Surname
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Clarke
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Forename
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Nancy
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Date of recording
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April 2014
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Year of birth
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1932
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Place of Birth
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Aldeburgh
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Occupation
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Nurse
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Fathers occupation
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Present Address
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Oulton Broad
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Location Interview
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Oulton Broad
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Interviewer
Summary |
Catherine Howard-Dobson
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Duration
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61 Mins
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No of tracks: 6
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This recording consists of 6 tracks.
Track 1 12:40 Right it's recording, can you tell me your name? Nancy Clarke and when were you born, when were you born, 20th May 1932, and where was that, Aldeburgh Cottage Hospital, High Street, Aldeburgh, and your parents, Susie Clarke and Harry William Clarke, and they lived in Aldeburgh and they lived in Crabbe Street and that's where you went when you first arrived, yes. And did you have many siblings? I had, um well there was five children, Jessie was the eldest and then my mum had three in between and they died, [00:01:00] and then you arrived, and then I arrived, you were the youngest yes,she told me she weren't having me until about two months before, being a midwife. What was your house like, at Crabbe street, oh blimey, er, sort of a little cottage terrace, there was three, no was there three, or was there two, two, opposite the Jubilee Hall, two up and two down. Right, so you would have shared a room, a bedroom with your sister perhaps. Um yeah I suppose so, I don't remember that, I mean she might have been out at work really I suppose, twenty years different, ahh, of course. Yeah. So where did you, you stayed in that house until you were how old? [00:02:00] Oh we stayed there, well, um, I don't remember how old I was, we moved from Crabbe St. to 99/10 High St., which was opposite the old garage. Oh right. And then from there, it was during the war, I can't remember the exact dates, um my Mum and Dad moved down to 189 High St. um, all I remember them saying it was just before the bombs went up in Oakley square, they had a load of bombs in Oakley Square, yes, and the mines and they all went up and I think it was a couple of days before my Mother moved and [00:03:00] she said that er, luckily the house was empty, but there was all bits and pieces, remains of humans on the doorstep and everywhere else, oh no, mm, gosh. I mean Jessie and I were in London, my Dad sent us to Middlesex, right, oh, so you went away for the war for a little while, I went, I think we were away for about a year, and then the bombing got worse up there, um so we had to come home, they wanted all the children out of Aldeburgh because being on the seaside, um and a lot of them went to Worksop in Nottinghamshire. (Ah), but my Dad no that is too far away, you know, you're going to relatives. right and do you remember how old you were when you came back? oh um I suppose, [00:04:00] I don't know,um, that, take, um my father died 47, I was born 32, I don't know I suppose about 11 or 12, right I don't remember, so you were then living in the house on the high st, um, yes, and do you remember that one as well? you remember that on better? yes what was that one like? that was two and two down, I mean, the one up the the top o the street um was sort of two in one, and my Mum used to take um, the overflows from the hotel, oh, for bed and breakfast, oh I see, yeah, I mean I don't remember but she had Anna Neagle, and one or two other film stars, [00:05:00] oh fantastic, that sort, there weren't room at the White Lion so, they came and stayed at your mums, they stayed yeah um, and you say it was two in one, so it was a double yeah, cottage, so it had more bedrooms, yeah, ah, and what was the kitchen like in the house that you remember, which, the last house, the last house, small, yeah, and a cooker, yeah a gas cooker, right, um um and then a copper in the corner and an old fashioned black stove, ah, you know that they done cooking on, right, so you had to fill, because the gas thing didn't always work, so, right, yeah. And this was a, a stove that you put coal or,yeah coal and wood, we used to go along the seashore and pick up the wood, ah, and [00:06:00] the coal that came ashore, this sort of thing. (Ah). And the copper was used for...doing the washing, yeah, yeah, and it was a big copper that you just filled. Oh yes stoked that up, tin bath and all this lark, so you had a tap in the kitchen, yeah, that would been a hot..cold tap, the tap outside was for the whole of the road, there was one tap between, between two cottages. Right, so you would have to fill up the copper from that tap? Mm yeah, I expect that was quite hard