Mum’s Diary
Got up late. Malcolm came for some duplicating. Tired all day. Went in city in am & got P a trunk 90 x 50 x 50 cm. £16.50 from Curls. P & E had haircut in aft. Had no Panadol all day had some aches & pains (particularly in left back) off & on. 1 Mog 1 Len 2 Sen. R rang – coming home tomorrow.
Roger’s/My Diary
After cleaning the dormitory out I waited for dad who arrived at Matlock at 10. Gave 2 lads a lift from the hostel to the town centre where they were being picked up. Went to Kirkby to see grandma but she was out. We later found out that she’d gone to Newark. Went down the M1 and had breakfast/lunch at a service station. Got to dads in the afternoon & in the evening went to the dogs.
Notes
Up Late
Mum noted that she got up late. The context for this was that she had had surgery for a renal stone at the beginning of August, see Chapter 116. She was still recovering and took opportunities to rest when they presented themselves, e.g. on a Saturday morning.
Malcolm Carter
Malcolm refers to Rev Malcolm Carter. He was a Methodist Minister who became mum’s friend and confidant, see Chapter 114. From Merseyside, he served in the ministry there and in Darlington and East Anglia. He was Minister at Court Hey Methodist Church from 1978 to 1986. He was the Methodist chaplain to Walton Prison, now HM Prison Liverpool, for 20 years. I found a YouTube video of him taking a service at Wonford Methodist Church in Exeter in July 2024. When he was in Norwich, he was mainly based at Bowthorpe Road Methodist Church. On this occasion, he came to collect some duplicating.
Duplicating
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, she had presumably done some duplicating for Malcolm Carter and he collected it.
Tired
Mum noted she was tired all day. She often complained of tiredness at this time. Partly, this was just a reflection that she was getting back to her normal busy schedule less than a month after major surgery. However, it was a recurring complaint and also reflected the interaction between her mental and physical health, see Chapter 116.
A Fine City
Mum noted that she “went in city” in the morning (am). She usually referred to shopping in Norwich city centre as going into “the city”, see Chapter 125. Indeed, she would point out to anyone who dared refer to this as going “to town” that Norwich was a city! So, I and my siblings always referred to this as going into “the city”.
Some three years ago, I watched the film “45 Years” starring Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling. They are a couple and are supposed to live in rural Norfolk. However, he referred to going into Norwich as “going into town”. This grated on me so much that I asked about this on the Norwich Remembers Facebook Group. It generated almost 600 comments which is easily the most I have ever had for one post!
Those who commented almost all agreed that going to Norwich was referred to as going to, or up or down the, “city” and never as “town”. Some felt that because Norwich is a city, with a cathedral, it should be clear to everyone to refer to going to Norwich in this way. However, others pointed out that not all places with cathedrals are cities, e.g. Bury St Edmunds and people in other cities, e.g. Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Colchester, Leeds, London, Newcastle, New York and York, sometimes refer to going into town. Colchester is a specific case. It was only relatively recently elevated to city status, in 2022, although it was apparently a city in Roman times but, more recently, has been a town.
A Trunk
P refers to my older sister Tricia (Patricia). Mum bought her a trunk. She specified the size, 90 by 50 by 50 cms; the price £16.50; and the department store from where she bought it which she referred to as Curls, see Chapter 125.
Tricia needed the trunk as she was about to head off to study at Cambridge University, see Chapter 120. This was a big deal, not only for Tricia, but for mum also. It was an outstanding academic achievement not least because she was the first person to go to university on either side of our family.
Curls
Curls had been a major department store in Norwich, see Chapter 93. It was established in the 19th century and was badly damaged by bombing in World War 2 and was rebuilt in 1955. It was taken over by Debenhams in the 1960s and renamed in 1973. By the late seventies, the store had been formally renamed as Debenhams but older people, including my mother, tended to refer to it by its old name. So, mum tended to refer to Curls where I referred to Debenhams. We were referring to the same place! Debenhams closed all its stores in May 2021.
Haircuts
P & E refers to my sisters Tricia (Patricia) and Liz (Elizabeth). Mum noted that they both had haircuts in the afternoon (aft).
