ROSEMARY UNWIN
Surname
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Unwin
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Forename
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Rosemary
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Date of recording
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Feb 2008
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Year of birth
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1935
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Place of Birth
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London
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Occupation
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Retired
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Fathers occupation
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Present Address
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Orford
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Location Interview
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Orford
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Interviewer
Summary |
Debbie Bone
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Duration
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115 Mins
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No of tracks: 3
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This recording consists of 3 tracks.
Track 1 [1.04.31] Introduction by Debbie Bone interviewing Rosemary Unwin at her home in Orford. Rosemary was born in London on 2nd July 1935 and moved to Orford, when she was about six months' old, with her mother to look after her grandfather, Gus Haiken. Describes the house as it was when she was young and describes the changes she has made to it. Remembers a range in the kitchen. Mentions that they would collect wood from the beach. Mentions there was no running water in the house but a pump outside which all the cottages would use. Describes a lady in one of the houses who used to take in washing and had to walk and collect her water from the pump. Describes going to a small kindergarten school with her friend, Dorothy Caitlin. The school was run by a lady called, Miss Revell, who was half French, and she taught them reading, writing, arithmetic and French. Remembers Miss Revell came from Sudbourne but during the war Sudbourne became an army training area and she had to move. Describes then going to Orford School. Remembers playing outside all the time and that there was not much traffic in Orford. Mentions that as it was a small village everyone knew what you were up to and if you were naughty at any one time your grandfather would have been told. Remembers cycling with other children round Orford and sometimes to Sudbourne Hall. Mentions that they did not have watches in those days but always managed to come home in time for their meals. Describes there being a pontoon bridge across the river to Orfordness during the war. Remembers the MOD used to crash aircraft on to the Ness and would then transport all the bits back across the river on a large trailer. She did not know the reason for this. Describes how there were no boats on the river as sailing and fishing were not allowed. All the boats were laid up until the end of the war. Remembers her grandfather had two boats and laid one up at the school and a motor boat was laid up at Butley Creak but unfortunately this fell into disrepair during the war. Describes how the entire village of Sudbourne was evacuated during the war and the area was used as battleground training for the soldiers. Remembers they could still get the bus into Ipswich or Woodbridge and could get to Snape by road. Describes the shops in Orford at that time. Mrs. Brinkley who sold sweets and groceries; Mr. Warner who mended bicycles and also did leather work; the Richolds who had a grocers and haberdashers shop in the High Street; a post office in the square and a bakers shop where Mrs. Pinney's is now. Remembers a shop called Elliot's and two butchers and another grocers shop, Mr and Mrs Chapman, in the square, which bombed. Remembers going to the bakers at tea time and buying a warm loaf of bread which she nibbled on the way the home. Does not remember have ice cream, perhaps only once at a children's party where the mother had made it herself. Remembers buying sugar that came in blue paper bags tied with string. Mentions another sweet shop in the square where, after school, you could buy one pennyworth of sweets from a 'pick of the box' and these were usually liquorice comforts, liquorice pipes etc. Remembers that you could also buy sweets with a farthing. Describes rationing during the war and mentions that her grandfather grew plenty of vegetables in his garden. Remembers Mr. Last from Snape, who had a fish and chip in Orford that opened on Tuesday evenings, Friday afternoons and evenings and remembers buying three penny worth of chips. Describes another time when her grandfather got some winkles from the river and left them in a bucket of salt water in the kitchen overnight and when her grandfather came down in the morning the cockles were everywhere as he had not put a lid on the bucket. Describes how the sea wall had barbed wire on it during the war. Remembers the Home Guard and remembers them checking on the blackout blinds. Describes the siren going off and her grandfather standing by the door watching the tracer lights from the Ness and listening to the guns. Remembers when the bombs dropped in Orford, killing fourteen people and mentions the large square grave in the churchyard where they are buried. Mentions that they did not have an air raid shelter as such but they used to hide in the cupboard next to the fireplace which was the strongest place in the house. Describes how the council houses were bombed -Nightingale Piece. Describes a shop that was bombed and luckily Mrs. Chapman, the owner, was at the bottom of the garden feeding her chickens and escaped although was rather shocked and covered in chicken feathers. Describes learning to sail with her grandfather who sailed every day. Describes the sailing boat. Mentions that her grandfather went sailing most days and was always home for lunch, which was the main meal of the day. Describes how they would have bread and jam and cake for tea, occasionally with strawberries or raspberries grown in the garden. Mentions that her great grandfather was the chief coastguard and lived in the coastguard cottages. Mentions that he came from Kent by sea. Remembers that the house they all lived in was rented by her grandfather who had been a policeman but had been invalided out as he had rheumatic fever. Mentions that at one time he also ran the Red Lion public house at Cherry Hinton near Cambridge, and also ran the Constitutional Club in Eastbourne but he came back to Orford to look after his mother when his father died. Mentions that he was one of the founder member of the sailing club at Orford. Remembers her uncle giving her her grandfather's boat, Lady Sarah, for her 21st Birthday. Describes how she used to sail a lot and George Brinkley would crew for her. Mentions that she once won a cup. Describes how she trained as a nurse and worked nights at Ipswich Hospital so that she could have the weekends off and sail every Saturday. Describes a typical Saturday race, and describes where the start line was and how a gentleman called Mr. Lewis had a gun and would start the races. Mentions that her boat, the Lady Sarah, was named after her grandmother. Mentions that George Brinkley was the Harbour Master and was