work, yeah no there was an old shed outside that you know Mum used to put all sorts of things in and ok. And thats where you where living when you went to school? Yeah, and which school did you go to? Aldeburgh Count.. Aldeburgh School round in Park Road, yeah, and did you like it? Well I don't remember very [00:07:00] much about it you see, I went to school there, and then cos we were evacuated, so the school was shut, um and then that opened, with a few children, you know when I come back from Middlesex, so there weren't many children about in OK in Aldeburgh. And did you carry on your education some where else, no, that was it? That was it, I left school I suppose when I was about 14, uhuh, that was it I just had to, to get a job, I had to get on with it, right. And what was your first job, what did you do? Well I, I done a newspaper round on the Sunday, I done a bakers round on the Saturday, for Leaches, and that was, that was about all. Right, and this you started when you were quite young, I imagine, mm, yeah, and what about friends that you had at the time? [00:08:00] Well, uh, several friends really, I mean, fair enough, Margie my school friend, she was away in Wales, cos she was evacuated, but then cos she came home when, but we were renewed, but oh lots of friends, Jean Taylor, Greta Warton oh lots of people. And are any of them still around? Margie is, yeah, Margie is, Greta lives at Kesgrave, um, but apart from that, there is one or two, but cos their married and got, got families you know. Right, Margie is the closest one, OK, and you didn't marry? No. What about when you were younger, what did you get up to? "laugh" All sorts of things, Oh do tell, "laugh". Well, when we lived in [00:09:00] Crabbe Street, we used to play in Reade's workshop where the wood was, ah, got covered with sawdust. We used to go on the beach, and we used to play in the sprat barrels, they had barrels, used to make houses and this sort of thing, um and I played with Peter Crisp and somebody John, I can't remember know, and of I can't remember you know, but, yeah of course my father had a big piece of allotment next to where the horses were, so you know, he carted me round there to, right. So what was your father's job, what did he do? He emptied dustbins, right, refuge collector, and he used a horse and cart? Yeah, yeah, tell us about the horse and cart. Yeah, well, um it's a bit sad really cos um, he, I think I showed you the [00:10:00] certificate about you know, how the vet said I had excellent knowledge of horses, you did, yeah, very good, and um he used to cart me around there and give me a shovel to clean the muck out and help clean the harness, he treated me like a boy, I think really, cos he lost his son, yes, um, and urm, people used to say, "where's Nancy?",Mum used to say " well where do think she is, round on the allotment", you know, um, "with her Dad", you know, and then weekends he had well five or six sisters I think, one lived at Snape, Leiston, um two in Ipswich, and quite often on a Sunday he would cycle over to see them. And I used to have a little seat, on the crossbar, [00:11:00] and he'd take you with him, yeah, I think, um I mean, I don't remember the Clarke family at all, he gave all my aunts away, because the old chap, old man Clarke couldn't read or write. So I think my Dad gave them all away. And wether he ever felt responsible, but he used to go and see them, the two in Ipswich and then he'd cycle into Snape, um, you know, to see them. Yeah, and I used to sit on the little seat on the crossbar, everywhere he went cos muggins went as well. "laugh" Tell me about the horses. Well there was one called Prince that Mr Thurston had, and my Dad had Smiler, that was in that photograph, yes, and could do anything [00:12:00] with that old horse. Lovely, you know. And as I said when my Dad died I, what kind of horse was it, mm, what kind of horse was it? Suffolk punch, suffolk punch, right, yeah, yeah, and tell me about your Dad dying. Well he died suddenly, um, from cerebral haemorrhage, um, but he was badly gassed in the 1914-18 war. But it was a hell of a shock, it was about sort of 3 o'clock in the morning, my Mum woke me up, go and get the doctor, go and get Jessie, and then about 8 o'clock time, um, Track 2 12:40 [00:00:00] I said well, you know, what about, what about Dad's horse? "oh we got enough to cope with Nancy for goodness sake", but apparently I must have found his keys and skedaddled off and went round and managed to gets some bricks and get the lock undone and opened the stable. Um and got meself in, and there was a bar across, there was a middle sort of alleyway where the harness and everything was kept and then the bar to keep the horse in and um you know he, he went mad um he was ever such a gentle and you know, nozzled me and this sort of thing um and for some unknown reason I couldn't get the bar up to get him out, he got his head underneath got hisself out and er I managed to get his rope the halter on, um [00:01:00] and apparently I mean I don't really remember I got him out, out of the stable, took him across on the grass and um he laid down and I must have laid down with him and somebody found me, my mum suddenly realised I was missing and um said to Jessie "well where's she gone too"? realised that the keys were missing um and Mr Thurston had come round to get the other horse, found me. Oh What happened to Smiler do you know? I don't know, I don't know, I wish I did, I don't know what happened, I just know that he, he, somebody that took over, he would go for, go