I was born in a little village called Newbold on Stour, which is about six and a half miles south of Stratford on Avon. I was up there until about 11 or 12 years old and I lost my parents and then moved around a bit because I had to go in homes, and then I lived in Leamington Spa for a bit, and Warwick. Then I moved down to the south of England to Epsom in Surrey and got a job there. I was down there about 10 years, and well then I went on holiday one year and met S., who was to be my husband. It was matter of love at first sight and we married 12 months later. Well, of course, with it being such a long way away and S. living here, and me living in Epsom in Surrey we just had to get over and see each other in between. Because, luckily he had a long weekend off once a month, so one month he used to come over there and the next month I'd come over here. When we decided we were going to get married I moved over here altogether and lived with his sister and then of course I was very lucky because I had a house to go into. S., he was a Norwich man and his parents moved to Appleyard Crescent when he was only about three months old and did his schooling just round the corner at the Norman Centre. Then he was very lucky there because all of his schooling he could do there. Because they hadn't moved it so when you went to Secondary Modern you had to go further afield - probably Hellesdon High or one of the others round about - so he was very lucky that way. So of course when his parents died he decided to stay in the house which was very good really because when we met and got married I just had a house to move into.
That's the Norman Centre, that's just over there?
That's right, yeah. Anyway, but he worked for the Electricity Board (of course I called him my live wire 'cos he worked there). We had 28 years of lovely marriage. [...] I remember him saying to me once, he said, "Look, if I go first I don't want you to sit around and mope. I want you to go out and enjoy yourself." So since then I've just kept that in my mind and I've been getting these things done and going places, ‘cos I know he's there looking down on me and he would be very glad to think that I'm making a little bit of life now. I mean as soon as the nicer weather comes I shall probably go down the seaside for the day. Now in July, I'm going on a three day trip down to the Cotswolds and Bath, Historic Bath. I'm going on another one which is to the Derbyshire Dales and the Peaks and that's for five days. So that's nice.
You've got a lot planned. I hope the weather stays like this.
Let's hope so, yes. Since I've been here I've been very happy and we have bingo a couple of times a week. On a Thursday we have a coffee morning, and as it happens that coincides with a coffee morning - a drop-in - at my church, the Mile Cross Methodist Church.
But now, when we got married ... of course I was brought up a Methodist and I always said, if ever I got married I'd want to get married in the Methodist Church, and I told S. that. He said. "Well, we'll do that". Because with his family not being a church-going family to me it was more important. Being at home with S., especially at the weekends when he was out at work all week and the weekends when we could be together - we went out in the City on a Saturday and Sunday we'd get up and I'd cook the Sunday lunch and we'd be enjoying ourselves together and probably settle down and watch a nice film - and that was more important to me than going to the church service. I mean, if I could have got S. to go, it would have been better.
The Methodist Church - is that connected to the Phoenix Centre?
No, I think it's King's that goes there. They have a service there on a Sunday, King's - I think it's in the City centre. Yeah, that's it. They were getting a bit overcrowded so they started using the Norman Centre and have a service there for so many.
So that was a Methodist service at the Norman Centre?
No, King's, I'm not quite sure what religion that was. One lady did say once, but I can't remember which it was. But anyway, while S. was in hospital, of course I got up to see him every day, but I started going to the services and as soon as the service was finished I caught the bus up the hospital, had a bit of dinner myself, because he was having a job eating and that, I'd take stuff up for him and then probably help him with his meal when I got up there. So that was nice and of course after I lost him it was a great help, because I'd got to know a lot of the people up there and they were a great help to me at the church.
[...]
How old were you when you moved to Mile Cross? Because you've always lived in Mile Cross since you moved to Norwich?
Yeah. It was in 79 we got married and we lived at Appleyard Crescent all that time. Well, then it was getting to be a bit too much for me because I've got arthritis in one of my legs and then got it in the other one. And since then I've had two knee replacements done, one while I was at Mile Cross which is about 12 months this month, and then last November I had that one done and with not having stairs to climb it's been nice, a smaller place.
Yes it's really cosy. A sunny spot as well.
Yeah you get more sun. Sometimes come the summer months you get a bit of sun out the back and you can probably sit out there.
What do you think about this area? What were your first impressions when you moved to Norwich?
I thought this was a nice area. I think Mile Cross is a nice area.
