The Three Rs

OK, I'm going to try to put on record, as faithfully as I remember it, my mum's life story, leaving out things to protect the innocent (OK this does sound like she's on witness protection) but keeping to the facts as I know them, so expect a lot of artistic license.

She was born in a Nottinghamshire mining village.  She had 3 brothers and two sisters and the boys were expected to go down the mines and the girls into service. First though, she had to get school, over with.  The school she went to was split, the boys one side of a fenced wall and the girls on the other.  The teaching was basic, (The 3 R's).  They had a teacher called Miss Bottomly and Mum said that she had a nickname.  The used to call her "big" as she had a very large bottom.

Mum wasn't the ideal student, she used to get into fights.  The sisters had a enemy.  Her name was Gerty Grice and her nickname was "Gobby".  Mum and her would fall out.  Mum told me that once, Gobby Grice was slagging her sisters off, so she laid into her. She got her on the ground and was punching her, when one of her sisters saw the fight, and shot off. When mum got home, her mum confronted her.  "N said you were fighting with Gerty Grice again!", she said.  Mum turned round and said, "Yes, and I'll punch her again to, if she calls my family".  She got slippered for fighting.

The funny thing about Mum and "Gobby" was that they became good friends when they left school.  They'd chat and talk and one day, "Gobby was coming up the road and she looked lik she was packing a little weight.  Mum asked her about it and "Gobby" told her that she'd been to the doctors and he'd told her she had a very large "tumour" and she'd have to go away and have it removed.  She didn't see "Gobby" for months and the next time she saw her, she was pushing a pram.  Mum stopped her, looked at the baby, and said, "That a lovely "tumour" you've got there".  "Gobby" had the grace to go red.

As I've said before, Mum and her sisters were expected to go into service.  What happen was, her mum, (My Grandma) trained them.  What would happen was that they had to clean a room each, and it had to be spotless.  Grandma would go round every work surface, every door frame, with a white glove.  If there was one speck of dirt or dust, she'd make them do it again.  She was harsh but she wanted her girls to be the best.

They applied for jobs and Mum got one, in the wilds of the Yorkshire moors...