I finished my two year PRCC course and passed the examinations. I returned to my parents home to think about what I wanted to do. I looked around for work and found a position as an assistant house mother in a small cottage children's home in Beverley Hull. The house itself was small and sat alongside other children's homes in large grounds. The lady in charge was a single woman who was known as aunty Elsie. The home housed about ten children with their ages ranging from 7 to 14 years. My duties were to care for the children, cook and clean. According to Aunty Elsie one important job that I had was to dust the bed springs weekly. Why this was so important I shall never know but I did as I was told. I was also expected to cook Sunday lunch and to my shame I really had no idea. My mother had taught me the basics but cooking a chicken was beyond me. I remembered seeing my mums roast chicken which seemed to have water in the bottom of roasting dish so I put the chicken in water and left it to roast! No one complained so it couldn't have tasted too bad.
The children were actually really lovely and caused few problems. Aunty Elsie was clearly dedicated to her work and treated the children well. Surprisingly the older girls were very innocent and I recall one occasion when a 11 year old came into the sitting room wearing a sanitary towel on her face. She had the straps of the towel hooked to her ears and the pad was under her chin. When asked what on earth she was doing she innocently said that she had tooth ache and thought this would help. It was hard not to laugh but the poor girl looked such a sight.
Again I was given no information why the children were in the home and looking back I dont recall ever seeing any of the children's parents. Some of the children had brothers and sisters in the other home. the policy at the time was that once children reached a certain age they moved onto one of the other cottages. I never really understood why it was considered appropriate to split siblings but it seemed a common practise in the 1960's and before.
During the year that I worked at the children's home I entered into my first relationship with a man called Tony who lived in Hull. We first met on the ferry between Hull and Grimsby (how romantic). H approached me and introduced himself. We went out for a drink and he asked if we could meet again. I liked him and agreed. Tony and I were an item for approximately 6 months but he clearly wanted more than I wanted to give physically so we ended the relationship when I left Hull.
Although I enjoyed my work in the home my dream was to move to London. At the age of thirteen I went on a school trip with the school to London and dreamt of living there. I loved the buzz of London and that everyone seemed to be independent and in many respects invisible to each other. Having lived my life in a small town on a council estate where everyone seemed to know your business. being invisible in London seemed very inviting. I looked for work in the Lady Magazine and found a position as a nanny to a three year old boy in Harrow on the Hill. I said goodbye to the children and aunty Elsie and returned to my parents home to get ready to move nearer to London.
I was only 18 years of age and mother was concerned that I was moving so far away but she respected my ambition and adventurous spirit. My mum was born and raised in our home town and always hoped that I would move on, develop a career and not get into marriage and having children. My mum had had an unhappy childhood and in many ways she married to escape her circumstances. As her only daughter (I have two brothers) mum brought me up to be strong, independent and not show my emotions. She often told me that there was no use crying it didn't do any good. It took me many years to show my emotions and even still I don't easily cry.
Although I was anxious about moving to Harrow I didn't show it. My mum being my mum made sure that I had everything that I needed and before I left home she sat me down and told me that I really needed to get on the Pill. I had no idea what she was talking about but now realise that she meant the contraceptive pill. At the time I was a virgin and in many respects quite innocent despite the so called sex lessons at school. What can one learn from watching a film of rabbits having sex!
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