ELIZABETH RONEY |
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Surname
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Roney
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Forename
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Elizabeth
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Date of recording
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Nov 2008
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Year of birth
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1927
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Place of Birth
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Cobham Surrey
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Occupation
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Retired
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Fathers occupation
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?
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Present Address
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Aldeburgh
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Location Interview
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Aldeburgh
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Interviewer
Summary |
Heather Mabey
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Duration
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48 Mins
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No of tracks: 2
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Track 1 (36 mins) Elizabeth was born in Cobham Surrey in 1927, and came to Aldeburgh for holidays from the age of 8, as her mother had been here many times before. Mentions that in 1937 her parents bought a holiday home on the sea front. Describes her holidays up to the war and remembers her and her brother playing on the beach and swimming and remembers there being 3 rafts on the sea that you could swim to and a man called Cable had a rowing boat and kept an eye on everyone. Also remember there being bathing huts on the beach. Describes how during the war her family were not allowed to come to Aldeburgh as only local residents and people doing business here were allowed to come, so the house was closed up for about five years. Remembers discovering the river in 1945 and walking through lots of barbed wire and past large concrete blocks to Slaughden Quay which was quite different then. Remembers there being four or five men working with boats. Mentions Jumbo Ward, Gerry Wood and Bill Cable all of whom had little businesses. Describes how in 1987 she moved here permanently and joined the Yacht Club, which then only had about 100 members and now has about 2,000. Describes learning to sail with Bill Cable and mentions a small boat that was not really suitable for learning to sail in and how she spent a lot of time upside down in the river. Remembers having lots of fun on the river, fishing and picnicking. Mentions that she rarely wore a life jacket. Describes sailing on the river as mostly racing. Describes meeting her husband at a dance at the Jubilee Hall and he also sailed. Mentions that her brother had a holiday home in Lee Road where she would stay. Describes how her parents lived in Surrey until her father retired and then came to Aldeburgh in the 1950's. Mentions that her grandson is fifth generation member of the Yacht Club. Describes how when she was divorced from her husband she lived at Stratford St. Andrew in 1980 and became Town Clerk of Aldeburgh for 5 years. Mentions that she did not really enjoy this as she had never previously worked in an office. Describes how she does shop locally, although is not very fond of the co-op. She then has discussion with Heather about Waitrose supermarkets. Briefly discusses affordable housing in Aldeburgh, and also public transport. Mentions that she sometimes uses the Park and Ride to Ipswich. Mentions that she was married in Aldeburgh Church and her daughter was also married there. Describes the changes in the river and remembers sailing down by Brick Dock and remembers there was an island called Cob Island, on which you could land, but it is now totally gone. Mentions the breach in the sea wall at Lantern Marshes, about five years ago, where the water runs in and out, this is down river past the Martello Tower towards Orford. Mentions that the National Trust owns it and is doing nothing about. Describes how this will cause the river to silt up and make sailing and navigation difficult. Describes how the facilities on the river have changed and mentions that in the 1950's she had a boat with a small keel, which made it difficult to get it out of the water, so she had to sail it round to Waldringfield at the beginning and end of the season, where they had a crane. Now of course, Aldeburgh has better facilities including a crane. Mentions that more people use the river now and the yacht club had a new club house built about ten years ago. Mentions that this building is built 4 feet above the ground in case of flooding. Remembers sailing up to Snape, although does remember the last part as being rather tricky if you have a keel. Mentions that she has a small motor boat now as she feels she is probably too old to sail. Describes when West Row breached in 1953 and the flood water came half way up the garden of her parents home in Long Croft and across the marshes down to the roundabout. Remembers once the river had great lumps of ice floating down it. Describes how one year she went skating on the Mere at Thorpeness when it froze over in the 1980's. Describes that the river Hundred runs into the Mere from Knodishall. Describes the storm of 1987 and remembers she was staying temporarily at Heron House, and when she woke in the morning she could not see out of the windows as they were covered in salt. She mentions she was Commodore at the Yacht Club. Remembers Simon Reid coming round and they walked down the High Street towards towards the Yacht Club. Remembers it was quite frightening as tiles were still coming off the roofs of the houses. Describes arriving at the Yacht Club to find that the clubhouse only had one broken window the some roof felt was coming off. Describes the devastation in the river, 26 boats had broken their mooring and were high and dry on the saltings, about 15 boats had sunk and you could only see the masts. Describes how her boat was fine and still on its' mooring. Describes the dinghy park and how it had been completely flattened with dinghies everywhere. Describes a race she was taking part in around Havergate Island when a storm came from nowhere and caused havoc. Remembers boats were blown ashore and even sunk. Remembers that Admiral Mills from Aldeburgh Yacht Club managed to telephone Orford Yacht Club and they sent boats out to rescue them. Describes how she was very lucky and ended up on the mud and a boats also came from Aldeburgh and towed them back. Remembers the storm as being the same one that had huge hailstones falling in Woodbridge that caused huge dents in the cars. Describes how she has sailed in France and the Mediterranean. Describes capsizing many times and how the sailing dinghies today are designed so that they do not fill up with water. Briefly describes some of the boats she has owned. Mentions the poor access to the river which prevents people coming in with the jet skis and also mentions that Brian Upson does not allow them. Mentions that there is a special water skiing area just below Orford. Remembers water skiing on the river at Black Heath House. Mentions that her daughter bought a holiday home here about two years ago, but has now bought a holiday home in Cornwall where the sailing is much better. Mentions that her son is living at Friston at the moment while he is looking for a house in Norfolk.
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