Maywalk
Maywalk
- Location
- Leicestershire UK
When we first moved in with "Kerry" the old gentleman in the other story I noticed that between the house we were going to live and the cottage next door there was a gap of about 6 to 8 inches. It struck me at the time that if it had heavy rainfalls it could trap the dampness in. However it was but a passing thought because it was just temporary accommodation for us.
Cliff and I moved in and when I found out I was pregnant I asked “Kerry” if he minded. He was over the moon because a “babbie” as he called a baby had not been born to anyone in that house since he went to live there. When “Kerry” married they found out that his wife could not have children so the only relatives “Kerry” had were his nephews and nieces on his wife’s side of the family.
“Kerry”adored my son and came every morning to see the babbie and he always brought firewood for the fire to keep the babbie warm. He was one of the nicest old gentleman I have ever had the pleasure to get to know. The house had a massive library that held every kind of book from Dickens to murder mysteries and I loved to read when I had done my chores for the day while knitting for my offspring and waiting for my hubby to come home.
When my baby was about 9 months old I used to put him outside in his pram underneath my window so that he was getting fresh air and I could keep my eye on him. "Prince" the dog was practically living with me then and would not leave my babys pram.
We were still on rations at that time and I always went for my rations on a Friday morning. This particular Friday I had put my food away and got myself a cup of tea when I heard a whimpering coming from outside my window. It wasn’t my baby because I had brought him in and put him in his chair when I had returned with my rations. I looked out of my window but could see nothing there and put it down to my imagination. Suddenly I heard it again and curiosity got the better of me and I went outside to see what it was.
I nearly had a fit when I saw that a young boy of about five years of age had got his head trapped between the two buildings. WHY he had been looking there I have never found out. I was by this time panicking because the pub was shut across the road and there were no such things as phones for poor folk in those days. It would have been impossible for me to run to the nearest telephone booth.
I told him to stop wriggling and I would be straight back. I went and got some of the lard and butter ration that I had just been to the shop for and went back to lather his ears and his hair with it to ease him out. To say he looked a ruddy sight would be putting it mildly. I managed to get him out without cutting his ears off but he looked so funny. He looked as though he had been plugged into the electric with the way his hair was standing to attention. He was crying and I asked him where he lived. I shot in and just wiped my hands on a damp towel and I gave him a flannel and the towel to wipe his face and hair with. I put my baby back in his pram and told the little boy to take me to his mother.
Fortunately he lived just round the corner but I wasn’t prepared for the way his mother greeted him.
As she came to the door so did two other children. One was a girl aged about 12 and another lad who would be about 9 years old. They both looked like scared rabbits but having seen how the mother came ranting at the child I took home I was not a bit surprised. She started shouting at him when I tried to explain what had happened and why he had grease on his head. She just seemed to want to vent her anger out on the child and went back to get a thick buckled belt to strap him with. I caught it as she went to lash him and I yanked it out of her hands at the same time telling her that IF ever I see any marks on the children I would have her guts for garters. She went like a deflated balloon and said she did not know what had come over her. She then asked me in for a cup of tea. I went in but not because I felt sorry for her it was the children that I was worried about. This was the start of a relationship with someone I could not take to but I felt I had to be there for the children.
The laws then were nothing like they are today where children are concerned. The year was 1951.
I kept in touch with the woman who I will call Madge and the three children. The children very often came round to me for a drink or something to eat. The 12 year old girl who I will call Jilly came everyday after school and I gradually taught her to knit and read patterns. The two boys were a different kettle of fish because Jilly’s blood brother could tell the biggest lies while looking you straight in the eye with his big blue eyes. I found out more about his wily ways later.
Jilly’s stepbrother ( the one who had his head trapped ) I found out was a head banger. He was always banging his head against the headboard on his bed and caused quite a bit of mayhem at times. I suppose in todays society he would be regarded as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ADHD as it is known nowadays. Yes he was a bit of a handful but I used to keep him amused when he came to see me by giving him a very large box of buttons that my mother had given me and a ball of wool. I would ask him to find all the same buttons and thread them on different lengths of wool. This kept his attention from wandering. I made sure that they were off the strands by the next time he came so that he still had plenty to go at. Crafty on my part I suppose but as long as it kept him amused that was all that mattered.
Madge used to come round but usually on the cadge for something such as sugar or money to get cigarettes. She usually got short shrift from me by telling her I had used my sugar ration up and I had no money to give her. She topped it all one day though when she came round and asked me if I had any new knickers because she was going to a wedding. My mind boggled as I gave her my last pair of new ones just to get rid of her. I had the children that day while she went to the family do with Jilly’s father. NO children were invited.
