Old Friends......................

When I think of old friends I always think of my English friends. I have after all known them most of my entire life. I remain in contact with all of them still living.
Where to begin. Well When I lived at 785 Dunstable Road I must have been around 3 or 4 because we moved to Bidwell Hill when I was 4. I am not sure my memory serves me well because my first school was when I lived at Nan's house. We called the house Minerva after my Granddad's ship. He was in the Royal Navy during the first war. Well, I do remember my first day of school because I can even see the corridors, painted top one colour and bottom was green with a black band between them. When Mum was in the office with glass windows and doors I asked to go to the bathroom. Well some lady took me but then would not let me go back to my Mum, that would have been OK but I wanted to say goodbye and was told no. I cried. Funny how I recall how tall I was because I was way below that middle mark where the colours on the wall separated. I also remember going to lunch and refusing to eat the crap that was put in front of me. Some kind of stew. A teacher came and sat with me and spoon fed me the first taste. It was great.....so I ate it. I remember 3 friends during my time there. Jane Palmer who was the daughter of the lady my Nan worked for. A girl named Jillian who lived across the road and the girl next door was Susan. I spent most time with Jane I suppose.

When we moved to Bidwell Hill I started Top School in the village of Houghton Regis.
That is Jennifer Bright on the left and Margaret Dryden on the right. Others in the class were also long time friends. Joyce Dollimore and Margaret Piper among others.

My cousins Janet and Brenda both went to Bottom School down on the Green so I seldom if ever saw them. The first person I met was Jennifer Bright.

Her and her Mum came around to meet my Mum and me and Jennifer both hid behind our Mums. We stayed friends all through school until we moved on to Northfields when I didn't see her so much. Her auntie Flo lived in the village near the Kings Arms and I could walk down there whenever I wanted. They moved from Bidwell Hill into a house in the High Street. I can still see her mum answering the door "Can Jenn come out and play?"......
The next friend on the Hill was Sylvia Miller, she lived down the road a bit and her Dad drove an ambulance. Her Mum worked on a farm down the hill. We spent a lot of time together across the fields, gathering Violets and Bluebells for our Mums.

Then there was Margaret Dryden, from Grove Farm.


She was my constant companion right up until she got Married. We spent so much time down on the farm and she always came away on holiday with us to the Norfolk Broads. She was with me when I met Graham. (Laura's Dad)
At some point the neighbours moved and the McDonalds moved in. They had two daughters Dawn and Heather. Dawn and I became good friends. We didn't hang out because we were a little different in age and so not in the same year at school. We could not help but be friends though. Our bedrooms in the semi detached house we shared were next to each other. So we could tap on the wall or hang out the window and chat.

Once I left school and started work that introduced me to a whole other set of friends.
One was Sheila Wilson who was a bit younger than me and Margaret but the three of us became inseparable for many years.

Those were our boyfriend years rather than childhood. We spent our weekends together at the Cali (California ballroom) and would double date and all those things. Concerts in other towns. Long bus rides to check out the not so local talent. Days up in London or at shows there during the Christmas holidays. Margaret didn't work at the same place we did but I saw Sheila every day. We were good friends with Rena Bruff who married Roy Tompkins and moved to Canada. I was her bridesmaid. They divorced in later years and both remarried.
Sheila and boyfriend Mick, Rena and Roy and me with my boyfriend Mick Goldsmith.

Rena and Roy's wedding with me and Maureen Jones as bridesmaids.

Roy and daughter Adrienne

Roy calls me now and then and it is so good to hear the voice of an old friend. Rena did not stay in touch but I follow her on Facebook. She still looks the same. So does Roy even though he is close to 80 now. So hard to believe. All I think of is the concerts we went to and Roy's parents lived across the street from where we worked. We would go over there for lunch and listen to music. I remember he loved Buddy Holly and one day had a new album by a new group called the Beatles. We went to see them in concert soon after that.
Pam, Chris, Rena and me then Dorothy and Maureen.

Most of the women in the office I worked in (Hollerith) were friends. There were a couple of older ladies that we were good friends with, they enjoyed entertaining us and we would go for tea at Dorothy and Ivans house.

Back then we dressed up to go out in the evening. I remember Dorothy would make Scotch Eggs, sandwiches and always a lovely cake, sometimes a Victoria sponge. It was lovely and usually Sheila, Rena and me and often the other lady Maureen (we called Mo) who was also older and married. Maureen was married to Johnny Jones and when us younger girls wanted to be out late we would stay at her house for the night. The older ladies husbands loved us younger ones and would have us sit on their laps and it was all innocent on our part but now I wonder haha.............I do recall Rena and I going in to kiss Johnny and Maureen goodnight, we wore little baby doll pajamas and I bet that he just loved that. Hmmmmm.
Margaret and me on holiday Norfolk Broads

In later years, after I went to London and came back when I had Laura, well I eventually went back to work at the same place. It was later when I started to go out again that I became friends with another group, Chris, Diane and her sister Denise and Shirley. Those were the years of going to the base at Chicksands where I met my husband.
I met girls when I lived in London and I am still in touch with a couple of them.
Kath and Shelagh

I never seem to lose touch with friends. They may be in my life for a time when we spend all our time together but life moves on.............but I can never let go. I still stay in touch and always have. The older friends are gone now. Johnny Jones is still alive but not on the computer so I hear about him from a lady who lives near him. Dorothy and Maureen are gone now. Most of the others are still around and still in touch.
Margaret lost her husband recently and so I am grateful that we have Facebook now..........its so good to be able to stay in touch that way rather than writing letters and waiting for a reply. Same goes for my cousins who I reconnected with via Facebook. It makes life easier.
Most of the old friends are on there now I am so happy about that, we are all in our 70s now and its good to remember good times when we were young.