1960's part 3
Life was good for our family.
Weddings were big and traditional. Women wore hats, gloves and matched shoes with handbags. I was bridesmaid to my aunt and uncle Gill & Rod alongside Aileen and Christine Lee.
Transport: Dad traded in his much loved Lambretta scooter and bought our first car, an Austin 1100. Oh the luxury of driving up north to Doncaster and down south to Plymouth instead of using buses and trains. We felt so posh, only two households in the street owned cars. A car gave us added independence to explore on weekends, not sure how we squeezed in a fourth person.
Mind you, we loved the trains. The clickaty clack rhythm of steam trains still enthralls people today. One of my Twitter colleagues (David Oxtaby) spends his time photographing steam trains …. everyday. David Oxtaby (Do checkout his photos)
Dad took me and three friends to Wembley Stadium to see The Monkees (what were we thinking?) And as a family we went to concerts that included Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and many more.
Food: We ate well. We never had takeaway except for fish and chips occasionally on holidays, we usually took packed lunches of sandwiches, crisps and drinks.
Mum’s philosophy in life was, eat well, a roof over our heads and pay the bills, there is little to complain about. Our weekly meals looked a bit like this. Each week would be slightly different.
Breakfasts - cereal, porridge, toast or boiled eggs
Sundays - roast (beef, pork, lamb or chicken rotated) roast pots and two veg (in season)
Monday - leftover roast with either salad in summer or fresh veg in winter
Tuesday - shepherd’s pie, egg and bacon pie with veg
Wednesday - sausage, mash, gravy and veggies
Thursday - Fish, fish cakes or fish fingers, chips and peas
Friday - Home made pasties, liver and bacon or a casserole
Saturday - (lunch - chips, sausages, egg & bake beans) tea - sandwiches in front of the tv or a picnic in the garden in summer
Sunday - teatime was always high tea - cold meat with salad, fruit & custard or blancmange & jelly in summer, homemade cake, bread and butter with homemade jam
If we had a cooked lunch at school, tea was beans or eggs on toast, bubble & squeak, welsh rarebit or similar
Family: Butlins holiday camps were big in England in the 60’s. Not for us though we holidayed twice a year, one trip to Dad’s family to Doncaster and in the summer to Gran & Granfer Lee in Plymouth, Devon.
In Plymouth there were my cousins Aileen and Christine Lee to spend time with, down in Tothill Park or in summer a trip to Bovisand by bus to ogle the boys! Visits to aunts & uncles with many shared meals. At gran’s there was always a fresh loaf of uncut bread with homemade butter & jam to snack on, that needed replacing every day. In the larder would be the original Devon Clotted Cream in tin cans, not the rubbish you buy today. Clotted Cream
In Doncaster, Yorkshire was Eric my cousin, Vi & Tommy plus Gran and Granfer and Uncle Jimmy. Jimmy was a lodger, not a real uncle but he was much loved regardless. Jimmy introduced me to fresh tomatoes on the vine in his allotment in the railway yards. When I pick a fresh tomato today I am immediately transported back.
As the weather was usually cold and wet we would set up the Monopoly board and play the one game for the duration of our time there. Mum constantly moaned about the dirty air (coal mines & railway yards) and banned us from taking light coloured clothes.
Breakfasts were full English with fried bread cooked in half an inch of beef dripping. The adults would add a wee drop of whisky to their tea and Gran would send Jimmy up to the betting shop at the top of the road with the day’s bets.
Life in general: Mum & Mike went potato or strawberry picking whilst Roger and I were at school. Mum also volunteered at “The Firs” & The Mount, an orphanage deprived children, residing there during school holidays. The Covent of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge, St Michael’s was run by nuns and postulants, the home was big, drafty, full of laughter and only fish on a Friday. We were privileged to attend a service accepting a lay sister as a postulant. I made one friend Charity Menigibert. Charity, my age, her Mum had died(unsure) and her Dad was in the Navy.
Did you watch the original St Trinians movie? It was partly filmed at Charity’s school, St Mary’s School for Girls.
School: During the summer holidays prior to starting high school, one of my junior school friends Barry White was killed whilst participating in road racing. I wanted to go to his funeral but back then parents wanted to protect us.
Like many others I didn’t pass the 11+ so went to Cowplain Girls School in Hartman Avenue. My home teacher was Miss Hall, she only had one breast so think she had breast cancer which wasn’t talked about back then. Miss Young was my favourite teacher, she has polio as a child and walked with a limp. Her dream was to go to Bethlehem. I often wonder if she every made the trip?
I joined 1st Waterlooville Girls Brigade making many new friends like Linda Money & Jane Kelly and was fortunate to go on camp to Jersey in the Channel Islands. Exposure to French boys I highly recommend at an early age. We also sang in a competition at The Royal Albert Hall. That was exciting. Totally illegal now, I gained a badge for wiring a power point!
I learnt to sew, cook and actively watched the boys from the school next door.
I took up a paper round in the afternoons and then changed to mornings. So hard pushing and riding a bike in the snow, baskets filled with newspapers. All before school! On Saturdays I went to the matinee movies in Cosham and worked in the lolly shop around the corner on Sunday mornings.
After doing my allocated chores of course.
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