Ron as a young man in uniform
From Ron's private collection
Ron
From Ron's private collection
Memories of peace and war
By Ron, from the Age Concern elders group
Ron is one of the elders in the West Exe group at Age Concern, St Thomas. Having a stroke has affected his memory but he still has plenty to remember once he gets going. Here's his story in his own words.
Born into a family of 14 children
I was born into a large family of 14 children on the 14th January 1931 in Exmouth, Devon. I was the twelfth. My family was what would then have been called working class, my father was a lorry driver and worked locally but I have no idea what he did with his lorry. In those days, like all his contempories, he didn't have a driving license they hadn't been invented! Fortunately traffic in those days was very light and there were probably less bumps in those days than there are today.
My mother of course, like most other mothers at that time was a housewife, and had all her work cut out looking after all her children. She cooked all of our meals and pies and cakes etc.but drew the line at baking bread and bought it from the local bakery. We had a coal fire and we kept the coal in a shed at the back of the house, but unlike many people, we did have electricity and a bath. All the shops were local ones (no supermarkets) and when I was five we moved to Wonford, Exeter and I used to go shopping for my mum. I went to Radley Row school in Exeter and at the age of eleven I moved to St Lukes College School in Exeter.
I was eight when the war started
When I was eight the war started and although I can't remember what the procedure was at school, when I was at home and the siren sounded we had to wait for the all-clear in our front room, the worst time was when Exeter Centre got badly bombed, we could hear the bombs exploding very clearly and we were all very frightened, fortunately none of the bombs hit our house, and I consider myself very lucky to live and tell the tale. After the raid I went into the centre of town and everything had been devastated except for the cathedral. By this time my father was working for the railways which were considered a priority job, and in consequence he didn't have to go into the forces. The bombing took place in May 1942 and it was the only attack on Exeter but it was a devastating one. Until the end of the war in 1945 I was always fearful of it happening again, but it never did and life slowly returned to normal. Everything worthwhile was on ration, this included sweets, but as I never saw any for the duration of the war I could only assume that my parents had my share, life was much tougher in those days!
Getting the cane at school
During the time I went to school, teachers were not averse to using the cane or for that matter anything else that was available, chalk was frequently thrown at one for not paying attention, and it were not unusual to have ones hair and ears pulled, children these days don't know they are born.
I left school when I was fourteen years old and started to work for Shell, helping to deliver petrol to local garages where I stayed for about four years, from there I went to Ferodos which was in Okehampton Rd. They made brake assemblies for cars and lorries, but I only stayed for six months as I didn't care for it.
Brothers and sisters
With the exception of three, all my brothers and sisters worked locally helping in the manufacture of various things for the war effort, two of the other three were in the navy (one being a submariner and was killed off the coast of Portugal) as you will imagine, my mother was very distressed when she heard the news and had to have a short stay in a kind of rest home to help her come too terms with it. The other one met a girl from Grimsby, they married and came to live in Exeter quite near the rest of our family. The other serving member was in the army who survived and was demobbed when the war ended.
Posted to Kenya and then Egypt
As I was only fourteen when the war finished I didn't have to do any fighting thank god, and instead of doing my two years national service I signed on for five years in the REME [Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers?] and was posted to Kenya. There I worked on the electrical generators that supplied the rest of the camp.
In 1948 I was posted to Egypt, near the Suez Canal where I serviced tanks; they seemed to break down a lot so I was kept busy for about the next year.
I was able to stand on the side of the canal and watch the ships going past and I don't know why, but they all went the same way (towards the Red Sea)!
We went to the pictures on a Saturday night
In 1950 I was posted back to Britain; my father was having heart problems and I was posted to Plymouth on compassionate grounds (fortunately he lived for another ten years). On most weekends I managed to get home to see everyone, and I usually went to the pictures on Saturday night.
I was demobbed in 1953 and got myself a job at Stanfield and White repairing and servicing cars and lorries, I enjoyed the work but only got paid £1-5-0 in proper money. I gave my mother about a pound of my wage (its something that we did in those days, unlike today where children expect everything easy) which just left me with five shillings to buy my clothes, money for cigarettes (3d for 10), pictures 1/9 and any other bits and pieces that I needed. My memory isn't the greatest these days, but I distinctly remember going to see Humphrey Bogart, unfortunately I can't remember the name of the film. There were an awful lot of cowboy films in those days, with stars like Glenn Ford, Randolph Scott, John Wayne.
Just to digress for a moment, I do remember going to the children's matinees when I was still a schoolboy; they were on every Saturday morning and started at about 10AM, there was always a serial (to keep us going every week) Flash Gordon I remember well, the following weeks trailer, and before the show started we all had to sing to a ball bouncing above the words on the screen. Then we had the big picture, usually a cowboy, with someone like Hopalong Cassidy or Roy Rodgers, and everybody cheered when the baddys got there comeuppance
A restless sort of person
Even though I liked the work at Stanfields and White I was a bit of a restless sort of person, so after a year I left and went on the dole for a couple of weeks. My father didn't seem to mind but it upset my mother, apart from anything else, she didn't get paid! It wasn't long before I got another job, this time on the Exeter bypass ( I cant remember the name of the firm) pressing out components for cars; the pay was very good and I got something in the region of £3-10-0 per week but it was a little bit monotonous, however I stayed for four years and had to leave when they cut down on staff.
I was only out of work for three days and I got a job with Exeter Water Company, ensuring the pumps that pumped water out of the river to the reservoir were working correctly. This job was less boring and I stayed there for four years, but my restless nature took over once more, I left and got a job at Hardings where I drove a van delivering bread and cakes. I was at Hardings for another four years, when I saw a similar job advertised paying better money, but this was delivering cakes only! The head office was in Oxford, but I worked from a depot in Old Tiverton Road, and I know I stayed for about six years.
Met my wife at Marcines dancing school
It was at this time I met my wife to be at Marcines dancing school where we were both learning how to do the jive and other dances of the day. Ten weeks after, as we were walking up Fore Street, I proposed to Betty and she accepted me, and the following weekend we went up to Samuels in Exeter and Betty chose an engagement ring. These were the days when people got married first and then had the children afterwards, not the other way round as it is today. We were married at St Thomas's church about a year afterwards; I in my best suit and Betty in white, it rained! We had about fifty guests and after the wedding we had a reception at Bullers where we had a lunchtime buffet.
Ron at the War Memorial where his brother's name is engraved.
From Ron's private collection
Children went to school in St Thomas
After three years we had our first child, a girl called Janet and after another four years we had a son called Garry. They were very easy children to manage, not causing us any trouble. They both went to a school in St Thomas, unfortunately I can't remember the name, but they both finished up with a good education. Janet became a typist and Garry worked for a firm that produced something (I can't remember what it was, because of my stroke my memory isn't too good!) Janet was married when she was twenty-two and Garry was married at twenty-four. Janet had two girls, Kate Laura, and Garry had two boys called Caleb and Tretons.
Ron on holiday in Cornwall in the 1970s.
From Ron's private collection
Everything is rather vague since my stroke
Unfortunately since my stroke in approximately 1985, everything is rather vague; it would be nice to remember more but unfortunately I can't! I do hope you have found this interesting; doing it has brought back many memories for me.
Use this link to find more memories from Age Concern West Exe Day Care Group: Age Concern St Thomas