When Mum met Dad
Mum was now growing into a young woman. Because the house was always busy with the two younger boys and her growing sisters, reading was one of her favourite pastimes. It was quiet upstairs away from the family where she could be alone, deep into reading her book, but then someone would call for her to come down and help with something or other.
After a while, young men would start to become interested in Mum and sister Maisie. They often went to the pictures, as most young people often did of a Saturday. Maisie would meet a young man and they would walk home together, but Mum often found herself on her own. She did have boyfriends though, as when there was a young lorry driver who would send children down to Mum’s house with notes for her to meet him at the top of the road. This romance did not last very long as he was away a lot on deliveries.
Not far from Finchley there was an army base where Mum met a young soldier. She was very happy with him but he had to go overseas, from where he wrote to call off their engagement as he would be gone a long time.
On one occasion two lads asked Mum and Maisie out, treating them to an outing at the pictures with sweets and ice cream. On the way home, they decided to walk across a field after a short cut was suggested but Mum and Maisie had a shock when the lads thought they would take liberties! Maisie shouted to Mum for help and Mum laid into the young man with a clout, before the two girls made a run for it. After that they felt a bit wiser about men they did not know too well.
Maisie later met Peter, who I came to know as Uncle Pete, and they fell in love. Pete loved to play football but unfortunately had a bad fall that damaged his hip and spine. He never recovered from it and was disabled for the rest of his life. He and Maisie were married and later had a little girl called Betty, my cousin.
Mum sometimes found it hard to make ends meet as the money she earned from domestic work didn’t go far after giving her mum money for her keep. When she wanted to have her hair permed, she joined a club and paid so much a week at a hairdresser, and when the day came for her new hairstyle, she turned up at the shop full of excitement, thrilled to be finally getting the perm. Upon returning home, however, her dad became annoyed.
‘If you can afford to pay to have your hair done you can afford to give your mother more money for your keep.’
This spoilt it a bit, but her friends admired the new hairdo and soon girls were having theirs done the same.
There was a time when Alexandra Palace (the first home of the BBC television network) held a funfair. Mum and her friend went along and had a wonderful time, such a good time in fact, that they failed to notice that everyone had gone and the iron gates at the entrance were shut and locked. Realising there was only one way out, they tore their stockings climbing over the gate. Next time, they made a note of when the fair would be closing!
Maisie and Mum would row a lot. After Mum bought some new stockings, they would disappear from her bedroom draw, and only after Maisie came in from the pictures would Mum find out her sister was wearing them, and then there would be trouble.
Once Mum found her new pair of shoes caked with mud. My grandma would tell her, ‘Stop moaning about it, your dad will start creating’ (complaining), so Maisie would get away with it.
Another time, the lady that Mum worked for gave her some very nice stylish clothes.
‘You are welcome to them,’ she told Mum. ‘They don’t fit anymore.’
The clothes were neatly folded on a chair in Mum and Maisie’s room. On getting in from work the next day, it was discovered that young Jimmy had given the clothes to a rag-and-bone-man who had called earlier in the day. In exchange, Jimmy had been given a goldfish in a bowl.
Maisie and Mum had been to the Grand Hall at North Finchley to see a good film, and round by the Tally Ho Pub[9] was a little café they often called in for something to eat and a cup of tea. On one occasion the two girls sat down after thinking they would have time before catching the bus home. Over by the window were two dark haired young men, one of whom looked over at Mum every so often. Maisie nudged Mum’s arm.
‘I think he’s got his eye on you,’ she said, laughing.
A few minutes later the young men came over to their table and offered to buy the girls a cup of tea.
‘That’s alright,’ was their reply. ‘We’ve just had one.’
‘I am Frank’ said the taller of the two. ‘And this is my mate, Darkie, that’s his nickname.’
‘Is your friend foreign?’
‘I am half Italian,’ said Darkie.
It turned out that Frank Lawrence lived in Summers Lane, North Finchley, and Darkie worked with him bricklaying. They were soon chatting away as if they had known the lads for ages. Frank offered to walk Mum home.
‘It’s OK. I’m going with my sister on the bus.’
They decided to all go on the bus. Before Mum went indoors Frank made her promise to meet him, then he and his friend were gone. He didn’t keep his promise to meet her at the pictures even though Mum waited ages for him. Disappointed, she went home and told Maisie. He had seemed such a good-looking chap.
‘Sorry he didn’t turn up,’ said Maisie, as she got ready for bed.
Mum shrugged. ‘I don’t care.’
Just then there was a loud knocking at the front door. Mum opened the bedroom window and looked down to see Frank Lawrence looking up. Mum was mad.
‘What do you want at this time of night, I waited hours for you!’
‘Sorry Elsie, but I had to work late. I promise I’ll turn up next time. You will come, won’t you?’
There was a pause while Frank waited for her answer.
‘OK.’
A new time was arranged but by this point her dad had come to the front door.
‘Come on now young chap, we all want to get to bed.’
Frank called his goodbye, mounted his bike and was gone again.
The next time, Frank—my father to be—was there as promised when Mum turned up. The romance blossomed and it wasn’t long before Mum went home with Frank to meet his family at 179 Summers Lane, North Finchley. She was surprised to find he had three sisters and six brothers.
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