would not understand how bad it was after three bags of loose coal were dropped from above. Let’s just say it resembled smoke clouds only trapped inside the walls of the house and settling in black thick dust on everything.

Abington.

Once there I felt we now lived in a posh house, we had a bathroom downstairs with a proper bath and running water. I think actually there may have been one at Heathville but I am not sure. For me my clear memories are of that old tin bath at Herbert Street that I so hated and we had to bathe in, taking it in turns to use it took too much to fill each time and water had to be carried up and down a flight of stairs to and from the kitchen.

Upstairs we had an indoor toilet, instead of the one up the garden at our old house.

When my time at the junior school was over I quite understood that mum and dad could not afford to buy me a new school uniform. I wasn’t worried I was used to making do, but I did want at least one new blouse, and mum promised me I would have two. I never knew how dire a state money and funds were at that time so I did not understand why she did what she did for a long while.

Mum & me in Abington

One day I came home from junior school to find two pure white crispy new blouses on hangers hanging on the wall. I was thrilled.

Later when I was in bed, I heard voices in the room below; one was my cousin who had lived in the cul-de-sac down the road from us. I heard her say, ‘well did she like them Eva?’ I heard my mother reply, ‘shhhh! she’ll hear you, she doesn’t know they were Marie’s and I had them from you she thinks they are new, and I don’t want her to know do you hear me?’

The following day I went to school wearing a blouse from the second hand pile I had in my room, I had no intention of putting on one of those hanging up. Father saw I did wear them, of course, and I got over it given time. Sometimes I wonder if I ever really did though as it’s still such a vivid memory.

At school also on the first day, I met a girl who became my close friend. We never knew it then but we would become life long friends and I mean more or less for all of it, because you see there was something we never knew at the time.

One day she was in my home and my mum asked her if she was related to someone. She was, and mum and dad started laughing and pointing to one and then the other of us. Eventually it all came out. It turned out we had played in as babies in our prams or on the grass in the gardens of the pub in Dallington village.

Her grandfather was my godfather and he and dad use to take us for walks and met there for a pint, or two, or three.

We are still friends and she lives here in Northampton too.

Before I left school I got a bit of a shock. You see I was called to the heads office and wondered what I had done wrong that old Mother Malin’s, as we called her back then, wanted me for. It turned out to my utter surprise she wanted to try and talk thick me into staying on. I wasn’t any good at anything I thought, but she and some of the teachers obviously thought differently.

They wanted me to take art, in particular, studying design, and also typing. The second I saw as a real joke as I had only had one lesson at that school, how could I have had more if I wanted them when there had only been one woman there who taught it and after just two days she left and was not replaced, I had one morning’s lesson with her and that was it. Oddly enough I taught myself to type on a computer more or less as soon as I got one.

My dyslexia and word displacement was never picked up on at school as back then it was not recognised by the medical profession. I found out I had it some years later, when my son began school and I filled in the forms needed to hand over to register him there. I have had to work at overcoming the problem and still misspell when in a hurry and even other times as some of my comments in here prove I am sure.

I refused them as I had already set up the first job I was going to, and felt my mother needed my board to be paid. So l left school and as it turned out it was a good job I did even if that first job only lasted a few weeks.

Lost orders saw to that and it was a case of first in first out. Just my luck, mind you I did well out of it with a month’s pay given me. I think they felt guilty as I had so looked forward to the job and was hard worker from that very first day, I am proud to say.

I found work straight away. Hated the new job and left again the same day, too clicky, as we used to say back then, though I think it’s still said today too.

So I loved the job at College warehouse in College Road, where I had to climb a flight of stairs to get to the factory floors. That was just more or less opposite the fish and chip shop there, maybe a slightly lower down than that. I think it’s still a painted black door on that entrance today. There I sewed buttons onto police hats, not the helmets but the officer’s hats and peak caps. And believe it or not there is an art to that, for those buttons must have no chance of falling off for quite some time. I learned how and still tend to put many buttons on things in the same way today.

I was working there and only fifteen when I discovered I was pregnant, seven months pregnant!

Then began another part of my life, for I had responsibilities and therefore had to grow up, and fast.

Just a Boroughs Girl - Part 1

By Hair Hardwick

Me aged 6 months

My personal tribute to my home town and the internet facebook site of Northampton Past.

