Diary Entry: ” Returned Weston”. Diary notes: KPD had been working at Rossholme School, Weston-super-Mare since January 1937, first as ‘Assistant Matron’ and from April 1939 as ‘Head Matron’. To this point, Rossholme had been her longest lasting job.
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Diary Date: 8th January [1940]
Diary Entry: “Went home”. Diary notes: Home for KPD was still her Mother’s home, 35 Broxbourne Road, Orpington, Kent. Her mother and younger sister, Veronica Dell, were still living there. The number of times KPD mentions her home in her diaries, right up to her Mother’s death (1960) shows how important ‘home’ and ‘family’ were …
Diary Date: 6th January [1940]
Diary Entry: ” Left & went to Lynton, Oldfield Rd, Hampton to stay with Dulcie Leggett & Peter & Paul.” Diary notes: Dulcie was a former Nanny, and good friend of KPD, both before and after her marriage. Her son, Paul Rupert Leggett, was KPD’s godson. ‘Lynton’ is a large, semi-detached house with 5 bedrooms …
Diary Date: 5th January [1940]
Diary Entry: ” Joan came for lunch.” Diary Notes: KPD had a number of friends called ‘Joan’, so it is not clear which ‘Joan’ this entry refers to. Whoever it was, KPD regarded her as a good enough friend not to give her surname.
Diary Date: 3rd January [1940]
Diary Entry: “Met Gertrude for lunch. Went to stay 8 Oakland Way, Gerrards X [‘Cross’] with Dulcia & Ian McDiarmid”. Diary notes: Dulcia & Ian McDiarmid were friends of KPD’s mother, and of KPD herself. She mentions them in her diaries over a number of years.
Diary Date: 2nd January [1940]
Diary Entry: ” Returned home”. Diary notes: Home for KPD was still her Mother’s home, 35 Broxbourne Road, Orpington, Kent, where she had lived since 1930. So KPD hadn’t actually been very far away!
Diary Date: 30th December [1939]
Diary Entry: ” Went to Lewis’ to stay”. Diary notes: The Lewis’ were a family KPD worked for as a nanny, who became friends in Crofton, near Farnborough, living at Orchard Cottage. Apparently KPD got to drive their Bentley!
Diary Date: 29th December [1939]
Diary Entry: “Cooked fish for Mrs Thompson. Left afternoon”. Diary notes: Rationing of food had not started yet (it did on 8th January 1940). It’s possible this Mrs Thompson was a neighbour, or perhaps a domestic working for Aunt Consie. (For more about Aunt Consie – see diary notes for 26th December).
Diary Date: 26th December [1939]
Diary Entry: “Martin, Elaine & children. I went to Tun. Wells to stay A[Aunt] Consie”. Diary notes: ‘Martin’ is Robert Martin Cromwell Dell (1904-1958), KPD’s eldest brother; ‘Elaine’ is Elaine Dell, née Pitt, Martin’s first wife and mother of his two eldest children (Tessa born 1935 & Michael born 1936). ‘Aunt Consie’ is Edith Constance …
Diary Date: 25th December [1939]
Diary Entry: ” Very quiet Christmas. Peggy left a.m.” Diary notes: It is probably the case that many people experienced Christmases in 1939 that were quiet, as this was in the middle of the period known as ‘the Phoney War’; for further information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoney_War
Aunt Pamela's War 