Quality of LIfe
I was born in Beaconsfield in 1946, but grew up in Micklefield, Melbourne Road to be exact. Oh what lovely memories I have! Walking in Kings Woods with my father and picking bluebells; buying a threepenny bag of chips and walking home watching the smoke spiral from the chimneys just before dark. I enjoyed going to Lords and Gilbeys shops and buying sweets, having them cut out coupons from the rashion book.We would take day trips to the seaside, everyone sang on the bus and passed the hat for the driver.
I attended Netherwood School and St. Bernards Convent and we used to walk to the Rye to play lawn hockey and swing on the swings. My Dad used to take me rowing on the Rye and I used to catch tadpoles and bring them home in a bucket.
My Grandparents used to cook me huge breakfasts every Sunday - the works with cups of tea and lots of bread and butter. I was lucky, I had a better childhood than children do today, in spite of the fact my parents divorced when I was 11 and at 12 my mother took me to the USA. Part of me is still home in High Wycombe...always will be.
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RE: RE: Quality of LIfe
Dear Jo: I live in Olympia, WA inthe USA and have just met a neighbour who went to High Wycombe High School. It turned out we were there at the same time, but she is 4 years older than me. I was browsing the net looking for any Alumni of Netherwood School - and there you were! I was there from 1945 to 1951. I see you are 6 years younger than me. I just found a bunch of photos from Netherwood. My mother passed away in 2003 and I collected some effects from her home and have only just looked through them a little more thoroughly. Miss Kitchener was the Headmistress at the time, and I remember some of the teachers so well. Her father used to teach us occasionally. Miss Sparrow was one of my favorites. I would love to hear from you. Oh, I lived almost next to St Bernard's Convent - opposite the Rye - and spent many hours catching tadpoles (our back garden was always full of frogs!) and secretly went rowing on the canal and playing in the woods and near the waterfall. I'd love to hear some of your memories and my new found neighbour would too, I'm sure. She was born in High Wycombe and lived there until she was 20, when she came to America with her new husband - a US serviceman - and their two babies. What a small world we live in now. Sincerely, Zoe (my maiden name was Lesley Boore - I have been called Zoe for years now.)
Comment from Zoe Hodgins on Friday, 2nd April 2010.
RE: RE: Quality of LIfe
I would like to hear from you also. My email is jmakoul@verizon.net. I remember Mrs. Kitchener well, she used to stand outside and greet us in the morning. Then there was a teacher, an older woman with grey hair and whiskers, who used to spit when she talked...as I sat closest to her at the end of the long wooden table upstairs you can imagine the rest. My dad used to play soccer for the Wycombe Wanderers...Raymond Brown, (my maiden name was Brown) and I used to go and watch the games...in the rain. St. Bernard's Convent I remember well. I used to play field hockey across the street. I remember the straw hats and maroon and gold badge, blazer, knee highs and lace up shoes...and no mirrors because that was considered vain. Singing hymns in the big hall before going to class and Mother Monica. I used to take the 326 bus home...I even went home for lunch. I miss England, and I miss High Wycombe...sometimes I can still smell my Grandad Brown's pipe and hear my grandmother singing "Pack up your troubles in the old kit bag" and Knees up Mother Brown....they used to sit in wing chairs around a roaring fire and we had such beautiful times. Once I ate a whole jar of pickled onions sitting on the back step of my grandmother's house...only once. We used to go to a fish and chip shop that had a restaurant upstairs by the "Bull" bus stop across from Murrays...to me that was the finest meal ever, aside from my gran's huge Sunday breakfasts. Oh to be in England.. I also remember Lyons tea house and the bakewell tarts. I make English pancakes with lemon and sugar for my granddaughters and they love them.
Comment from Jo Makoul on Wednesday, 18th August 2010.