Schooldays

My parents decided to send me to a boarding school as my father was in the navy, and to stay at the same day school was not possible as my mother went to where he was sent, eg, Malta and various other ports.

The school was a convent outside Torquay, and I went aged eleven. I was very happy there and was not homesick for one minute, and made many good friends, a few I still have.

At thirteen the war broke out, which cast a shadow on my life as I worried about my father at sea in the Atlantic, and especially listening to the wireless and hearing the dreaded words (the Admiralty regrets) and then breathing with relief when his ship was not mentioned.

We seemed to be fairly free from air-raids, though occasionally the siren would go and we'd traipse down to the shelters. I regret to say while the good nuns said the Rosary, we would tell ghost stories and frighten ourselves to death!

Though one scaring time was being in the middle of the hockey pitch and having to throw oneself to the ground as a German fighter plane suddenly appeard out of the blue and started to machine-gun us. Luckily he was not a very good shot, though I'm afraid he killed some people in the nearby village.

The only other time I was too close for comfort to a German plane was being alone in a classroom high-up in the school and hearing a plane engine, and looking out of the window and seeing the plane discharging its bombs. Unfortunately a hotel just down a country road from us which had been turned into a hospital received a direct hit and caused many casualties.

Little did I know that one day I would have a German son-in-law!

I wonder what his grandfather did in that war?!

Polly

Grumpy or Sane

Am I in touch with the 21st Century or not? I feel as if someone has pressed my "fast forward" button and all events are compressed. I am rushing and rushing. Why do I feel like this?

At the beginning of October I noticed a display for Christmas hampers in my local supermarket. "Ah" I said "the season is upon us". A few days later in the same supermarket there was another display for Halloween, complete with large pumpkins. My thought then was how inconsiderate of us to use an item for "fun" when some people would be glad to eat it. Finally there was another display for fireworks - another way to burn money.

I thought that we could have Easter in January, and put all the other holidays together - then we need not work at all. Life would be one long Christmas, Halloween and Guy Fawkes rolled into one.

Grumpy and Sane

P.S Please see www.disney.co.uk for more pictures and information about Walt Disney who created the character, Grumpy.

A writing on the wall

In November1955 Eric Ashby gave an address to the Belfast Charitable Society on preparing for old age. His argument is that we have managed to postpone death but not postpone ageing. We are now aware of the increasing number of the elderly and endlessly discuss the need for care homes, improved health services, even the design of houses to suit the aged. Ashby asserts that we are losing a valuable human resource in retiring people at age 65 when they have useful skills and a willingness to work. Added to this, it is recognised that an activity in old age makes for physical and psychological well being. He then suggests that a priority for society and government would be to implement schemes that would employ the skills and interests of the elderly.

This writing has been on the wall for more than half a century. We are beginning to read it. But reading is not enough. Time is of the essence for both young and old.

Wally Baker

Millman Street Community Centre

Millman Street Community Centre is a resource centre for the elderly. The centre liberates them from their home as for many it's the only outing they have. Here they find companionship with other pensioners. The disabled are transported to the centre by bus. They can look forward to a home cooked meal.

I am a prisoner in my flat as I have to walk with a walking aid. I cannot go out unless someone takes me in a wheel-chair. But Sue, the manageress of the centre, came to my rescue and arranged transport for me three days a week.

Sue wears many hats - one being as an accountant to keep the centre’s finances viable. She acts as nurse in cases of medical emergency. She is a filler-in-of-complicated-forms that are like Greek to the centre participants. These forms can be for access to benefits or housing, or any other government service. She acts as a sympathetic listening ear to anything that troubles her charges. She is a bolster-upper of everyone she comes in contact with. Sue has a good crew to help with the day to day running of the centre. To mention two - there's Pat and Rose (the centre’s cook). They are both gems!

