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In order for Ada Newman to attend the Stowmarket Secondary School, she moved out of her family home in the village of Stoke-By-Nayland and went to live with an aunt. Shortly afterwards the First World War broke out. Sadly Ada's aunt couldn't look after her for long due to bad migraines, so Ada was sent to live with two old ladies who took in children from the secondary school. Here Ada shares with us some of her memories of living with these ladies.
On Saturdays we used to go to the pictures some afternoons to special children's performances. I remember seeing one picture in which a bath chair ran amok, climbing walls and running all over the place. Whether it had an occupant or not I do not remember.
Then there was the picture where an old man with an umbrella was landed on the moon. When any little moon creatures appeared, he must hit them on the head with the umbrella and they disappeared.
Once we saw pictures of Captain Scott's expedition to the North Pole - these were shown before it was known he had died. Later on there were serials shown each week - one was called 'The Hooded Terror'. Two film stars I remember were Pearl White and Eddie Chalton (?).
Sometimes on a Sunday we walked the three miles to Needham Market to visit our relatives who had a grocery shop there. We nearly always had pineapple rings, or tinned tomatoes for tea.
It was this aunt who dosed children with that awful Fenning's Mixture, so I always hoped my hay fever would not be bad while I was there. (Once we went to see the bomb damage at a farm just outside Needham on our way).
Pigs were kept at the bottom of the garden, and these we fed with willow leaves from trees there.
Uncle grew tomatoes and I did like to help myself to one fresh from the plant.
When we did not go to Needham there were several lovely walks, a favourite one being through the hop fields to Combs' Ford. And what a lovely meadow there was near here, where cowslips and lady's hair grass grew.
Father used sometimes to come over to buy fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day and once after his visit I committed the terrible sin of copying some of a friend's history work. The mistress discovered this and I was sent to the headmaster's study. No further punishment was needed than to hear him say 'Ada, I am surprised at you.'
One of my favourite lessons was French - I once took part in a sketch from La Derrière Classe by A Daudet at a speech day. After reciting in this the rules about past participles conjugated with 'etre' and 'avoir' they were never forgotten!
How thrilled I was to receive the first letter (which I still have) containing a photo, from Simone, my French correspondent. This correspondence was kept up until her death from TB in 1939. I twice visited her in France - but when it was her turn to visit me she was married and had a baby daughter.
Simone's sister kept up the correspondence until Simone's daughter took over. She and her husband visited us here and I have spent some very interesting holidays with them in France.
But back to school days at Stowmarket; - I learned to ride a bicycle in the playground on a friend's cycle. And I used to go part way home with her so as to be able to ride it. She lived on a farm near the cordite works and there was a big notice stuck up in the garden 'Jesus Saves'.
Later on we had our own cycles and had many lovely rides at weekends. Sometimes I cycled home with a friend and spent the weekend with her at Haughley. What lovely fried breakfasts her father used to bring us in bed - bacon, egg, bread, apple and onion. I loved staying with them, they were all so kind and jolly.
Other weekends I stayed in Ipswich with another friend and we saw some excellent Shakespeare plays at the theatre. Henry Baynton was the leading actor.
I enjoyed all the school games, even cricket in my early days there, being captain for a time. I must have been a fairly good half-back in hockey for I played in matches and was made captain of this too. Tennis came later, by which time we were busy studying for the Oxford Examination, so there was not so much time for games.
Soon after I first went there, the school was split up into three houses for sports. We all had to assemble in the Hall and were divided off according to the district where we lived. My brother and I were left almost till the last as our village was very distant from the others.
We were finally allotted to Cavendish House, our colour being green. Lydgate House was the most successful in gaining the shield for the most points on Sports Day. Gainsboro' like Cavendish, did not do so well.
Our Sports were held on the cricket ground amid great excitement. I did quite well in the walking race and once won 'Dribbling the Hockey Ball' but it was in the Sack Race that I was most proficient in the early days!
The one blot on our school days was the homework! How we hated that. But it had to be done and I was very pleased to pass in the seven subjects we took in the Oxford Exam, getting 2nd Class Honours.
I also achieved one of my ambitions, namely, to be made a prefect. But the other ambition, to win lst place in Form V1, I was not able to manage, getting no higher than 3rd out of the class of 6. In this class, unlike the Preparatory Form in which I started, there were 5 girls and 1 boy! It was one of the saddest days in my life when I had to say goodbye to the Headmaster.
Ada Newman 2001
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