Drinking and Dancing

Drinking and Dancing
It seems that each era has its problems with alcohol and uses different ways of dealing with it. In the Thirties we did not have breathalysers so the police would ask the suspect to walk a chalk line. It was an offence to be drunk in a public place so if a drunk was in a front garden the police had to persuade him to is come out to the pavement. They could then take him to the station, and make him walk a straight line. If he could not do so he was charged with drunkenness and spent the night in the cells at the police station. The next morning he would appear at a magistrates court and be given a small fine. There was a newspaper, called The Evening News, and every day it had an article, written by the court reporter, who would give a humorous account of odd characters who turned up in court because of drunkenness.

Ordinary shops were not allowed to sell alcohol. There were specialist shops called off-licences and the licensing authorities did not allow them to be too close to each other.

A premises had to apply for a licence in order to have dancing in it. Presumably the authorities considered that dancing would encourage people to drink or misbehave, but I personally did not hear or read about alcohol problems at a dance in those days. Even in 1950 the local Council could forbid a public dance being held on a Sunday. In 1945 I took lessons at a ballroom dancing school and we were allowed to have a dance on Sunday because it was a practice session.

Sunday must have been a very boring day for adults in my part of London, because all the shops were closed, the cinemas were closed and there was no public dancing. Pubs could open, but had to shut at 10pm instead of 10.30. I have been told that in some parts of Wales alcohol could not be sold at all, except to a traveller. A large number of Welsh people decided to travel on a Sunday.

My Country Holidays

My Country Holidays

One way of having a cheap holiday was to stay with a family on an informal basis. Our contribution would help them with their housekeeping.

A neighbour of my mother's parents had a sister who lived in Knowl Hill village on the A4 between Maidenhead and Reading. We sometimes stayed with her for our summer holidays. We went to Knowl Hill by coach from Victoria coach station.

'Aunt' Doll (Mrs Stokes) was kind and cheerful. I loved the food and helped her pick caterpillars off the cabbages in her huge garden.

Our neighbours were very kind and  sometimes I would ride on a hay cart.

Here you can see Aunt Win and her friend, Ivy,  helping to bring in the hay. So much better than noisy London streets.

They both worked at Ghinns, a large drapery store in Rye Lane. They would not be able to afford  holidays if we did not take them with us. Children left school at 14 but only earned adult wages whn they reached the age of 21.

Aunt Doll had a sister who lived a mile away in Warren Row. Sometimes we would walk to her cottage to have tea. We would walk across this hay field until we reached the wood that you see in the background of the photo. We then followed the path through the wood to reach Warren Row. Her husband worked in a nearby chalk mine, which was very interesting. Usually chalk is obtained from the open face of a quarry, but this was definitely like a cave. It was dark and cold when he took me into it.

I used to enjoy the Victoria plums I could buy from the orchard a few yards along the road. It belonged to Mr. and Mrs Neighbour. I would call out, and they would come to their little wooden gate. Victoria plums fresh from the tree have a very special taste. It was also great fun going blackberrying. It was as good as helping myself to free sweets.

For our holidays in 1939 we stayed in Reading with Mrs Lambourne. I think she was a relative of the Stokes family. At the end of our holiday my parents returned to London, but left me behind in Reading. It would have been August, and war might soon start. It did start in September but it simply extended my holiday. Later on I will tell you about my experience of Evacuation.

Holidays before EasyJet

Holidays before EasyJet

Money was short during the Great Depression. Ordinary workers were only allowed one week for their annual holiday but even one week needed careful budgeting. The railways used to offer reduced price excursion tickets to seaside resorts like Brighton so we had a few seaside holidays. We would stay in a small guesthouse, but I did not like these very much. On one occasion I disliked the food so much that I ended up eating sandwiches of tomato sauce between slices of bread.

Both men and women used to wear full length bathing costumes. People did not have special sporty clothes for their holidays. Sometimes men would sit on the beach wearing long trousers and jacket.




There was very little entertainment for someone my age. I enjoyed going on the Dodgems cars but that was only once or twice in the week.
Playing by myself on the beach soon became boring. I was never encouraged to learn to swim. When I was older I refused to go swimming because I believed that swimming could make me go deaf. My father was deaf, and I was not prepared to risk it. Unfortunately, nobody ever asked me why I was frightened of swimming so I did not learn until I was 23.





Sometimes my mother would bring her youngest sister. Aunt Win was about eight years older than me. She would play with me and that helped a lot . She was very kind and like a big sister to me.

Next time I will tell you about My Country Holidays which I enjoyed much more.

1929 Was an Eventful Year

A Labour government came into power.
Parliament voted to abolish workhouses.
A woman became a UK Cabinet Minister for the first time ever.
The Wall Street Crash precipitated a worldwide depression. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929]

And, on top of all this, I arrived.

In this blog I hope to record some of my family history. It is the story of an ordinary family who lived through some historic times. It may interest others who want to know about my generation. They may be surprised how we lived without so many things they take for granted.

I grew up in the Great Depression which lasted until WW2 so I experienced many changes.You may be surprised how we lived without so many things you take for granted.

We lived without antibiotics and the NHS. We shopped without supermarkets. And women had no labour-saving gadgets. Ordinary people, like my parents, did not own telephones or cars. We travelled by tram, bus or cycle. We did not even hear an aeroplane, let alone fly in one. A wide choice of places to rent meant no pressure to get on the property ladder. Milk, bread and coal were delivered to the house, usually using horse and cart.

It is not easy to find reliable details of everyday life. Nobody bothered to record such trivial details. Modern media usually presents a dramatic version of past events. Even old documentaries will contain government propaganda. Old photographs only show what people looked like, not how they actually lived. Period dramas try to do this, but we cannot tell if they are accurate.

I welcome your questions and will answer as many as I can.

Next time I will tell you about Holidays before EasyJet.