More accurately than in my last post, mum was born in Westcliff, in either Beedell Avenue or Shakespeare Drive, or around there. She would have like to be a teacher, but would have needed to go to Grammar School to achieve that. She could not, so she was forced to leave at 14 and then trained as a hairdresser. She worked in a hairdressers at Cuckoo Corner roundabout. She used to eat her lunch in Priory Park — at the same time that dad was working there. Believed in fate - that they were meant to be together.
One of mum's favourite singers was Val Doonican https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Doonican. We watched his show on TV. I don't know her favourite songs.
She would also listen to "Mrs Dale's Diary" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dale%27s_Diary, on the radio in the mornings. The other show she talked about occasionally was ITMA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_That_Man_Again
I remember her telling me how frightening the doodlebugs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb) were, when their engines ran out of fuel they descended silently, and you couldn't really tell where they would impact.
Some of the politicians we talked about were:
Harold Wilson, who she didn't trust at all.
Enoch Powell, who she respected
Gerald Nabarro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Nabarro, who she also respected because of his outspokenness
Mum was a brownie and later ran the brownie pack with her friend Ann. The pack was based at All Saints Church, Southend-on-sea (https://www.allsaintschurchsouthend.org.uk/). She wanted both of us to join a similar organisation, but neither of us like the youth groups at the church at the top of the road. We both said they were a waste of time (mine was Sea scouts, I only went to one meeting)
Knitting, crochet and cloths making were her hobbies. I remember her adjusting the 'dummy' that she bought by mail order (rare in those days), and helping her with the split pins as she adjusted and re-measured to get the size right.
In my last post, I did not know mum's view of her driving lessons, she apparently thought that Dad wasn't patient enough. She never took formal lessons, though.
Her younger brother, who we knew as Uncle Ron, was ill as a child and effectively isolated. When older, he rode to Wales (a long distance for cycling). She was proud of him.
Mum wanted us to learn to play the piano; she persuaded the piano teacher to take my sister, who was too young. She did quite well, I didn't. She also wanted my sister to go dancing, with the girl who lived next door, who was a similar age. My sister didn't want to.
She was very good at maths, and was taught by her younger brother how to count money, she was quick and accurate.
During WWII, she worked at ECKO (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EKCO) making communications equipment.
Mum also wrote poetry, neither of us know what became of her poems.
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