for the chappie, um and um they didn't quite know what to do, but um if I was about um, [00:02:00] he suddenly prick up his ears and go, you know. I don't know what happened, I often wonder, you know what had happened to him, so sad. He was my sort of soul mate, yeah, soul mate. Tell me about Jessie. Um, well she, she was a bossy boots, “laugh”, I suppose, you know, my mum was busy, cos in those days there weren't much money, um my mum used to go and well, she was caretaker for the Jubilee Hall, she used to go and wait at table, like for the De Quinceys that lived in Park Road, Lady Latimer that lived at The Rest, uhuh, and this sort of thing, cos but you know she was in service before she married. Um so I think you know Jessie looked after me really [00:03:00] and then Jessie was in service with Mrs Ward at Colward on the Terrace, (right), um so I was sort of carted, here, there and, oh, so you went with Jessie did you? yeah ok yeah. But um as I got older I used to say, she used to say some....., I said I am not a child, you know, but I mean you know, twenty years differences, yes that's a bit difference isn't it, yeah. And what did she do after that, did she do the same job? did she go off? Jessie went, no she stayed with Mrs Ward and until Mrs Ward died and then she worked for the Butcher family, that owned the shops, yep. The grocer shops and the other shop yeah um and then cos they passed away and she worked for Mrs Anderson [00:04:00] , um that lived at Beech House, um and I think, you know, just odds and ends of jobs really, but then, cos I was away, I went away nursing so, yes tell me about that, how did that happen how did you get the job? Well, I think because there weren't that many jobs about um my mum said "oh I don't know what your gonna do when you leave school" um and I said "well I don't know either" and um apparently Matron Fletcher was quite fond of my Dad, because when that was bombed he went and got the paper work. Because he used to do odd jobs for the hospital, cos he was grateful for them looking after me, he used to go and clean the drains, take them extra vegetables, and [00:05:00] whether Matron Fletcher came and saw my Mum and said, you know, what about Nancy coming to work at the hospital, I don't know, I mean, I just remember going, and um I was quite upset, cos she wanted me to live in, they had a house (ah) opposite called the Hollies and I wanted to be at home, but anyway she wouldn't let me and I stayed there until I was sort of eighteen, I must have gone when i was about sixteen, I think, something like that. Um, and then what happened? and then I um I went to Sudbury, um, which is West Suffolk, um, I wanted, well Matron Fletcher wanted me to be a SRN, I went to Norfolk and Norwich, um, but Matron said well, you know, you haven't really got any, um, [00:06:00] education as such, you know, so she said " I suggest you go to Walnut Tree Hospital and do SEN first and see how you go, and I mean in the mean time Matron found a headmaster um that lived near the lifeboat at Aldeburgh, two of us used to go to night school, evening classes, to learn fractions and decimals (right), you know. Because, I suppose I lost about four, (must of done) fours years education, (yeah) you know, it was a, I, it was a hard slog, (mm) but SEN is more practical hands on, they were old people, but I did like it. Um and then when I qualified I think I worked at Aldeburgh Hospital for a bit, um, cos I think I was home sick. [00:07:00] (Right), so I worked there for a bit um, and then I, um er, Matron Fletcher said "I think, you ought to go to London", cos she trained at the Royal London, which obviously is the famous hospital, and um, they sort of said, well no, that's to far away, and um, a friend of mine at Walnut Tree Hospital said "well I am going to the North Middlesex, because I've got an uncle, an aunt live at Silver Street", where the hospital was, so I said oh, "well I suppose I could go to the West Middlesex", which is at Isleworth, like not far from Heston and that's where I went. And um, you know I done three years and a years staff nursing, (well done), [00:08:00] yeah, and did you stay there to work or did you come back to? I, well we had, we had to do three years, (mm), and I, that was really a hard slog for me (right), um cos I weren't very good at spellin' and this sort of thing, I failed the first exam but I got through the second time. And then I worked as a staff nurse on the children's ward (mm) for a year and a bit. (mm) Um, and then and then I went on to Chiswick and done midwifery. (ah) How long did that take? That was six months, (right) and then I came down and worked on Ipswich District, for six months (mm) um qualified as a midwife and then you had to go back into hospital as a staff midwife, for a year, so I went back, 00:09:00] I went back to the General Lying-in Hospital, which was at Lambeth and stayed there for quite a while, um, and then I came down, I saw an advert, er for district midwife at Lowestoft, so I came down here (ah), what year was that, can you remember? Ooh nineteen sixty, I suppose, something like that, yep. So you worked at Lowestoft as a midwife, yeah on the district, yeah, and what area did you cover? Er, well, quite a large area, from St Margaret's Road right down to Denmark Road where the station is (ok..right). So and then um my joints, my back started to play up, um so I got a job at Northgate at Yarmouth doing the clinics, antenatal clinics (ah...right) and um, then of course we moved to the James Paget [00:10:00] (ahuh) and um, you