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Changing Times

Getting Married

Remember when ... New mothers were confined to bed for two weeks.

Nina Barr - born 1939 "When my friend was getting married she asked me to "stand" for her on her wedding day. It was a rather sad, low key affair, as she came from a huge family who could not afford a big wedding. She was the youngest of 24 children. There was only the bride and groom, the groom鈥檚 brother as best man, and me. Our footsteps echoed as we walked down the aisle of the empty church - there were no other guests. When it was over we went to the local shops, bought ten cigarettes, and then went to the bride鈥檚 home, where her mum had a meal ready for us".

Changing Times

Remember when ... It was considered good luck to put a piece of silver in the baby's hand.

Ann Baker - born 1950 "I was born in the parish of St. Albans, now the Vauxhall area. Outsiders often called the area "the village" or "little Ireland", because most residents were descendants of the Irish immigrants who came here during the potato famine. The whole area was purely Catholic, Protestants were not tolerated at all. I remember a new family moved into the lock keeper鈥檚 house; the father worked on the lock and the mother got a job in the local corner shop. Word got around that the family was Protestant, and local people boycotted that shop. The argument was that the shop owner should have given the job to one of his own i.e. a Catholic. My own mother was reprimanded for going into the shop. Thank goodness times have changed. In the early l960s, the Council decided to demolish the whole "over the bridge" area and start from scratch. New families moved in and very soon, the religious divide disappeared".

Fashion & Leisure		Children's Lives		War Time & Evacuees
Where we lived		Working Lives		Changing Times