Life at Chapel en le Frith

We didn't live here a long time, in fact we didn't stay long anywhere, but it was the earliest place I can remember in any detail. The cottage had 2 rooms downstairs and 2 up, there was no electricity, or WC, but we did have the luxury of a hand pump in the kitchen to draw water. My dad made a toilet in a shed outside, and he used to empty the bucket and bury the contents, and we had chamber pots in the bedrooms. Lighting was provided by candles and Tilly lamps and we had one big gas lamp that we used to hang between the kitchen and the living room. It was very beautiful and I bet it would be worth something today! I found a pic of a similar one and it was being sold for $575. If only you could have hindsight into the value of things you throw away, I have no idea what happened to the one we had.

We had an old Grandmother wall clock on the wall in the living room and I remember that the glass front was broken, the broken piece had been put on the window sill. We had not long moved in and my Mum and the neighbour from up the road were scraping wallpaper off in preparation for decorating. The window sills were very low down and I was sitting in the window, looking for Dad coming home and I fell off. I don't know why I was holding the piece of glass but it went into my left eye. I had to go to the hospital in Cheshire and I had an operation. I had to have a patch on my eye for ages and then I progressed to sunglasses. They were nice plastic white ones, and I thought I looked the bees knees in them. Definitely an improvement on the patch, it was green one side and pink the other and had pin holes in. I have had a squint ever since with my left eye because the iris is inoperable and I have to close my eye in bright sunlight.

This clock is still in the family now, my dad has it in his house in Boston. For a long time it did not work as it was old and dusty inside, but on the day of my mum's funeral, it started again, and it still works now. My dad has restored some of the woodwork that had broken and it is in his lounge today.

One of my favourite dolls was one I had for my 4th birthday, It was a jointed one with a mechanism that enabled you to make her walk and as she did, her head went from side to side. She had the ability to close her eyes and go to sleep and she had "real" hair you could brush! I called her Jane and my sister, Anne has her now. I had a pram for the following Christmas to put her in and I was thrilled as punch.

My dad had always worked on farms but the job he had here was in the local quarry. Lots of little memories spring to mind - walking with Mum into the nearest town; Mum pushing the pram with Anne in and Keith sitting on top with his legs dangling between the handle and Tommy and Me holding the handle each side. Playing down near the bridge that went over the brook, we were told not to, but we still did. Eating toast after huddling around the fire in the kitchen range and toasting it on a toasting fork. Bath time rituals in the wash tub and later we got a "proper" tin bath. Tommy, Keith and I sharing a big double bed; we used to see what we could "see" in the shapes in the peeling plaster on the ceiling. Using a small blue Tilly lamp to see to go to bed. Baking sessions in the kitchen, using the water pump to collect water and heat in big pans on the fire. There was 2 stands that swivelled out so that you could put kettle and pans on to heat over the fire. There was a boiler at the side with a tap on but that was used for cleaning and washing and not for drinking. Sometimes I used to play at the neighbours' house up the hill and she got me some cards with pictures and holes around, and coloured laces, with which to thread through the holes. What a wonderful life we had, back then! We could play outside from dawn til dusk and not worry, nowadays you can get murdered while just going to the local shop!