I had known this family for about six months when my hubby came home and said that he had been offered a house that belonged to the firm he worked for.
I was over the moon because I would have my own front and back door and as much as I had enjoyed living at “Kerry’s” I still wanted a place of my own.
When I told Jilly she sobbed her heart out because she did not want me to leave her. I was taking the place of a real mother even though I was only nearly 22 years old myself. Having said that somewhere out in that big wide world her real mother was still alive and had remarried from what I could make out. I told Jilly she could come for weekends if her stepmother would let her because the house we were moving to had three bedrooms. This consoled her and she was quite happy to help me pack my things.
We had been in the house for roughly 8 months when one day there was a knock on the door and who should be standing there but Madge and the three children. Fortunately Cliff had worked the early shift so he too was at home when this happened.
Madge said she had come to ask me if I would look after the children for a while because she was pregnant and was getting a new house sorted out for them through the council. One that would be on the outskirts of Loughborough so that the children could go to school at Loughborough. Cliff and I said that we would on the understanding that something was paid for their keep. She passed over the childrens ration books, because we were still on rations at that time, with promises that we would get something each week. When Madge went I was under the impression that she was sending the children’s clothes over . How naïve could I have been?
She went out the door and it was nearly ten months later when I saw her again.
She had dumped the children on me without even a change of clothes. It’s a good job I had a decent next door neighbour who passed some of her two boys outgrown clothing to me for the lads. Jilly had to make do with some of my stuff until I got sorted out.
It was quite a dilemma and I could have contacted the police BUT the last thing I wanted was for Social services to put the children in a home. I had been in one myself for seven years and I certainly did not want them to be subjected to the cruelty that I went through when I was little. ( See the book I wrote of the first 20 years of my life for that tale. )
I sorted out the bedrooms and took my lads cot back into our bedroom so that the two lads could sleep in the other double bed. I did not like putting my sons cot back in my room because he was about 16 months old then but it was the only way I could fit everyone in. I used to get up in the middle of the night to get my lad out to go to the toilet and Jilly’s stepbrother because I had caught him the first night he stopped with us, just about ready to water the flowers on the ruddy wall paper that we had not long put on the walls in that bedroom. He was still asleep so I could not scold him. It used to be awful to hear him banging his head against the head board before he finally went to sleep. We padded it well with two big bolsters so that he would not hurt himself. It was quite a gruelling time .
I contacted the firm where Jilly’s father worked and told the boss to tell him to come round and see me when he got back from his long distance driving job.
He finally made an appearance three weeks after I had first taken the children in and told me his wife was in Liverpool but he would be calling each week with some money to keep the children. There were NO family allowances then to help out with clothes and shoes. That did not come into force until 1956.
I never saw Jilly’s father again until just before Jilly left school at 14.
Yes I was taken for a ride but I would not have had it any other way.
When the children first came to me Jilly’s brother told folks that I would not let him go out to play. It made me sound an ogress but the truth of the matter was as he only had one set of everything to wear in underclothes I had to wash and dry them every night so that they would be ready for the next morning. That was why I could not let him go out to play until I got him some more. He could tell such convincing lies I even started to doubt myself at times.
My next door neighbour told me about Providence Cheques which meant borrowing about £50 and paying it back at 5 shillings a week. Both Cliff and myself were against doing this because we had never had any thing on the weekly before. Unfortunately it was a case of needs must to get the children school uniform once I had got them settled into schools. £50 may not sound much in todays coinage but it went a heck of a long way years ago and 5 shillings was quite a slice out of a man’s weekly wage then.
We did not live as well as I would have liked us to but we survived.
After ten months of struggling to keep the children on my husbands wage Jilly’s father turned up and said that they now had a house and the children could go back there to live. Jilly was just coming up to 14 years of age when she would be leaving school and sent to get a job. It was a convenient time for them to want the children back when extra money would be taken in.
When the children finally left I had been promised a cheque to be forthcoming from her father for the months I kept them. It never did materialise and I would not lower myself to ask for it.
I lost touch with the stepmother and Jillys father but Jilly always came back to see me. I don’t know what happened to the two lads after they grew up and I have never bothered asking Jilly.
Jilly found her true mother over the years and she brought her to meet me. She thanked me for what I had done for her two children.
I never asked what had happened between Jilly’s real mother and her father.
I only know that NOTHING on this earth would have parted me from my child/children.
Jilly is now a grandmother herself but she always comes to see us when she comes to visit her husband’s family because she and her husband now live on the Shetland Isles.
Funnily enough Jilly phoned this week to tell me that she had been in hospital to have a pacemaker put in like me but all being well she will be coming in July to see us. I did ask her if she ever heard from her brother and stepbrother and she said "NO I dont want to know either of them because---- (blood brother) is one of the biggest liars going and the other one is an alcoholic."
