CHAPTER 10
A New Era
1953 saw the Coronation of the new Queen Elizabeth II. There was of course a public holiday when the whole country celebrated the dawn of a new era. Memories of the war were receding and a mood of optimism was taking hold. The village had a Fancy Dress Parade, and Leslie, who by this time was a Scout Leader, had his troop in fancy dress whilst he wore a kilt and beret.
Then in 1954 I became pregnant again and this time was very poorly indeed. It was without doubt the roughest time of our lives. From April until September I was confined to bed at home having a visiting nurse and making frequent trips to the hospital. In September it was felt that the best place for me was in hospital where I remained until January 1955, a month after our second son, Andrew, was born, a strong, healthy baby weighing over nine pounds. It was very distressing being away from my family over Christmas. Earlier in the year we had a brood of goslings of which all but one were sold. This one was saved until I returned from hospital so that we could all eat a celebratory meal together. There were a few tears shed at the killing of the goose who had become a family pet and a decided lack of appetite at that lunch.
Having been confined to bed for such a long time it was very difficult for me to adjust to being home and it took a while just to learn how to walk again. Everyone was proud of their new brother and nobody more so than big brother John who would take him out in the pram to show him off.
I was kept very busy with a family that was rapidly growing up and a new young baby. Margaret had left home to work in Huddersfield where she began training in the chemical laboratories at I.C.I. This meant that she went to lodge with Leslie's sister, Gladys, in Leeds during the week, coming home only at the weekends. She was keen to get home to see her boyfriend, Colin, who was the son of a local farmer. Between them they saved enough money to buy a Ford Popular car with the number OBT 839.
We didn't manage to get out much so Leslie decided we should try and save up for a television and also have one week's holiday. We rented an old cottage in the village of Staithes, not far from Whitby. Gerry, the baby and I went in the little Ford Pop with Margaret and Colin whilst Leslie took John and Joan on the train.
Margaret and Colin could only stay for the weekend as they had to get back to work. What is a day-trip these days seemed like a real adventure to us then. John, who was saving up for a bike, refused to spend any money even when Gerry tried to persuade him to go to the pictures. He now had a regular little job feeding the calves for Grandad who paid him 10/- each week.
I had been saving money for the new television, hiding it in the piano. Before going on holiday I had to tell Granny where the money was in case the man delivered it whilst we were away. We all enjoyed that much needed holiday getting to know the Yorkshire Moors and the tiny village of Staithes.
Gerry was by this time attending the Art and Technical College in Selby. She was very talented at dressmaking, drawing, painting and pottery. Everyone seemed busy and happy. Andrew was growing up into a happy little boy who was indulged by all his sisters and brother who often bought him toys and took him out.
We were a very close-knit hard-working family, with Granny and Grandad at its head. It was therefore a very sad day when Grandad became ill and had to go into hospital. When he came home he was unable to work very much and would spend many hours walking about the farm with Andrew, and doing odd jobs such as collecting vegetables from the field just at the back of the stackyard.
One day in September of 1957 Grandad went for a walk down the lane at the back with his dog Jock. He didn't return and a search was mounted. Eventually he was found dead at the end of a row of sugar beet with his faithful dog sitting by his side. He had died of a heart attack.
By this time Margaret had managed to get a job much closer to home, in the laboratories of Sturges at Selby. Gerry had left the Technical College before taking her G.C.E. O'Levels and gone to work as an apprentice in Selby for Mr and Mrs Farmery, who ran a hairdressing salon. John was at Drax Grammar School for boys but never really had his heart in it, wanting nothing more than to get home to work on the farm.
What a lot had happened since Grandad's own father had died and we had all moved to the farm at Cliffe. Now we had to move on and Leslie became the head of the family, taking over the farm on his own.
