Interview with female. Village life during Second World War. Grandfather's threshing business

You may need to log in to continue. Access the full document and its details.

Notes on Audio Quality

Please note that there are multiple tracks to this recording. Use the arrow buttons to navigate to further tracks.

Interviewer

Semeraro, Carmela

Document Type

Date

17 Sep 2003

Interview Date

17 Sep 2003

Biography

The interviewee was born 13 January 1934. Her mother was a sociable person who was keen on craft work and was active in organising village activities in Ridgemont. The interviewee's parents lived with her grandparents in order to look after her grandmother. Around the age of eleven, she attended school in Bedford and recalls feeling permanently tired. She remembers an influx of evacuees to the village in 1939 when she was aged five. Further evacuees stayed in Brogborough, which was also served by Ridgemont village school. There were a lot of incomers, brought in by Marston Valley Co. lorries each day. She recalls a room called the Carving Room, once used after First World War as a craft training centre for unemployed village men, teaching fretwork and other wood carving skills. Post-war, she attend the first "house" films at the cinema in Ampthill and got the last bus back to the village. As a girl, she attended the Band of Hope meetings run by members of the church. She attended piano lessons after school and had a piano at home. She later took Music at GCE 'A' Level at school. She played the piano for choir practice by the time she was sixteen, and sometimes for church services. She notes on daily life during this time, and jobs within her family. She also recalls life during the wartime, and post wartime, such as "Dig for Britain" week and VE Day. She remembers taking part in a fancy dress parade and fund-raising events during the war. She sat and passed 11+ intelligence test and was selected to attend Bedford Modern School for Girls in Bedford, a private Harpur Trust School. There was still rationing after the war had ended and when she went to the Royal School of Needlework. She had a ration card in London. The more academic girls at school were steered towards staying on in the Sixth Form and on to university, there was no such thing as careers advice. She notes that she was good at music, floristry, needlework, and embroidery. At fifteen she wrote to Norman Hartnell, the Queen's dress maker, for advice. She visited the Trades School at the back of Selfridges department store in London but it was like a clothes factory and it didn't appeal to her. She applied successfully for the Royal School of Needlework, overlooking Hyde Park, and spent four years there. She speaks about her teaching career, marriage, and involvement with steam engines as a hobby. She learned to drive steam engines through her grandfather, and bought an engine with her husband's life insurance money after he had passed away. She travelled around the country to rallies and joined the National Traction Engine Trust. After thirty years involvement, she is now Vice-President of the Trust. She started the Steam apprentice Club, and courses for adults wishing to drive. She notes that everyone knows her through her presence and work over the years. She also does steam ploughing demonstrations. She recalls changes over her lifetime, such as more community spirit and travel.

Length (minutes)

180

Copyright and Source Archive

Material sourced from Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service