She always regards me as her second Mum although I was only roughly 10 years older than her.
Cliff and I moved in and when I found out I was pregnant I asked “Kerry” if he minded. He was over the moon because a “babbie” as he called a baby had not been born to anyone in that house since he went to live there. When “Kerry” married they found out that his wife could not have children so the only relatives “Kerry” had were his nephews and nieces on his wife’s side of the family.
“Kerry”adored my son and came every morning to see the babbie and he always brought firewood for the fire to keep the babbie warm. He was one of the nicest old gentleman I have ever had the pleasure to get to know. The house had a massive library that held every kind of book from Dickens to murder mysteries and I loved to read when I had done my chores for the day while knitting for my offspring and waiting for my hubby to come home.
When my baby was about 9 months old I used to put him outside in his pram underneath my window so that he was getting fresh air and I could keep my eye on him. "Prince" the dog was practically living with me then and would not leave my babys pram.
We were still on rations at that time and I always went for my rations on a Friday morning. This particular Friday I had put my food away and got myself a cup of tea when I heard a whimpering coming from outside my window. It wasn’t my baby because I had brought him in and put him in his chair when I had returned with my rations. I looked out of my window but could see nothing there and put it down to my imagination. Suddenly I heard it again and curiosity got the better of me and I went outside to see what it was.
I nearly had a fit when I saw that a young boy of about five years of age had got his head trapped between the two buildings. WHY he had been looking there I have never found out. I was by this time panicking because the pub was shut across the road and there were no such things as phones for poor folk in those days. It would have been impossible for me to run to the nearest telephone booth.
I told him to stop wriggling and I would be straight back. I went and got some of the lard and butter ration that I had just been to the shop for and went back to lather his ears and his hair with it to ease him out. To say he looked a ruddy sight would be putting it mildly. I managed to get him out without cutting his ears off but he looked so funny. He looked as though he had been plugged into the electric with the way his hair was standing to attention. He was crying and I asked him where he lived. I shot in and just wiped my hands on a damp towel and I gave him a flannel and the towel to wipe his face and hair with. I put my baby back in his pram and told the little boy to take me to his mother.
Fortunately he lived just round the corner but I wasn’t prepared for the way his mother greeted him.
As she came to the door so did two other children. One was a girl aged about 12 and another lad who would be about 9 years old. They both looked like scared rabbits but having seen how the mother came ranting at the child I took home I was not a bit surprised. She started shouting at him when I tried to explain what had happened and why he had grease on his head. She just seemed to want to vent her anger out on the child and went back to get a thick buckled belt to strap him with. I caught it as she went to lash him and I yanked it out of her hands at the same time telling her that IF ever I see any marks on the children I would have her guts for garters. She went like a deflated balloon and said she did not know what had come over her. She then asked me in for a cup of tea. I went in but not because I felt sorry for her it was the children that I was worried about. This was the start of a relationship with someone I could not take to but I felt I had to be there for the children.
The laws then were nothing like they are today where children are concerned. The year was 1951.
I kept in touch with the woman who I will call Madge and the three children. The children very often came round to me for a drink or something to eat. The 12 year old girl who I will call Jilly came everyday after school and I gradually taught her to knit and read patterns. The two boys were a different kettle of fish because Jilly’s blood brother could tell the biggest lies while looking you straight in the eye with his big blue eyes. I found out more about his wily ways later.
Jilly’s stepbrother ( the one who had his head trapped ) I found out was a head banger. He was always banging his head against the headboard on his bed and caused quite a bit of mayhem at times. I suppose in todays society he would be regarded as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ADHD as it is known nowadays. Yes he was a bit of a handful but I used to keep him amused when he came to see me by giving him a very large box of buttons that my mother had given me and a ball of wool. I would ask him to find all the same buttons and thread them on different lengths of wool. This kept his attention from wandering. I made sure that they were off the strands by the next time he came so that he still had plenty to go at. Crafty on my part I suppose but as long as it kept him amused that was all that mattered.
Madge used to come round but usually on the cadge for something such as sugar or money to get cigarettes. She usually got short shrift from me by telling her I had used my sugar ration up and I had no money to give her. She topped it all one day though when she came round and asked me if I had any new knickers because she was going to a wedding. My mind boggled as I gave her my last pair of new ones just to get rid of her. I had the children that day while she went to the family do with Jilly’s father. NO children were invited.
I had known this family for about six months when my hubby came home and said that he had been offered a house that belonged to the firm he worked for.
I was over the moon because I would have my own front and back door and as much as I had enjoyed living at “Kerry’s” I still wanted a place of my own.
