Mum’s Diary
Washed then went to collect form for DHSS re dates off work from Tuckswood. Took letter re advert to EEN office. Typ & dup in am & part of aft. P Claxton came & brought someone to look at roof. E went swimming after school – got back 7.25. I was cross with her. Got Med Sec bk from Jarrolds. £4. Went to Gerald & Thelma’s – Rev. P. Littlewood? (from Octagon Chapel) talking on Unitarism – v strange. Enjoyed meeting. Took Pam, Fergusons & Culleys there. 1D 1L 1S.
Roger’s/My Diary
An incredibly boring day today. Nothing of note really happened except worked very hard and got tons of homework. They have now at last got a tape-recorder in the common room. It looks as if the roof is going to be repaired. It will be expensive but it was getting unmanageable. This evening watched TV. Mum has gone out I hope she gets back soon as Mr. Ream is going to ring soon.
Notes
Washing
Mum noted doing washing. While she usually did this on a Monday, as her mother also did, see Chapter 126, she also sometimes did it on other days, particularly Thursday as she did not work that day.
A Form for DHSS
Mum went to her GP’s branch surgery in Tuckswood to collect a form for the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS). This was almost certainly for her to claim sickness benefit for the time when she had surgery for a renal stone in August, see Chapter 116. Sickness benefit was phased out after statutory sick pay was introduced in 1983. The Department of Health and Social Security was divided into separate departments for health and social security in 1988.
Responding to the Advert
At this point, mum was looking for a second part-time job to supplement her income from her work as part-time secretary in the private practice of Mr Ashken and Mr Stephens, see Chapter 121. The previous day, she had seen an advert for a part-time receptionist for a doctor in the Earlham Road area. She had written an enquiry and hand-delivered it to the office of the Eastern Evening News (EEN). Two days later, Dr Pearson rang. It seems that Dr David Pearson may have been a GP who also worked at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital as a clinical assistant in diabetes. He wanted mum to go, presumably for an interview, but mum wrote “think my hours won’t fit”. I am not sure who thought this, mum or Dr Pearson.
Typing and 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 noted that she did typing (typ) and duplicating (dup) in the morning (am) and part of the afternoon (aft).
Roof Repairs
At this time, we were living in a larger semi-detached house at 192 College Road. For some time, there had been problems with water leaking through mum’s bedroom ceiling and also damp patches in the front room which mum referred to as the lounge. It had rained heavily a couple of days earlier and the problem had been particularly severe. Mum had contacted a builder who had done work for her before, Peter Claxton, and he brought someone to look at the roof. In my diary, I noted that it looked like the roof was going to be repaired. I thought it would be expensive but thought that dealing with the leaks was getting unmanageable. Ultimately, the work was carried out in November 1976 and cost somewhere between £1,200 plus VAT and £1,725, see Chapter 117.
Peter Claxton
Peter Claxton was a builder/painter/decorator who initially did some decorating for grandma and grandad in January 1974, see Chapter 102. Mum used him for a wide variety of jobs in the late seventies.
Swimming
E refers to my sister Liz (Elizabeth). At this point, Liz was 11 and was in her last year at Avenues Primary School. I am not sure precisely what happened and it is important to remember that mum’s diary only gave her perspective. I am pretty sure that Liz would have told quite a different story. Anyway, according to mum, Liz went swimming after school and only got back at 7.25 pm. Presumably, mum did not know she was going swimming and, as a result, was cross with her not least because it would have been dark by then.
I think it is unlikely that Liz would have gone off swimming with friends without telling mum although it is possible. It is probably more likely that swimming was something to do with school and perhaps it had gone on longer than expected. Liz was a good swimmer so it is possible that she had swimming regularly after school on Thursdays but, on this occasion, it had gone on much longer than usual.
Medical Secretary Handbook
Mum was keen to improve her knowledge and skills as a medical secretary. So, she bought a Medical Secretary (Med Sec) Handbook from Jarrolds for £4. She had ordered this in September, see Chapter 125.
