Life In The Nineties

Alice and Loudon will both be turning nine in the year 2017. We entertained them to a Christmas meal in 2016. Loudon walks around to the shops to get a newspaper every day and claims to play squash. Alice goes out to visit the doctor but spends most of the day upstairs in her comfortable white bedroom watching TV. Robert visits regularly. The wonder of the modern age is that Alice and Loudon can talk to America and see everybody on screen. Daughters are Laura in London and Clare in California (nicely alliterative that - helps me remember who's who and who's where). Alice and Loudon both have sticks to help walking and they struggle up the steps. Here are some lovely photos of them still laughing, as always.

25 Life in Hatch End & Holidays in America

Life In Hatch End 

Alice was busy in the Acorn Players.  She was friends with several councillors and mayors in the Conservative party.  On New Year’s Day she often had friends over for late morning drinks and sometimes they stayed on for the family lunch. When we went to live in the USA and rented our house to a Japanese family she was friends with them. Alice was also friendly with My mother Netta, and Trevor’s mother Pearl. She was also very friendly with the Morgan family living opposite.

Holidays in America

Alice and Loudon and Robert and Laura who lives in London went to the USA for the wedding of grand-daughter Amy in California.

Alice and Loudon and Robert and Laura who lives in London went to the USA for the wedding of Grand-daughter Amy in California with husband and baby.

They made several trips. After Alice had her pacemaker fitted she could travel to the US by plane but did not feel like a coach tour.

Although Alice could not travel, Robert went instead with Loudon and had a great trip. They took a coach ride via Las Vegas and went to the Grand Canyon. They paid extra for the helicopter ride down to the base of the canyon. Money is paid to the Native Americans who live there, and the trip prices included this surcharge and what was said to be a Native American breakfast. Robert says, ‘It was just the same as an English breakfast.’

Neighbours

Chris says, with a wry grin, that Loudon, being of Scottish origin, a Protestant heartland, is probably C of E, but is an atheist, or at least seems to be - and can be quite vociferous on the subject. 

Loudon would probably have argued for atheism, even if he thought the opposite, just to get a lively discussion going. I always tried to be polite when Loudon expressed a surprising view, or tried to contradict me. It was years before found the courage to I query Robert whether his father Loudon really held a view on something he had said. 

Robert replied, “No, of course not, Angela. He was teasing you”.

Milk, Shops, Restaurants, Film, Fire, Flood, Earthquake

Milk, Shops, Restaurants

In the 1980s Hillview Road had milk deliveries. Milk arrived in glass bottles with foil tops.  Then during a hot summer, I found a hole in the lid, several days running. The first day I thought it was the milkman’s thumb and careless handling. But it happened again. Alice had cats. A catalogue company was advertising protective tops for milk bottles. 

I phoned Alice and asked, "Is the problem caused by the milkman or by cats, and will plastic bottle tops help? "

Alice answered, “It’s not the postman and not the cats. Probably birds.”

Film

Dates of notable events in the UK and Hillview Road

Film of You Don’t Have To Walk To Fly, TV film, starring Bob Hopkins, filmed next door at the bungalow, 6 Hillview Road. The Film  was released in 1984. The road was closed for the day during the filming. A van was parked at the end of the road with food and toilets for the actors and filming crew.

Fire

A fire happened in the garden of a house opposite. in 201? A fire engine turned up fast and the fire was put out by the crew including a firewoman. 

Flood

I  researched on the local Harrow council website and found that Hatch End has suffered from floods in 1977, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Harrow Council with the EO (Environment Agency) then pul in plans to prevent flooding.

On one occasion I drove home from Barbara who lives around the corner and was faced with what looked like a river. I phoned Alice to ask how deep the water was outside her house and mine. She looked and said it was only up to the kerb stone. So I decided to drive back. First, I would have a landline phone. Second I needed to protect the property. I needed to be where people could find me. Id didn’t want to spend all night in the car. I phoned Barbara and asked her what to do when I got home.  “She said, take everything off the floor, fill a thermos with a hot drink, get a packet of biscuits and then go upstairs.” “I replied, “There isn’t an upstairs. I live in a bungalow.” At this point I had plan two. Plan two was Alice.

