Memories are made of this

Miss D Wilson

I was born here in 1918 and went to Mulso Infant School then the girls’ Junior School and then back to Mulso Senior School. I had one brother and one sister .My dad worked as a shoe operative at the Co-op which was then at the bottom of Obelisk Road. We always respected our parents and I feel that we had good parents .We had to go to Sunday school and I was a Sunday school teacher later on. We always had a week away at the seaside every year.
After church and during my teenage years a group of us would walk to Finedon station.

A few trains would stop there at that time. I had happy days at Sunday school a treat would be a parade around Finedon afterwards there would be sports in Station Road. The Old Prize Brass Band played in the evenings and Mr. Remmington was the conductor.
My time in the entertainment society started in the Junior Dancing Group and I belonged to this for a number of years; again these were very happy times .Mum stayed at home to care for us and this was the usual thing to do in those days; very few women went out to work.

During the war I was a member of the Women’s Land Army and I used to be up and at work by six thirty and during harvest time.
We would be working until late into the evening. I enjoyed the Land Army and felt I was doing my bit for my country. We used to keep hens to supplement our living. When war was declared we carried gas masks to Sunday school and they were kept in a cardboard square box. I remember planes going over when Coventry was bombed. Finedon Entertainment Church Sunday School Society was resumed after the war to try and build things up again. Hirst Cuttle’s band used to play down at the Star Hall every Thursday night. We also used to play badminton in the Star Hall. We used to go the pictures in Wellingborough on a Saturday night -buses ran much later in those days. I feel that pavements were much tidier in those days and litter is much more of a problem now.

It is sad to see shops closing here. Traffic is heavier now and I feel that we could really do with a bypass.
I would far rather keep our town as it is than build houses on our outskirts. I think that we have a good variety of things happening including; Over Sixties, Derby & Joan,Brownies,Rainbows,Tingdene Entertainment Society,Ramblers,Towns Women’s Guild,Womens Institute, Cricket Club, Football Club, Darts Teams, British Legion, Tennis Club, Keep Fit, Yoga, Line Dancing,Pilates,St. John’s Ambulance.

M.L.DARNELL

My mothers name was Annie Marie Perkins and my father was called William; he came from Hertfordshire and was a farm worker and came to this area therefore to work on a farm.
I was the youngest of five; Winifred was the eldest, Maud, Dorothy, William and then me.
I was born 23rd Oct 1921 Alexander Terrace

Mum lost her sight when Dorothy was two she always stopped at home to take care of us. My own father fought in the Boer War and joined up when he was under age but when he returned from fighting he worked on a farm again. He was again called up to fight in the First World War but went to Winchester where he was a cook and returned here after the war.

I went to the girl’s school and I remember things like doing May Day dancing and I took the part of a boy, as I was tall. I remember the doll that was down there and Miss Ozier telling us about it and I recall feeling scared. I remember the other teachers who were there included a Miss Hemsby who lived in St Mary’s Avenue with the Baileys, Miss Hollywood who was very quiet. Then, when I went to the top school we used to have cooking. I hated science. Mr Stevens was the teacher who married Miss Hutchinson. I left school at fourteen and went to work at Nutt’s shoe factory on Wellingborough Road as a machinist.
But at the outbreak of war I worked on a capstan lathe doing screws, nutt’s anything really to do with the war guns planes etc. I was married at this time. My husband came home from leave and my boss refuse to let me have time off so I simply left and did not go back there. There was a nice canteen upstairs where we could go to sort out our food. We did two shifts, which were either the six until two shift or the two until ten shift we used to take our own food and cook it. When we married we lived in rooms with mum at Alexander Terrace. My husband was working for the army as a driving instructor abroad and when he came back he drove a lorry for Pecks. As a young lad he was called up as a Militia Boy and some had to go down the mines but he went straight into the army.

I met my husband James actually as a direct result of him being friends with my brother from an early age. We were married at Finedon Church and I had three bridesmaids. We did not go on honeymoon. We went to Northampton for fish and chips. It was feast fair Saturday the 13th when we got married and the fair was under cover. Mr Pearson, who was an amateur photographer and lived in Allen Road, took the pictures If you had colour photo then the colours were just painted in. We also had a fruitcake made by Barlow’s of Burton Latimer and the cover was cardboard decorated with horseshoe.

Having left Alexander Terrace we bought a little cottage in Mackworth Green for two hundred and fifty pounds and we lived at number twelve. I had Anne and Robert whilst living there and so we had to move as it was only a two bed roomed cottage; Robert was five when we left .Anne went to school in Finedon then the High School Wellingborough and Robert went to Huxlow Irthlingborough.
I worked for a while then at Minneys in Tenter Lane and Jean Boddington worked with me. I then went to work at a little unit in Allen Road; which belonged to Coggin’s shoes of Raunds.
After I left there I went to Pearson’s then went from Pearson’s to Nutt’s then back to Pearson’s again where I retired

I would always say that my main interest has been my family. Sadly my husband James died several years ago. I now go to the Over Sixties Club at the Town Hall on a Wednesday afternoon and it is run by Elizabeth Robinson.