Me aged 5 years

I was born in the Barrett maternity home, and called Susan Johnson, and lived initially in Heathville and moved from there to Herbert Street in the area known as the boroughs. I was then aged around five years old. The majority of my early years of schooling, infants and juniors were at Spring Lane School which was situated more or less at the bottom of the street I lived in. I have many happy memories of the time I spent there and in the boroughs area. A lot of the sayings I have added to comments and things in Northampton past stemmed from my time living in that area.

Strangely perhaps, a lot of those memories are linked to what I now see as sad, the sites where streets were cleared to nothing but dusty spaces and rubble heaps, which we children spent hours building dens on. Today I see it very differently for I, like so many others I am sure, I wish a lot of that area still stood today.

My Grandad

The old row of shops, the pubs, the church and so much more, are gone and along with them the heart of what I now see as a real community, where folks helped others in a way you do not see happening anymore. Neighbours would be friends one day and enemies the next, but when push came to shove would stand together against wrong doing.

So many families lost touch after they moved away from the boroughs, and now generations later only some remain alive and well, hopefully a lot more than I believe, but their families, their children, their grandchildren go on, in other countries, or they are spread in this vast space we now, today, in 2012, know as our town.

Northampton Past

Progress has made this town a different place to that, which it once was and so many architectural mistakes have been made while the once proud town is lost in the midst of it, something that most in this site would agree with I think. Yet we are also aware that with progress came so many things that we rely on and use in our everyday lives. With progress came the planes that have taken many of the town’s people to other countries where they now live and where their families are producing the generations of the future.

During my lifetime I have seen so many changes; so many new things some along, things of which I cannot possibly list every one of or recall in one go. I can however tell of some of them. The jets used today for air travel, holidays and moving from one country to another, more or less all of the places aboard. The TV going then from black and white pictures to colour, on which neighbours gathered at our home while we all watched the first men land on the moon. Washing machines, tumble dryers, proper fridges instead of the little wooden boxes with a wire mesh front that once the common people would keep their fresh foods such as cheese and meat in to stop flies and insects descending on it, while milk would be kept in a bucket of cold water to stop it going sour. I have lived in homes where we would have to drag out a tin bath to fill to bathe properly in. Showers were not known back then to the likes of us, if they were to anyone for common use. No one back then would have believed you if you had told them there would ever be such a thing as a washing up machine for crockery and dishes inside homes. They would probably think of you as mad for even suggesting such a thing. If you told them the records a few people did have, would one day be a tiny metal disc played on sophisticated machines like there are today it would be the same, ‘yer mad’, they would say.

With progress also came the computers and without those, this site we are in would not be a place where we now have come together and we would not have access to it as we have now. The place where by making comments, adding pictures, maps and other documents we are slowly bringing together a unique collection of memorabilia of this town’s past. It is, I believe, an important site, and one from which I hope all members will pass on the knowledge of that they get from it, along with how to access it in the future, as those they tell get older and begin to find an interest in their own roots, just as we have.

Today, thankfully, within this site, there are members who are very important to it, those who run it today, those who paint pictures of things they see or recall or perhaps come across as time goes on, and one man who makes models of our town as not even we knew it but of years before that. So we learn and we go on learning, we go on remembering and adding to it by the memories things bring back to our minds once more.

Before I moved to the secondary school, the one and last school for me that eleven year olds went onto in my day, we moved to the area of Abington. My secondary school was Barry road secondary. I recall the very first day there, and what happened on that day, and what my mother told me afterwards, which changed my attitude at that time from one of anger to one of being proud. A girl was asked by her friend who I was, her reply came, ‘oh her, she’s a nobody, just a girl from the burrows. Ignore her!’

My Mum

That night when I got home I told my mother what had been said, and she told me, ‘but you are and don’t you ever be ashamed of it either. You may have been born while we lived at Heathville, but me and your dad were from the boroughs and so were our parents and theirs before them. So you are a borough girl and you be proud of it.’ I am still proud of that even today and ignored all or any future remarks that came in the same way from then on.