Have you seen it change quite a lot over the years?
Well, the only thing I've noticed is, there were a lot of people when you'd probably go out, "Oh, morning ... morning, Mrs So and So, lovely day isn't it? It's nice, I think I'm going to perhaps to go down Sheringham for the day..." or something like that, and you'd be standing there talking to them. Now since then a lot of them, those ones that were there, they've either passed away or moved from the area and the younger families have moved in and they haven't seemed to be so friendly.
Even within this community, you've got quite a lot of neighbours really close by, but you really keep yourselves to your own community. You feel there's not really much of a community spirit?
Well, you can speak to anybody you like, but I think to myself, the thing is I'd rather sort of have my place to myself. Because sometimes I think perhaps let people in sometime and some might not perhaps know where to stop, and in the end perhaps start making a nuisance of themselves. So to stop that sort of thing happening I just keep to myself. When I see them I speak to them, if I go out that door, see somebody out there, call out "morning" perhaps, make comments on what the day's like, perhaps chat for a few minutes. They're all friendly enough, they'll all talk to you. But as I say, to save anything going wrong I think to myself, I'll just keep my place to myself and sit and relax here and if I want to talk to somebody I can just go outside.
It's nice and quiet down here isn't it? I noticed as I was arriving how quiet it is.
Well of course the kids are at school at the moment, aren't they?
Does it get noisy outside with the children?
Sometimes you get them. Right in here you can't hear them but sometimes there might be a few congregating out the back. [...]
So this will be your first full summer here?
Yeah. Luckily I could move when it was nice weather, so that was nice.
Are there any physical changes in Mile Cross that you can remember? Any businesses that have closed down, and things like that.
Well there used to be a launderette, that closed. And there used to be a butcher's shop, that closed. The thing was, what I did notice, though, there was one or two times I tried to sort of keep in with the butcher and buy things, but he was saying once, it seems as if a lot of the people are just going off to Asda, buying a bulk of things and buying the meat products up there and that's taking business away from him. So I said to my husband, "Well, I'll buy all my meat stuff round there." But two or three times I asked him to order something and when I went round to get it none of them knew anything about it. So it didn't seem as if they passed the message on. So if you were in the shop and told the other person but they hadn't bothered telling you you can't order in, if you haven't been told.
They didn't really help themselves there, did they?
No.
How long ago did that close down then?
Oh, last year I believe.
That recent? How long ago did Asda get built?
That's between when we got married ... in the eighties I think.
Oh really, that long?
Because I remember they built that sports village didn't they? It was a sports village but now it's privately owned, Esporta. [It was too expensive. Ed.]
So do you not feel that there are not that great resources available? If there's not a swimming pool that's affordable, or ....
Well, if I want to go swimming I'll go over to near the football ground. Near the football ground, what's it called?
Riverside ...
Oh Riverside. That's right. I'll go down that centre. But I haven't actually been over since I've had my legs done. I've been a little bit cautious about getting in the water the first time.
It's quite a long way to go from here, as well, isn't' it?
Well, it is, really. But you can get a bus into the City and you can get one down to Riverside where Morrison's is, and then walk through. Probably I would do is just make a day of it. Come out of swimming and come out and have a bit of lunch in Morrisons and get one or two things I need and make my way home. So I can make a day of it and do that. That other one was nice and handy, though. Just up the road. I got so I used to go up just about every day.
Really, before it got privately owned?
Yeah, and I carried on going when it was privately owned but of course it was getting a bit too expensive and we hadn't really got so much money and that ...
[...]
To go back when you were working in Surrey, what kind of job were you doing there?
I was working in a laundry, a hospital laundry and I lived in the staff quarters there.
How long did you work there?
I was there ten years.
What kind of memories do you have about working there? Was it quite a nice place to work?
Oh yeah. It was nice, yeah. There were enough places to go and I went to a town a little bit away from Epsom, I think it was called Leatherhead, and they had a swimming pool there and I did go there and learn to swim. And of course I had a bike then and I used to go out biking quite a lot, especially in the weekend, so I was working through the week and probably got to the weekend and would have Sunday lunch, get my bike out and I'd go ride for miles and sometimes do the same in the evening.
What were your hours like there?
Eight hour. But in the end I did do quite a bit of overtime because they took on extra work, such as working on a Saturday morning that became more or less ... before it was just overtime but then it got part of the working week. ‘Cos they couldn't afford to close down.