The other useful thing I can do in a power cut is phone Alice and Loudon and ask if they have lights and can see lights further along the road. Oddly enough, streets here in London are not designed with large sections with one electricity and grid, another district with a different one. We have a system whereby every third house is on your grid and you can have not two but three companies operating in the same street. The advantage is that if your neighbour is on a different system, you can get warmth and light and a hot drink chez your neighbour.

Earthquake 

24 Only In America

Thanksgiving in America

Robert says: Thanksgiving in America is much better than Christmas in England. You eat and drink and see family, but don’t have to organize presents. It lasts just one day.

What do you do? You eat turkey. Then you sit and watch the Macy Street Parade in New York on TV. And the Philadelphia Dog Show.

23 Last Memories of Loudon's Father

Loudon's father was a major in the British Army. Around 1957 before he died, when he was terminally ill at Bexhill, he confided in his daughter-in-law Alice, who had been a nurse: "I have been told I have three to six months to live. I can't have cream or whisky. What would you do?"

Alice replied: "I'd do what you are doing now."

He said, "Thank you, my dear."

Alice says, "He drove a car, ate food, and enjoyed himself. He lived about four months longer and died at the 9th (last) hole of the golf course.

"He was walking up the slope to the last green. He put his bag down, sat down beside it, and fell asleep."

Loudon adds, "I still have his golf bag - I gave it to our son Robert. Golfers don't like schoolboys. Golfers are very anti-social."

Angela thinks: This was news to me. I'd always thought that golfing was social because you walk around in groups, unlike card playing, with poker faces. Even bridge is notorious for bad tempered bridge players, sitting in silence, stuck in wheelchairs, staring at their hand of cards, playing for money. Angel opens eyes wide in surprise. "What do golfers do that's anti-social?"

Loudon: 'Don't trespass, on my patch."

Angela: "What about bridge players?"

Loudon: "Bridge players are worse."

Alice: "My mother would not play cards.

22 Angela's Party Turn

Angela’s Party Turn

The Parkins’ garden pond has had fish and toads. For a party Angela was invited to give a five minute turn. This consisted of challenging the audience to guess whether she had three self-playing pianos inside a large tote bag. She did.

She could not play happy anniversary (the smallest piano had six self-playing tunes. So she played Happy birthday to you. Somebody in the audience had a birthday.

Angela followed this by a chat with a hand puppet frog. It nodded and agreed that the Parkins were excellent neighbours, who provided good food and drink. The family had had plenty to drink so they were in a good mood and were a good audience and laughed a lot.

Alice and Loudon also came to watch Angela perform at the talent show organised by the Moon & Sixpence pub, on the high street, where comedian Barry Cryor regularly goes to drink and socialise. Barry was going to introduce the evening and Angela was confident that the audience would be attentive and appreciative. Unfortunately, the pub discovered at the last minute that they needed a music license because two or three of the acts were singers.

The event was postponed until the following week and to a change of venue, the Lawn Tennis Club in Clonard Way. This was down a suburban street, with a hidden entrance. Torrential rain was not encouraging for the performers, supporters, audience, or parking. Parking was on the muddy field. We parked near the venue, then hemmed in by other cars. A walk across an unlit field to the clubhouse which was not open when we arrived so we sat outside until somebody with a key turned up.

Barry Cryor did not appear as originally advertised. We did not know whether he had taken umbrage or was not available because of the change of date. Angela’s first act which took place sitting down could not be seen or heard by those at the back of the audience. The organiser suggested that a volunteer needed for the act should be a child contestant, who was tongue tied so there was no jolly repartee. A final reading of a comic poem could not be heard because people were shouting drinks orders at the bar.

Angela then appreciated how important it is to have a ‘good’ audience like Alice and Loudon’s family.

Blurb About Alice and Loudon. A Summary.

