Drew Family Diaries

Mum’s Diary

Work all day. JPS came in in aft. Went to Enid’s at night to sew for YW stall at Gift Day. 1M 1L 1S.

Roger’s/My Diary

Carried on with the reading scheme had a lot of trouble getting a book that’s easy enough for him. At lunch-time there was a 6th Form Committee meeting which was a waste of time. In P E I went swimming. This evening watched the TV. Everard came round and we watched Joe Bugner knock-out Richard Dunn in just over 2 minutes. Several World Cup Qualifiers were played Northern Ireland drew 2-2 away to Holland, Scotland lost 0-2 away to Czechoslovakia and England beat Finland 2-1 at Wembley.

Notes

Mum Worked for Mr Ashken and Mr Stephens

During this period, mum worked as part-time medical secretary for the private practice of two surgeons, Mr Ashken and Mr Stephens, see Chapter 121. This practice was based at 41 Newmarket Road. She worked all day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and half day on Fridays. On this occasion, as it was Wednesday, she worked all day. She noted that Mr Stephens (JPS) came in in the afternoon (aft).

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Gift Day

At night, mum went to sew for the Young Wives (YW) stall which was to be part of a forthcoming Gift Day at St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124.

Young Wives

Young Wives was a church-based women’s group that mum had been involved with at least since we first moved to Norwich in 1960, see Chapter 79, albeit initially at Mile Cross Methodist Church.

Enid Tickle

Enid refers to Enid Tickle. She and her husband Ken were friends of mum’s through church. Enid was from Malawi, I believe. She and Ken were a multiracial couple at a time when that was not common, especially not in Norwich.

She was a teacher. From at least 1989 to 1991, she taught the reception class at Tuckswood First School. In 1992, she was acting head at Frettenham County First School for six months.

She was an active member of St Peter’s and, in 1969, was a founder member of the church’s playgroup. In January 1981, she was part of a panel in Diss with Rev Lemmon and the visiting President of Conference, Kenneth Greet. In October 1994, she was one of five speakers at a “People on the Move” event. She spoke on the topic of “One World, One People”. There is a video of her and Ken Tickle speaking on the occasion of the church’s 50^th anniversary on YouTube.

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Mum’s Medication

Mum tended to note the tablets she took each day, particularly at night, see Chapter 116. On this occasion, she noted that she took one nitrazepam (M for Mogadon) tablet to help her sleep, one long-acting amitriptyline (L for Lentizol) tablet for depression and one senna-containing tablet (S for Senokot) for constipation. She had been trying to wean herself off both antidepressants and sleeping tablets but had been advised by her GP to increase them once again because of her current feelings of severe depression.

Reading Scheme

I had just started in the sixth form at Hewett School, see Chapter 118, and had volunteered for a scheme to help younger children in the school with their reading. This essentially involved listening to them read during the time that was set aside for assembly. I suspect my motives for joining this scheme were not altruistic. Being honest, I was not a fan of school assemblies so, if there was a way of getting out of some of them, I would take it!

I had started with the scheme that week and was partnered with a boy called Michael who had a reputation for being “troublesome” although that had not been my personal experience with him. I noted that it proved difficult to find a book at the correct level so he could read it.

Lunch-time

Based on my family’s working class background in Nottinghamshire, we had tended to refer to our meals as dinner and tea. However, given that we had moved to Norwich in 1960, and possibly because we were becoming more middle class, some of that usage was changing and family members sometimes, and perhaps increasingly, referred to a midday meal as lunch, see Chapter 92 although we continued to refer to an afternoon or early evening meal as tea. On this occasion, I referred to lunch-time.

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Sixth-Form Committee

I had been elected to represent our form on the sixth form committee, see Chapter 118. This committee appears to have been made up of representatives from both lower and upper sixth. I had also been chosen as one of three lower sixth representatives on a working party which was intended to make the functioning of the main committee more efficient. I am not sure if it really worked as I attended a committee meeting noting that it was a “waste of time”.

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Swimming

I was doing PE as an option in general studies in lower sixth, see Chapter 118. On this occasion, I went swimming, presumably in the school pool. At that time and subsequently, the school had its own swimming pool which had been covered in the early seventies. I recall the pool “cover”. Rather than the pool being inside a building, it was covered by a large plastic “blister”. While I imagine it was much cheaper than a building, it was also much more susceptible to damage in bad weather. The school’s 1972 magazine had a full page article dedicated to the pool.

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Everard Mascarenhas

Everard refers to Everard Mascarenhas who I knew through school, see Chapter 118. He and I were close friends in sixth form which we were just starting. He lived near me in Park Lane so we often walked to and from school together. Also later, we worked together at Sainsbury’s in Anglia Square, see Chapter 119. In 1976, he won an endeavour prize. In 1978, he passed A level physics. He was part of the school football team. Apparently, he read physics at University College Swansea, has a PhD in semi-conductor devices from Nottingham Trent University and an MBA from Imperial College. On this occasion, he came to ours to watch TV.

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Joe Bugner v Richard Dunn

It was relatively unusual then for sporting events to be shown live on television with a few noticeable exceptions, such as the FA Cup Final. On this occasion, we watched recorded highlights of a fight between Joe Bugner and Richard Dunn for the British, European and Commonwealth Heavyweight Championships. This had taken place the previous night at Wembley. Highlights were shown on “Sportsnight” on BBC 1 from 9.55 to 10.45 pm.

I noted that Bugner knocked Dunn out in just over two minutes. Bugner knocked Dunn to the canvas in the first six seconds. It was Dunn’s first fight after losing to Ali in May 1976 and was also his penultimate fight in his career, see Chapter 123.

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World Cup Qualifiers

I noted that several World Cup qualifiers were played. There was news of these on “Sportsnight” and highlights of the England game were shown on “The Big Match” on ITV from 10.30 to 11.35 pm.

England v Finland

England played Finland at Wembley winning 2-1. This was England’s second qualifying game. They had beaten Finland 4-1 away in June. Although England won this game, it was much closer than expected and was described in the press as a “dismal” victory. Chants of “what a load of rubbish” greeted the final whistle and the media thought that Finland had variously shown up, panicked and embarrassed England. Ultimately, this result cost England qualification because of poorer goal difference than Italy.

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Other Qualifiers

In addition to this game, I also noted that there were other World Cup qualifiers. For example, Northern Ireland drew 2-2 away to the Netherlands and Scotland lost 2-0 to Czechoslovakia.

Northern Ireland

I referred to the Netherlands as Holland. Northern Ireland were in UEFA Group 4 with the Netherlands, Belgium and Iceland. Prior to this game, in September 1976, both Belgium and the Netherlands had beaten Iceland 1-0 away. In their remaining games, Northern Ireland won two (at home to Iceland and Belgium) and lost three (away to Belgium and Iceland and at home to the Netherlands). They finished third in a group won by the Netherlands.

Scotland and Wales

Scotland were in UEFA Group 7 with Czechoslovakia and Wales. This was the first game in this group. Despite this loss, Scotland won their three remaining games to win this group and to qualify for the World Cup finals.