What kind of jobs did you do there?
I worked in the washhouse on the calender, on the presses and I really liked that sort of thing.
What was your favourite job to do?
Well, I liked them all, really, ‘cos I mean take for instance the washroom. You'd first be sorting the stuff out into the different lots where it's going to be washed, and then I might go on the washing machines and I'd be in charge of two or three washing machines. You'd go and weigh your load up, get it in the washing machine and then ... three washing machines lined up, you'd get them all going and then perhaps have time for a breather for one or two things. You'd think to yourself, alright, I'll go and get three more loads ready. You'd do that and then perhaps one of the machines hadn't quite finished so you just had time to take a breather and just stand there. Of course, unless there was still some sorting to do and that.
How many of you would be working together?
Quite a few of us, there was about six or eight of us in the washhouse, I believe.
And you all were good friends?
Oh yes, we had a laugh together and that.
Did you socialise with them after work as well?
Not really, because most of them they'd got a family to go home to.
So where were you living at the time?
In the staff quarters at the hospital. It was like some rooms and you had your room, there was a washbasin in there, bathrooms further along. A little laundry room.
That was for 10 years you lived in staff accommodation?
Yes. Well, if I hadn't met S. I'd probably have got myself a little flat and move there. But then of course when I met him, and I'd got to come over here, and then, well, actually just before the wedding he did have an accident at work and broke his leg.
How did that happen?
Well he was in a trench, ‘cos he worked for the Electricity Board. They were laying cables, he was in a trench, and he was guiding it, the others were pulling it through and he was guiding it, and then probably something happened it fell off ... it was like a little track with wheels. S. would be watching that and perhaps something happened and he'd just put his hand up and tell them to stop and put it right and that. And there was a big stocking over this cable. And anyway, the stocking suddenly flew off and the cable came rushing back down the trench and hit S.'s leg.
And of course, with it being an accident at work, they had to pay him his full wage until he got back to work. Then we got married 25th August '79 and then he didn't get back to work until after the Christmas.
So it was a really bad break?
Yeah.
And did he recover from that ok?
Yeah.
So what were his hours like? What sorts of jobs was he doing at the Electricity Board?
Well he was on a gang laying cables, and then the latter part of it, he wasn't quite so well, so he asked to come off the gang. And then he was in actually ... it is B&Q now, but it used to be their depot, Boundary Park. That used to be their depot, it was called Boundary Park. S. did jobs round the yard, such as cutting grass, doing the flowerbeds and different things and sometimes perhaps he'd have to go in the buildings and clean up and that and sweep up round the grounds.
And how old was he when he was doing that then? Just before he retired?
Yes, because he wasn't too well. He actually did 42 years with them, but his 42 years were up when he was only 63 and they said to him he could go if he wanted to ‘cos he'd done his years. So he did finish at that time but he wasn't feeling quite so well ‘cos the emphysema was starting. But after he'd finished work he sort of picked up quite a bit and we got away on a few nice holidays. We used to go down Yarmouth in the caravan, caravan park in North Denes. Been up to Scotland. Two or three places abroad. Blackpool we went. They were the last two places we went before he wasn't well enough. Then of course after that the pain had got quite bad in his spine and he couldn't get out then. So that was about the last holiday ... Oh we went to Tenerife for the Christmas and by the February he couldn't really get out because it got quite bad, the pain in his back. And of course the mobility problems didn't do anything good to his chest.
Had he been abroad before? Had you been on holiday abroad before?
Oh yeah, before he met me he had been abroad, yeah. So that was nice. We had some lovely holidays. We went to Gibraltar. I think that was the first time we went abroad.
He must have known, having lived in the same area of Norwich and worked for the same company for so long, he must have known loads of people around Norwich. He must have been quite a well-known person and have lots of local friends. I know my grandfather, he lives in Slough, he worked for the same company for about the same amount of time and lived in the same estate for the whole time and he knew everyone. You'd walk around the town and he would recognise everyone.
Well sometimes he'd be doing a job somewhere and perhaps somebody might come round and say ... ‘cos he was perhaps near some houses and somebody might come out and just say, would you like a cup of tea? And make a cup of tea for them. ‘Cos they were sort of more or less just outside their houses. Perhaps offer them a cup of tea, which was quite nice.