Helen of Bedford House, who works in close contact with Millman Street Centre, organizes some of the activities that go on. She arranged for a teacher of oriental dancing. It's not only good exercise but transports you with its graceful movements and haunting music to the magical lands of the East. I have always liked singing and we have formed a little choir. Under the direction of Nath, we are guided through songs – classical and modern as well as African and Latin. It exercises the lungs and relaxes your whole body and gives you the feeling of being uplifted.

There are computers available for all who use the centre. Veronica supports those who want to be computer literate. I personally hope to learn genealogy, emails, blogging and delve more and more into the internet. It exercises the brain and helps your concentration as well as transporting you into a wonderful world of information.

I'm a duffer when it comes to painting and sewing but I did join in the craft class with much trepidation. Low and behold - I found that I was not so dim after all!

I look forward to my visits to Millman Street Centre. The fellow participants are all so agreeable and we talk and laugh a lot. The time spent at the centre is all too fleeting and it's soon time to go home. How I wish I had more time there and I so look forward to my next visit!

Peggy

A Lazy Curry

I have called my recipe by that name, as that is what it is! So if anyone wishes the real McCoy in an Indian curry, read no further as this curry is not for you!!

Ingredients...(for two persons)
2 chicken thighs
1 15oz. tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tps. of sweet pickle
1 tps. of tomato puree
½ a small onion chopped (or dried onion)
1 tbs. curry powder
1 eating apple, cored and chopped, but not peeled
a bayleaf

Method
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover and cook gently for one hour, turning the thighs every 15 minutes. Add a little water at the end if necessary.

Serve with basmati rice. (Boil in the bag if really lazy).

ENJOY!

Polly.

The Cartoon is by Dan Reynolds, US Cartoonist.

http://www.reynoldsunwrapped.com/

A very quick drink.!

When I was in my late teens I was given a lady’s motorbike by my father. He soon regretted buying it as it went at a pretty good pace! He had been told it was such a small engine that it would only just chug chug along at a snails pace!
Any way, I loved my bike and whizzed all over the place with it, though a lot of the time I seemed to be cleaning the plugs!
One day I had been playing tennis with friends and was on my way home, and was following a large lorry which had a long plank of wood sticking out of the back of it without the obligatory flag at it’s end, and of course with my mind full of other things I had to run right into it . I was thrown off my bike into the road, and luckily the road was devoid of traffic. It all happened outside a pub called The Queen’s Head, and a whole lot of people who were enjoying themselves rushed out and picked me up and carried me into the pub and plied me with brandy for shock! I phoned my father who came and picked the bike and myself up ,but not too soon as I was thoroughly enjoying myself!
I had never been it that pub before but it soon became a favourite watering hole!
As for the bike my father soon persuaded me that it was too fast for me to handle.

My war effort

How do I begin to tell you about my life as a VAD in the Navy?
Right here goes!

A VAD was a female nurse posted with the British Red Cross or the St. Johns Ambulance in one of the Armed Services during wartime.

I joined the navy in 1944 being almost the last lot to be called up in the war. My parents lived in Plymouth, and I had to nurse in one of the local hospitals for about three months before joining the navy.

VAD’s could be sent anywhere in the world. As luck has it I was sent to the very large navel hospital in Stonehouse just on the outskirts of Devonport. We were billeted in various houses in Plymouth ,and all travelled to and fro to the hospital in various types of navel transport. My first night was one I won’t forget! I was given a top bunk in a room with three other nurses who were very kind and helpful to me . One even brought me a lovely cup of hot chocolate which I promptly spilled all over the sheets! Anyway I survived my first night, and started on one of the wards the next day. Quite an experience having to cope with the comments of sailors of various ages when they discovered it was my first day in the navy.

After a few months in that hospital I was posted to a navel training establishment in Cornwall which had a sick bay comprising of four wards, two for medical patients and two for surgical It also had an operating theatre and an x-ray room. I was stationed there for two years before I was de-mobbed.

I thoroughly enjoyed it all. There were dances every weekend, though of course plenty of nursing in the sickbay.

All things come to an end, and I often look back and think what a great time it all was.

Here are some interesting links about the VAD's.

Wikipedia Article

BBC Article

Polly – June 2008