Diary Entry: Went to Gracie Fields in “Shipyard Sally” with Hull. Diary Notes: ‘Hull’ was one of KPD’s colleagues as Rossholme School near Weston-s-Mare. KPD liked to use nicknames and also sometimes referred to people by their surname, so ‘Hull’ might actually be her name! “Shipyard Sally” was a British comedy musical (released 1939) starring …
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Aunt Pamela – Childhood Memories (Part 5)
[KPD left – as well as her diaries – an old exercise book, falling apart, and not by any means full, but containing some family history information. Inside the front cover she has written: ‘I meant to rewrite this book…I hope I have not repeated myself too much”. I have tried to remove such repetition, …
Continue reading “Aunt Pamela – Childhood Memories (Part 5)”
Diary Date: 17th October [1939]
Diary Entry: Went to “Modern Miracle” Diary Notes: KPD lists her visits to the cinema throughout her early diaries – up to the late 1950s/early 1960s especially. This does, I think, show just how important film and the local cinema was to people of all classes at this time. Given the closure of the very …
Diary Date: 11th October [1939]
Diary Entry: “Judith Bateman born”. Diary Notes: The Batemans were relatives and also friends of the Dells – Judith is the daughter of Geoffery & Enid. KPD often met and even stayed with them in north London – later they moved to Norwich; after the war KPD stayed with them in both places.
Diary Date: 10th October [1939]
Diary Entry: Went to W.G. [Winter Gardens] & tea Miss Kidner. Diary Notes: Miss Kidner was a friend who lived (& possibly worked) in Weston-super-Mare; KPD certainly knew her before moving to work at Rossholme (the first mention of her in the diary is in 1938). Later KPD stayed with her when visiting the school …
Diary Date: 6th October [1939]
Diary Entry: “Went to see ‘Jamaica Inn’. Diary Notes: ‘Jamaica Inn’ is a 1939 British thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock from the story by Daphne du Maurier. It stars Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Hara and Leslie Banks. KPD frequently went to the cinema at this stage of her life – later when I knew her, she …
Diary Date: 3rd October [1939]
Diary Entry: “Went to Polehamptons to tea”. Diary Notes: Presumably the Polehamptons were friends living in or near Weston-Super-Mare (if not, KPD would probably have given the name of the place she had travelled to). KPD often made friends where she worked, and this may be the case here.
Diary Date 2nd October [1939]
Diary entry: “Ann Roberts (new girl) ran away. Her mother fetched her home”. Presumably absconding was always a worry with pupils new to boarding schools and being away from home. It seems Ann Roberts didn’t live too far away from the school, or her mother wouldn’t have been able to collect her and take her …
Aunt Pamela – Childhood Memories (Part 4)
[KPD left – as well as her diaries – an old exercise book, falling apart, and not by any means full, but containing some family history information. Inside the front cover she has written: ‘I meant to rewrite this book…I hope I have not repeated myself too much”. I have tried to remove such repetition, …
Continue reading “Aunt Pamela – Childhood Memories (Part 4)”
Diary Date 27th September [1939]
Diary Entry: Went to see “Wuthering Heights” Notes: Whilst KPD had always enjoyed going to the cinema, she seems to have gone even more often during the war years than before or after. The same is true to some extent for other types of live entertainments, especially once she had joined up. This film would …
Aunt Pamela's War 