I grew and became a woman and along the way I made many friends with whom I wish I was still in touch with right now. But life is like that for us all. We move along with life and go our own way in the world. For me it was a child, marriage, along with work, and for many years I too moved away from my home town with the trade I was in, which was first as a publican and later a steward’s wife in the working men’s club world. When I came back to the town just about two years ago, I was stunned to find so many changes had taken place here. I had lost touch with old friends, and in some cases people I was once very close to. This site gave me, just like it has so many others, the chance to find a few of those old friends, make endless new ones, and feel I really am a town girl once more, even though I am now aged 62, and it lifts my heart to know people out there have had similar experiences because of this site, and how much it has given us and that it goes on doing so for all of us.

Credit for the idea of putting together the site goes to Frank Baverstock, while with the actual running of it credit also goes today, 13-06-2012, as I am writing this, to Mick Cox, Mary and all the admin team.

Via a niece I became aware of, and was offered the chance to join this site.

Today I am so glad I did. I still live by the things I learned from the days of my roots, right in the heart of the town, the boroughs. The sayings my mother and like all of them in that area tended to live by, such as

Manners cust ya nowt

Reap wat yer sow

Mek ya bed yer lie in it

Lying al cum back an bite yer in the bum

Yer cunt jus tek, yer as ter give a bit un all.

Ner se yer neighbur go ungry wun yer gut a crust o bread in yer larder.

Ya’ll burn yer fingers if ya steal owt.

Bully’s un cheats ner prosper.

And there are so many more old sayings, spoken in a language some find almost foreign today, that I find I still live by. But then I am a Northamptonian and proud to be so.

I still use so many of the common words and almost got myself into trouble in the site when I once called a person I did not know at the time, Love. For me things like me duck, love, matie, pal, guv, lady, im indoors, er o the road and things like that are normal still. I have used them all of my life and have no intention of stopping that. It’s me, its part of my life; it comes from my roots, roots I am proud of.

I hope, with all of my heart, that when I am long gone, when those who run this site or are members of it today are also gone, that there will be new admin’s to take their places just as new members too. It’s important; it’s a record, of us, the people of the town, those from the very heart of it whose ancestors built it.

This is of course just a small amount of what I can tell you. Others are telling it all right here in this site, just as I hope to continue to do as and when things come to me.

It’s a record, it’s important, it’s our town, it’s my town, it’s
NORTHAMPTON.

My Life Story by Colin Lloyd - Part 2

Right here we go, on the second part of my story which I hope will take us up to 1966.

1951 was a bit of a hectic year what with studying for exams in 1952 not that it bothered me as I hated school, I would rather be out and about. Homework was what I hated most and was always getting detentions for not doing it. In my opinion the teachers were paid to teach us, not for us to teach ourselves, but I digress.

In June it was decided to take two boats from the cadets down to London. One crew was to take the whaler along the Nene to Kings Lynn and sail it round to the Thames, then come up to the Festival of Britain, at Battersea. I and three other cadets, with our first lieutenant, would take the motor boat down the Grand Union Canal to Ilford, then meet up and tow them back.

We started out on Saturday afternoon and reached Wolverton in the evening. It was very strange going through the Blisworth tunnel as the motor boat was only small. When we went under the air vents, it was like driving through a waterfall and if I remember correctly, there were four of them! We camped for the night in a field but before I could bed down I had to go down to a garage and get some petrol in a jerry can, by the time I got back it felt like my arms were dropping off. We started off early the next morning and travelled through Bletchley, onwards through Fenny Stratford, through to Leighton Buzzard, Ivinghoe and Tring, then finally we arrived at Berkhamstead late in the evening and camped at the sea scouts H.Q. After something to eat and drink we settled down for the night. Suddenly there was what we thought was a rumble of thunder! This turned into a roar. It was then we found out we were camped right next to the west coast mainline, all night long we got trains going past shaking the tents.

The next day we went from Berkhamstead through to King's Langley, past the Ovaltine factory and on to Watford, Hayes, Northolt and Brentford. Here we joined the Thames and set off to look for the Ilford sea cadets which was where we were going to stay.

It was nearing dusk when all of a sudden we saw blue lights, a police patrol boat came up and asked us where we were going, when we told them they took us in tow and showed us to the H Q. They also gave us telling off for not having any lights! The following day we received news about the whaler. They reached Kings Lynn and dropped anchor for the night whilst they pitched tents on the beach. When they woke up in the morning all they could see was the mast sticking out of the water. They had not allowed for the extra high tide!

