Homes: Sweet and Not so Sweet - 'Twenty Eight Park Crest'

 

Mother at 28 Park Crest 1970s

   

 Flitting  from one house to another on a bright, sunny day was very exciting and great fun for me.
Mr Collins came with his horse and cart early in the morning and moved our furniture. There was no great distance between the two houses, about a five minute walk, which was a good thing as it took  several journeys to and fro before the move was completed. I was delighted as I was allowed to ride on the cart.     At one point Mother's sideboard, [her pride and joy], was resting on the path in front of the window of the new house awaiting its turn to be moved indoors. It had a long shiny top, the result of countless, vigorous applications of Mansion House Furniture Polish, lovingly applied.

It was just perfect for a naughty little girl to slide backwards and forwards on, laying on her stomach: the activity I was happily engaged upon when a face appeared, peering at me through the bars of the gate. It belonged to a little boy from the top of the street, come down to see what was going on. He was a handsome boy with rosy cheeks, brown eyes and
curly brown hair. We exchanged names and other bits of   information and then he went back home. The next school morning he was waiting for me at the gate to walk me to school. He was my first friend on Park Crest and continued to call for me for a long time until we grew older and he was in danger of being laughed at by the other boys.

Mother and Grandma; Sarah Mitton Parker, early days at 28 Park Crest 

 Small as it was, we loved our brand new house and cheerfully squeezed in. We still found room for all our usual visitors. 'Personal Space' was an unknown concept to us and anyway, who would have wanted it?  We liked to be in the thick of things. Our visitors were accommodated one way or another. We 'younger end' slept three to a bed, men and boys shared the big bedroom and ladies the medium one. A fold-up bed was brought out and a li-lo. Whoever got the Li-lo had drawn the short straw as it had a slow leak and needed mouth to mouth resuscitation in the early hours of the morning.  It was patched up eventually but not before I had taken a few turns on it.                                                                                                                                                                                            

Barbara

Eileen

                      














                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Cyril

Laurence

                                                                                                                                                                  

         .                                                  .
                                             

Eric and Frank Pullan; Best Mates

Eric, Barbara and Frank. 1939

                            

       
                                                                                                                              
               
              








Photos taken in the back yard at Park Crest with Frank's new, Brownie box camera.

We were a happy household although there were the usual family squabbles, arguments and falling out but they never lasted long. Everyone who came to our house was made welcome. We had many friends who came and went continuously and during the second world war they included young service men whom we met at the Town Hall dances. The Canadian Airforce boys who were stationed at Allerton Park particularly enjoyed spending time with us. Being so far away from home it was a treat for them to share in family life for a while. Barbara ended up marrying one of them.

Bob and Barbara on their wedding day.

Handsome Bob Guest from British Columbia. She met him at the Town Hall dance and brought him home and that was that.
Bob wasn't quite twenty one so they had to wait before permission for him to marry could be granted by his commanding officer. Bob also
had to have his parent's permission.
They married just as the war ended and Bob lived with us until he was repatriated. As a married man he was allowed a pass out so he came
home to us each evening and travelled back to Allerton Park on  an air-force truck each morning.  Bob and his pals spent most of their off duty time at our house. Lovely
young men, we had such fun.

Irene in her nurses uniform

 With my five brothers and two brothers-in-law in the army, fighting in various sectors of the war, we were all of us, but Mum and Dad  in particular, in constant fear for their safety. I think it helped my parents to have those young service men around: "Other Mother's sons", as Mum referred to them.  The boys certainly thought the world of Mum and Dad; although a house full of good looking girls and young women didn't come amiss either.  As well as Barbara and myself there were our two nieces, Barbara B. and Althea, [one a bit older and one a bit younger than myself,] my brother Arthur's fiance, Irene and her friend Moira.

They were nurses at Scotton Banks Sanatorium and they also spent their free time with us, and then there were our friends too. My Mother made it quite clear from the start, however, that there was to be no "hanky panky" and there never was, just lots of singing and dancing and laughter and of course; lots of delicious, light hearted flirting. Well! what else could you expect? We were young, full of life and it was war time.

We shared whatever food we had and in return the Canadians were very generous. They turned up with large tins of glorious, golden butter, tinned bacon and spam, tinned fruit, cookies and chocolate. We tasted our first Hershey Bars, all courtesy of their well supplied stores I expect. It was like manna from heaven to us in those sparse days of rationing.


   They also kept Dad supplied with cigarettes. Most people smoked then, including Barbara and I, much to Mum's disapproval. I had to do it on the quiet as Mum would not allow me to smoke in the house. I didn't smoke very much as I couldn't afford it. The Canadians brought cartons of cigarettes, each containing ten packs of twenty, for Dad, which he kept in the side-board cupboard. For a while every pack he took out had only nineteen cigarettes in it. Barbara and I thought he wouldn't notice one missing from each pack. "Those little B------s have been at my ciggies again", he'd exclaim. B-----r and b----y were the only swear words Dad ever used and he was the only person ever allowed to use them.

