Summer 1968
It’s Sunday at last. When Dad announced at the tea table on Thursday after dinner that Sunday looked like being hot, and we were going to the beach, I jumped out of my seat and yelled HOORAY! In celebration, I raced out of the front door after dinner. It was light and warm, with a…
Chapter 20
When the War Is Over September 1945 There were great celebrations when it was announced that Germany had surrendered in the May, and the streets of Richmond, which were never short of men weaving their way between pub and bookie at any time of the day, were even more full of drunks wandering the streets,…
Chapter Nineteen
Becoming Auntie Shirl In early 1942, Shirley’s life was changed forever in a way that fate has of randomly picking up people’s lives and shaping them forever, just as the ocean washes a piece of reef off the beach and pushes and melds it in waves and storms so that it is shaped and smoothed…
Chapter 18
Waiting for Fred During Fred’s naval service, his younger sister Thelma and Shirley forged a solid friendship over their shared years in the Children of Mary and the thriving social life of the Richmond catholic community, and this grew even stronger after the departure of Fred to the war. Shirley wasn’t interested in dating or…
Chapter 17
Wanda Hurley, dating and enlisting Towards the end of her first year of work, Shirley was invited to the social event of the year – Wanda Hurley’s 16th birthday party! Wanda Hurley was about as close to a beguiling, beauty goddess as it was possible for a young girl in Richmond in 1942 to be,…
Contents
Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six and Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine and Ten Chapter Eleven and Twelve Chapter Thirteen and Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen
Chapter 16
Grandmothers and other battles ‘Stand your ground!’ During Shirley’s studies at the Daycomb School of Business, Sarah Redding (Heaney), Shirley’s grandmother and the matriarch of the Redding clan, began to fail in her health. After a visit from her doctor and discussion with family, a plan was cobbled together in which Sarah was to have…
Chapter 15
Nephews, Typewriters and Daycomb Shorthand Shirley had no real understanding or knowledge about babies. Her world was full of older relatives, and she was the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter. Her father’s brothers had a couple of stuck-up young sons who were a few years older than her, and that was the extent of…
Chapter 13
The War comes to Richmond Shirley plodded along at school, far from the perfect pupil, but diligent enough when the nuns were looking, and up for an antic or two when they weren’t. At the age of 12, the war in Europe was declared and the talk in the streets on a warm night…
Chapter 11 Sisters
Eileen and Bill Shirley’s oldest sister Eileen left school at the age of fourteen, as all Richmond regulars did, and found a job in one of the local factories. Shirley has very early memories seeing Eileen in a new dress she bought from her tiny wage, resplendent with in her pancake make-up and bright red…
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Memoirs and Memories 