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).