tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:44:33 +0000Notes for an autobiographyhttp://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/judithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)Blogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-3314228767295031601Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:46:00 +00002009-01-06T18:41:54.478ZBefore settling down to full time study again, there was a long summer vacation ahead of me, and I was about to take my first trip abroad. There were no school holidays abroad during the war of course, or student exchanges, but I did have a pen friend in France, which had been arranged for me while I was in school. I had now received an invitation to go and stay with her, and so it was arranged http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2008/10/france.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-357011813910923888Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:34:00 +00002008-10-11T08:40:38.016+01:00With my A levels in English and French, and the results I achieved at the end of this year in Spanish and Latin, I was successful in gaining exemption from the whole first year of Intermediate studies for an arts degree, and could start at the LSE (when I eventually got a place) at the beginning of the two-year Sociology course. Incidentally, I don't believe I could have passed the Latin set bookhttp://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2008/10/postwar-another-gap-year-2.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-404373247205110477Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:30:00 +00002008-10-11T08:38:19.762+01:00During the summer that I worked as a medical secretary at Worcester's Ronkswood Hospital, it must have been made clear to us that I would not get a place at the London School of Economics in 1946 either - still too many returning service personnel taking up the places. So another plan for another year was needed. We decided that I should attempt to advance my further education anyway. A Sociologyhttp://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2008/10/postwar-second-gap-year-2-part-1.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-5301916295946619651Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:25:00 +00002009-05-04T17:40:51.778+01:00The war in Europe ended in May 1945, and in July I left school for the last time, aged 17, with a good bunch of A levels (Higher School Certificate in those days), which would enable me to go to university. My parents had come to the school when I was 16 to consult with the staff and me about my future. My big strength was languages - A levels in English, French and Spanish - but in those days, Ihttp://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2008/10/postwar-1.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-2646846953153576349Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:21:00 +00002008-10-10T12:19:42.152+01:00I do not think I can do better, while attempting to gather my thoughts and resume my narrative here, than to post a piece I wrote in honour of my father. It has been in draft for a long time, as I could not decide where best to place it in my lifestory. But here I am, uncertain about how to go forward, and here he is as always, to give me the support I need.[Here he is in a rare formal pose - http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-father.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-8002877612220358160Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:16:00 +00002008-09-14T19:29:44.852+01:00I am ashamed of having neglected this blog for so long - I seem to have pretty much gone to sleep on it! I got deeply involved, just over a year ago, in researching my late husband's family history for my sons, and that took my attention away from every other project I have on hand. I am coming to the end of that now, and do hope to start writing my life story again soon, though I am afraid it http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2008/09/so-sorry.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-1612447529365389873Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:00:00 +00002008-01-02T20:46:23.581ZI am posting a biographical slideshow here in order to offer something to those of you who pop back to see if I'm still asleep! I do plan to get back to the life story one day, but somehow there always seems to be something else more pressing to get on with.http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/12/while-you-wait.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-5046288381268635087Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:00:00 +00002008-10-07T08:08:19.652+01:00We had a good healthy diet on the whole, as we produced our own fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as eggs. My mother taught herself to look after hens, and then added geese to the flock as well, which meant we sometimes had a goose for our Christmas dinner - a richer meat than turkey. I remember that the feeding of the hens and geese required the saving of all food waste to be boiled up as 'http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/07/effects-of-war-at-home-2.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-1676982735840913646Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:24:00 +00002008-10-07T08:05:36.683+01:00As the years of my senior schooling slipped happily by in Letchworth, I was living an equally happy home life in Worcestershire during the school holidays. Our parents seemed to settle in well to living in the country, and so did my brother and I. Our father was relaxed and at ease again, working on the land, away from the city and the stress of trying to sell cars, and our mother soon set to http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/07/war-years-at-home-1.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-395149384123511019Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:29:00 +00002008-01-23T07:55:23.909Z The school floodlit on VE nightMy schooling ended as the war ended, in the summer of 1945. The school community celebrated the end of war in Europe in May with a two-day holiday. On the first day there were picnic parties, then later a gigantic bonfire, home-made fireworks, dancing round the blaze with linked arms, and a sing-song, while we waited for midnight and the official moment when peace http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/06/end-of-schooling.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-5907930723052923981Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:14:00 +00002007-06-20T10:38:30.379+01:00On the whole the war years made little impact on me. None of my relatives was of an age to join the armed services, and there were no casualities of any sort. As for me, I was cocooned in the country, both at home where we lived in a small country village, and at my boarding school right on the edge of a garden city. There were air raid warnings, however, and bombs fall occasionally in the area. http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/06/boarding-school-effects-of-war.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-7276107092344908937Sun, 10 Jun 2007 07:43:00 +00002008-01-23T07:43:38.745ZThere is one leisure pursuit – and here the word ‘pursuit’ achieves its full significance – which I have not mentioned so far, sensing that I should wish to devote a whole post to the subject. I am of course referring to boys.The first boy with whom I developed a mutual tendresse was a little younger than me, and I cannot recall what drew us together initially. He was 13 and I must have been http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/06/boarding-school-leisure-pursuits.