We had a good time exploring the festival of Britain, but we decided to come back a couple of days early. On the way back we were told to watch out for a swan that was jumping into the backs of the barges and attacking the boatmen but we were lucky, we never spotted it, so we had a very uneventful journey back. The round trip was 90 miles. I can't think how many locks there were but I do know there are 17 between Northampton and Blisworth alone!

During the year the Nene would flood quite a lot, we were often called out to collect rowing boats that had broken loose from the boat house in Becket's Park. Many of them finished up down by the weir on Bedford Road. We would take the motor boat and tow them back.

Now I come to my most enjoyable journey. I decided to cycle to my Aunt and Uncle in Bognor Regis but first I will tell you about them.

Aunty Gladys married Jack White in 1941. In my first part there is a photo of me as their page boy at five years old. Uncle Jack was what one would call a bit of a shyster. He was the manager of the Rapido Dry Cleaning in St Giles Street. He was a bookie and also raced greyhounds. They lived in Milton Street and mum and I often went there to take the Greyhounds for a run in Lackey's field.

Finally they had to do a moonlight flit when he owed quite a bit of money! First they went to Clacton where we went one year to see them, and finally moved to Bognor Regis and it was to there I took route on my most enjoyable journey.

I was only 15 and mum was a bit worried about me going, so dad had a telephone installed and I promised to ring her at least twice as it only cost 2 old pennies. Loaded with sandwiches and drink, I set off. I went to Towcester onto Buckingham, Amersham and Slough. From there I went cross country to Petersfield and on to Chichester and finally on to Bognor Regis. I left Northampton at 10 am on a 135 miles journey and arrived at Bognor at 10 pm but that included 2 hours for breaks. On arrival I slept right through until mid day.

The first days I spent there I used to go out with their delivery driver and one of the people he delivered to was the pianist Charlie Kunz. The driver hated women drivers and if he saw one he would say “look at that she's got a face like a horse”! I eventually made friends with a young lad who was waiting to go into the navy. We would go cycling a lot together and he told me he had a canoe he wanted to get rid of. He took me over to Selsey Bill to see it and I asked him how much he wanted for it, he said “five bob”, yes 25p! So I said “ok” I put it on my bike and pushed it all the way back to Bognor. Uncle Jack got me a set of old pram wheels and every day I would put the canoe on the pram wheels and go down to the beach. I would leave the wheels on the front and go off paddling around the pier. There were no life jackets then!

When my stay came to an end I sent the canoe home by rail and came home by rail myself with my bike. It was quite an experience riding from Victoria to Euston across London. When I got the canoe home I tarred the whole of it as it was only made out of hardboard, that made it waterproof. Mum said she always knew which way I went down to the river, all she had to do was follow the tar trail! My canoe lasted for about two years, then one day, whilst paddling in the Nene, it finally sank!

My final holiday with mum was to Scotland. Because mum and dad had the off licence they could not go on holiday together! So dad booked us on a Wallace Arnold tour to the highlands and we went by train to Fort William where our hotel was. It was amazing! We went to Glen Coe and took a trip to the Isle of Skye. I went on a boat trip to Staffa and Iona and round the Isle of Mull, Mum wouldn’t come because she didn't like going on a boat! We also had a coach trip up to Inverness, past Loch Ness and no! I didn’t see the Monster. We also visited the Culloden Moor. Back at the hotel they used to have Scottish Dancing in the basement and mum would go to bed and leave me to go down. I learnt a little bit of dancing, this was a brilliant holiday and it brought the year to a wonderful end.

Now we come to 1952 the dreaded year of exams (ha ha). Looking for a job for when I left school! Leaving the sea cadets! Going on a tandem ride with dad!

Revising for exams was a headache, I just wasn't interested and as I’ve said I was more interested in going out. By this time mum and dad had adopted my brother Malcolm, who was eight years old, he had been in care. It was only last week I spoke to him, he told me he had carried out a little research to find out about his father who had put him and his brothers in to care, it made very sad listening! Malcolm went to Vernon Terrace School when he first came to us and then on to Kettering Road School when he was eleven.

