Mum’s Diary
R got sore throat. ?tonsillitis. Took him to see Dr English at 9.20. Dr. E said not too bad – gave him penicillin. I typed & dup all day. Enid Tickle rang at night to ask me how I finished the patchwork cushion covers off. Ken brought hers down for me to do. I did it. R. went to bed 8.15 (7.45 last night). IL 1D 1S.
Roger’s/My Diary
Didn’t go to school today due to my throat. Saw the doctor who said it wasn’t too bad and prescribed me some penicillin. I was very bored all day as I spent all my time watching children’s T.V programmes and I had another early night.
Notes
Sore Throat
R refers to me, Roger. Mum noted I had a sore throat and wondered if it was tonsillitis. She took me to see one of the GPs at 9.20 am. This was Dr English and he said it was not too bad but he did give me penicillin.
I confirmed many elements of this including that the doctor said it was not too bad and gave me penicillin. I added that I stayed off school because of my sore throat.
Coughs, colds and sore throats appear to have affected us quite often as a family in the late seventies, see Chapter 116.
Dr English
Dr (John) Peter English was one of the GPs at the Mile End Surgery that we had belonged to since we moved to Norwich, see Chapter 78. They also had a surgery in Tuckswood that mum sometimes used. This practice is now known as Castle Partnership. While mum mostly saw Dr Welch, she did sometimes see other doctors in the practice.
Dr English is well-remembered in Norwich, for example on Norwich Remembers Facebook group. He was born in Surrey and evacuated to Mansfield during the second world war. He went to school at Epsom College in Surrey and studied medicine at Downing College in Cambridge. He moved to Norwich in 1958 where he worked as a GP. He also served as a Conservative city councillor and, in 1978, was Lord Mayor of Norwich. He chaired the Trustees of the Great Hospital and was also a church warden at Holy Trinity for many years. He chaired Mission England in East Anglia in 1984 and was responsible for Billy Graham coming to the city. He died in 2024 aged 95.
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 St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 121. On this occasion, she noted that she typed and duplicated (dup) all day.
Patchwork Cushion Covers
Mum was an accomplished seamstress. She was making patchwork cushion covers to sell on the Young Wives stall at the Gift Day of St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church which was taking place on the next Thursday, see Chapter 124. Although this activity was being led by mum’s friend Enid Tickle, Enid phoned mum to see how she was finishing her patchwork cushion covers off. When mum told her, Enid arranged for her husband Ken Tickle to bring mum the ones she had made to finish off which mum did.
Enid and Ken Tickle
Enid and Ken Tickle were friends of mum’s through St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124. They were mentioned frequently in mum’s diaries. I believe she was from Malawi and theirs was probably the only interracial marriage I was aware of at that time. There is a video of them speaking on the occasion of the church’s 50th anniversary on YouTube.
Enid Tickle worked as a primary 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”.
Ken Tickle
Ken Tickle was also a teacher, at Earlham School, the school that my siblings Alan and Liz (Elizabeth) attended. He was also very musical and was part of the church choir and also played music for country dances etc. He was also part of Norwich Singers and composed some of their pieces including setting Marlowe’s poem “Come Live with Me and Be My Love” to music as a tribute to Enid.
Early Night
In my diary, I noted that I had an early night, because of my sore throat, as I had the previous night. Mum noted the times I went to be more precisely, that is at 8.15 pm on this occasion and at 7.45 pm the previous night.
Mum’s Medication
Towards the end of her diary entries, mum tended to note the tablets she had taken that day, particularly at night, see Chapter 116. On this occasion, she noted that she took one long-acting amitriptyline (L for Lentizol) tablet for depression, one flurazepam (D for Dalmane) tablet to help her sleep 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.
Relatively recently, the GP had changed her sleeping tablets from nitrazepam (Mogadon) to flurazepam (Dalmane). She had started taking two tablets of flurazepam at night but had then varied the dose between one and two. Her GP had recently offered her a higher dosage of flurazepam tablets (30mg). However, mum had not accepted these, preferring to remain on the 15mg tablets. Indeed, she sometimes had nights without taking any sleeping tablet and on others reverted back to nitrazepam (Mogadon) as I think she was concerned that flurazepam (Dalmane) was making her depression worse.
Mum also varied the dose of the long-acting amitriptyline between one and two tablets and the dose of the senna-containing tablet from one to three.
Bored and Watching Children’s TV
I noted feeling “very bored” all day. This makes me wonder how ill I really was! When I have felt really ill, I have just wanted to go to bed and have not been able to face doing anything. Feeling bored implies perhaps that I was feeling well enough to do something but was not sure what!
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