in charge of the Quay. Shows a photo of the grandfather and George Brinkley sitting on the Quay. Describes the house she now lives in and mentions that it was originally occupied by her aunt and uncle and describes how her aunt did not like the small sash windows and had them replaced with Crittall casement metal windows and that she (Mrs Unwin) did not like them very much but it would have been too expensive to change them back. Mentions that the cottage was most likely built in or around 1650 and describes the interior with the black beams and the inglenook fireplace. Mentions that in one of the rooms the beams had previously been covered up with a false ceiling and a wooden floor had been put down, instead of the bricks. Describes how she had this all changed back although the brick floor had gone and she then laid down a new brick floor. Continues to describe the inside of the cottage mentioning that the walls were 15" thick and there were four bedrooms upstairs. Mentions that an architect who had looked over the property thought that the building was quite important at one time judging by the size of the beams and the rooms. Mrs. Unwin believes her uncle bought the property when the Sudbourne Estate was sold off in the 1920's. Describes her garden and remembers her grandfather had a large vegetable patch and grew most of their vegetables. Mentions that she used to go down to the beach and collect dead starfish and these were placed on the asparagus bed as a fertilizer. Mentions that she thinks they have more high tides now than when she was younger. Describes how there are many more boats on the river now and also more fishermen and describes the stall on the Quay where she can buy fresh fish. Describes the ferry that went across to the Ness. Describes how she learnt to swim in the river, the children being taken from school to the river probably once or twice a week. Describes how the headmaster had made a swimming pool in one of the bays down from the Quay. Mentions that before the children could swim in the river they had to learn to swim at school on a machine designed by the headmaster. Describes this machine in detail. Once they could do the breast stroke actions correctly they were then allowed in the river but they were tied to a rope held by the teacher, Mrs. Thompson. Describes how when the teacher thought they could swim properly they were then allowed to swim in the river without the rope attached. Describes the swimming pool and mentions two huts, one for the girls to change in and one for the boys. Describes her swimming costumes and mentions that her mother, who was a dressmaker and took in work, made them for her. Describes other games she used to play as a child, throwing a ball against a wall, five stone and running down the road with a top and whip. Track 2 [20.48] Continues to describe games she played as a child, skipping, What's the time Mr. Wolf, mentions that she played at the recreation ground and on the castle green and climbed trees. Mentions that her best friend was Dorothy Catlin whose father worked on the Ness during the war. Describes going on picnics with her grandparents and seeing sea gulls 'standing on the water' at Shingle Street, but they were actually standing on the shingle banks. Continues describing the picnics, taking beer for grandfather, tea for mother and cherryade for herself, with sandwiches wrapped in greaseproof paper. Remembers that sometimes on these picnics her grandfather would haul the boat up and turn her over and get the barnacles off her bottom. Describes going to church when she was a child and mentions that her grandfather was the verger and would always wear a bowler hat when he walked to church. Mentions that Sunday services were 8.00, 11.00 and 6.30. Mentions that her mother was in the choir until she became a Roman Catholic. Gives the reason why her mother changed and talks about the different services she used to attend at both churches with her mother. Mentions that some of the 'weekenders' that come to Orford do attend church services and join in the local community. Remembers an occasion when the Bishop came to Orford and travelled on to Iken by boat which then got stuck in the mud on the wrong side of the river. Tells how he travelled over to Iken by dinghy, getting very wet. Mentions that after the service everyone had a picnic in a field near the church. Track 3 [30.07] Repeats swimming stories in more detail from Track 1 as it was thought this part of the tape had been erased. Mentions that she used to swim from the swimming pool in the river to the Quay and this was about ¼ mile. Mentions sailing with her grandfather (also repeated from Track 1). Tells a story of her grandfather sailing with Mr. Chapman, capsizing and Mr. Chapman coming up from the water with his hat still intact. Mentions the picnics they used to have sailing down with the tide in the morning and coming back with the tide in the afternoon. Repeats the starfish story and the piles of wood on the beach. Describes how the community in the village has changed and now there are a lot of weekenders who come to sail and do not really get involved with the village life. Describes how the young people have moved away as they could not afford to stay, although there is affordable housing in the village now. Mentions that there is a certain amount of work, agricultural, pub and hotel work, shop work and there are a couple of business units on the edge of the village that employ local people. Mentions there are a lot of retired people. Mentions that the local school is well attended with children coming from the local area. Repeated the description of house as in Track 1. Describes how during the time the Sudbourne Estate owned most of the houses for use by their farm workers, the bedrooms of the houses were sometimes extended and walls moved over into the next property depending on how many children you had. Describes training as a nurse at 18 years old at the Ipswich Hospital. Describes her training in detail, mentioning that there were about a dozen girls in her 'set'. Mentions that the training was over a period of three years and mostly practical. Mentions Matrons and describes their importance and also how strict they were. Describes how the nurses used to clean the wards first thing in the morning, get people up and washed, give them their breakfast, strip and change all the beds (about 24 on each ward), do the bed pans, all this before Matron did her rounds at about 10.00 in the morning. Describes have a break mid-morning and perhaps finishing off the left over breakfasts, then returning to the ward to do the dressings etc. Mentions a small book that the nurses had that were 'signed off' by the ward sister as they learnt their different duties. Describes her uniform, purple whilst in training. Mentions that she was very proud of her uniform and hat, and also they wore badges depicting which year of their training they were in. Describes how once the training was over and you passed your exams you became a Junior Staff Nurse. Describes how she worked nights to that she could have Friday and Saturdays off so that she could go sailing. Describes how she then joined the Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service and worked abroad in many different countries during the following 32 years. Mentions that the military hospitals had very good discipline and that they also took civilian patients. Describes how hospitals have changed today. Mentions that she was Squadron Leader in the Air Force which is the equivalent to Ward Sister. |