Mum – In hos. Had pain in left side back high up – had chest x ray. Mr A puzzled but thinks its something muscular. PRAE came. Mr A came twice. A went to BB camp at Oulton Broad.
Roger – Got up fairly early and did the shopping as usual. The car came back from Scotland today but Mr. Beck didn’t bring it as the clutch has burnt out so it came back on AA relay. Took some duplicating to a Mrs Brake to do as mum can’t do it. She is improving steadily. The drain is out and the dressing has been taken off the scar I can count the stitches. Dad came this evening. He is sleeping on the settee & goes back on Monday. John Stonehouse has been sentenced to 7 years in prison and Sheila Buckley his secretary got a 2 year suspended sentence. Alan has gone to camp.
Notes
Post-op Recovery
Mum was in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital having had surgery for a renal stone the previous Sunday, see Chapter 116. She was troubled by pain in the left side of her back, high up. Initially, she wrote that she had had a chest xray but later she crossed this out. I suspect she wrote these entries a day or two later and was struggling to remember on which day she had had the chest xray.
In my diary, I noted that mum was improving steadily. Specifically, her drain was out and the dressing had been taken off. I noted that it was now possible to count the stitches in her scar.
Mr Ashken
The surgery had been conducted by Mr Ashken (Mr A). During this period, mum was working as part-time medical secretary for his private practice and that of another surgeon, Mr Stephens, see Chapter 121. Michael Ralph Handley Ashken was consultant urologist at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital from 1968 to 1996. He was also President of the British Association of Urological Surgeons from 1994 to 1996. He was born in 1931 and he died in 2016. Mum was part-time secretary for his private practice from 1975 to 1980.
Mum noted that he came to see her twice. He was puzzled by the chest pain. Presumably, the chest xray had ruled out a significant chest infection or lung collapse. Also, he did not seem to think there was a surgical issue or complication. So, by a process of elimination, he concluded that it was probably “something muscular“.
Visitors
Mum noted the people who came to visit her. PRAE refers to me (R for Roger) and my siblings Tricia (P for Patricia), Alan (A) and Liz (E for Elizabeth). We all visited her. Unusually, we appear to have been her only visitors that day.
Boys’ Brigade Camp
A refers to my younger brother Alan. He was an active member of the Boys’ Brigade (BB), see Chapter 124. Mum noted that he went to Boys’ Brigade camp in Oulton Broad. I also noted that he had gone to camp. The camp seems to have been an annual summer event in the late seventies. They camped at Oulton Broad at least twice and Trimingham at least once. Recently, I visited East Anglia Methodist Heritage Centre and was pleasantly surprised to come across photos of my brother at Boys’ Brigade camp the previous year in 1975.
Shopping
I noted that I got up fairly early and did the shopping as usual. I think this probably refers to food shopping, see Chapter 125. My suspicion is that I was responsible for this as mum was in hospital and my older sister Tricia (Patricia) had a summer job at the City Treasurer’s Office, see Chapter 119.
The Car Returns
There was quite a story behind the car’s return from Scotland. Mum and my two younger siblings, Alan and Liz (Elizabeth), had been on a two-week holiday at Dhalling Mhor in Dunoon, see Chapter 122. On the day they were due to come home, mum had been admitted to hospital with what turned out to be a renal stone, , see Chapter 116. After a few days, she was considered well enough to travel home. A friend, Cecil, drove her as far as Glasgow but the car broke down. Mum and my siblings abandoned the car and travelled by first-class train to Edinburgh before flying home to Norwich via Leeds.
Mr Beck
It seems that the initial plan, or at least mum’s expectation, was that Mr Beck would drive the car to ours. I don’t know exactly who Mr Beck was and this entry, in my diary, seems to be the only time he is mentioned in family diaries. However, I am wondering if this was the same person as Cecil who is mentioned quite often in mum’s diary. He was the one who had driven the car to Glasgow. It is also entirely plausible that mum would refer to him by his first name but that I would refer to him more formally by his surname.
While I am not exactly sure who Cecil was, he and mum seemed close in the late seventies writing to each other frequently. My impression is that they had met on a Methodist Guild Holiday prior to 1975. This year, mum was disappointed that she had managed to book her holiday in Dunoon so that she was leaving on the day he arrived! However, because of her illness, their time together overlapped more than she had originally thought it would. Nevertheless, over time their correspondence gradually reduced and the last letter mum noted receiving from him was in July 1977. In June 1978, mum heard from Joyce Boxall that Cecil was remarrying and this upset her, see Chapter 114.
AA Saves the Day
Anyway, it seems that Mr Beck was unable to bring the car to ours because the clutch had burned out. So, mum must have used her AA membership to get the car back through the relay service, which is now also known as national recovery.
Mum was a huge fan of the AA, see Chapter 95, and strongly advised me to join as soon as I was able to drive which I did, probably initially on her membership. I have been a member ever since, apart from when we were living overseas.
She particularly praised the relay service which was relatively new having been introduced in 1973. You paid, and still pay, extra for this but it means that if you break down some distance from home, the AA will bring your broken-down vehicle home rather than taking it to a local garage. While we have not used the service often, when we have needed to, it has been a “lifesaver” and has turned what could have been a crisis into something manageable.
Duplicating and Mrs Brake
According to mum’s CV, see Chapter 105, she ran a typing and duplicating business from home until 1975. However, she did typing and duplicating after this date, particularly for the church, see Chapter 121. On this occasion, however, she was in hospital so was clearly unable to do any duplicating that might have been needed. Presumably, she asked me to take it to Mrs Brake. I don’t know any more about her. As far as I can see, this was the only time she was mentioned in the diaries.
Dad Came for the Weekend
My parents had separated in 1973 and, at this point, my father, Royle Drew, was living and working in Birmingham, see Chapter 114. He came to stay for the weekend and, even in mum’s absence, slept on the settee. I noted that he was going back to Birmingham on Monday.
John Stonehouse
I noted that former MP John Stonehouse had been sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud relating to faking his own death in 1974. I also commented that his secretary Sheila Buckley was also sentenced to two years but her sentence was suspended.
John Stonehouse was a Labour MP from 1957 to 1976 first for Wednesbury and then Walsall North. He served as both Postmaster General and Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. He was released from prison in 1979 based on good behaviour and poor health. In 1981, he married Sheila Buckley. He died in April 1988 following a massive heart attack.
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