Blurb About Alice and Loudon.  A Summary.

Alice and Loudon have lived in Hatch End fifty years, since March 1965. Their house is number 8, which is a lucky number in Chinese.Their gabled detached house has wisteria draped across the doorway, a front garden and a long back garden.

Their back garden has apple trees, a pond and, hidden at the far end, a fox's lair. The Parkins used to have two cats. Now they put out food for the foxes.

Loudon is keen on gardening. And DIY. He enthusiastically makes coffee.

Alice cooks in the kitchen designed by her daughter. She serves coffee and biscuits at a table in the window overlooking the garden, with the fig tree on the left and the garage on the right.

We moved next door to them in 1980 or 1981. From neighbouring houses we can often hear Loudon playing the upright piano and Alice's peels of laughter. Alice used to be busy in amateur dramatics. Loudon used to be a keen player of squash. They are still enthusiastic supporters of the local Conservative party.

Now Loudon likes to sit in the sunny Conservatory. He reads The Telegraph newspaper which he collects every morning, with the American international herald newspaper. 

He strokes his little beard and tells long stories about people they know and places they have visited, sometimes interrupted by Alice.

They are great neighbours. They do all the things good neighbours should do. In the old days they would help you jump start your car. In later times the job of a neighbour was to lend a ladder, take in a parcel or look after keys. Plus of course taking you in when you were locked out.

We are always invited in, never left standing on the doorstep. I only stand on the doorstep when they are out. In their covered porch you used to be able to stand looking at the singing frog. (Not a real English frog. Probably made in China.The real wildlife is at the back on the pond.)

They used to have a flat in Malta on timeshare, which they eventually sold after some difficulty. They love to go to America to visit the family, whose photos decorate the side tables in the living room. 

Angela Lansbury 2015

Introduction to Alice and Loudon

Alice and Loudon live in Hatch End. Their house is number 8, which is a lucky number in Chinese.

Their gabled detached house has wisteria draped across the doorway, a front garden and a long back garden.
Their back garden has apple trees, a pond and, hidden at the far end, a fox's lair. The Parkins used to have two cats. Now they put out food for the foxes.

Loudon is keen on gardening. And DIY. He enthusiastically makes coffee.

Alice cooks in the kitchen designed by her daughter. She serves coffee and biscuits at a table in the window overlooking the garden.

From neighbouring houses we can often hear Loudon playing the upright piano and Alice's peels of laughter. Alice used to be busy in amateur dramatics. Loudon used to be an enthusiastic player of squash. They are still enthusiastic supporters of the local Conservative party.

Now Loudon likes to sit in the sunny Conservatory. He reads the newspaper he collects every morning. He strokes his little beard and tells long stories about people they know and places they have visited, sometimes interrupted by Alice.

They do all the things good neighbours should do. In the old days they would help you jump start your car. In later times the job of a neighbour was to lend a ladder, take in a parcel or look after keys. Plus of course taking you in when you were locked out.

We are always invited in, never left standing on the doorstep, which we do when they are out. In their covered porch you can stand looking at the singing frog. (Not a real English frog. Probably made in China.The real wildlife is at the back on the pond.)

They used to have a flat in Malta on timeshare, which they eventually sold after some difficulty. They love to go to America to visit the family, whose photos decorate the side tables in the living room. 

20 Alice's Schooldays

Alice's Schooldays

Alice says:
"I loved my schooldays. I went to a boarding school in Wales from 1942 to 1946. My cousins were there. And I made lifelong friends."

“I travelled home six hours on a choo-choo train. 

"I stood waiting on Leeds station. I'd been at a private school, a girls' public school, and I had become accustomed to hearing people speaking very posh at school. My father had come to meet me at Leeds station. It was a shock to hear the station master say to my father, in his broad accent, "Have ya coom to meet ya daughter then?" Bradford was a terminus.

Alice mimics the station master in a low voice and a strong accent. Followed by a peel of laughter. You can see why she enjoyed being in amateur dramatics. She leans forward conspiratorially:

"I had learned to sew at school and my mother asked me to patch a white sheet. In those days everybody had white sheets - and white linen or cotton handkerchiefs." 