That's one of the things I think has changed quite a lot over the last few decades, people don't tend to stay in the same area for so long, or stay in the same job for so long. They move around a lot and you don't know people.
Well I notice like that since I moved to the Crescent, specially the side of us, there've been two or three people in them houses. And they've moved out, moved somewhere else and then somebody else has come in.
It's a really high turnover.
Cos S. was 77 when he died so he was actually in the house for 77 years.
The only house he ever lived in!
Yes, ‘cos he was born down Greyhound Opening and then, as I said, his parents moved there, Appleyard Crescent, when he was only three months old.
How many houses were there in Appleyard Crescent?
A hundred and something, I believe. I mean that's only just round the road from here.
That's a huge road. What were your neighbours like? You said you had a bit of trouble...
Well, they didn't have much to do with you. It seemed as if they just might as well have not been there. But I just kept myself to myself and thought, well, at the time it seemed as if I was more like a lone person ... when I holidayed on my own and that, but I quite enjoyed that really, I could get ready and think, oh well, I'll go for walk this afternoon, get my things on, go for a walk and I'd be quite happy.
That's after S. died? What was it like while he was still alive? Was the road more friendly? When you first moved there was the road quite a friendly road?
Oh it was. Everybody spoke to you, but as I say the people either died or moved away from there and then in the end there wasn't hardly anybody left that was there when I first got married.
Have you done any jobs in Norwich? Did you work in ...?
Yeah, I worked at Wensum Clothing in Northumberland Street. I got a job there. ‘Cos I said, I had decided to work, and then you get a little extra bit of money. And then when the arthritis started up, I think I was near my 57th birthday, and then I had to stop working because of the arthritis and I never ever started again.
How long were you there?
I was about ten years there.
And what was your role there?
I was on sewing machines, doing sewing machine jobs. Pressing, in the press room. In the despatch, where everything goes when it's finished.
It was manufacturing ...
Yeah, we made men's suits. A few ladies' things but mostly men's suits.
How big was that place? I haven't heard of it. Did it close down?
Well, what happened, they did go abroad but then that was a failure. I'm not quite sure if they haven't actually started up again in Norwich, in Northumberland Street, I've not sure if they started up there again. I know they did go abroad, somewhere like Mauritius, and one of the managers went over there but they couldn't make it work properly. So that wasn't a success. They done that because they would be able to pay the people a lot less out there.
So they kept the premises at Northumberland Street?
I'm not sure whether they did keep them or whether someone else went there. But they might have gone back there again. Cos when they didn't have any success abroad they probably came back and they're probably back at the same place, Northumberland Street.
So you were making ready-to-wear suits.
Yeah. Austin Reed. We did make some for Marks and Spencers, Aquascutum. Other little outlets and that.
Yeah, really nice suits. So it was all done on sewing machines.
Yeah, there was a cutting room, everything got cut out there.
And you worked in the sewing and the pressing rooms.
And in the end I worked in the despatch, that was sort of like getting the stuff in, you'd sort it out alright, oh these are Marks and Spencers ... they'd all go along rails, you sorted them out into numerical order and that, and set them out. Such as, say, a pair of trousers had 57 on it and then you'd match it up with the jacket 57, and everything got made in numerical order. There were different floors, one floor for the trousers and another floor where they made the jackets and then they all had to come down, and there was one bit where they pressed the trousers, one bit where they pressed all the jackets and then they came in to me and I had to sort them out. And then they opened another warehouse, over the other side of the City. So they came in to me, I had to set them all out into their orders and that and then they had a van and the driver he used to come over and get them and take them over there. And then you'd perhaps be putting tickets on them, saying what size they were, brush and bag them.
So there was quite a lot to do. How many people worked there?
A few hundred, I believe, because there was the cutting room, jackets, trousers and there was a basement where they supplied all the stuff, materials and that.
Did you have good friends there?
Yeah. Oh yeah, they were alright.
Did you stay in contact with any of them?
Well, not really. You seem as if you lose contact.
And what did S. think about working for the Electricity Board?
He liked that. But I think it changed a lot, sort of thing, and changed hands. Because at one time it was Council run then it was privatised and then things didn't seem the same, a lot of red tape. One time they asked him ... he had a charge hand over him, and then he left ... and they asked S. if he could do the charge hand job, so he did do that for a bit.
