Grandad – Sheila came while E went to chapel 2.45. R & E picked up cones. Tom very ill.
Mum – P & A went with Spotsoc to give Holy Moses at Rosebery Rd. in am then out to lunch. We all had dinner at tea time. R E & I went to Drayton to “babysit” while mum went to church. Dad in bed.
Notes
Change in Handwriting
There had been a change in handwriting at the end of June. Based on this, it seems likely that this, and subsequent entries, were made by grandma even though this is not stated explicitly. If indeed, the entry was made by grandma, she writes about herself inthe third person as “E” although this is potentially confusing as E is also used to describe my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth)!
“Babysitting” Grandad
Grandad had come home from hospital a few days earlier having been admitted a few days before that with symptoms related to a further urinary obstruction, see Chapter 116. He had had surgery to stretch the bladder neck. This was carried out by consultant urologist, Mr Ashken. However, the operation had not been very successful in terms of relieving his urinary obstruction. So, he had been discharged home with the catheter in place. Mr Ashken had explained to mum that the catheter would be in place for three weeks initially.
His general health was still not good, and he was mostly in bed. Sheila refers to my mother, Sheila May Drew, née Parkin. She came with me (R for Roger) and my younger sister Liz (E for Elizabeth) to grandma and grandad’s so that she could sit with grandad while grandma went to afternoon service at Drayton Methodist Church. According to grandad’s diary, this service started at 2.45pm.
Chapel or Church
It is interesting that grandad’s diary refers to chapel while mum’s refers to church. In their diaries, particularly the early ones, mum and grandad tended to use the term chapel to refer to the Methodist Church they attended. This was in line with the distinction between non-conformist chapels and the Anglican church at that time. My tendency would be to use chapel and church somewhat interchangeably. In later life, mum did refer to attending church and here is an example where mum referred to church and grandma to chapel.
Pine Cones
Grandma and grandad had large lawns at the front and back of their house. These were surrounded by pine trees. Given that grandad liked the lawns to be mowed weekly, it was almost a constant job clearing the lawns of pine cones and needles, see Chapter 126. On this occasion, my younger sister Liz (Elizabeth) and I did it.
Tom Wilson
Tom refers to Tom Wilson. With his wife, Amy, he was one of grandma and grandad’s closest friends. Grandad’s diary notes that he was very ill, see Chapter 116.
Spotsoc and “Holy Moses“
Spotsoc refers to the young people of St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124. From memory, it stood for St Peter’s Over Twelve Society. All my siblings were involved in it, I believe. However, although I did go to one or two of their activities over the years, I was never really involved.
“Holy Moses” is a musical of about 45 minutes in length that tells the story of Moses in a way that is aimed at children. Various performances of it are available on YouTube including this one. I also found news articles concerning relatively local school performances of the musical in King’s Lynn in 1977 and Laxfield in 1988.
Spotsoc had performed it before at St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, in Diss and the previous Sunday in Wacton. My siblings Tricia (P for Patricia) and Alan (A) went as part of the group. This performance was at Rosebery Road Methodist Church in the morning (am).
Rosebery Road Methodist Church is situated in the north of Norwich and continues to operate. A Sunday School was opened in premises on Sun Lane, parallel to Roseberry Road, in 1818. Those premises were rebuilt in 1971 and re-named as Calvert Hall. A community social enterprise, First Steps, operates there currently. The main church was built in 1908 although it was badly damaged by fire in 1958. Apparently, the church was originally part of the United Methodists/Free Churches. An account of the opening of the church can be found here.
Dinner at Tea-time!
Mum noted that Tricia and Alan went out for “lunch” after they had been to Rosebery Road Methodist Church with Spotsoc in the morning. As a result, we had a cooked meal (“dinner“) at tea-time.
In their diaries, from the beginning, mum and grandad always referred to “dinner” and “tea” in relation to midday and evening meals. However, this changed from the 1960s in that they started sometimes referring to the midday meal as “lunch”, see Chapter 92. This was not completely consistent though as they also sometimes still referred to midday meal as “dinner” during this period.