know the old joints start to play up I got it in me neck and what have you and I saw the orthopedic consultant and she said, well you know, its not going to get any better (umm) um, so I retired eighty-seven (right). But you know, she said, its not your fault but, you know, in the war you didn't get very good food (mm), you know, um and this sort of thing. Tell me about that, actually when you were an evacuee, what was that like? Well, I supp.. the same as my mum cooked really, see cos it was her brother and um his wife, (mm), you know, and uncle Billy worked at Sperrys, they used to make the aircraft instruments, (oh yes) and this sort of thing, um so, you know, they was like home from home really, (yeah) I went school up there for about six months or a year, (mm) [00:11:00] um, you know, and then came back, so (mm), many moons ago “laugh” (many moons ago, yes). Tell me about your, your father's brothers, you say he had five sisters, or was it your mother's brothers? Oh my, my, my mum had um she had brother, Billy, um and then she had, er Auntie Daisy, er Emily, huh, what else was there, anyway she had, I think she had four sisters and a brother (ok) and my dad, dad's family there was ten children there I think, (a lot), and what were the families, were they farmers or? The old, Clark families [00:12:00] I think they went round farms, you know, (ok), farm labourers I think, (right) you know, this sort of thing as I said I didn't know the old people (no), and I only know, knew sort of bits and pieces (mm) and your mother's family, well they came from Saxmundham, (mm) you see, and um, my grandfather as I said, was a cabinet maker (yes) and um at Ashfords, (I assume this is one of his very nice chairs) yeah, but Ashfords, where were they, they were in? They were in the high street, (ok) I think its, its, is it Flicks in the high street Track 3 12:40 [00:00:00] Saxmundham, yes, opposite the Bell Hotel, yep ah, and he worked there all his life, yeah, making all sorts of furniture, all sorts of things, yeah, I mean I as I said I got the tables and the chairs, he made a little desk um which Saxmundham Museum have got and when he first started, out of odd bits of wood, he made stools for each of the children (oh wonderful), and cos my mum had hers and that went to Saxmundham Museum, you know um as well as some pictures that the great grandfather had painted. 9ah) so, um, I haven't been to the museum I must go and have a look, yeah, I mans it's only small, but it's quite interesting. Going back to Aldeburgh, [00:01:00] do you remember, can you sort of tell me what it was like, when you were much younger, um on the beach and such like, how different the high street was? Well it wasn't you see, I mean, you could play in the high street, um when we, when I moved down, when we then moved down to 189 High Street, I mean the soldiers, the soldiers were there, I mean none of the big houses were occupied, the soldiers had them, what in all the big houses? Yeah, how many soldiers do you think ..well there was Crespigny House which was in the back of us (mm), that's now flats and houses, (mm), um they took over that, they took over um Gorse Hill the schools, um the big house, on the, on the front. Um.. near where that sundial is the other side (oh yes) of the Wentworth, they took that over, um and some of the other big houses, (gosh). [00:02:00] Did they put things on the beach, was the beach...? Oh yeah there was all these iron railings, there was only part of the beach open when the soldiers..what about guns and such like,where there guns, guns on the beach? Yeah, there was a big gun down near the Brudenell, (uhuh), yeah, um I don't remember one being up near Thorpeness, I remember the one, you know, being down where the shelter is, the end of the Brudenell. Do you memories at all of the war itself, you said, you told me about the bombs? Well, yes, I mean I remember the, the um, cos we had a couple of shelters in the back garden (mm), um, and I remember the siren going off, and we got into there, um and he came up from the river-way, [00:03:00] machine-gunning all the way up the high street. Um and um, obviously dropped the bombs, and there was one at the top of Choppings Hill (mm) er that knocked the chapel down, and then the one that hit the post office, (right) and the one that, hit the um hospital and the dairy, (ah that was near there as well) so, yeah. And what were the shelters in the garden, were these sort of in the ground. What the, the shelters, yeah, there was um, what was there , two old cottages, there was just two great big shelters um that we had to get into. OK, and who put them there, did you or the..? Well I suppose the um you know the people that built the shelters all in the houses, I mean some of them had the morrison shelters, um, [00:04:00] and some, if there was room, they built the shelter out the back, of concrete blocks (did they), and this sort of thing. So they were all built of concrete, I hadn't realised that, yeah, yeah. There was only a small opening, you had to bend to get in there and then there was a block in the front (mm), so you know, and there weren't, weren't much room. No, and you had to share that shelter. Yeah. Gosh. Yeah, there was, um well you know there was one, two three, four cottages, um yeah, four peop... cottages, with one shelter and then further down there was another shelter for the other, other people. I mean some of the people were at work anyway you see, so I mean, I remember my mum carting me and the cat into the shelter, I mean we couldn't leave the cat behind. laugh [00:05:00] Quite right, quite right. So yeah, and was there anything actually in the shelter it was just the bare room. Yeah, yeah, so if you wanted a hot cup of tea or something, oh no there 's nothing, nothing like that, no no, I think um my dad and um Joan's fathers made up a sort bench that we could sit, but otherwise we used to just take cushions in and sit on the floor. (sit on the floor) I mean we were lucky really, we didn't get that much bombing in Aldeburgh, no true. And they, I assume they, were knocked down after the war were they? Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't remember them being knocked down, but yeah, mm fascinating. No photographs of them unfortunately, tsk, that would be good. laugh. So, Margee's mum they had a morrison shelter, and um you know, [00:06:00] luckily her dad was at work and Mrs Gooden managed to get in there, her and Mrs Penny, but they, you know, the two houses were bombed because that was the.. Post Office was where the um butchers is now, Salters Butchers, (oh I see), that was there, (that was there ok), you see and there was two little cottages there, just there. And um, there's only one left um, that's still standing, next to the butchers shop. (Oh), but, I mean it was only a small post office (yep), you know, and houses in between. Tell me about some of the people in the town that you remember? Ahem, well, um, I mean there was quite a few really, really, some of the characters, um, I had an uncle, uncle Arthur, he lived at the bottom of town steps and [00:07:00] used to be shoe repairs, oh right, doing shoe repairs, this sort of thing. Um, and the old couple that lived in the cottage next door to that, um Mr & Mrs Ward, um the, I don't know do you know Celia Cooney, that lives in the fish shop? I know the name I haven't met her, yeah, they were her parents. I've got a picture of her parents and me sitting on the beach mm, um well lots of people, you know, they were all, we were in and out of peoples houses. Yes, so it was very different to now, oh yes, yeah. You, you, cannot compare Aldeburgh, to it is now, I mean even when Margaret first came, when I met her in fifty-nine, yeah when we working at Ipswich on the district, um you know, she said, you know, you can't compare Aldeburgh [00:08:00] to what it was like when I first, first came. Yeah, you know, so. Yes I imagine doors were left open and you just came and went as wished. Yeah, yeah. Yeah ahem, you know I mean, we spent our childhood on the beach, uhuh, carnival time, you know, we used to go off, we knew all the fair people, they were like another family, you know. We used to have so many pennies to play in the slot machines, laugh, go back home to ask for more laugh, you know, so yeah. And what other entertainments were there in town? Well not a lot, only the cinema, (yeah, fantastic cinema). You see, there weren't, weren't anything else, I mean, apart from ar the tennis courts, uhuh, I mean there was tennis courts where they are now, there was tennis courts [00:09:00] on where the caravan site is uhuh, there was a football pitch over there, um, right. And um, we used to go up there, I think and play rounders mm, you see there weren't any caravans, no, or anything. so um. What about dances, you mentioned dances before? Who? Dances, at the Jubilee Hall, oh yeah, yeah, they used to do, well I think they used to put on plays uhuh, but they used to do, they used to do um do dances, they used to have a orchestra or something come down and um they had dances, I think sort of Saturday nights, you know. mm And did you go to these dances? Well no, I was in bed I think. laugh. All I know is Jessie once a month, cos my mum was a caretaker, she could go in with [00:10:00] my dad. Ahh, and um, you know, ok, have a dance, have a dance, dance round, yeah. Did you go to the cinema a lot? Well, not really, Jessie did, she used to go twice a week, down in the, down in the..., I think they was six pence or something like that, yeah. Oh yeah, because when she died, I sent donations to Aldeburgh Cinema, oh wonderful, yes, Oh she was quite a, quite a cinema..., well we are very lucky to have that cinema, yeah. Ahem, the person that you would talk to, really, is Bobby Burns mm, I loved to talk to him actually. Yeah, he is a mine, he is a mine of information, I mean, if I see him in the street, you know, um, but, I mean there's not many, [00:11:00] I mean Joan, what's Joan is eighty-nine, she lives in the cottages, um where we lived, um, and course, Celia Cooney, that lives above the fish shop uhuh, um but there's not many, yes, local people left you see, no there aren't are there, not really, that know.... Aldeburgh, that know what it was like. I think that's where that chappie, um now where did he live, Knodishall I think, he wrote a book um, I can't think what it was called, I've got it tucked away somewhere, um you know said that's a shame if the memories just go, well that's.... get lost, what we are trying to stop you see, yeah, yeah. Yes I meant to ask you actually, what, what life was like in London, because it must a been quite a, an exciting place to be in London? Well yeah, while you were working there, it was, it was. Yeah I mean, [00:12:00] you know I, when I first went up there, obviously we couldn't go out in the evenings, we were lucky because they let us go and watch the Coronation, and, wonderful, yeah. I met up with my friend at um North Middlesex and there was about six of us. Slept the night, well we didn't sleep the night, we were just inside Hyde Park, and the