Page 8 - My Story

until the end of the war and people were encouraged to grow their own fruits and vegetables. We did
not see tropical fruits such as oranges, lemons and bananas and many people kept chickens and pigs, too.
Even clothes were rationed – we had clothing coupons to spend and clothes were passed down from one
family member to another.

Even school was OK in Hitchen. We went to an elementary school called Wilshire Dacre where
nothing seemed too difficult and the headmaster’s nephew took it into his head, when sitting behind me,
to cut off one of my plaits. My mother complained, the red headed nephew was reprimanded, and I didn’t
care and ran out and climbed another tree.

During this time, we three drew very close. My mother taught us to knit and we made quite
complicated things like balaclava helmets and socks for soldiers, although I think my mother was always
there to “turn” the heel or the top of the hat. I wonder now what the finished garments were like or did
my mother spirit them away and make sure there was a true pair of socks or that the knitting was not full
of dropped stitches? The three of us would sit knitting in gaslight in the evenings while my mother read
aloud, still knitting. We always said my mother was the only person who could knit, read and listen to the
radio all at once! We went through all four of the Little Women books, Anne of Green Gables, A.A. Milne,
Alice in Wonderland, Wind in the Willows, all three Katy books and many more. I find now that not many
American women knew of Susan Coolidge’s What Katy Did but those books were great favourites of ours.
I had another favourite book, passed down to me by my cousins, and that was Number Eleven Joy Street.
This was an anthology of stories and poems by well-known writers and so many of the stories and silly
rhymes have stayed with me.

The rain did compel a
Young lady named Ella
To wait in a cellar.
A fella
Said, “Tella
“I’ll sella
“A yella umberella”

This was the book I turned to if I was poorly or had to stay in bed with a cold – did we really spend
days in bed with colds? I passed this book on to Helen, my eldest daughter, and she loved it, too and then
it disappeared in one of our many moves. I was browsing in a second-hand bookshop in Chiswick one
day in about 2001 and came across Number Twelve Joy Street. I took it to the counter and explained that
I was really interested in Number Eleven and some years later I was passing the shop and the owner called
me in, saying, “I found your book for you” and there it was!

We must have stayed in Hitchen until late 1943. The Beales introduced us to their extended family
and I can remember walking miles across the fields to Sandy and Biggleswade to join them for Sunday
lunch. We could have gone by bus, but I always threw up on buses, so it was easier to walk. Indeed, I can
remember going quite short trips by bus in London and my father having to stand holding me on the deck
as you entered the bus, so I could get the fresh air and not throw up!

We loved Hitchen and the Beales, but London was quiet again and my mother decided it was safe
to go back. She had had a traumatic last few months with Jackie being desperately ill with what we now
think was rheumatic fever. The Beales were kindness itself, Mr. Beale carried Jackie down from the
bedroom every evening so that she could join in the family meal, but I am sure my mother needed the
support of her family.

She found us a rental in Clapton in the house of a blonde lady whose husband was in the army,
and who later deserted. She had a daughter, about my age called Sheila. Sheila took dance lessons and
soon had Jackie and I doing high kicks with her, like The Tiller Girls who were our radio city line up. I
remember entertaining my father’s family to one of our high kicking routines and wondering at the grins
on their faces and stifled laughs. I was a sturdy child and never had the legs for high kicks although Jackie
and Sheila would have looked all right. To this day if I hear the song “Alice Blue Gown” it makes me grin.

7