When he left the sea cadets he joined the R N V (W) which was the communications branch of the R N V R. Their base was in Sheep Street. I learnt Morse code and with the typing I was taught at school it came in handy. I took my exams but unfortunately didn't pass any of them, I didn't expect to anyway! Dad was disappointed but wanted me to go into an office job, so I went down for an interview at a solicitor’s office. When I looked at the poky little office I knew it wasn't for me! In the end I started work as a butcher for the Northampton Co-op at the top of Thrift Street which was not far from where I lived.

Before I started work, dad and I decided to go on a tour of Derbyshire on a tandem. He managed to hire one and for the first week we practised getting used to it, believe me it was hard especially when turning a corner to start with because we always seem to finish on the wrong side of the road. Any way, we got it sorted and departed on the Sunday and headed for Derby. For the first night we stayed at a cafe and we went to see the family who we stayed with whilst dad was in the army, this gave them a surprise. The following day we set out for Buxton stopping at Matlock where we climbed a cliff, as you loaded down you could see the railway, river and road running side by side. Unfortunately any photos taken were lost. After leaving Buxton we headed to Chesterfield and on to Nottingham where had to be careful because of the tram tracks, at one stage our wheels got stuck! From Nottingham we carried onto Oakham and after a nights stay we made our way home.

I started work at the end of august and I was s quite surprised to find out after a just one mornings work we had Monday afternoon off. The manager was called Tommy Ringrose, a very nice man but after only a few months working for him he was taken ill! I had to go to his house and pick up the keys to open the shop, I waited for the new manager who’s name was Ron, can’t remember his last name! My main job was delivering orders around to the customers, I also had to go down to the Co-op abattoir on the corner of London Road and Ransome Road to collect the offal, sausages and pies. The pies were made at the top of the building and when I got there the pie man would always give me one to eat on the way home. The trouble was the jelly was still runny and it used to dribble all the way down my chin. The other problem I had was that when the basket was loaded up it made the front of the bike top heavy, I had to be careful not to hit the kerb otherwise the bike would tip up and spill everything! But I soon got the hang of it.

Another thing I had to do during rationing, was to skin and prepare Rabbits when we received them from Australia. When I had done this I took all the skins down to the rag shop and was paid about sixpence (2½ p) for each one. Ron and I would share it out.

Mondays was cleaning day, scrubbing the floor, cleaning the windows and the rails and putting fresh sawdust down at the back of the shop. In the doorway there were two hooks where we hung the sheep to split them in half. We also used to use the hooks to pull the sinews of the turkeys at Christmas. We used to dress the windows with whole pigs and poultry and put oranges in the pigs mouth. It was at the end of that year that I met my future wife, at the All Saints Christmas Party. She lived in Fetter Street.

Now we come to 1953. One more year and I will be called up for national service. Due to the fact I am in the R N V (W) R, I shall be going into the Royal Navy. For now, though, I am still working at the Co-op.

It’s amazing how many sheep's heads we sold! I had to skin them and take the eyes out, then chop them in half. We also cut the pigs head in half and then into quarters. After taking the ear and eyes out the top was boiled up until it fell off the bone, then chopped up and put in a tin with gelatine, then pressed down with a weight until it set. It came out as Brawn; we sold quite a lot of that. The bottom half of the head was roasted and sold in slices.

As I’ve said, I met my future wife at a party. She was with her sister and I went up and asked if she would like to come to my home the following evening to watch a bit of television, not a lot of people had television. She said, “Yes”. So, next evening, off I went to Fetter St. I felt quite nervous when I knocked on the door but her mother made me very welcome and off we went. My Mum was quite delighted to meet her. When I took her home, the ground was rather slippery, so she asked could she hold onto my arm. “Of course” I said and so it developed from there.

In August I had to go on a fortnight's training down at Devonport. Based at H M S Drake we were taught everything about the navy including square bashing. Luckily being in the sea cadets it came quite easy. On one of our days off I think it was a Saturday some other lads & I decided to go and catch the ferry over to Saltash. When we got there we decide to hire a boat and went rowing in a part of the river where all the naval craft were anchored. There were all sorts from frigates to aircraft carriers.

By the time we got back we had missed the last ferry so we took our lives in our hands and walked across the railway bridge that Brunel built. Every time you looked down you could see the river between the lines it was a bit scary but we managed to get back to base alright.

By the end of the year Pat and I decided to get engaged and so I went down to ask her mum and dad, they were very pleased.

