cooking and heating needs and there was a large back kitchen with a stone floor; a large scrub top table; a washing boiler, heated with wood; a large sink with lift-pump which with hard work filled the supply tank in the attic; plus a small larder. The bedroom accommodation was rather more adequate, but by having to share the stairs with the Rector, we constantly checked that he was not going upstairs at the same time as any of us were. Kennerleigh Rectory Mum, in particular, worked very hard and long hours to feed and clothe both us and the Rector. He bought few new things, so mending everything from socks to bed sheets was a weekly ritual, whilst Dad worked both for the Rector as his gardener, and for Maurice Lee at adjacent Woodbeare Farm. Although there was very little money for all the basic needs of the family, we were involved in and supported all the local activities. Much activity centred around church affairs. I played the organ in Kennerleigh church for several years. Village dances were our only outside social interest and I was a regular visitor to our own and surrounding halls, using my bike as my means of transport. Even at one or two in the morning there was little danger from cycling alone, often for several miles, along deserted country roads. I left school at 14 in 1935, with little or no qualifications and consequently was unable to seek the sort of job that I would have wished and living so far out in the country even a secretarial job or nursing were out of the question without going away to lodge. My mother would not have this, so I went to work for the Clements family who ran a butcher’s shop in Sandford. This was hard work and largely menial but helping to bring up the children was some compensation. I was largely on my own in bringing up Joyce Clements, the youngest of their four children, right from birth. Her mother was fully occupied in the shop. I cycled between Kennerleigh and Sandford every day come wind or shine.
cooking and heating needs and there was a large back kitchen with a stone floor; a large scrub top table; a washing boiler, heated with wood; a large sink with lift-pump which with hard work filled the supply tank in the attic; plus a small larder. The bedroom accommodation was rather more adequate, but by having to share the stairs with the Rector, we constantly checked that he was not going upstairs at the same time as any of us were. Kennerleigh Rectory Mum, in particular, worked very hard and long hours to feed and clothe both us and the Rector. He bought few new things, so mending everything from socks to bed sheets was a weekly ritual, whilst Dad worked both for the Rector as his gardener, and for Maurice Lee at adjacent Woodbeare Farm. Although there was very little money for all the basic needs of the family, we were involved in and supported all the local activities. Much activity centred around church affairs. I played the organ in Kennerleigh church for several years. Village dances were our only outside social interest and I was a regular visitor to our own and surrounding halls, using my bike as my means of transport. Even at one or two in the morning there was little danger from cycling alone, often for several miles, along deserted country roads. I left school at 14 in 1935, with little or no qualifications and consequently was unable to seek the sort of job that I would have wished and living so far out in the country even a secretarial job or nursing were out of the question without going away to lodge. My mother would not have this, so I went to work for the Clements family who ran a butcher’s shop in Sandford. This was hard work and largely menial but helping to bring up the children was some compensation. I was largely on my own in bringing up Joyce Clements, the youngest of their four children, right from birth. Her mother was fully occupied in the shop. I cycled between Kennerleigh and Sandford every day come wind or shine.