What was the charge hand?
He was in charge, sort of thing. Tell the men what to do, order the stuff and then tell the men what to do and that. ‘Cos they were sort of like in little gangs of about six. They went on ... say, perhaps needed some cable laying in your road S. and his gang might happen to be put there and they'd dig the trench up and lay the cables, fill it all in.
That sounds like a good job in the summer, but really not so good in the winter.
Well it was funny really, because his father, when he was sort of in charge, and sometimes he'd have a bit of fun with the men and perhaps say, alright now - S.'s father - perhaps another fellow with him just new there and he would say, "Oh can you go to the depot and order some rubber hammers for me?" And perhaps they'd go in there and order this rubber hammers.
Like stripy paint.
And wind them up by sending them off ... I remember one of the men in the press room, he said, "Oh E., can you go down and order me some tartan thread for me," I knew there was no such thing as that. I said "Well, if you can go and get me some rubber hangers - rubber coat hangers ..."
So you didn't fall for it. You were a bit wiser than that.
Yeah. It's funny, really.
So that was S.'s Dad, did you say?
Well, I never really met him, because both his parents died before he actually ever met me. Of course he was at Appleyard Crescent on his own for a while, but they did offer him a flat but he decided he wanted to stay there. It was a good job he did because when he met me and we got married we just had a house to come back to, which was nice.
You never actually had to worry about a mortgage, or rent.
[Contributor adds: Just paid rent to the council.]
... or buying furniture for the place, so that worked out just right.
So how did his parents die so close to each other?
I'm not quite sure how long they was between them.
So how old was he when you met him?
He was nearly 50. There was 13 years between us. He was nearly 50 and I must have been in my late thirties.
Could you tell me a bit about that holiday when you met?
I actually went away to a Butlins ... it was actually a friend of his I met and we happened to be sat at the same table as each other for meals.
Which Butlins was that?
In Wales, Barry Island. And anyway the lady said to me, "Oh E., have you got a boyfriend?" I said, "No." A bit later on, this was another day, she said, "Oh, we know somebody who'll be just right for you. His name's S. We're going to see him when we get back home." ‘Cos they were there for a week and I was there for a fortnight. So of course when they come back they went to see S. and told him about me and we started writing to each other. That was in the June when I was on the holiday and in the August they invited me over to Norwich for the weekend so that S. and I could meet up. Now that photo was taken in their house on that day, and it was love at first sight, he walked in and we met each other and it was just love at first sight.
That was a really happy day. So then you spent a couple of days with each other and you went back to Surrey.
That's right. They brought me back in the car so that S. could come back and so we had that little bit of extra time together, travelling back, instead of me coming back on the train. They took me back to Surrey so S. was with me and we enjoyed each other's company for a bit longer so that was nice.
And did you have some nice holidays together, you said about Yarmouth ...
Yeah, Yarmouth, then North Denes, Blackpool, Tenerife, Ibiza, Gibraltar.
Did you try and get away every summer.
Yeah, we usually did, yeah. But now I feel as though I'd rather, say, just go away for two or three days like I'm going to do there in July, go away on the Friday and come back on the Sunday. You've just got two nights away and that's near Bath, Historic Bath and the Cotswolds.
Who do you do that with?
With Crusader, Chenery ...
Then you meet people on the holidays
Yeah, they'll be all on the coach and there's all different little things. That's the one I'm going to in July.
Have you been to Bath before?
Bath, I did. I went down there just after I lost S., I did go down there to a spa place, I said to myself, "Once the funeral's over," 'cos I for quite a few years I just hadn't gone away and I wouldn't have gone away and left S. on his own.
(Looking at holiday leaflets) You could go to Blickling Hall. Pay £200 to go to Blickling Hall!
Yeah, there's one there and it says, you actually stay in Norwich, it's talking about your journey to Norwich and you have this day to walk round Norwich and look at Norwich. Anyway, the other one is ... probably next year I'll be able to go to Derbyshire Dales. That's five days. Four nights. One day you go round the Peaks of Derbyshire and the next day you go round all the Dales, so that'll be nice.
It is amazing how you can go and see these things very easily.
Back at Christmas my friend there she asked me back over to her's. I was in the hospital, I had this other leg done and she came to see me and said, "Oh, you're coming to me for Christmas." So that was four days. She come to pick me up and on Christmas Day they were on their own but we had a nice dinner and enjoyed the day together but on the Boxing Day her family came over, that was lovely. Then on the next day, which was on the Sunday, she brought me back.