When I got home I told mum I wanted to get some money out of the bank, I told her I wanted to buy an engagement ring, she said yes, but dad told me I was a bloody fool, but he was only joking! We got engaged on Christmas day.

Now we come 1954 which, apart from getting married, was the start of the best two years of my life. I was called up at the end of March and had to report to Victoria Barracks in Portsmouth where we went through six weeks intensive training, most of which was square bashing and inspections. There were twelve of us in our class and by the end of the six weeks we won the best class and won a prize of a big fruit cake. There was a big passing out parade and then we were issued with our identity numbers, some began with PJ then DJ, back then PJ meant you would be based at Portsmouth, DJ meant based at Devonport and CJ stood for Chatham. Once we had finished at signal school, we would each go to our appropriate division. My number was CJ939350 which meant that I was to be based at Chatham, in Kent.

After this we went to the signals base at H M S Mercury which was near Petersfield between East and West Meon. I was quite surprised when we got there, on the road through the camp it looked like two large houses. Inside there were two dormitories one up and one down. The twelve of us were in the upstairs one and I managed to get the bed right by the rear window. The only snag it was about a ten minute walk to get to the canteen though the food was brilliant. In the first few weeks we were shown all over the camp and assigned to extra duties like guard duty. We also had to take a swimming test where we had to swim a length of the pool in a canvas suit. Since I loved swimming, it was a push over. Then the hard work started! You had to achieve 25 words a minute receiving Morse code and typing it and we had to learn cryptology which was similar to the enigma machine.

After about a month we were given our first week-end pass but just before I went I caught Impetigo. This was caught from the earphones and I was in isolation for about four weeks. The nurse would come round every day with a pair of tweezers and pull the scabs off and then give me an injection. Eventually it cleared up and I managed to get home. They ran special coaches up through Northampton and Leicester and Nottingham. It took about three hours as there were no motorways. We would leave at about four in the afternoon and arrive in Northampton about seven. When home we had to be down on Regent's Square at 3.30 am to get back for eight in the morning. We were also given three two weeks leave and passes were provided for them. We were allowed duty free cigarettes, an allowance of six hundred a month. They were called blue liners and were made from all the off cuts from the major cigarettes but they did the job.

When we were on guard duty you had to do four hourly watches, from six in the evening until six in the morning but fortunately not a lot of it was outside. The only outside patrol was at the cryptology centre but you just wandered around for about an half an hour and then back to the guard hut, so it wasn't too bad. Sometimes we went out on cross country runs and they gave us clubs to carry because this was when the rabbits were catching myxomatosis, if we found any we would put them out of their misery. Sometimes we were detailed at the weekend for shore patrol, this meant going down to the pub in East Meon and make sure everything was quiet, I never saw any trouble.

Eventually we all passed our ordinary telegraphy exams and then we all split up and went our separate way. There were only two of us who went to Chatham, me and Roy Hopkins and we still keep in touch now. We arrived at H M S Pembroke which is a shore base in Chatham Dockyard. The signals department was separate from the main part and the signal school was about a twenty minute walk. We were allowed weekend passes every other week end the other weekend we used to go on fire watch at the signal school which was great, we would sleep up there and always listened to the radio. On weekend leave I never caught a train, I would catch the bus into Chatham and then get on the main road and hitch hike. More often than not there was always Americans going up to London in their Lorries and they would always pick us up and drop us at Charing Cross. I would then get the tube to Barnet and as you came out the station there was a crossing. More often than not,a lorry would stop to let you cross, if you were lucky you would get a lift as most were going north and if you were very lucky they would be cutting through Northampton on their way to Nottingham or Derby.

When it was time to go back, I would catch the first train at 4.30 in the morning to Euston, over to Victoria to catch the train back to Chatham.

Whilst at Chatham Pat and I decided to get married but because I was not yet 21, I had to put a special request in asking for permission to marry. It had to go before the Commanding Officer who granted it. I also had to get permission to wear a white ribbon with my uniform. Before we got married, my mum, Pat and my brother went to great Yarmouth for a week’s holiday as I was on leave.

I contacted the Youth Hostels and asked if they could help and they allowed me to stop at their hostel in Yarmouth for a week, so we could all holiday 
together, which was great. This brings me up to 1955.

