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Born 5/1/1924 at 121 Hutton Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, Maurice Bassett recalls some fond memories from his early years.
One of my earliest recollections is of watching my father repair boots and shoes, I would have been under the age of five at the time, and England was in a depression.
I had three sisters and three brothers: my youngest brother Dennis died at the age of 6 months from pneumonia.
My grandmother, born in 1852, was also living with us at this time. She used to tell us about the time she was working behind the bar at a pub when she was nine years old, and working the lock gates at the local canal; her parents lived in the gatekeeper's house.
I started school when I was five, my sister Hilda taking me to Westminster Road Infants School. At the first chance I took off for home but was caught and taken back to school. I did not think making raffia mats, and moulding plastercine (a form of clay), was very interesting.
My mother then took me to Saint Mary's School where my brother Lewis also went. Each day we were taken to school by mother and we were bought a penny worth of arrowroot biscuits each, that and an apple was our lunch.
We were given a cup of hot chocolate at school each morning in the winter, and a small bottle of milk in the summer, this sustenance being provided by the education department.
The education department also provided the underprivileged with boots, socks, and at Christmas time, a few potatoes and a piece of meat. Our clothes were hand me downs.
It's hard to imagine that in those days, if one was in debt, they were taken to the workhouse. My grandmother received 10 shillings a week (one dollar) pension, the house alone was 10 shillings per week rent, and I remember the house was built in the year of the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria.
To help out with expenses, my mother had to go out charring: doing other people's washing, ironing and general house cleaning. My father, who was out of work and received no dole payment in those days, made a little cash by doing boot repairs, cutting grass, and a bit of gardening for the well-to-do people.
It was those people who were lucky enough to have made money during the war of 1914 -- 1918, while those who had served in the forces came home to a nation fit for heroes to live in and found themselves out of a job.
We were called out into the playground one day at school to see the Airship R101 on its maiden flight. It was huge, silver in colour, and we stood in awe at the sight of it, but unfortunately it later crashed in France with a great loss of life. This was in 1930 when I was six years old but remember it vividly.
Saint Mary's School was a Church of England school, and although I was not a good scholar, my days there were happy.
Weekends were spent in the park, catching newts and tadpoles, or fishing for stickle backs in the brook that flowed along the back of our street. Sad was the day when it was all piped in and we were not able to play there.
Of course, Guy Fawke's Night was looked forward to for we would build a guy and collect rubbish for a bonfire.
Even though we might only have a few sparklers and penny bangers to let off, or a sky rocket if we were lucky, we made our own enjoyment on Bonfire Night.
We would get an old tin can, put some holes in it and attach a piece of wire. Then get some hot coals from the fire and put them in the can and swing it round and round till it glowed. This could be dangerous if the can flew off the wire. Of course we got a few burns, but the cans were great hand warmers in the winter.
We spent many long hours snow-clearing in the winter, or carol-singing at Xmas time, when most people were good enough to give you a penny, but some people told you to get off home and not give you even a thanks.
Coal was about the only fuel burned to keep the house warmed in those days, and chimney sweeps had a full time job cleaning the soot from the chimneys. We would stand outside and let the sweep know when his brush had popped through the top of the chimney.
Many chimney fires started in the wintertime because they had not been cleaned out. A favourite trick was to put a handful of salt on the fire if that happened, which for some reason would put the fire out.
The coal dust, or slack as we called it, used to be packed into small used sugar bags, dampened down and placed on the back of the fire grate.
There was no pre-packed sugar, or for that matter, most other products from the grocer shop. Things were bought by the pound and sugar was always packed into these thick blue bags, which came in very handy for other things.
Biscuits were bought by the half pound or pound (0.453 kg), and at times one could buy broken biscuits at a cheaper price. Fruit could also be got cheaper if it was bruised.
As shops in those days were not all equipped with cold storage, one could buy meat late on a Saturday night at the butchers where it used to be auctioned off. One could get a pig's head for tuppence (2 cents).
Maurice Bassett, Queensland, Australia, 2001
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