What were Christmases like with S.? What did you get up to at Christmas?
Well, first we were having Christmases at home, then one year S. said to me, "I'd like to be somewhere warm for Christmas." "Well," I said, "at the weekend we'll go down to the travel place and see what there is. What's stopping us?" So we did do that and every year after that we did go away. Been to Benidorm, I think we went there a couple of times, that's it.
You'd have a roast dinner in Benidorm?
Yeah, the Christmas Dinner, yeah. As I say, last Christmas I was at my friend's, so that was really nice.
One of the other things we're doing at the moment, is we're working with children at the local schools and at the Phoenix Centre and places like that and one of the things we wanted to ask people in these interviews was what their memories of their childhood were like ... what you remember of being at school and what you wanted to be when you grew up.
Well, I don't think I really made any decision of what I wanted to be, really. The little village where I lived was called Newbold on Stour, and there was a little village school there. I went there until I was eleven and then I went to secondary school in Stratford on Avon. Of course I'd lost my dad, and my mother had gone in hospital and then I lost her. At first they took me to a home in Solihull and then I was at one just between Leamington Spa and Warwick, and of course when I left school, I think I got a job in Leamington for a little bit and then I moved down to Epsom in Surrey.
How did you come to move to Epsom?
Well, I was looking and I see the job advertised in the paper and somebody had said that was a lovely area round there so I applied for the job. It was funny really, because I hadn't travelled on my own before that and I went down for the interview. And of course you have to go into London first, Paddington I think I had to go to, and then cross the underground and from Waterloo down to Epsom. And when I came back I got back to Paddington alright and then just as I was going to go through the barrier I said, "Is this the train for Leamington Spa?" And as it happened he was saying yes to somebody else and I didn't realize that. So of course I got on the train and I thought to myself, this journey seems extra long. So I went along to the guard and said, "Excuse me please, can you tell me which side of Leamington Spa we are." He said, "My dear we are half way into Wales." He said, "At this time of night it isn't going to be stopping anywhere. At this time of night the only place it is going to be stopping is going to be Gloucester." So he said, "We'll be stopping in Gloucester." Anyway, I got back to Gloucester and I got a friend to come and pick me up.
What all the way from Gloucester! That's a good friend.
Yeah, it was very late at night, more near midnight, I think. But I remember when the guard said "We're half way into Wales." Of course I hadn't been on my own before, I broke down and cried.
I bet you did.
I was in my early twenties then. But since then I've made journeys round alright.
Was that the first time you'd done a big journey by yourself?
Yeah. It was a bit frightening.
But you got the job.
Yeah, and I moved down there and was down there for about 10 years.
Was it quite scary to move away?
No, that didn't bother me. Because I'd lost both my parents then.
Did you have any brothers and sisters?
Well, I've got one sister but she's never really ever bothered.
You're not in contact?
No, not really.
So when you were at school - did you enjoy school?
That was nice, yeah.
What were your favourite subjects at school?
I liked it when they had the painting class, ... sometimes sport.
How old were you when you left school?
Fifteen.
Then what did you do when you were fifteen? Did you get a job straight away?
Yeah, I got a job in an old people's home. And then I moved down to Epsom. I was at the old people's home just over a year, but I didn't really like it and I thought, well, I see an advert in the paper and someone had said it was nice down there, Epsom in Surrey, so I got the job down there and it was nice.
It was really brave of you to move as many times as you have, to take a chance.
Yes, but now since I've been here I wouldn't move away from Norwich because it's a lovely city.
Did you think that as soon as you moved here? Had you ever been here before you moved to Norwich?
Well, just coming over for a weekend when I knew S. when we planned to get married. I could stay at his sister's when I came over.
What did you do in the evenings, did you go out in the City?
Yeah. When he went over to Epsom and that sometimes I would book something up in London and go and see a show up in London. ‘Cos that was a half hour's run into London so we would perhaps go and see a show in London and then come back. That was nice.
What about Norwich? Did you do much in Norwich? Did he take you out on the town?
Yeah, we went out for days, go down Yarmouth.
Because I have never really heard much about what the night life was like in Norwich before.