Loudon agrees and nods, "That's right. No paper tissues!" He shakes his head. "No. They came in later.”

Alice recalls:
"My school was a girls only school. Boarding schools were all like that in those days. I met my friend Joan on my first day at school and we were best friends from the age of 13 to 17, when I left. Joan stayed on another year.

"She married in 1956, the same year that I married Loudon. She had two children, but her husband died four or five years later, about 1960. He had a brain tumour. So she was left with two young children. Fortunately her parents were wealthy - and she was an only child." No sisters. So Alice was like a sister to Joan.

"Joan became a teacher, of English and all subjects to a pre-infant's kindergarten, ensuring children knew everything they needed to know to start school.

"Later Joan took me back to visit our old school. It was called Castle, a Tudor building with turrets, and sections added in stone. Some of the dormitories were in the old castle and some in the annexe buildings. Now the property a holiday resort, Bodelwyddon Castle, in the Warner group.For details of the history read:
http://www.warnerleisurehotels.co.uk/hotels/bodelwyddan-castle-hotel/hotel-history/index.aspx

19 Why No Photos? Loudon's Ancestors' stories: A murder, a pub and Auld Reekie

Why No Photos? Loudon's Ancestors' Stories: A murder, a pub and Auld Reekie

One thing which puzzled me, and muddled me, was that Loudon's family name was Parkin, which is a Yorkshire name, but although Loudon's wife Alice is from Yorkshire, he is Scottish.

Loudon's Mother Winnie Parkin
Loudon's mother Winifred Gladys Parkin, was called Winnie.

He recalls, "At one stage she didn't like me, but had more affection for her first born, my older brother Ian Robert Parkin. He's just celebrated his 90th birthday!  I was born 10 months later, so he was always 10 months older than I was.

"My mother threw away all the negatives which showed the family."

Of course, her married name, Parkin, came from her husband, as was usual in those days.

Loudon's Father
"Our father, Robert Parkin, known as "Bertie" was in Hong Kong in WWII - he was moved to Singapore when the Japanese war started, as the Japanese were allies of the Germans.

Loudon's Maternal Grandparents
Loudon says, "My maternal grandmother and father were from Kent. They lived in Gravesend and he worked in the dockyard.

"Their neighbour murdered his own family. With a hatchet. Then committed suicide."

"They were so upset, they went to Scotland. There were plenty of jobs in the Rhosyth shipyard, a dockyard outside Edinburgh. It's over the go Firth of Forth bridge. There was only one bridge then, before the rail bridge there was a ferry.

"My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Barker.

"The name Parkin comes from my paternal grandfather who lived in Bridge of Weir, a village in the West of Scotland. It was a small place. My grandfather, Ernest Parkin, ran the village's only pub. he used to go regularly from Edinburgh to Bridge of Weir to help at the pub, every other weekend, taking me and my brother and sister.

"My father worked for the Civil Service on the accountancy side, stationed in Edinburgh. He was posted there and probably had digs in a tenement and went dancing and met up and married.

"The Edinburgh tenements were roomy - bigger than your three bedroom bungalow. They had high ceilings, and a big kitchen range, like an Aga, with an open coal fire, a cooker on top to bake bread and boil a kettle. The Kitchen range was originally coal but later converted to gas. Coal - that's when Edinburgh was called Auld Reekie - because you could see smoke above the houses. They converted to gas when I was 7 or 8. The baths were galvanised steel in metal colour, not white or coloured like today. Steel would rust, so it was dipped in zinc.

18 Australia on a £10 ticket - Loudon's sister Heather and brother-in-law Terry's changed name

Australia on a £10 ticket - Loudnon's sister Heather and brother-in-law Terry's changed name

Loudon's sister-in-law Heather went to a dance and met a boy she danced with, but soon found out that his brother Terry Mackenzie was a better dancer. Terry got interested in her and at last asked her to marry him. Heather said, "I'll marry you but You'll have to change your surname. I can't be called Heather Feather!"