Jarrolds
Jarrolds is a very well-known store in Norwich, see Chapter 93, that was established in 1840 and is still in operation today. The store’s website has a really extensive history section. In the 1960 and 1967 Kelly’s Directories, they had their St James’ works Cowgate, bookshops at 1-11 Exchange Street and 1-7 London Street and wholesalers at 25-27 Exchange Street. For me, Jarrolds, on the corner of Exchange Street and London Street, marked one end of the main shopping area in Norwich when I was a child and teenager.
Remarkably, the store has continued to trade as an independent department store and, in many ways, is pretty unchanged from how I remember it in the seventies. Jarrolds was also unusual in that it was popular with all generations of our family. Mum liked it for many reasons including that it was a high-end department store in the same ilk as Bonds, Curls and Garlands but I also liked it because it sold affordable stationery, books and other items.
St Peter’s Guild
In the evening, mum went to a meeting at the house of Gerald and Thelma Cooke who were friends of mum’s from St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church. Indeed, I think this was probably a meeting of St Peter’s Guild, a fellowship group to which mum belonged and which usually met on a Thursday, see Chapter 124.
Mum noted that the speaker was Rev P Littlewood from the Octagon Chapel although the question mark indicates that she was not perhaps certain of his name. Mum also noted that she picked up other members of the group to take them to the Cookes. They were Pam Ludlow, John and Heather Ferguson, and Tom and Margaret Culley.
Gerald and Thelma Cooke
Gerald and Thelma refers to Gerald and Thelma Cooke who were friends of mum’s from St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church. They were active members of St Peter’s Guild and possibly were its leaders. I think Gerald held some leadership position in the church, perhaps steward and/or church secretary. Gerald worked for many years for the printer Crowes.
Rev Peter Littlewood
I think mum got the name of the speaker correct as Rev Peter Littlewood appears to have been the Minister at the Octagon Unitarian chapel from 1966 to 1979, see Chapter 124. Mum referred to his topic as “Unitarism” and presumably she was referring to Unitarianism. She thought it was very strange but enjoyed the meeting. Rev Littlewood caused a stir, at least in the letters pages of the local press by stating that British Sundays were “as dull as ditchwater”!
Octagon Chapel
The Octagon Chapel is a Georgian Unitarian chapel in Colegate in Norwich. It was built in 1756 as a Presbyterian chapel on the site of an earlier 1680 chapel. It became Unitarian in 1820. Apparently, the poet Robert Southey called it “The Vatican of the Unitarian hierarchy“.
Pam Ludlow
Pam Ludlow was a friend of mum’s through St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124. She is mentioned frequently in mum’s diaries. Pam and mum were involved in a number of the same activities such as St Peter’s Guild and choir. I don’t know much else about her other than this.
John and Heather Ferguson
John and Heather Ferguson were particularly close friends of mum’s through St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124. Like mum, John Ferguson was a communion steward. Heather Ferguson was involved in women’s activities with mum, such as Young Wives. They also often served refreshments and church meals together.
Tom and Margaret Culley
Tom and Margaret Culley were also friends of mum’s through St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124. They both were active in St Peter’s Guild and Margaret was involved in women’s activities with mum, such as Young Wives. Tom was active in Boys’ Brigade.
Gone Out
In my diary, I noted that mum had “gone out” but I did not specify where. I did however comment that I hoped she would be back soon as the church’s senior Minister Mr Ream was going to phone soon. I suspect he had phoned earlier and I had told him when I expected mum back. Presumably, it was getting close to that time and I was concerned that he would phone and I would have to explain again that mum was not there.
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 flurazepam (D for Dalmane) 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. Recently, she had changed sleeping tablets from nitrazepam to flurazepam. She had started taking two tablets of flurazepam at night but had then reduced that dose to one.