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-3246775483236482129Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:36:00 +00002007-07-06T08:29:41.894+01:00At boarding school there is a lot of time to be filled outside the classroom. There was homework of course. There was, I think, an obligatory hour of work time each evening (it might have been more in the senior school), but with the assignment system, we planned for ourselves what work we did in that quiet time, and when we would fit the rest of it into our free time. I did not learn any extras,http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/06/boarding-school-leisure-pursuits_04.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-7663970541113871232Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:51:00 +00002007-09-27T08:02:55.173+01:00I have a lasting impression that I was exposed to extravagant amounts of fresh air while at St Christopher’s. I suppose it is not uncommon for schools to expand by means of tagging on rooms and buildings wherever there is room in the grounds; however, at St Chris the senior school seemed to have been constructed specifically to oblige everyone to leave the warmth of the building and expose http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/06/st-christopher-fresh-air.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-914140746710766298Wed, 30 May 2007 06:34:00 +00002007-09-27T07:55:46.236+01:00Lyn and Eleanor Harris, Headteachers[Photograph from Reginald Snell's book *]Another ‘progressive’ aspect of St Christopher was a much more free and easy atmosphere than I imagine was the norm in private boarding schools at the time. Staff were called by their first names or nicknames, and I would say that there was a sense of partnership between staff and pupils, rather than a strictly http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/lyn-and-eleanor-harris-headteachers.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-4049658960829030589Sun, 27 May 2007 07:13:00 +00002007-05-29T19:35:20.130+01:00Arundale House, St Christopher School My brother and I did not have very long to explore and enjoy our new territory. Before the end of September, we had to make the journey to our new boarding school, where my brother had already spent two terms. St Christopher School in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, is the school which I really can remember vividly, and which I often revisit in my dreams. It was http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/st-christopher-school-1.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-5787053100919574295Thu, 24 May 2007 17:56:00 +00002007-05-26T20:44:34.240+01:00 Emsmore The house my parents found in the tiny Worcestershire village of Alfrick (population 250), was the property of a local farmer, from whom we were able to obtain a 21-year lease. Emsmore was not a particularly attractive house externally, with its stuccoed finish and leaded panes which were quite inappopriate to it’s architecture. It stood at the top of a hill on the road between Alfrick http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/move-to-alfrick-2.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-5422451971447448125Thu, 24 May 2007 07:54:00 +00002007-05-24T08:52:06.972+01:00Our arrival in Worcestershire, in July 1939, was a new beginning for my mother and father. In 1938 my Great Aunt Maimie had died, and being a childless widow, as I have mentioned before, her estate passed to her three sisters. My grandmother having pre-deceased her, her portion passed directly to my mother and my Aunt Fay. This must have provided my parents with sufficient financial security to http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/blog-post.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-8409175862941907097Thu, 17 May 2007 17:12:00 +00002008-12-13T20:20:35.090ZJack and Edith, with companion 'Doddy' (left)My father's parents had left Birmingham some time before we arrived there, and gone to live in the village of Tanworth-in-Arden, not far from our previous home in Henley-in-Arden. Sadly, Gampy Jack had died in 1922 when I was only two, and it surprises me to realise that I have a dim memory of him lying on the sofa in our sittingroom, feeling rather http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/my-relatives-3-my-fathers-family.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-4050699942770464474Sat, 12 May 2007 14:39:00 +00002007-05-18T14:42:27.192+01:00Auntie Dith had a granddaughter Gillian, my second cousin, who was about my age, and a welcome companion when we could get together. I would sometimes stay with her in their country home, and I remember long spring and summer days just pottering about the local lanes, all of which, in my memory, seem to have been overhung with lilac trees, whose scent I have loved for the rest of my life. ~~~~~http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/relatives-2-two-cousins.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-5098883631172258997Fri, 11 May 2007 15:02:00 +00002008-12-13T18:54:31.443ZSisters : Mamie, Nell (Grandma), Janey, Edith~~~~~ When we moved to Birmingham I began to know some of my relatives a whole lot better, as many of them still lived in that city, in which both sides of my family was rooted. In addition to my grandfather there was an aunt, (my mother's sister); three great aunts, (my maternal grandmother's sisters); and a first cousin of my mother's. There were http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/relatives-1-grandma-and-her-sisters.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-3080365491822446094Thu, 10 May 2007 15:47:00 +00002007-05-12T20:20:54.010+01:00 Me (between arrows) at the Edgbaston High School for Girls 1939 Of course, I had to go to a new school in Birmingham, and a place was found for me at a small school of about 60 boys and girls called The Laurels. It was run run by an elderly cousin of my mother's. Once again the process of learning which I went through proved not to be memorable, with one important exception: my little book of 'http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/birmingham-3-schools-friends-pets.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-7228687809798957330Thu, 10 May 2007 14:20:00 +00002007-05-12T14:49:39.580+01:00The tomboy emerges on holidayI remember our three years in Birmingham as a time of great financial stringency, with my parents keeping a cash box with different slots for the different types of necessary expenditure, so that the money saved was there when needed. I suppose we must have been heavily subsidised by my grandfather for a time - indeed, I imagine my grandparents must have helped my http://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/birmingham-2-our-new-life.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-9085081471823196973Thu, 10 May 2007 10:37:00 +00002007-05-12T15:05:00.043+01:00 No 172 Hamstead Road, BirminghamThe year of 1936 was a dramatic one. The old King George V died in the January, and his eldest son Edward VIII succeeded him. Then came the drama of Edward's relationship with Mrs Simpson, his refusal to reign without her beside him as his wife, and his eventual abdication, leading to his younger brother's reluctant accession to the throne. I remember reading thathttp://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/birmingham-1.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2063202914301987335.post-1531546059040119287Wed, 09 May 2007 13:15:00 +00002007-05-12T14:48:08.217+01:00 Age fiveI began by going to a small nursery group just across the road, but I remember no moreof it than walking through the door. My first proper school was in Solihull, within driving distance of Henley-in-Arden where we lived at the time. I have no recollection of the lessons learned there, except the hard lessons of life.There was a disagreeable discipline to mealtimes: no drinks of any sorthttp://judith-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007/05/starting-school.htmljudithtaylo@gmail.com (Judith)0