"So he changed his name to a good Scottish name, Mackenzie. It suited her. She was born in Scotland.

"Unfortunately our mother, Winifred Gladys, known as Winnie, didn't like Terry's family and she didn't like Terry. Despite that, they married, here in Harrow. However, the wedding was not a happy occasion for Winnie, and everybody else for another reason. A good friend died on the way to the wedding.

"Winnie had been a housekeeper to Mrs Gurr, who had remained a good friend. The wedding ceremony and reception were delayed whilst we all waited for Mrs Gurr to arrive. She never arrived. She had had a heart attack. She died on the way to the wedding. The wedding went ahead.

"However, to get away from it all, they eventually went to Australia, on a £10 ticket. They went to Adelaide with their children, all boys, who settled in well.

"Later they adopted two girls, sick, unwanted oriental children who needed good homes. Children who had been abandoned. The would-be adoptive parents were given lottery numbers.  They received one Chinese baby, and one Vietnamese.

How did that work out?

"It worked out very well. The girls recovered their health and did well. Alice and I want back to Australia specially for the wedding of one of the girls."

(See earlier post about Terry reading Angela's book on wedding speeches.)

17 Cynthia's Two Husbands

Cynthia's Two Husbands

Cynthia Horsley's first husband was a travel agent. After he died, widowed Cynthia went on holiday to South Africa with a girlfriend.

Alice remembers: "When the ship was in port in South Africa, the two ladies were back abroad in the evening, sitting having a drink together, at a small round table near the bar.

"Perched on a stool by the bar was the Harbour Master, an important man. He sat watching the two ladies. He eventually sent over the chief barman with a note, his business card and a request.
The barman showed them the business card."

How very correct. Not chat-up lines, a proper introduction, from a man of status. He had sent his car so they could verify his identity, and assess his his status, his credentials, and good intentions.

Alice continued, "The barman said, 'The gentleman wishes to know if you would permit him to buy you both a drink and come and sit and talk to you.'

"They agreed. Cynthia went back to England and continued to correspond with him. He came to visit her in England. Eventually they married.'

Loudon adds gleefully, "She saw two husbands off!"

Cynthia developed Alzheimer's and died in 2014. Alice speaks frequently and fondly of Cynthia.

16 The Doctors Who Missed The Ball - how Alice and Loudon met and married

The Doctors Who Missed the Ball - how Alice met and married Loudon

How did Yorkshire nurse Alice meet Loudon the Scotsman?

Alice says: “I was working at the sick children’s department of the St Mary’s hospital, not in Paddington. I was the staff nurse of the baby unit. The Ward Sister said to me, 'Matron wants to see you.'

You never went to see Matron unless it was extremely serious. 

I went to see Matron and asked, “What have I done wrong?”

She said, ‘Nothing sinister. Do sit down, nurse.’

You never sat down. You stood

She said, ‘Nurse, I want you to do me a favour. I want you to find some suitable young men for the hospital dance in Kensington Palace hotel, suitable young men, to dance with the nurses. If you don’t mind.’

"Unfortunately, the only chap I knew had friends who were actors and dancers. I thought she wouldn’t approve of them. However, I knew a chap who was a medical student, so I asked him to bring along his pals. 

"But nearer the date I got a phone call. A voice said to me, ‘I’ve got mumps. We’re all banned from seeing anybody in case we’re infectious.’

" ‘I knew one other young girl in the hospital, who worked in the pharmacy. I told her of my plight. She said, ‘My brother works in Kodak. I’ll ask if he can bring some people along.’ ”

Loudon says:

Loudon says:
"Alice was working as a nurse in the hospital.

"I was working at Kodak. I went around with a group of fellows of roughly the same age. One got married. Then the others got the idea and one by one got married. Until finally I got the idea that I ought to get married.

