Work, Weddings and Exams ( Part 12)

Although it was great to see mum and dad again, I couldn’t wait to see Evelyn. Somehow word reached her that I was home and within an hour she was knocking on the door. We hadn’t seen each other for almost two years but she was still my girlfriend.

After a few weeks I received a travel warrant for the demob centre in Southampton. I had to give back every piece of my uniform and in return I could chose a full set of civilian clothing.

I ended up with a grey pinned stripe suit, a raincoat, a trilby hat and some long johns. The suit and raincoat were both heavy and good quality I wore them for years. I gave the hat and long johns to my Dad. He was most grateful.

I now entered a very uncomfortable period in my life. I went back to work for the London and Manchester Assurance company and hated every minute of it. Evelyn no longer worked there (she’d left a year earlier to become a switch board operator for the GPO). I found the work tedious and boring. So I resigned and got a job with Hogg, Robinson and Capel – Cure, an underwriting company near Bishopsgate in London. I soon realised I’d made a huge mistake as the work was even more boring than the L&M!

So I went on the job hunt again. I went for two interviews and was offered a position with both. One was the Prudential (the largest Insurance Company in the UK at the time) and the other was The Pearl (the second largest Insurance Company in the UK at the time). They both offered the same money (£5 per week). But the Pearl was offering free lunches. It was an easy choice. I accepted the position with the Pearl. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch...

I started at the Pearl in High Holborn in November 1948. My job was to write Life Policies. There were no individual desks back then. We all stood at a long sloping bench, or if you were lucky you were given a very high stool to sit on. It was like something out of a Dickens novel.

The policy forms were printed but the individual particulars for each policy were hand written. My job was to write (in very careful hand writing) the persons full name, address, sum assured, premium and frequency of payments. I had to write a minimum of sixty policies a day!

Evelyn and I got engaged soon after. But I’d made a decision. If I was going to stay in the Insurance business I would have to study hard and pass the necessary exams. My reasoning was simple. If I sat and passed the Insurance exams I would get promoted and earn more money. If I did this I could then marry Evelyn and we could afford to set up home together. So I enrolled for the Associateship of the Chartered Institute of Insurance (A.C.I.I.). I studied every weekday evening between 19.00 and 22.00 (apart from Wednesdays).

On Wednesdays Evelyn and I would have a night out. The Pictures (Cinema) was our main choice. There were always two films to see and you could walk in at any time and just sit down and start watching whatever was being shown. If the film was half way through you would watch the other half when it was shown again a few hours later. It was a “real” night out. There was Pathe News, sometimes a short cartoon and always two films. Four hours of good entertainment all for one shilling and nine pence (less than 10p).

If it wasn’t the Pictures then we would go to the speedway at West Ham or Harringey. Evelyn was more keen on this than me. I was convinced that whoever got the fastest start would win. I was proved right on most occasions!

 So in April 1950 I sat five exams and passed the lot. I was now Eric Voller A.C.I.I.

Evelyn and I got married four months later!

We were married on 5th August 1950 at St Margarets Church in Barking. I was a very hot and humid day. Two things stick in my mind from that day. I noticed that the vicar who was going to marry us wasn’t wearing any socks, the other funny thing was that my future father in law had to kneel and the poor old sod couldn’t get up again!

The reception was held at the Co-op Banqueting rooms just up the road. It’s a Tesco convenience store now. It wasn’t a grand affair as food was still rationed, but we all had a good time.

Our honeymoon was two weeks in Cornwall. Bed and Breakfast was twelve shillings and six pence per room per night (62p).

When we returned we moved in with my mum and dad at 31 Union Square, Islington. We all got on well. My dad adored Evelyn. She was the daughter that he never had. She could wind him round her little finger. She called him “sugar”.

I wanted to pass the next set of Insurance exams before we tried for a baby. I knew that if I could pass the Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Insurance (F.C.I.I.), I really could climb up the ladder and earn much better money.

I studied hard and in 1953 passed my exams. Evelyn fell pregnant soon after. Now we had to find somewhere to live. We loved being with mum and dad but with a baby on the way we had to move out. Dad had recently retired from the City Police and was working part time for the rents office of the Church Commissioners. He told me that two rooms had become available in a large tenement building just around the corner. Somehow he managed to wangle it so that we were offered them.

So in the summer of 1953, me and a heavily pregnant Evelyn moved into two rooms on the top floor of 98 Packington Street.

I don’t know how we managed but somehow we did and then life got even tougher. Just a few weeks after we moved in Evelyn woke me in the middle of the night to say that she was losing blood. A lot of blood. As soon as I could I got our doctor to call. He said that Evelyn was having a Threatened Miscarriage. We were told that if we wanted the baby to live Evelyn would have to stay in bed and move as little as possible.

I went to work each day and Mum would come round and look after Evelyn until I got home. Then I would cook us some dinner, tidy up and do whatever washing there was and go to bed completely knackered!