Stories from our past - part 2

After Violet finished school she got a job in Barton upon Humber which was located on the other side of the Humber from Hull. In those days there wasn’t a bridge, so Violet would take the ferry boat there and back, sometimes they would have dances on the boat during the crossing.

When Violet was 20 she moved back up to Bridlington for awhile and worked as a waitress at a Lunchroom called Oberon’s. She was obviously pleased to be able to renew her friendship with her step sisters. Violet had quite a few admirers but she eventually met and fell in love with a young man from Hull called Herbert Cyril Orwin, they married on the 31st July 1922. Violet and Herbert had three children, Cyril, Joan and Doreen. They had a happy life though sadly Violet’s Mother Rose died in December 1930 when the children where still quite young. Violet can remember seeing a rainbow around the Christmas tree on the day her Mother died.

Their youngest child Doreen was my Mum, she also shared some memories of her childhood. Her Dad, Herbert had a little car with what they called a dickey at the back where the children could sit strapped in, usually on a Saturday or a Sunday they would go for a drive to Hornsea or Withernsea, little seaside resorts. On their way home they would always stop at a wayside pub called 'The Jack of Hearts' and the children would sit outside by the tables and get a glass of lemonade and a packet of crisps. Doreen always loved this treat and sometimes if her Dad pretended to drive past the pub without stopping all three children would start yelling from the back of the car. Next to the pub was a farm and the lady who lived there got to know them quite well and would often bring over a glass of goat's milk for them to drink.

One of Doreen's stories from her growing up years is from when she was about 7 or 8 years old. The children living in her street, Spring Gardens in Anlaby near Hull, asked her if she would go to the shops for them on her bicycle, they said that they badly needed some elbow grease. Doreen recalls: "I agreed to go and get some, about 30 minutes later after having been in just about all the shops, I arrived back in the street to see my friends doubled up with laughter, it was then that I realized what elbow grease was, (elbow grease means hard work). Feeling very embarrassed, I fell off my bicycle and ended up with a very bad knee which took a few weeks to heal up, and I must say ended up with my friends feeling very sorry, but it was a laugh when I think how foolish I was."

In 1940 World War 2 broke out, with Hull being a big port it was very badly bombed during the war, Violet’s family had an air-raid shelter in the back garden with bunks and bedding and food, but it was not very nice having to sleep there every night and hearing the sirens and the bombs falling. Doreen usually received the hand me down clothes from her elder sister Joan, but once during the war she had received a brand new strawberry pink coat, she was so proud of it that she had it hanging in the living room to show to some friends, when her father came to warn them of an air-raid. They rushed to the shelter, it was very frightening as they could see the land mines coming down, thankfully the wind blew them further down the street and one of them landed in Rokeby Park in a lot of mud, but it caused such a big crater you could have fitted three houses into it, and the explosion caused all the windows to blow in and the plaster to fall from the ceilings. Luckily everyone was in the shelter so no one was injured but Doreen's new coat was covered with plaster and soot so she was most upset.

During the war Cyril enlisted in the RAF and often flew on missions to the continent, on one of these missions he was shot down above the Hoek of Holland and taken as a prisoner of war. This was a terrible time for the family, at first they didn't even know whether he was still alive until someone from the Dutch resistance was able to send word to the family. In the last years of the war Herbert was also called up to serve even though he was already in his 40's,he was sent to India.

Violet had lot’s of fond memories of Bridlington and would often visit her step sisters there in her later life.