"One of the fellows lived near Kodak and we used to walk back to his mother's for tea and sandwiches. Victor's sister was Cynthia Horsley, who used to work at a hospital in Ladbroke Grove and she was a pharmacist. Her friend Alice was a nurse.

"Alice came into the picture because the hospital had parties every year, organised by worthy people for all nurse to literally 'have a ball', a proper ball, with drinks like champagne and dancing with two bands, at places such as the De Vere Hotel, sometimes a big event for more than one hospital.

"Alice was asked if she knew any suitable men who could be invited. She knew doctors from Cambridge and one of her friends arranged for 8-10 to come. But unfortunately about ten days before the event they all got mumps! They were kept in quarantine.

"So Alice went to ask Cynthia if her brother knew anybody from Kodak. So the boys all agreed to come. We met up a few days earlier, in the evening, at the pharmacy in the hospital, to escort the girls. We were thirteen people on Friday the 13th."

Thirteen at table is supposed to be unlucky. (Because of associations with thirteen around the table at The Last supper - Jesus and 12 disciples.) But it turned out to be lucky for Loudon. And Alice.

Loudon said:
"In those days coffee houses did not have separate tables but long tables. Beside me was Alice who was quite a good talker. We exchanged numbers - and our next meeting was at the ball! The rest is history. We went out together and got engaged and married."

All because the young doctors caught mumps.

Cynthia remained a lifelong friend, one of Alice's closest friends.

15 Loudon's Childhood Dramas and Education

Loudon's Childhood Dramas and Education (1927 - the Thirties and the Forties)

Loudon, who was born in 1927, says: "My earliest memory was being circumcised. People were standing around me, peering down at me. I was crying.

Alice, a former nurse, comments, "In those days people thought it was cleaner."

Loudon continues: "The next alarming incident was by the edge of a Loch, probably Loch Ness. I was running along a shingly beach when, suddenly, I fell into a watery hole. Everybody was screaming and shouting.

"I was shocked. My Aunty Ivy picked me up. She took all my clothes off and dried me. It was very humiliating. Then we drove home.

"My third memory is my first day at school in Edinburgh in the 1930s. The Royal High School, Junior School, Jock's Lodge. It was a big school - with a running track."

I asked, "A state school or a private school?"

"A private school. Edinburgh has lots of fine schools but this was the oldest, originally in Carlton Hill where the Greek Temples are.

"At school we did English, French, Latin, Chemistry and Physics, Lowers and Highers, the Scottish equivalent of O levels and A levels.

"Loads of boys who went there went on to become famous in Edinburgh and the world. But after I left, the Scottish government turned the school into offices, with no plaque because they are against privilege. I believe it's now a Council housing estate with houses and what have you.

"I used to travel to and from school on the tramcar. One day, when I came home from school on the tramcar, as I got off at the stop I met my father. He had come home from work early and was in a hurry to get onto the tramcar to go and play golf.

He was wearing plus fours, which was what you wore golfing in Scotland, a tweed jacket and short knee-length trousers, also called knickerbockers. I said to my father, 'You shouldn't be wearing a bowler hat!' He'd been in such a hurry he'd forgotten to remove it, so he had to rush back to the house again.

"At Edinburgh I did a degree in Technical Chemistry, like chemical engineering, but more on chemistry. You have to be able to read scientific German, after a 6 month course.

"After I graduated my degree enabled me to get a job. I went south to London to work at Kodak in Harrow and Wealdstone, where I worked all my life (and later our son Robert worked there). And through my friends at work met Alice, my wife-to-be."

14 Learning the piano (to be completed later).

13 The Generous Mill Owner and hundreds of children

The Generous Mill Owner and hundreds of children

Alice's father's good friend was a wealthy mill owner called Reg Sherd. His mill produced angora, the only factory in the world making angora wool. Angora looked beautiful but was dreadful stuff to work with all day. The owners and staff all had to wear masks and cover their clogs.

In those days children went to primary school and had to learn to read by the time they left. No secondary schools. (Remember the 1944 education act.)

