![]() ![]() ![]() Later, he made his own concrete paving slabs to lay on some of the paths rather than having gravel.ĭad cut a gap in the side hedge at the top of the vegetable garden and made tall gates for it so that he could park his vehicle off the road. Dad put some steps up into the vegetable garden with paths either side. There was a path from the gate up to the front porch and around to the back. There are still many houses in rural areas that have their own septic tanks. I think it was quite a few years before the estate was connected to a main sewer. This cesspit was shared between two houses and must have been very small as it often overflowed into the road over the pavement! Not nice and it stank! Dad had to call the council on many occasions to get them to empty it. Just beyond the little lawn by the side of the front gate was a patch of garden which was left to go wild – why? – because under that patch was the cesspit. There was also a small lawn at the front of the house. ![]() He sectioned it off with privet hedges into a large vegetable garden at the back and a lawn at the side. Soon after we moved to our house, Dad set to work on the garden. I expect when we moved into the house the garden was just the corner of the field in which the houses were built. Most houses, especially those ‘out of town’, were built with large gardens in those days, not like the patch of garden that new houses have now. All three of us children, my brother, sister and I, spent most of the time playing in our garden which was quite big. There weren’t any other children close by who were the same age as me (apart from two that I have mentioned before). My sister was to become my best friend and playmate. My sister was literally wrapped in cotton wool which, apparently, they did in those day to keep a premature baby warm – hence the expression ‘wrapped in cotton wool’ maybe? My sister weighed just under five pounds which meant she should have been taken into hospital to be checked and monitored, but Dr Hood said that my grandmother was the best nurse she could have, having had six children herself and had been the family midwife. I didn’t even realise Mum was pregnant – children didn’t in those days. Apparently, I stayed by the cot virtually all day with my sister’s tiny hand wrapped round my little finger – I thought she was beautiful and couldn’t take my eyes off her. In the morning my grandmother came into the bedroom saying ‘Susan – I’ve got something to show you!’ I went into Mum and Dad’s bedroom and there in a cot in the corner of the room was a tiny baby wrapped in what looked like cotton wool – my sister. He was not best pleased but I thought it was quite exciting. Here, she shares with us part five of her memories of growing up during the 1940s to the 1960s, recalled and recorded during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown.Īt home one early evening, I was told that I had to share my brother’s bed (top to tail) – I was six at the time and my brother twelve. Susan Coney (née Phillips) is a prolific researcher and recorder of local history, especially about Truro. ![]()
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