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My sister Margaret bought a gramophone which you had to wind up to play. The only record that I can remember was, ‘The Maid of the Mountains’. I’m sure my sister must have had other records, but I can’t remember any of them.
In 1938 my father bought a wireless set. It was powered by a wet battery, which was called an accumulator, which had to be taken to a garage to be recharged. We actually had two of these accumulators, one in use and one on charge. It also required a 100 volt dry battery. My father used to insist on the volume being turned down to the lowest point possible to ‘save the battery’.
We never bought socks or stockings all the time I lived in Carlisle, that is, until I joined the Royal Navy. All our socks and stockings were hand knitted by either my sister Margaret, or my mother. When you got a hole in one of these items it was darned to the extent that sometimes you were wearing more darn than sock. Pullovers and jerseys were also hand knitted.
Other clothes, such as trousers, were patched when they got worn or torn, sometimes finishing up with more patch than trouser. Shoes were soled and heeled for all the family by my dad. He had a ‘Last’ which was a metal object with three legs. At the end of each of the legs was a different shape and size. If I remember correctly, one was for children’s shoes, one was for ladies and one was for gents. My father would buy sheets of leather and cut it to the correct shape and size for the repair.
Prior to joining the Navy I had never tasted turkey, and chicken was a luxury reserved for Christmas and New Year and Easter. Easter eggs were hard boiled eggs which had been boiled in water with onion skins added to it. These eggs were called ‘Pasche’ eggs (pronounced ‘Pace‘ eggs). There were no supermarkets in those days and most of the shopping was carried out at the corner shops. The nearest thing to a supermarket was the cooperative which sold hardware and clothes as well as foodstuffs and tobacco. When you joined the Co-
Although television was invented in 1925, I had never seen a television set and to the best of my knowledge there wasn’t even a television set in Carlisle, right up to the time I joined the Navy in 1943.
Highlights of those days were:-
May 6th 1935 was the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary. To celebrate this occasion we all had a day off school. Every street had a party for the children and in Dudson’s Terrace trestle tables were set up with sandwiches and cakes supplied by our parents.
On the 20th January 1936, King George V died and the Prince of Wales acceded to the throne, becoming Edward VIII. His reign however didn’t last long as he abdicated on December 10th. His brother, who was the Duke of York, then became king, taking the name of George VI. His wife became Queen Elizabeth. The title of Duke of Windsor was bestowed on Edward VIII.