Most people working in mills didn't have children able and willing to study to university level. But he heard his employees talking about one boy who was a diligent student and would have liked to have gone to university if his parents could have afforded it.

The mill owner paid for the boy to go to university, all three years. When the student graduated, the mill owner looked for another deserving candidate to be sponsored.

Alice remembers fondly, "He was such a generous man. You didn't dare admire anything because he'd insist on giving it to you. He had no children of his own, but was like Mr Chips, the schoolmaster, in the book which was made into a film. Mr Chips was a schoolmaster in a boarding school who had no children because his beloved wife had died in childbirth. His last words, when asked if he'd had any children, were, 'I had hundreds of children'."

12 The seaside house with one tree

The seaside house with one tree
Alice's Scottish mother-in-law, in her seventies, phoned and asked Alice, "Will you come to Bexhill (on sea) to look after me because my housekeeper has gone to Scotland for the summer holiday?"

"But I've got three children to look after," protested Alice.

"Bring the two girls; I'm sure they'd like to stay by the sea. But don't bring the boy. He can go to his grandfather."

Alice sighed and shook her head and phoned her father, Robert's granddad who lived on the Yorkshire moors. The old man said, "That would be champion!"

Nana, the girls' grandmother, lived an a large 3 bedroom detached 1920s house.  The pretty garden had a patio with steps leading to a sunken garden with roses, a lawn, but only one tree. People on the coast didn't like the wind blowing tall trees. A gale might blow over. Besides, salt from sea was not good for trees. Admittedly you get trees, palm trees on the promenade at Torquay.

"Not tall trees, short shrubs," says Alice.

11 WWI and the Brits and Conscription - Who Joined Up?

11 WWI and the Brita and Conscription - Who Joined Up?

Alice's father Albert Douglas was born in 1900, named after Prince Albert of course. Queen Victoria didn't die until 1901. Alice's father went to Leeds university at 17. His elder brother Charles Raymond, known as Raymond, studied medicine. Albert Douglas, known as Douglas, went to study textiles but World War one, then called the Great War, brought an end to his studies.

Alice says, "He had to join up - everybody did. Some were conscripted but many volunteered. Why. They wanted to. Even his father aged 50 did so."

 Loudon says, "Life was drab, nothing to do. They thought it would be exciting."

Alice objects, "Life was not drab for my father. He was working. Have you seen the play 'The Accrington Boys'? It was shown on TV? last year (2014) for the commemorations of WWI. I cried all the way though it and all the way home. The whole village joined up and they everybody died." 

10 Chocolates in England and the USA - A British view

10 Chocolates in England and the USA - A British view


Alice's father was named Albert Douglas Thornton. Thornton like Thornton's chocolates.
"When I was a little girl they manufactured toffees, but now they've reinvented themselves."

Loudon remembers: "Thornton's Duncan's chocolates, small companies as well as Terry's."

Alice says, "Rowntrees and Bourneville, we've sold to the Americans. I remember in 1966 Loudon being me a Cadbury's chocolate and it was sickly sweet, the company have a different recipe for every country. Loudon spoke to the lab or research department and they explained Americans have it made by Hersheys, the recipe modified for Americans who like it sweeter. To us it seemed sickly.

On the East coast they travel long distances by car and sit all day. You never have chocolate in California. They are all slimming and doing exercise. Going West you get the Thais and Malays."

9 Sleeping Beauty and The Acorn Players Amateur Dramatics (to be completed later).

(Alice said the story was too long to tell and she would tell me later. Unfortunately when I went back in November 2015, she said she could not remember any great drama. Post to be completed) if I can find out more.)

Alice was a founder member of the Acorn Players amateur dramatic society. Because Alice and Loudon moved into Hatch End in 1965, this must have been in the 1960s. The Acorn Players put on plays in the church hall at the corner of Hillview Road.

Loudon did not act. But he helped paint sets (scenery).

The church hall held many community events, such as the annual summer garden show where you could exhibit plants and win prizes, and buy plants. Everybody in the street was very sorry when the church sold the hall and it was converted into a nursery school.