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Barbara Greenshields (nee Jupp) shares with us a few memories around the time of the late 1920's/early 1930's. At this time she lived in Flansham Lane, Littlehampton with her Mother and Father.
'It was in our early days at Flansham that Mother pushed David in the pram along by the sea to Felpham. There was no promenade then, just a grass bank and some tamarisks growing near the top of the beach. We stopped from time to time on the way and she picked some sea spinach.
Summerley Estate, which Dad was helping to build, had not then encroached very close to the sea. We met him in Felpham, then made our way home again. Mother cooked the spinach but I didn't like it and have never been particularly fond of it.
By her own admission, Mother was not an enthusiastic dressmaker. Her Singer hand sewing machine was used mainly for making curtains, the occasional plain cushion cover and for such necessities as turning sheets from sides to middle and other mending jobs.
David and I liked to hear it rattling away in the evenings as we lay in bed. We particularly liked the whirring sound when she was winding a bobbin and would call downstairs for her to 'Do it again Mummy', which usually she obligingly did.
She did a great deal of knitting and beautiful embroidery. I still have tablecloths embroidered by her and a nightdress case with my initial 'B' on it, made for me when I was very small.
She told me of the time she used the best parts of a good quality pre-marriage dress she possessed to make me a skirt. Each pleat was carefully measured, tacked and pressed before sewing it on to a bodice, and she felt justifiably proud of her efforts. I wore it, probably with one of my hand knitted jerseys when I went to stay with my grandparents and Nan for a few days.
I came home with two skirts. Grandma and/or Nan had unpicked all Mother's patient pleats and made it into two plain ones! I was about seventeen and had begun to take an interest in making my own dresses when she told me this sad little tale. No wonder she resented what she termed their interference. How could they have been so insensitive?'
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