police were so good they used to keep and eye on us, and bring us bits to eat. Um so we watched the Coronation um, but apart from that we weren't allowed out, ah, not for six months, right, cos that Track 4 3:57 we called PTS, Preliminary Training School, ah, so you know, you weren't allowed out, um and then cos we went over to the hospital, we had one...we were allowed, out until nine o'clock, one... once a week, and then once a month until ten o'clock. And then in my second year we could go out, um, er, 'til eleven o'clock, I think, once a week, if we wanted to go to London theatres. Because there used to be a big notice go up, um and such..there used to be a January school, April school, July school, October school, there used to be about forty people in each school, and um, notice go up so many tickets, free tickets, I mean fair enough, they were quite often in the gods, you know, so there was always a scramble(right) [00:01:00] Um, you know, and what did you see, can you remember any of the things you saw? oh all sorts thing, Flower Drum Song um ,Sound of Music, um.... no I can't remember them all....(right), Happy Fella, all of them really. I saw Anna Neagle and something else in the Strand theatre, mm..yeah... what fun gosh..and cos I used to, I learnt to ice skate up there, so, where did you do that? Um, at Richmond, oh yes Richmond, sometimes I used to go to Streatham, but quite often Richmond, cos it was just over the river, mm, used to walk you see...yeah. Gosh,ice skating, not something I'd ever do. laugh I don't, I don't think I could ice skate now, [00:02:00] but you know yeah, what fun. It was a.. it was hard, I found it hard slog, I think because, um, I used to get home sick mm, and also it took me ages to pick things up, I couldn't grasp, you know, so you had to go over it...I had to ask the tutor sometimes to, you know, help me, yeah. But, but you got there, I got there, yeah, I mean, it was a lovely profession and being a midwife was nice, yeah, but then it got too much paperwork, ahem, like everything else... yep yep. Yes you were talking about that cos, you were talking about computers and the fact that they didn't...yeah, yeah,they brought them in, yeah they were just comin' in.. mm, when I finished, because they wanted appointments to go on the computer [00:03:00] well that was alright, but the computer would go down about three or four o'clock on a Friday, and not come back until half past eight on a Monday mm, so nobody if they rang in could any about it, tut, you know, and the midwives and the nurses weren't allowed to use 'um, you know, and I said no I am going to keep the appointment books and I got into a lot of trouble, but I am glad I did, because we had something to fall back on,mm...yeah, you know. Well I think we have covered everything, ahem, were there any other things that you wanted to tell, no I don't think so, right , brilliant, thank you very much. Right. Track 5 12:40 Now you were telling me where you lived at Crag Pit House, yeah, we had a flat there uhuh, um, with Mr & Mrs Bacon, um and um, you know, that's when we were living over here, um and um, I said to Mr Argent, he was the solicitor at the time, mm, um, do you know of a flat or anything going, um you know, that we could um, sort of rent, uhuh, um because it was difficult getting on with Jessie, um being that bit older, she was set in her ways, yup, and plus, you know, Margaret had got a car, I'd got a car, hm, um, so yes, we had for about, all twenty years I suppose, oh really. Yeah, so we used to, um you know, walk the two poodles, either down the old railway line uhuh, or across the [00:01:00] golf, um to the chestnut wood, right, and then another time, we would go up to Hazelwood and walk across to the river wall and um back again, yes. And this was your friend Margaret, what was her surname I forgotten? Coward, Coward ok, and you had known her all your life, well no not really I met up with her nineteen fifty-nine, sixty oh when we were doing part two in Ipswich, right. Was she a midwife as well? She was doing her part two midwifery, yeah and um her, well um she had....her mum died when she was three and she had a stepmother, ok, that weren't very nice, so she lived with an aunt and um, they lived in Staines. We finished at five or six one evening, [00:02:00] mm, we had to be back by ten o'clock, the following night, you see, well by the time she got on the train from Ipswich and got to Staines, it was more or less time to come back. Yes. And I said to her, well you're quite welcome to come home with me, you know, I ain't got a posh home or anything, which she did and course my mum made her welcome, and it started from there. So if I was working and she had a day off, she'd hop on the bus and go through to Aldeburgh, ah. So my mum treated her as another daughter, another daughter, excellent, yeah. And you shared a flat for twenty odd years, yeah, wow, and we shared a bungalow, you see, ah, but then I went back um, when was that...where are we...I think...about... [00:03:00] about nineteen-ninety, I think it was, when my sister kept falling over and breaking her wrist and this sort of thing, ah and she kept going into Aldeburgh Hospital and they kept saying she's a bed blocker, she's got to go into a home. I said no she's not going into a home, I said if necessary I'll come over and have her home and look after her. You can't do that, you don't know how to lift. She was...she went into hospital, she was seven stone something, yeah, she went down to five and a half. I said what did you say to me