INTO THE BIG, WIDE WORLD

I left school aged 14 to start my first job. I still felt very young, really, but that was the way we were brought up. So I went into the big, wide world. My first job was at Mr Hodges’ shoe shop in West Street….Mr Hodges repaired shoes in a workshop at the end of his house.  When people came in the shop, I was allowed to show them the shoes and if they wanted to buy, I would have to go out the back to Mr Hodges and say I needed him to come and take the money.  I wasn't allowed to touch money in any way.

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Mrs Hodges used to make little cakes once a week and I had to take them up the Bargates to a very old lady who lived in the almshouses there.  I didn't mind doing it, because it got me out of the shop.

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I only stayed in this job for one year.  My mother said you must stay for one-year so that you have a good reference.  It was very boring.  I had no one to talk to, which was not good for me

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I had a friend, Mary, and I used to go to her house once a week. Her mother was helping me to knit a jumper.  Mary and I decided to join a cookery class; there just wasn't anything to do at night in Leominster. At the class we met Miss C, who lived with her old father and was looking for someone to go and work for her in her house. She asked Mary if she would like the job and she said she didn't want it, so I asked if I could have it and Miss C agreed.  So I left my job at the shoe shop and started with Miss C.

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My mother didn't want me to do that kind of work.  She felt that cleaning was a step down from working in a shop.  Miss C had a large house, so they had money. I don’t know how they made it and they would never tell you and you would never ask. You were made to feel small in those days. I used to have to go in the back door, like a servant, and start by clearing the table and putting all the remaining breakfast food back in the pantry, and then I had to keep the house clean. Miss C. asked me one day to put some onions in a casserole she had prepared, and then put it in the oven.  I looked all over for the onions and couldn't find them.  So in the end, I found some things that I thought might be onions, which I cut up and put in the casserole and then put it in the oven to cook.  During the morning, thinking about it, I realised it was flower bulbs for the garden I had used. I had to change from my cleaning clothes into my everyday clothes and then I had to sit and eat with them. They said the casserole was very nice, but after I had eaten I was very sick.  They sent me home and I told my mum what I had done, and she said, "Vera, you could have killed them.  You should have told them what you did."