Kathleen Broadfield memories of Gladys Road

by Kathleen Broadfield memories of Gladys Road

Mr and Mrs Stanley, they were very elderly and they couldn’t get out and they loved their fish and chips so I used to go and run errands for them. And on a Friday they’d give me the money and I’d go and get fish and chips and scratchings in the newspaper, and … when I c, came back, they’d give me thruppence for going. And I used to think, ‘Well great!’ Well, when my father found out, he went absolutely mad. He marched me round, I remember, he marched me round and he said, ‘Do not give Kathleen any money for running errands.’ And they said, ‘Yes, but we’re really appreciative!’ And he said, ‘No. She does it because it’s the right thing to do and she wants to do it.’ And they said, ‘No, but we must pay her.’ And he said [Chuckles], ‘If you give her any more money she’s not coming round to do any more errands for you again.’

I remember, I was at college when the erm … when the … bombings, happened, because, I used to, on a Thursday night sometimes we used to go out erm … with, b, some of my school friends, and we used to go to the Beer Keller, drinking, and we used to go the erm Mulberry Bush, so …[Draws breath] and I remember, when we heard about the bombings, because, on a Thursday n, it was on a Thursday night because on a Thursday, sometimes I’d be with my brother and … w, b, s, certain friends at the Rainbow, but … other weeks I’d be with my, school friends, erm … i, i, at the Ivy Bush and, and places, and I remember we couldn’t erm … the tr, all the phone lines were down. We tried to ring, we didn’t have a phone but next-door had a phone, so I was ringing to try and find out but you couldn’t get through because of, bombing. ‘cause, all, I just kept thinking like my brother and like m, m, my friends would be out on that night, and all my school friends, and I d, erm, [Draws breath] my school friends were out that night and one of them ended up … she had a, she had a leather, coat on, blown off, and became deaf in her ear. But she, that, w, I, I didn’t know anyone that had died or, or anything like that.

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