Well, I'd never really gone to any nightclubs and that, never been one for that sort of thing.
There's a lot now. I for the first time ever went out on Prince of Wales Road and it was a whole different world. There are so many clubs down there, it was really really busy.
Yeah there's a few now, dotted around.
That's a fairly recent development isn't it? Prince of Wales Road being like that. There used to be more businesses down there.
Well, it depends what sort of thing. In the evening and that, especially on the cold nights, snuggle up by the fire and watch the telly or perhaps read a book or just sit and talk, that's more my scene.
He'd been single right up until you met, had he?
Yeah, he'd never really settled down. Well, he was going out with someone else but he decided he liked me better so he finished with the other one.
Good work! That was love at first sight, you can't argue with that.
No. Funny that, because you just seemed to know. I was just a little bit worried because I didn't know if he was the right person and then perhaps get quite involved and then end up getting hurt. But I just sort of more or less knew and I wasn't worried about anything at all.
You miss him.
I do, nobody would ever replace him.
So nice that you've got such lovely memories.
Oh, it is, yeah.
What is that picture? London Street, Norwich.
Yeah, back when the traffic went down it. Jarrolds on the corner.
What year was that?
Should say on it. Back in the time when it was horse and carts. London Street Norwich, it doesn't seem to say any date....
Looks like early twentieth century, late nineteenth. Who got you that?
I bought it myself, where the library is now, (reads) Norwich, Nostalgia Prints, Vintage Postcard Illustrations.
I've only lived in Norwich about a year.
Oh have you, where did you live before?
I lived in London. I lived and worked in London but I started a course up here. But yeah, I didn't know Norwich at all until I moved up here. People told me that it was lovely.
Now that's me out in the garden, that was the garden was like it's changed quite a bit - that was at my other address.
That was Appleyard Crescent?
Yeah. By the time I moved away we had a fence round it, different shed, got rid of that greenhouse. Because we both liked gardening.
What kind of stuff did you grow?
Flowers.
Not vegetables?
Well, he did a bit before he knew me. That was just more or less ordinary soil there but we laid a lawn all the way down, that made it better. Then kept the flowers round the border.
Did you use to do those, or did S. do them?
We both did. We'd get off out in the garden, so that was nice. And that was on the wall, that sat on the wall - so when S. was there on his own, when I was still working and he was retired that was drawing pinned on the wall, so he could see me all the while.
That's a big garden, isn't it. I bet you had some nice summertimes out there.
Yeah. It was lovely sitting out in the garden, and sometimes, perhaps come the weekend and that perhaps get up and say alright, and one of us would get the dinner on and the other was out weeding along there. Sometimes you had some plants to get in. Go out and start weeding ... I'd perhaps go out and S. would look after the dinner for me. That was nice.
Must enjoy having a big garden. That's what I want, I'd really enjoy having a big garden. I like it, I've got an allotment at the moment.
Have you?
I'm quite enjoying learning how to grow vegetables. My grandmother used to grow a lot she had a really long garden that went back to the railway tracks.
When you're in London have you got any garden?
We were quite lucky, we had a small paved garden. You don't get much space. The thing about Norwich is you do get a good bit of space. I see you use a laptop quite a lot.
Yeah, since I lost S. I haven't actually had it open. I bought it for S. because he liked playing the games and that and perhaps looking through the internet. And when he couldn't get out sometimes I'd perhaps go out and where he was sitting I'd stand the laptop there, or there ... he had a little table at the side. Of course I had to bring everything through, and leave him a flask of water, make him a cup of tea, leave him some sandwiches and then perhaps I went out down the City or went somewhere else, two or three hours. Then he could have his dinner and put the telly on and watch a film. Sometimes perhaps get on his laptop.
So how old was he when he bought a laptop?
Well, I bought that within the last three years of his life. Of course we had a computer upstairs but that was a bit cold up there. And he'd also got a trapped nerve in his neck and that affected the use of his hands. So I had to dress him and undress him, help him in the bath.
But he found a laptop quite easy to use?
Yeah, he got some enjoyment from it, say perhaps sit and play games on it, have a look in the internet.
Yeah, that' really good. Some people find it quite intimidating using the laptop.
Once I went and tried some courses to use the computer, but each time I got home it was too much for me. By the time I got home I was all on edge and I couldn't relax.
You went to a computer class?