What I consider to be one of the main turning points in my life was in 1955, getting married, going to sea for the first time and my wife telling me she was pregnant with our first child. I was still at Chatham and had to apply for special leave to get married and as I was at a shore base that wasn't any problem. We set the date for April and as I was away dad helped sort out the arrangements as Pat's dad was disabled. My friend Roy who had been with me since we were called up managed, to get the weekend off, so he could come to the wedding. We were married at All Saints Church by the Rev Trevor Lewis. My Uncle Bill was best man. We had five bridesmaids and Pat’s brother gave her away. Our reception was held at the Exeter Hall.

We went to Blackpool for the honeymoon, staying at the guest house where Pat and her family used to stay for their holidays.

HMS Truelove

When we got there the landlady had bought us a lovely coffee set as a wedding gift. We had a lovely time. We went to the top of the tower and carved our names up there and spent many happy hours at the pleasure beach but it soon passed. I had to go back to the Navy! Meanwhile Roy had gone aboard ship but I couldn't go until I had been to the dentist, and that put me off going to a dentist for life! The dentist gave me the injection and started to pull my tooth out, he finished pulling out two when the numbness had worn off!

I had to go by train to Rosythe Dockyard to join the minesweeper HMS TRUELOVE. We were going on fishery protection around Norway. For the first few days I was seasick but it soon passed. Our berths were up at the bow of the ship and we slept in hammocks which, I must say, once you had mastered the art of getting in and out they were quite comfortable.




Our first port of call was Bergen, we arrived in the first heat wave they had had for years. One day we went up one of the mountains to a ski jump and when you looked down, all you could see were boulders. We spent about four days there and then we continued on to Tromso which is situated in a fjord. When we got there it was snowing. We saw them cutting up the German battleship Tirpitz. We continued further north into the arctic circle to Honningsvag and by this time we were in the land of the midnight sun. Sometimes, when I came off watch at midnight, I would go on deck and look at the sun, it was amazing. From there we continued to Hammerfest. We often met trawlers on our journey and would send a boat over with some whiskey for the crew and it would come back loaded with fresh fish. Whilst in Hammerfest, Roy and I went for a walk and we could see people peering through their curtains but they never came out. As we walked round, outside every house were rows and rows of fish drying in the open air. Our final port of call was Kirkness which was close to the Russian boarder we were often buzzed by Russian planes taking photos but we also had a photographer on board specially to take photos of any Russian ships. When we returned to the UK, at the end of August, we went down to Portland, where there was an open weekend during which families could come down and go on board the ships. I met Pat at the railway station and we went on board ship. I had booked us into lodgings in Weymouth and that is where our first daughter was conceived.

The day after everyone had gone home, it was decided to split the ships company. Half would walk from Portland to Dartmouth whilst the rest took the ship to Dartmouth. It took two days. First day we marched together, then we slept under the hedges at night. The following day we had to make our own way to Dartmouth. I finally arrived at tea time. After we had fuelled and taken on supplies we set sail for Harwich where we stayed until after Christmas. When Pat and I got married, dad gave us the deposit for a house and while I was away, he had found one for us in Edith Street, right at the bottom of the cul-de-sac, next to the dairy. While I was in the navy, Pat was living with my mum and dad, so they got the house ready for when I got demobbed.

After Christmas, we set sail which, for me, would be the last time .This time the destination was Iceland, where there had been trouble between the Icelandic trawlers and the English but things had calmed down, but we were told not to go ashore on our own. We arrived in Reykjavic and it was such a sight. Because of the season, the sun rose at ten in the morning and set at two in the afternoon so we had sunrise and sunset at the same time. It was so cold we had to chip the ice off the mast and railings. We received news that two trawlers were missing in a force 10 gale and were sent out spending two days searching but there was no trace of either. It appears that they were overcome by the ice and sank, When the captain decided to call the search off and turn round, I thought we were never going to make it, as the ship buried its nose in the sea and it seemed ages until we came up again. We were in Iceland we were given some fish. We put them into a bucket and hoisted them up the mast where they froze solid. They had eventually thawed out by the time we reached the Scottish coast. We reached Chatham at the end of February and I was demobbed a month later. Whilst on board ship we were given duty free cigarettes but I always bought a tin of rolling tobacco back for Pat's dad as he loved to “roll his own”.

This brings to an end the second part of my story. . . . .