Medication
Mum gave details of the various medications she was taking. Oddly, despite having had some aches and pains, particularly in the left side of her back, she took no paracetamol (Panadol). I am not sure why. Perhaps she was trying to limit the number of painkillers she took or perhaps the aches were not too bad.
Other medications she took included nitrazepam (Mogadon) as a sleeping tablet; a long-acting form of the antidepressant amitriptyline (Lentizol); and a senna-based laxative (Senokot).
I Phoned
R refers to me (Roger). Mum noted that I rang. I was away on a youth hostelling holiday in the Peak District on my own, see Chapter 122. My suspicion is that the price I paid for being allowed to do this was agreeing to phone home regularly, probably every day! On most occasions, as here, I did not note this. Mum noted that I was coming home the next day.
Matlock Youth Hostel
I had stayed the previous night at Matlock Youth Hostel. At that time, this was in Matlock Bath. It was located in an old vicarage in Brunswood Road and operated from 1956 to 1983 when it was replaced by a hostel in Bank Road in Matlock which itself closed in 2007. The building was then used as a Probationary Service office and is now a private house. For more details of this hostel, see Chapter 92.
Cleaning the Dormitory
Before leaving the hostel, I noted that I cleaned out the dormitory, see Chapter 122.
Chores
This requirement, of guests doing a job or a chore, was one of the things I recall from our early youth hostelling experience, see Chapter 92. Apparently, they were phased out in the eighties.
Dad Picked Me Up
My father, Royle Drew, picked me up from outside the hostel at 10 am. We gave two “lads” a lift to the town centre where they were being picked up. I presume this was Matlock itself but I could have meant Matlock Bath.
Attempting to Visit my Grandmother
My parents had separated in 1973 and, at this time, my father was living and working in Birmingham, see Chapter 114. He decided that we would go back to Birmingham via Kirkby in Ashfield to attempt to visit my paternal grandmother. While this route is slightly further, it differs little in time spent because much of it would have been on the still-relatively-new M1.
Alice Drew
My grandmother, Alice Drew, see Chapter 58, was born Alice Redfin on 2 May 1899. However, there was some confusion over this surname as she sometimes spelled it Redfern. She married Charles Randall in 1919 and had three children with him. However, he died in 1929 leaving Alice with three young children. She married my grandfather in 1931. Dad was their only child. I recall visits, such as this, to see grandma at her house in Alexandra Street, a colliery row, in Kirkby. She died just before her 90th birthday on 30 April 1989.
In Newark
However, when we got there, she wasn’t there! She was “out“. Such occurrences were commonplace for me as a teenager when I spent time with my father. Part of it was the limitations of communications then. I am not even sure my grandmother had a telephone. Certainly, there were no mobile phones then! However, it was also the way my father operated which was in marked contrast to my mother who was hyper-organised and would never have just turned up somewhere on spec like this. Any such trip would have been organised well in advance by phone, if possible, but by letter if not.
As it happened, we found out later that, not only was grandma out, she was away, presumably for the weekend, in Newark. Her two daughters lived there and I assume she was visiting one or both of them.
Birmingham
Not put off, we continued on our journey to dad’s. I noted that we went down the M! and had what I described as breakfast/lunch at a motorway service station. This was still quite a novel experience for me as we did not, have any motorways near us. It intrigues me that I refer to breakfast/lunch and not “brunch“. I don’t believe this is a word I would have known then. When I did encounter it, I always viewed it as an Americanism.
Greyhound Racing
We arrived at dad’s house in Great Barr, Birmingham in the afternoon and went greyhound racing in the evening. Dad was a fan of greyhound racing and I recall going quite often with him as a child and teenager. As a child, he remembered that many miners had whippets and they used to involve them in rabbit coarsing.
Popularity of greyhound racing has declined since a post-war peak. In the 1940s, there were over 120 tracks across the UK whereas now there are around 20. Reasons for the decline included concerns about animal welfare and the availability of off-course betting.
I am sure we went to Perry Barr stadium. This opened in 1929 but it closed in 2025 and was demolished.
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