We had no electricity or running water, until 1944 and until then, our water came from a well. I still vividly remember, now with a degree of amusement, how I used to throw the frogs back each time! We never had a car or phone.... computers hadn't been invented, and whilst dinosaurs had ceased to roam, technology was far from what is is today.
I can't remember ever being bored though and no one I knew died after licking out the bowl when a cake was made!
I was very young when I learnt to sew and by the age of 5, along with my the rest of my class, I was knitting socks for the soldiers, and earning money collecting acorns to make coffee - for each sack we collected, we were paid a penny!
My early educational years were spent Broadbridge Heath Village school, and in the last term at primary school, I taught the Infants.
After passing the 11+ I went on to Grammar school and originally, my intention was to be a needlework/art teacher. I stayed on until I was 16, took my GCSE's and then moved to London to do a 3 year apprenticeship in Dress Embroidery...... it was hard work, being required to stitch 1,000 beads in half an hour... I stayed with the firm until I married in 1963, when I then worked from home.
Our daughter was born in 1964 and our first son in 1966 and in December 1967 we moved to Colchester and our second son was born in 1970.
Sadly I lost my husband in 2004 after he'd been diagnosed with Altzheimers Disease several years earlier.
With 5 grand children and another on the way, I'm often making things for them as gifts. My hobbies are mainly cross stitching and gardening, I used to be a prolific knitter, but following on-going problems with my hand, this has taken a bit of a back seat.