Yeah, I went to one round the Norman. It seemed a bit too much for me. Then you got home and you tried to do the same sorts of things and ... Well, I'd come home and instead of being able to just relax and have a cup of tea and go to bed, I felt too strung up to do anything.
Really?
I just couldn't relax. It was too much for me.
Nothing in particular that you found stressful about it?
Well, I think it was trying to keep up and do the speed. You'd be going through a program that evening and of course the others would get it all finished and I'd only be a little way through it. I'm trying to do it.
Was that word processing - typing and spreadsheets? I always found them difficult. It amazes me now. We did a little bit of work up in North Walsham with some children ...
That's where my friend lives, up there.
Oh, yes. It's nice up there. We did with a primary school up there, a group of 10 year olds and a group of people that were at a local care home. They were quite frail elderly people and they were sharing experiences of being younger and being older and their memories and things like that. It was all done in their IT lab so all these 10 year olds all had their own computers. We'd have a chat and then they'd all be typing away, I was thinking, wow, you're children! It is scary to me thinking how much children do on laptops these days
Well, nowadays they do get that sort of thing in their schooling, don't they, using a laptop and that. And I say when I went to school we never got anything like that. And if you wanted to do any computers you had to say, I'll go to a class and sign up and go and learn it. Nowadays they do learn it.
They find it so natural from a very young age, almost from birth you are encouraged to go on computers. Even I can only do basic things on the computer. It is amazing to see a 10 year old do things quicker than you can.
My friend, when she was at work, she was based at West Norwich hospital, they were in this office together. "Oh well, what have I got to press to get into so and so?" The women were always asking my friend that. She was better at it.
So what kinds of games did S. play? Was it the cards and things like that?
Yeah. The card one - Solitaire. That's right. He would like to see where there were two or three levels.
What did he look at on the internet.
I'm not really sure, just have a look and see what it said.
That was a nice present.
Well it was getting a bit too much. You see when I had to move I got rid of a few things, and of course I'd got no car or anything. I thought if I take it up to somewhere I've got to pay for someone to move it all up, so I let the men come and clear it all away and dump it.
Do you do anything in Mile Cross socially? Do you go to social things in the week?
Well, up the church. This evening we've got ... Friday ... a prayer meeting tonight.
So you're going to go to that?
On Wednesday I should have gone to a Lent course at St Catherine's but I forgot all about it. And then at the church they have their drop-in on a Thursday. Of course that's the same time as they have their coffee morning here. So what I do, I go over to the coffee morning here, buy some raffle tickets, sit there for a bit and once they've done the raffle I go off to the church for their coffee morning. And then they have like a little service at half past twelve till one and perhaps tea and coffee afterwards. But on Wednesday I went for a walk in the afternoon and somebody came for me to pick me up and take me to St Catherine's for the Lent course. This next week it'll be at our church - Mile Cross Methodist Church - and once I thought I heard a knock at the door and went and I couldn't see anybody then when I went to the drop-in on Thursday one of the women said, what happened to you yesterday? I said, what was on? Because I couldn't think anything about it, because I went for this walk, this leg was aching quite a bit and I just sat with my legs up and watched telly, had tea and watched telly for the evening. Clean forgot all about it, the Lent course. I'll be going to the service on Sunday.
It's nice that you've got a good church community.
Well, actually I am going to go round and put these through the door. That's our thing for over the Easter period. I'm going to take them and put them round some of the doors. A couple of places, Suckling Avenue, I want to deliver some for her.
So what's the vicar like?
Oh, nice. A nice lady.
It's a lady.
Yeah, the Reverend S.W. Now on the 7th of May I'm going up to the Royal Albert Hall to see Prom Praise. And my friend's coming with me. Actually I'm treating her to it for her birthday. And they had one at St Andrews Hall last week. I went to that and my friend came over.
That's nice. She's great, isn't she. It looks like you've got a really nice group of people. You're going to be doing a bit of flyering later!
Yeah, put these through the letterboxes. And there's a little one there. This fellow, the organist, he says, do you think you'll be able to manage to do a few leaflets for us? There's two here. There's about 10 there - our little area, more or less little closes - and then there's that one there and I said, right, that one I'll go over there. That's Suckling Avenue so what I'd do is maybe on my way up to the church on Sunday, deliver half of them, then when I come out of the service and come home I can deliver the other half.