I don't know how to look after her, I was furious, I bet you were, and um anyway I had her home, but she only last for about a fortnight. Anyway I tried to keep the house going, um, because there was [00:04:00] so much to sort out anyway, but Mr Argent the Solicitor, he was good, he helped me quite a lot, good. And um, so was.. also she has a cat, you see, ah, so I say to Joan, if I go back to Lowestoft, can you look after the cat for a bit, while I get sorted, you see. But then Aldeburgh got busier and busier and I kept getting into trouble cos of the car outside. I tried to find somewhere over there, so I could sell her house, you know and have a little holiday place over there, cos, but it was too expensive. And then cos we were looking at the time, Margaret was looking after the old lady that lived here, uhuh, and when I came back I sort of kept an eye on her as well, and um, when she died her daughter said would you like the house? mm. [00:05:00] Would you like the bungalow? Well, I don't know really and Margaret said well you've got all Jessie's furniture, uhuh, and what are we going to do with it, so that's you know, when we talk it over, um because I didn't want to get rid of my grandad's, no quite, furniture, you need to hang on to it. So, um but I would have loved to find somewhere over there, yes, you know, I bet you would actually yeah. It has got a bit silly. Ahem, I meant to ask you about your dog, you have always had poodles have you? Well the first poodle I had, ahem, my mum looked after a chappie in the house behind where the lifeboat shop was, uhuh. A Captain Nicholson and he had a little dog, called Johnson, he was quite well known, he used to go and play golf, leave the dog up there, ahh, and my mum said well what have you done with Johnson? Oh gosh he said I left him behind at the club house. [00:06:00] laugh Anyway, that's beside the point, he eventually had him mated, and that was..I was in my second year, second year I think and I came home one holiday and my mum said Johnsons gonna be a daddy, I said good lord. Um anyway, er I saw Captain Nicholson the next day he said how's the nursing going, I said well alright, hard. Now I gotta proposition, I said oh what's that, would you like an offspring of Johnson? chuckle I couldn't believe it, I said would I, you know, because my mum used to look after Johnson, if he decided to go abroad. ahh. So anyway, I came home and um, this little doggie had had some puppies, um belonged to a Miss Spurgess that live along Leiston Road. [00:07:00] So I had the pick of the litter, lovely. So that's how I had Benny, Benny, that was the first, yeah and he was my first poodle and um. When my mum and sister came up for prize givin, um, I said to somebody at the door, um you know, can we leave the dog outside, and he said oh no, just go and sit at the back and you'll be alright, then cos when I went up to get my certificate, he cried, of course...laugh. Oh I did feel a charlie, I said to matron and the lady that give...that's alright she said and she come and spoke to my mum afterwards. Cos she got a little scottie dog ahh, we always knew where she was....when you saw the dog...when she was doing her rounds ahh. Matrons on the warpath, the dogs sitting outside the ward....laugh. You know, and then cos when I came [00:08:00] to Lowestoft and worked on the district, somebody gave me a poodle puppy, ahem, and um, you know, I said well she's gonna .... Jane's gonna be lonely, so I went back the next day, cos you know, her daughter had had a baby, so I had two, I got one for Margaret, so that's how it started....laugh. So we had Jane and Johnny and we lost them and then we had um, an apricot, Benji and a black poodle Susie, that had other homes. Then we had two brown boys, ahh, and then I took on another poodle people were going abroad. I couldn't get another poodle, so I had a little lapso Amy, ahh, oh she was a stubborn little devil, they are known for it apparently. Then course my cousin had a norfolk terrier, Toby, [00:09:00] and she was ill, so I took on that, so I had three in one go, and then course towards the end I lost three of them, you know, within six months, but they were all elderly. And then Margaret said no more dogs, its heartbreaking and I saw him advertised chuckle. But you know, he such good company, yes, they are lovely aren't they. So do you live this side of the Red House or the other side? Leiston Road side. Cos there was Waldringfield, yes that's further down, and then, was there another house in between and then Red House? And then there's a bungalow, there is a bungalow between us and the Red House, yeah, just the one bungalow. And the Red House has bought a lot of houses further up, yeah. Cos there was a bungalow belonged to ... oh I can't remember, I knew the names of people [00:10:00] yeah, people, yeah. Because, um, the friend that used to clip them, Vanda Hussey, lives in along Sax Road, just beyond, ahh ok, just beyond Golf Lane, right yeah. And the other thing was, I gather neither you nor Jessie married. No, no, so that's the end of your Clarke line, yeah, yeah. Yeah, cos my aunt, well my father had a brother and he went to the first world war, and he got killed on his twenty-first birthday, I think, um, my aunt at Snape um, married a Ling mm, um, and they had a little boy and they named him Philip Clarke Ling, to try and keep the Clarke in the family, but he was drowned in the river, oh no, so thats...it died out. What age [00:11:00] was he when he drowned? I think, I think he was about six or seven oh, all I remember