When I told Jilly she sobbed her heart out because she did not want me to leave her. I was taking the place of a real mother even though I was only nearly 22 years old myself. Having said that somewhere out in that big wide world her real mother was still alive and had remarried from what I could make out. I told Jilly she could come for weekends if her stepmother would let her because the house we were moving to had three bedrooms. This consoled her and she was quite happy to help me pack my things.
We had been in the house for roughly 8 months when one day there was a knock on the door and who should be standing there but Madge and the three children. Fortunately Cliff had worked the early shift so he too was at home when this happened.
Madge said she had come to ask me if I would look after the children for a while because she was pregnant and was getting a new house sorted out for them through the council. One that would be on the outskirts of Loughborough so that the children could go to school at Loughborough. Cliff and I said that we would on the understanding that something was paid for their keep. She passed over the childrens ration books, because we were still on rations at that time, with promises that we would get something each week. When Madge went I was under the impression that she was sending the children’s clothes over . How naïve could I have been?
She went out the door and it was nearly ten months later when I saw her again.
She had dumped the children on me without even a change of clothes. It’s a good job I had a decent next door neighbour who passed some of her two boys outgrown clothing to me for the lads. Jilly had to make do with some of my stuff until I got sorted out.
It was quite a dilemma and I could have contacted the police BUT the last thing I wanted was for Social services to put the children in a home. I had been in one myself for seven years and I certainly did not want them to be subjected to the cruelty that I went through when I was little. ( See the book I wrote of the first 20 years of my life for that tale. )
I sorted out the bedrooms and took my lads cot back into our bedroom so that the two lads could sleep in the other double bed. I did not like putting my sons cot back in my room because he was about 16 months old then but it was the only way I could fit everyone in. I used to get up in the middle of the night to get my lad out to go to the toilet and Jilly’s stepbrother because I had caught him the first night he stopped with us, just about ready to water the flowers on the ruddy wall paper that we had not long put on the walls in that bedroom. He was still asleep so I could not scold him. It used to be awful to hear him banging his head against the head board before he finally went to sleep. We padded it well with two big bolsters so that he would not hurt himself. It was quite a gruelling time .
I contacted the firm where Jilly’s father worked and told the boss to tell him to come round and see me when he got back from his long distance driving job.
He finally made an appearance three weeks after I had first taken the children in and told me his wife was in Liverpool but he would be calling each week with some money to keep the children. There were NO family allowances then to help out with clothes and shoes. That did not come into force until 1956.
I never saw Jilly’s father again until just before Jilly left school at 14.
Yes I was taken for a ride but I would not have had it any other way.
When the children first came to me Jilly’s brother told folks that I would not let him go out to play. It made me sound an ogress but the truth of the matter was as he only had one set of everything to wear in underclothes I had to wash and dry them every night so that they would be ready for the next morning. That was why I could not let him go out to play until I got him some more. He could tell such convincing lies I even started to doubt myself at times.
My next door neighbour told me about Providence Cheques which meant borrowing about £50 and paying it back at 5 shillings a week. Both Cliff and myself were against doing this because we had never had any thing on the weekly before. Unfortunately it was a case of needs must to get the children school uniform once I had got them settled into schools. £50 may not sound much in todays coinage but it went a heck of a long way years ago and 5 shillings was quite a slice out of a man’s weekly wage then.
We did not live as well as I would have liked us to but we survived.
After ten months of struggling to keep the children on my husbands wage Jilly’s father turned up and said that they now had a house and the children could go back there to live. Jilly was just coming up to 14 years of age when she would be leaving school and sent to get a job. It was a convenient time for them to want the children back when extra money would be taken in.
When the children finally left I had been promised a cheque to be forthcoming from her father for the months I kept them. It never did materialise and I would not lower myself to ask for it.
I lost touch with the stepmother and Jillys father but Jilly always came back to see me. I don’t know what happened to the two lads after they grew up and I have never bothered asking Jilly.
Jilly found her true mother over the years and she brought her to meet me. She thanked me for what I had done for her two children.
I never asked what had happened between Jilly’s real mother and her father.
I only know that NOTHING on this earth would have parted me from my child/children.
Jilly is now a grandmother herself but she always comes to see us when she comes to visit her husband’s family because she and her husband now live on the Shetland Isles.
Funnily enough Jilly phoned this week to tell me that she had been in hospital to have a pacemaker put in like me but all being well she will be coming in July to see us. I did ask her if she ever heard from her brother and stepbrother and she said "NO I dont want to know either of them because---- (blood brother) is one of the biggest liars going and the other one is an alcoholic."
She always regards me as her second Mum although I was only roughly 10 years older than her.
