Memories (2)

As mentioned in my post of 14 December, I am posting a series of stories collected in a booklet called “Memories”, so I interrupt the tale of a cycle ride in Israel to give you the second instalment. The first was of a child evacuee and here is one of an adult evacuee

Thursday's Child Has Far To Go by Joan

I was born in 1923 at the home of my mother's parents, a small holding just 9 miles from Land's End. My father was in the Royal Navy and when I was 2 years old he left the Navy so that he and my mother could build a life together. His new job was to take us to Aberystwyth in Wales where we remained for about three years before moving to Plymouth where he worked in the Dockyard. Dad's next move was to Torquay where I lived with them until I left home to be a nurse in Plymouth Hospital.

During the blitz it became impossible to carry out major surgery at the hospital because of the sudden power failures in the theatre, of which there were many. This meant that all the surgical procedures were moved to a cottage hospital in Tavistock where I lived until my marriage in 1943.

The day after our wedding I went with my husband to the Isle of Man where he was in respite after surviving the sinking of his ship in Murmansk. I had a great time in Douglas because food there came from Ireland and we were well fed after days of severe rationing at home. We stayed there for six months when he was again allocated to a ship.

I returned to Torquay to my parents where I got a job with the Torquay Nurses Co-op caring for people in their homes. It was during this time that I became pregnant with my eldest son and it was necessary for me to get a home together. I returned to Plymouth and set up home as my husband would return to his old job at Plymouth Dockyard on his discharge from the Navy.

Just when we got our flat furnished my husband said he had two weeks leave which was a generous surprise during the war. What we did not know was that he was being sent to Hong Kong to drive out the Japanese invaders. My little boy was born and never saw his father until he was nearly two and a half years old; that was a very hard experience.When Edgar came home from Hong Kong he was immediately demobbed and was able to begin work again at the Dockyard and we settled down to a daily routine; soon after my second son was born.

In 1961 my husband came home from work one day and said, "I've got promotion and I am being sent to Rosyth!" We were advised by the Dockyard not to buy property at that time in case he was moved back to Plymouth and there was a problem selling it. It is amazing to remember that we lived our first year in a property belonging to Stephens Bakery in Buchanan Street; little did I know then that I would end up living round the corner.

We then moved into the new Dockyard houses in Rosyth on their completion.In 1968 both of our sons were married and we were sent back to Plymouth for three years, returning to Rosyth Dockyard in 1971. This time we decided to buy a bungalow in Dunfermline where we lived for 32 years. We were married for 57 years when my dear husband died and I can truly say that 'Psalm23' has been my strength through all the changes and vicissitudes of life.

Yes, this particular Thursday's Child had far to go.


This lady also describes how one of her first duties as a nurse in the hospital was to cut up butter into 100 1 oz portions, each portion being the ration for one nurse for a whole week. She now has a great grand child who is going to have "a little bruvver" soon.