My story begins long before I was born. My mother’s grandfather ran away from his Jewish family in Riga, Poland, and after a series of adventures arrived penniless in London, then converted to Christianity. That side of the family lived in Ilford. My father lost his mother at a very early age, and was brought up by his Aunt and Uncle in East Ham. Both my parents lived through the War years as teenagers, and when my father was eventually called up he became a “Bevan Boy” and mined coal in Lancashire. After the war he went to what was then Persia to earn enough to marry my mother and set up home in Sutton. They and their families were part of a very devout and true Christian group who kept themselves apart from the outside world, and that was the environment I arrived into on 28th October, 1957. The Silver Cross pram shows they wanted the very best for me. The funny thing was, they did not listen to the radio so we had no idea of the other significant event going on - the birth of the Today Programme.
Monday
Before I was Me
My story begins long before I was born. My mother’s grandfather ran away from his Jewish family in Riga, Poland, and after a series of adventures arrived penniless in London, then converted to Christianity. That side of the family lived in Ilford. My father lost his mother at a very early age, and was brought up by his Aunt and Uncle in East Ham. Both my parents lived through the War years as teenagers, and when my father was eventually called up he became a “Bevan Boy” and mined coal in Lancashire. After the war he went to what was then Persia to earn enough to marry my mother and set up home in Sutton. They and their families were part of a very devout and true Christian group who kept themselves apart from the outside world, and that was the environment I arrived into on 28th October, 1957. The Silver Cross pram shows they wanted the very best for me. The funny thing was, they did not listen to the radio so we had no idea of the other significant event going on - the birth of the Today Programme.
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4 comments:
Hi Neville
Thanks for your message - I had realised yesterday that they had started to broadcast us. I listened to the first one on "listen again" and today's offering on the way to work.I've had one sentence so far!!!
Are you going to the event on Tuesday? I still can't decide if it will be worth the effort!
Regards
Roger
Hi Neville,
Thanks for posting your blog, I did'nt know what a blog was until I read this. I was 50 in May this year and I was enchanted by your photo's and memories, as they are a mirror image of my own!
How times change, I think we were fortunate to be children in the sixties.
For me the biggest treat of the year was a Birthday trip to Elmdon Airport in Birmingham, to watch the planes and drink unlimited amounts of lemonade and munch on bags of salt and vinegar crisps. How happy we were, but yes my brothers and I were always hungry too. We ate so little compared to today and were always off on our bikes, climbing trees, playing cricket and roller skating. How we always hated our parents calling us in at night and did not want to go to bed.
Our children have very full happy lives but different, certainly more choices but they have more pressure and less freedom.
Time goes by too quickly now.
Enjoy every day of your next 50 years!
Sue Reid
Jersey
Thank you Susan, for your kind comments. Thanks to the BBC and this blog I have been in contact with a number of other 50-ers and it has been a great experience, I have felt I have shared this birthday like no other. We have had some wonderful years but it's not over yet.
N
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