my grand son jake

jake: im staying round my nannys tonite i think it will be great. i am 12 years old and my name is jake. tonite i will watch a dvd play on the playstation and much,much more thank you for reading

Nin and Barney

Ill send you a front view of them next time...Ally

My dogs Nin and Barney

Our Park

I say our park because that is the way we all thought of it - we spent hours roller skating round the bandstand...later dancing round the same bandstand - the dances that were held there were not just for children - grown ups were there but us kids just joined in - there were soldiers - Airmen - American Service men besides half of Norwich they were great nights...

It was the same park we used to go down the Air-raid shelter after we had the bomb drop in a small backyard and destroyed our Anderson shelter..

Its the park our Mum used to take me my younger brother and my sister who is two years older than me for a picnic when it was our Birthdays even during the war she made sure we had sandwichs and a birthday cake. for our special days.

Its the park where I cut my head open on one of the swings on the playing field - and the ambulance driver gave me "threepenny joe" for being brave..

So I will always think of it as OUR PARK.....Ally

 

Peace

With the war ending things were not to get back to normal for a long time - food was still rationed - although the street lights were turned back on which was absolutley wonderful - having spent almost 7 years going out in the dark by torch light.  with one tiny beam of light.

My friend Betty lived in a boarding house just opposite the park where all the stars who were appearing at the Theatre Royal used to lodge.  and she was very keen on the Theatre fancied hereself as a bit of a director, and would get all of us kids together and tried to teach us to dance - I think she was hoping to do a production at the Theatre Royal.  but us kids were pretty hopeless....So we never  became the stars she hoped we would be.

 On special nights in the park  (Saturday Night if I remember rightly)  they would get a band in the bandstand and have a dance night - this was really great - growing up in an austere England it was really great fun. remember dancing with my very first boyfriend name of Tony - I did meet him a few years later on a bus going to Norwich I had grown a good foot but he hadn't.  Talk about dreams being shattered - but being only 14 years old  I soon got over him. - But do still think of him with fond memories.

Will come back to this journal later bye for now....Ally

 

Musing again

When I was sixeen I got a job as telephonist at a Norwich Brewery - Having been trained at the GPO it was easy to get jobs - as you had to do a course which lasted several months - and you were trained in-house - and were not allowed to go on the switchboards with live subscribers until this training was completed - and you ended up with a Certificate showing you were capable of handling  a switchboard and the subscribers....There was no direct dialling then so any calls other than local ones had to come through the GPO switchboards - which was very exciting - London seemed like a million miles away to me. and to be able to put calls through to there and all over the world was wonderful. - but I digress - getting back to my job at the brewery is where I met my future Hubby - the first week of working there I met him every time I left my Office - he was a courier and had to do all the shopping for the directors - who at that time owned the brewery.,,it was a family concern and very old fashioned - the directors on payday used to pay our salaries - and we would have to go to their office and they would count out the money, and give it to you.  Unlike today when it is all paid directly into your bank account.  I remember the first Christmas I worked there I was called into the office and Given a bottle of Whisky - which I was told I must give to my Father - and some soft drinks for my brothers and  sisters and myself.  Funny but it always felt like charity to me -  and I never felt very good about taking these gifts......and my Dad didn't like Whisky anyway..so he would pass it on the a relative as a Christmas present....So some good came out of it...well thats it for today hope you enjoy reading this....Ally

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Musings

I am skipping quite a lot of years today - as you can imagine when the end of the war eventually arrived  it was ""Celerbrations - Happiness - all sorts of mixed emotions - (wouldn't have to get up during the night to go down the shelter). Wouldn't have to black out the windows.....The men who were in the Forces would be coming home. 

 The actual first night of peace the Market Place was crowded with people enjoying themselves Singing and Dancing Drinking just having a good time - I was nearly 14 years old, and I remember that night an American Service Man climbed to the top of one of the lamp posts that stood near the Market Place -

 There were several lamp posts in a row along the front of the Market, they had a large circle at the top - which the young gentleman decided to sit on - but unfortunely he fell - unknown to me my future Husband was on the Market place that night and saw the very same thing.

We had another three years before we actually met - I wonder if I saw him that night-.... Isn't fate a funny thing.

The young man who fell from the lamp post only had a broken arm.  I heard that he had so much to drink that night - he probably floated down lol......

Ally

 

More musings

first I  must recap on my last entry - the bomb  that landed in our back yard did not explode  - it left a huge big crater and the Anderson shelter was blown away - but if it had exploded  I am sure our House and and all of us would not be here today.

Opposite our house was the Bethel Hospital and when the Americans joined in the war it was taken over by their personnel - and we made many friends Mum used to invite some over for Sunday tea (Cress and Bovril sandwiches) I wonder what they made of them.  but they did introduce us to Peanut butter and Jam sandwiches - a real treat for us kids.

During the war there was a blackout windows had to be blacked out so no light shone through them - we were lucky as our house had shutters and all we had to do was draw them across the windows and fasten with a wooden slat. then with the curtains drawn no light was shown.   Air raid wardens used to patrol the streets and if they could see a chink of light they would knock on the door telling the occupant. this was so enemy aircraft could not see  us from their planes.

Just about every night the Air Raid Siren would go off some night two or three times - during the day as well - when we were in School we had to go down the Air Raid shelters sometimes down there for a long time - the teachers used to get us all singing - Like party time again.

Walking home from school where houses had stood proud in the morning they were just rubble - and the smell was awful Musty and smokey.

I remember one night after a raid coming home to find the "Nunnery" which was over the other side of the road to the right of our house was on fire - it had been hit by incendiary bombs and was well and truly alight - from the bedroom windows we watched the firemen tackle the blaze, but in the morning it was a burnt out shell. The Nunnery then moved to another site.  Some weeks later us kids used to go play over there climbing over the ruins, we would be filthy by the time we got home, and  would  then get  a real telling off from Mum. for playing in such a dangerous place.  Thats all for now - Ally

 

More musings

I am one of eight children, I have 5 brothers and 2 sisters - I am the youngest girl and have 1 brother younger than me by 2 years - I was born in the country but came to live in Norwich when I was just 7 years old just before the 2nd world war started. We moved into a big house right next to the Fire station and City Hall  at the end of my road is Norwich Market place and to the right is St Peters Mancroft Church (where I got married when I was 19 years old)  Just a bit further on is Norwich Castle Museum - so as you can see we had plenty of places to go when we were children.   we also had a park just 2 minutes from our front door where we used to take our roller skates and skate round the bandstand for hours on end - We did not have many luxurys but we were very happy.  When the war started we were in a little village called Trowse I was with some of my brothers and sisters - we thought they were going to start bombing us straight away and could not get home to Mum and Dad  quick enough.   When the air raids started we would all go down an Anderson Shelter in our back yard - the yard was very small  - but one night when it was cold  Dad decided to take us  down our cellar in the house so we all traiped down the cellar which was dark as there were no lights down there only candles - during this particular air raid there was one heck of a thud Dad commented that that bomb was very close to home it made the house shake.  when the all clear went we returned to bed - only to be awakened by Dad yelling us to get out of the house as the bomb had  landed in our small back yard destroying our Anderson Shelter - we had to sleep in the Air raid shelters near the Market Place for about a week before we could return home. I remembered I quite enjoyed it as there were other familys down there - like party time.   anyway thats all for this time bye for now.