Incorrect Date
In my diary, it looks as if I incorrectly entered the date as 11th October but later changed it to the 21th. I left it as 21th and did not correct to 21st.
Sixth Form Workload
I had recently started in sixth form at the Hewett School, see Chapter 118. One of the recurring themes in my diary was the increase in workload that I faced with the transition from O level to A level. This was perhaps not helped by the fact that in addition to three A levels in pure maths, physics and chemistry, I was also doing O levels in Latin and biology and preparing to take S levels in maths and physics.
On this occasion, I noted that it had been an “incredibly boring day“. I thought nothing of note had happened but I had worked hard and got tons of homework. I had previously noted that Thursday was my busiest day academically. From memory, we had eight periods of 35 minutes each day. Most of our lessons were doubles which were one hour 10 minutes long. In lower sixth, I had a full timetable on Thursdays with two double maths lessons, double physics and double chemistry. I also had a lunch-time maths lesson that day.
To be honest, I recall often struggling to find things to put in my diary, I felt that much that I did was pretty ordinary and potentially dull. However, that ordinariness is one of the things I find so interesting about these diaries.
Common Room
One of the perks of being in the sixth form was that we had a common room, see Chapter 118. I first mentioned the common room in my diary in September 1976. I recall this as a large room with a walk-in cupboard at the back where we had a dartboard. From memory, the common room was a place to hang out and socialise with friends. It was not conducive to working so if I wanted to work I would go to the library.
Contentious
This proved to be contentious during the time I was in the sixth form. In July 1977, I noted that “most of the people in my year have started taking private study in the common-room and some teachers have tried to stop us so I went to see Mr Burns [the Head of Upper School] and he said it would be OK until he made a ruling on Tuesday.” I don’t know what the ruling was.
Poor Facilities
That same month, I noted that our common room facilities were not very good but that I got particularly infuriated when meetings were held there and we couldn’t use them!!
An Incident with a Door Sign
Two months later, I noted that “the most interesting event today was in the afternoon during private study. Last week we had erected a notice mimicing the one on the staff room door about when pupils should make enquiries. Anyway today James [Head Boy] had to go and see Mr Nobbs as he had signed it along with all the senior prefects.
Apparently Miss Norman [Deputy Head] had complained to Dr Roy [Head] who had seen Mr Nobbs. Anyway James was told to remove it with as little fuss as possible but we decided that it was very petty of the staff not to see the joke (actually that’s a bit unfair, most of the staff thought it was funny, only Miss Norman objected) so although we took the sign down we decided to get our own back so Tim [Deputy Head Boy] and I removed the sign from the staff room door and it is now concealed in the common room. The events to come should be quite funny”. As far as I can see I did not note anything further related to this issue.
An Aside on Tape Recorders
On this occasion, I noted that we had finally got a tape recorder in the common room. I presume this was to play music. It was around this time that technological advances meant that large reel-to-reel tape recorders were replaced by smaller cassette players and cassette radios. For example, as a family, grandad had had reel-to-reel tape recorders but mum noted buying a cassette radio in February 1975, see Chapter 125 .
Centre – early Philips cassette player from 1964 © Pinot Dita and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Right – 1973 US advert for Sony radio/cassette player.
Sixth Form Study Block
I don’t know how the issue of private study in the common room was resolved. However, I believe the video “A Hewett Day” was made about four years after I left the school. It focuses (16.42) quite heavily on the sixth form study block and its role in allowing sixth formers to pursue their studies. I am not sure if it replaced the common room. Initially, I thought that it did but the piece in the anniversary brochure implies that both were functioning in 1982. I am pretty sure the study block was not in place when I was at Hewett.
TV
In the evening, I noted that I watched TV, see Chapter 122, but did not note what I watched. Based on a TV Guide for that day, I could have watched the film on ITV “The Gypsy Moths” but I think it is more likely that I watched “Top of the Pops” and “Kojak” on BBC 1.