   I'd gone into the bathroom one day for an illicit smoke. I didn't want Mum to smell the smoke so I stood on the 'lav' with my head poking out of the narrow top window.   I was puffing away happily when Mum came out to throw some rubbish in the dustbin which was right under the bathroom window. I was well and truly caught in the act.                                                                                        

   Then, finally, one day the war was over. All the young servicemen, including Bob, were gradually repatriated. We said our fond fare-wells, sad to be parting but happy for them to be going home to their families. It was a time of mixed emotions for us. Just as our brothers were coming home,

Barbara and Eileen - taken before she left for Canada

Barbara was leaving us to join her husband. She travelled to Liverpool by rail, sailed across the Atlantic and up the St. Laurence Seaway then across Canada by rail. It took almost two weeks, and she later said that as the journey went on she thought she would never see Knaresborough and her family again.  Seeing her off on the train at Harrogate station was heart-wrenching. How brave she was, setting off alone at the age of nineteen for a new life in British Columbia, on the far side of Canada. To a young husband she hardly knew and in-laws she had never met; not knowing when or if she would see any of us again. Only wealthy people could afford to travel and up until then, the furthest my sister had been from home was just over the border into Scotland.

Jack Warner Moore

One by one my brothers and brothers-in-law came  home too. All except my darling brother, Jack. He had died in the fighting in Italy. His wife, Muriel and young son, David turned to us and we grieved together. Her own parents on hearing the news said, "Well, you've made your bed; you'll have to lie on it."   They were cold hearted people; I don't know how they managed to produce a daughter as sweet and lovely Muriel. The war was over but it left it's mark on us. It had changed us, broadened our horizons, made us stronger and more aware of what we were capable of. Married men were eager to be back with wives and families and a home life, most of them, anyway. Young men, thankful to be back in one piece couldn't wait to find a wife, build a new life and a decent future in "civvy street" again at long last.

As for the rest of the Parkyn boys and girl, one by one we fell in love and married, though we did not all fly the nest immediately. Housing was in desperately short supply after the war as there had been no building work carried out during that time. Most newly married couples had to live with relatives. Arthur and Irene and their daughter lived with Bill and Beatrice. Laurence married Irene's cousin Joan and they lived with us at Park Crest. I married Frank, my brothers' pal and moved to Park Close, a stone's through away and we shared a home with Frank's Mum. Cyril and Joan rented one room in a friend's house: Eric and June also lived at Park Crest; Laurence and Joan by this time having moved on. Knaresborough Council got busy building a new estate and eventually my brothers' and their wives qualified for houses but not until they had two children apiece  

Sadly, my Dad died in nineteen forty nine, not long after the war ended, but by then he had established his own painting and decorating business along with his four younger sons, all of whom, like him, were painters and decorators.  F.J, Parkyn and Sons also started life at No 28, working from home. It grew and flourished in Knaresborough for many years. Dad would have been proud.

Just before the war, Mum and Dad were given the opportunity to buy 28 Park Crest. The landlord wanted to sell and gave them first choice, We were a bit better off by then so with the help of a small mortgage my parents became proud home owners at long last. My Mother continued to live in the house she loved until the day she died, just three months short of her hundredth birthday. The only tablets she ever took were two Disprin before she went to bed each night, to ease the pain in her bad hip. Her ten children were all home births without the benefit of any kind of pain relief. Following which she didn't see a doctor again until she was in her mid eighties. She had not been feeling well and Dr. Rushton paid her a house visit. He thought her so remarkable he called in to see her every month after that, mainly for a chat.

    Ciss and Arthur lived with her during her last fifteen years or so and up until her last eighteen months Mum was pretty active. Every evening, rain or shine, she and Ciss strolled up the street, Mum leaning heavily on Ciss's arm, to the old Roxy Cinema which had been turned into a Bingo Hall. Everyone knew her, she enjoyed the company and the Bingo and won frequently. Her mind was as bright and sharp as ever and woe betide anyone who tried to help her fill in her bingo cards.

   Wrestling on TV was a great favourite and horse racing. Mum studied form in the newspaper and knew all the trainers, jockeys and horses. She, Ciss and Arthur picked their horses for each race and Arthur went into town and placed their bets. Between them they did well at the races too and were never out of pocket.

   Mum never lost her toleration, understanding and compassion for others nor her naughty sense of humour. Everyone turned to her for advise in difficult times or with family problems. Sons, daughters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, even neighbours, all sort her wise understanding.  She never took sides, never told us what we should or should not do, just made suggestions. She encouraged us to look at things from all sides and think very carefully before saying or doing anything we may regret. Her family were her life and her aim was to keep us together and as happy as possible and she made a pretty good job of it, on the whole. My incomparable Mother, a woman in a million and no mistake.

Park Crest - 1970's

  
My thanks to Barbara for editing and illustrations.
Next blogs will be 'Tales from Park Crest'.