Happier Times

Now enough of war ! My memory turns to more pleasant times when such names as Miss Willis and her sister Maria, Mrs Fenton, Mrs Hammond and her daughter Rose, to mention but a few, coupled with youngsters of our own age, gradually came into our lives. this formed a picture which I can look back on to realise that, because of their kindness and friendship, the next few years were such a happy time that I still look back on those days with great gratitude. Because of them I hope to be able to convey some of the happiness and contentment which seems to be so hard to find at the present time.

With the 1914-18 Great War at an end, there is no doubt in my mind that the following few years were the happiest of my childhood. True, we, as a family had come to Moulton to do our best to nurture the religious life of the parish. My eldest sister, Mary, was away at Girton College during term time; my brother, Eric was soon to follow as a schoolmaster, thus leaving my two remaining sisters and myself, and we had without fail to attend every church service. This I can remember was a form of discipline which was extremely irksome at times, especially on Christmas Day or Easter Sunday, when we could find ourselves attending as many as five services in one day. Later on, however, I am convinced the discipline did us an immense amount of good. For one thing, it made us appreciate to a far greater extent the free time we did have, and boredom was a feeling unknown to us.

All of us, at some time or other, had cause to 'stand in awe' of our father. He suffered considerably from 'nerves', and we being young and high-spirited, were extremely noisy at times. My mother, bless her heart, did her best to 'keep the peace' but the sudden return of my father from visiting his parishioners (he kept a diary and aimed at visiting every house at least once a year) often found us at our noisiest. The number of times she desperately kept up some form of conversation while we frantically searched for a missing screwdriver or similar tool may father required which had been carelessly left by one of us somewhere round the garden ! In later years I realised how much we all owed her - truly she was a real peacemaker.

© HJ Child