St George's News

LOOKING BACK ON EIGHTY YEARS

RUBY'S MEMOIRS, PART 10: THE AFTERMATH OF WAR

PART 1 - THE EARLY YEARS
PART 2 - THE GREAT WAR
PART 3 - THE TWENTIES
PART 4 - FROM GENERAL STRIKE TO WORLD WAR 2
PART 5 -MARRIED LIFE AND THE CLOUDS OF WAR
PART 6 - OUTBREAK OF WAR
PART 7 - THE HEIGHT OF WAR
PART 8 - 1942-44:AMERICA DECLARES WAR
PART 9: POST-WAR 1945-1950: RUNNING THE PUB
PART 11: THE HOME COMING
PART 12: THE SIXTIES
PART 13: FROM HILDENBOROUGH TO DENMEAD
PART 14: TRAVELLING THROUGH LIFE AND DEATH
PART 15: THE LAST 25 YEARS

Part 10: The Aftermath of War

FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE MAY 1997 ISSUE OF ST GEORGE'S NEWS

We now gradually settled down to a routine of life divided up by brief excursions such as a day's racing at Newmarket, or coarsing, great fun in the winter walking over the ploughed land with the local farmers, trips to Norfolk and the fish market at Yarmouth, local cricket on Sunday afternoon in Summer, in which Ted played. There were no holidays as such but we hadn't had a holiday since the beginning of the war, so they were not really missed. We had a very good darts team and played in local matches, and even reached league play, and once took two coach loads of customers to see the Blackpool Lights and went dancing in the Tower Ballroom which was often on the B.B.C. programme. Life wasn't all hard work, and we appreciated the breaks we did get.

Rationing gradually gave way to more choice in food but there were still many restrictions on meat, and queues for anything rather special. Spirits for the Pub were still under strict control. One bottle of spirits per week was the allowance which of course sent all publicans into the black market for what you could get and were sold "under the counter" for more than one reason. At times even beer was rationed, and so some pubs could not open at all hence the song, "The pub without beer". Does anyone remember it I wonder? There was an immense amount of clearing and cleaning in the morning before opening at 10.am, preparing lunches and other food for the day, a brief change at 2.o'clock to 6.pm then opening for the evening until 10.pm in winter, 10.30 for summer; which I'm afraid usually got extended for the few who always liked to linger after hours. The police were very tolerant as long as there was no noise or drunkenness. I don't ever remember having any trouble, people in those days had far better behaviour than they seem to have today, and you soon got to know the undesirables.

There was always plenty of labour to be obtained as there were a great many men and women out of work who had either been occupied in the factories or been de-mobbed. The town was a great place for gypsies and at certain times of the year congregated in the woods on the edge of the town. They were very good customers during the day but were not seen a great deal in the evening. We became quite friendly with them and even went to a wedding, which was held in the woods. The young couple surrounded by the colourful caravans with a blazing fire in the middle, over which at sometime during the ceremony they jumped with wrists cut and their blood mingled - all "great stuff".

The matriarch was very elderly, and said they were all her children, I don't know if this was really true but they all treated her with great respect especially if they wanted any money of which she always seemed to have plenty in rolls of notes hidden away in the legs of her bloomers under her voluminous skirts.

To the town, once a year, came what was known as the "State Fair". This occupied the whole of the Town Square for about four days with a Fun Fair and many stalls selling their wares. It was a great upheaval and the traffic had to find its way through or not come at all. This was all taken with a great holiday spirit and everyone went out of their way to enjoy it. The strange thing was after its last night which was always very noisy, it disappeared without trace by the next morning and everything was back to normal. These fairs evidently were allowed by a reigning monarch in recognition of some service the town had done, and in this particular case it was granted by Richard 1st for the support the Knights Templars had given him for his Crusades. All this was related to us by the Gypsies so how much was true and how much folk-lore I don't know, but found it all very fascinating.

The years sped by all too quickly, and true to form, my husband got a little tired of this life and had become a keen golfer. Always with an eye for a ball he became quite good and played well, so it started to take up a lot of his time, so again we had to contend with itchy feet. I wasn't too keen as life was hard but simple where we were, Tony was happy at his first school in Letchworth along with all his friends, but it was not to be so it was not long before we were off once more to the other side of Hertfordshire with the offer of a job at a splendid Golf Club, situated some miles between two small villages. It had been used by the Government during the war for housing land girls and much of the land had been ploughed up for agricultural use and the House was used as a Hostel for the girls. The course was now remade and Club members returning, and we were to look after the House in which we would live. Then of course there was to be the catering, which was quite in its infancy, and the usual bars. It was a bit of a challenge and we took it on for two years, but before starting there were a couple of weeks free so we took a ski-ing holiday in Davos where we had not been since 1938 and this was 1950.

After shabby England with its bomb sites still showing and rationing and restrictions, I think we were only allowed to take £25 each out of the country, the sight of Switzerland was wonderful. The shops full of beautiful clothes and luscious cakes and decent coffee all of which we had forgotten was like a dream world. There were few English about but many Germans and Italians that it made me wonder who won the war. We certainly hadn't. Anyway we had a wonderful holiday ski-ing, skating and sledging which was no where as high powered as it is today, and met again many old friends. There were après ski dances, tea dances or sleigh rides at night, and the mountains never change. Alas as with all good things they came to an end, so back to England to face a rather unknown future.

It was as expected a very different sort of life, but the surroundings were beautiful, and a golf course at our back door for whatever time we had to spare. How it all got sorted out I never did know but we were soon well known around the area as life in England was still pretty dull and so we were soon very busy but again there was always plenty of help to be had. There was a barman who was great at his job, the outdoor staff did not come under us but we had the green keepers wife, who was very religious, came from Ireland, and never stopped talking, she was a waitress and amused the members greatly as she served them with her Glory Be's. There was a cook who came at weekends and when needed. I learnt a lot from her. She had worked when young in a "Gentleman's House", and now loved to show off her expertise. We also had a cleaner who came in at 7.am, so it was always early rising for us, and a handyman who was extremely handy so there were quite a few people to keep supplied with coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. I also had a Polish au pair girl who helped in the house and also looked after Tony. She had had a bad experience in her early childhood from both the Germans and Russians. Her father was shot by the Germans and she and her mother and sister were turned out of their house to fend for themselves. They were looked after by friends and then when the Germans were fully occupied by the war, made their way slowly on foot towards Austria where her grand-parents lived. They were then overtaken by the Russians in their advance on Berlin who placed them in a hospital where her mother died. By this time the Americans had taken over this part of Germany and as she and her sister had T.B. they were put into a sanatorium and were well looked after and eventually were reunited with their grand-parents. It was quite a bizarre story, but I can imagine how terrible it must have been for two little girls. Her English by this time was quite good and she had quite a few other au pairs nearby who were allowed into England with permits for this kind of work so she settled in well. There was also the Golf Pro with his shop close to the House and as he was a middle-aged bachelor living in the village on his own he was a constant visitor. It was quite a large household. Tony went to a school as a day boy for a couple of years but then became a boarder after our two years were up as it was not good for his education to be interrupted again when we left.

The couple of years sped by and although I didn't relish another upheaval the life was exhausting. This time we decided to return to Kent as my Father-in-law had died and there were a few complications to be sorted out. There was a large family house, and my two sisters-in-law had a house each, living alone, as they were both widows, and a house up in Nottingham. So only one house was really lived in, something had to be done about it as it had been like this for the last three years. So once again we moved, this time to Kent, to sort out the family problems and settle ourselves like "chickens coming home to roost."

this series of Ruby's "Memoirs" to be continued.

written by Ruby Bullock

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