is my mum saying that the police come to the house and said had they seen Philip and my mum said well I wouldn't know him, you know, if I saw him, mm. So, um so, and the one that died in the war you think that was on his birthday? I think so, yeah. What was his name? Alfred, Alfred, Yeah, I..I just...well last year I had a, a stone put up to my grandparents, cos my dad always said if he'd had the money he'd had a um, you know, a stone put up.. yes.. a stone put up to my grandparents. Ahem. And I talk to a cousin in Ipswich, Peggy, she's in her nineties and I said do you mind, mm, she said well no Nancy, she said cos really you're the only one left o' the [00:12:00] Clarkes and I said well I just feel, you know, he would have like it. And um, which I did and then on the bottom I had them put on Alfred Clarke killed in the nineteen fourteen - eighteen war and the dates, I can't remember exactly, but Jessie is buried on the path going towards the cemetery, on the right hand side, there's two little graves, two little marble..stones, oh ok. Um, one's my sister and the other one is Phylis the last little girl that died and then there is another stone and there my grandparents. Track 6 06:15 gosh, a little Clarke collection, yeah. And then a bit further along near the hedge, is where my mum and dad are buried, ah gosh, and then next door to them, um is my uncle, uncle billy, talbot, that died, mm, and his sister, um, and then this side between the Clarke family grave and my mum's is another gra.. Arthur and Mary that were the shoemakers, oh right, so, yeah. Its a lot, a lot of Clarkes, yeah, yeah, I must go and have a look, see if I can find it, ok, yeah. I mean a lot of people in Aldeburgh know me, yes, you know, um, I am sure yeah, yeah, cos [00:01:00] across the way from here, in Sands Lane, there's a Mrs Kerry, and her husband was a butcher in Aldeburgh, oh, so I have the Aldeburgh Gazette, so I take that over to her. And where did he have his butcher's shop? Next to the Baptist church, in the high street. oh gosh, I know, yeah, ok, yeah, near Keane, near Argent's, solicitors, mm. And then there's a shop that sells all sorts of things and then the Baptist church, yeah he had a butchers shop there. So what other shops were there on the high street, I meant to ask you that, can you remember, what other ones there were? Well, there was a lot you see, I mean, O & C Butchers, they had a shop down the bottom o' the high street, mm, there's some new houses that stand back a bit, that was a grocers and they used to have another little shop that sell lino, [00:02:00] and all this sort of thing, oh, haberdash.., well all sorts of things. And then they had the shop up near the outfitters, mm, that was a part, that was a grocers shop, right. They had another grocers shop up near the old railway station,ah, and then cos, Clifford, no Owen had the drapers shop attached to the one in the high street, got ya. You see there was, Barleys the butchers, opposite the White hart, there was Aldridges, the butchers, there was Salters, the butchers, goodness, you see. There was Jeffreys the greengrocers, Halas's the greengrocers, wow. We could do with some of those back again. Was there a fishmongers, or did you just buy from...yeah, yeah, the fishmongers was near Salters the butchers as it is now ahuh. I think it's a book shop, oh yes. Yeah that was a fishmongers, and so was the other one, [00:03:00] where the fish and chip shop is, near the White Hart, that was a wet fish shop. And then there was a fish and chip shop next door to Argents, right, and there was only one of those in the high street, yes. So not many clothing shops in the high street? Well, there was Olivia's, and Butcher's, that's all, that's it, yeah. And was the bookshop there, was there a bookshop? Um, no, no, that was, no, they sold, that was..I can't remember what it was called now, they sold baby clothes, oh, oh yeah, that, yeah, that.. they sold clothes. Gosh. That was a big clothes shop mm. Because there are art shops now, and I suppose they were there then either? No, no. [00:04:00] No I mean where the Tourist Board is, mm was a little toy shop, Lucy Pilgrim kept that. oh ok. So you got grocers..and then course next door to that was Sears the bakers. How many bakers were there in town? Three, three! Yeah, so you've got Sears, who were the other two? Um, there was one...where the bakers shop is now, that was still there, mm there was one opposite, oh ok, yeah there was three....... And the cinema of course, I am trying to remember some of the other shops. I mean, there was Beeches, the ironmongery, there was Constances, where the flower shop is. uhuh. Where was Beeches? Beeches was where...er, next door to the newsagents, oh yes, [00:05:00] along there, between there and Flicks's. And of course that was a butchers shop, um and then there was Halas's, um and then there was Constances's, that was a big ironmongery shop. right. It's very different now. An an an ..then across the other side of the Suffolk, um there was Millers, the newsagents, you see, uhuh, and then there was the gas showrooms, oh yes. So and then a bit further along, there was Botterell's, she used to sell all knitting wools and this sort of thing. Um, and then er, near Barclay's Bank, there was the Louve, and that used to sell materials, yards of materials, oh right, and clothes and this sort of thing.mm, A better mix of shops all together, much better, mm. I don't know, have you not got the books about Aldeburgh? I don't know if I got them of hand, just have a look ............ |