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Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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17/12/2007
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22:32
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Childhood memories of Doreen Gail Bancroft (nee Maisey)Originally written in spanish 1998.translacion by DoreenGail Bancroft.
BIRTH ANYBODY ELSE BORN IN A PUB?
Edited by - Doreen on 01/01/2008 11:45:22 PM
Dordygail 
always the one to make the best of things.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 07/02/2008 : 06:47
I like the fringed leather trousers..... yours?
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk  |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 07/02/2008 : 20:12
haha no those would just about fit my arms.
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 10/02/2008 : 21:03
BUTLINS
In the fifties the thing to do when you had kids was go to butlins for a holiday, mum went twice once with my dad when she was pregnant with me, and another time when we lived in the in between house in mandeville rd before she was pregnant with david.( mandaville the family thaught to have built the castle in the 1200s ad)
I was told to always say my sirname was Legge ( Keiths sirname)at the holiday camp, this annoyed me intensly, how could i call myself Leg or arm or big toe?,they would all laugh at me surely, i think it must have been the first time i used my sense of ridicule in any serios way.
As i was not at all willing mum told me the story ,true or not i dont know, she said that grandma, and jack had bought the tickets for themselves ,and now din,t want to go so that we had to use their tickets.
Somehow it did not tally in my head why would they want two more tickets for children?
At that time i was not very conciouse of social estigmas, nobody had at that time thrown in my face that mum , and keith were living in sin,
over the brush so to speak,these things were unaceptable even in a holiday camp.
I reluctantly agreed to say my name was legge if i ever got lost
,as i was told that they would chuck us out if they found out who we were.
Mum went roller skating and fell down ,and was hospitalised with a broken wrist,and arm ,all the bones pushed up to the elbow,and split like a brush ,so they had to put her out to set the bones.
We were on our own , red coats all over the place,Peter and me in the camp, fenced in so we could not have gotten lost ,....or could we? .
If there is a will there is a way,
there was a baby sitting place inside a pavillion with painted wooden fencing at the double door to keep the up to 3three years toddlers in ,and the rest out.
there were lots of things to do or see,or play with like the real stage coach that we just loved,playing cowboys ,and indians , i of course always ended up being scalped.
in the theatre there were matinee sessions of variety ,clowns ,and singers, i was singled out to go up on stage to be sung to by what at the time we all beleived to be Maurice Chevalier,he sang thank heavens for little girls ,and made me sing snippets.
all this was very exciting,but what had caught my interest was something prohibited,in the under three room there was a miniature carousell, avery fine piece of work lots of lights ,and gold paint ,wooden unicorns ,horses with real mane ,and tail,their eyes seemed alive ,the paintwork was very fine.
this atracted so much that i just stood looking at it for hours,untill the minder asked what i was doing here where,s your Mum?
how old are you?.
I said i was six, and that Mummy had said i was to stay here so as not to be shooed away, OH DEAR! then she asked me what my name was...Doreen ....Doreen what? i just could not bear to say legge,
so i said i dont know , that was that she wipped me inside the play area ,and i got to ride on the carousell all day, as she would not let me out again,all the rest went with their mums , nobody answered the tanoi for a lost little girl called Doreen, they all being at the hospital , and peter would not come forward in case i had let the cat out of the bag in some way , and it would be silly to think that it was me that was lost ,as i knew the camp backwards.
so i ate the minders lunch,and knew what prisoners must feel like ,it was not at all nice once the novelty wore off.
At last somebody came for me , they had looked for me in every place thinkable in the camp, exept the baby minders hall,so i missed supper as well as the fancy dress competiccion.
Mum had made us costumes of tarzan ,and Jane out of cotton slings, she used boot polish to paint leopard spots on them, as this event was more important than finding me, Mum found a substitute for the jane outfit, and as it was held in the gimnasium peter had plenty of ropes to swing about on, that combined with the Tarzan cry that blew peoples eardrums , the whole effect won outright the first prize.
Edited by - Doreen on 15/02/2008 8:34:17 PM
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 14/02/2008 : 06:35
Dot in a leopard spotted leotard....... Keep going Kid, over 1500 hits!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 15/02/2008 : 22:07
At last the bungalow was finished,and we would be moving in the summer.
Me ,and peter were shipped off to Dads for an extra long holiday,David was sent to grandma Violets house for the summer,
as he was only a baby ,and the walls needed to dry out ,and the moving done.
I had not seen the bungalow for a long time ,it had no plaster on the walls the last time,so when we arrived after the holiday with Dad,
being taken to the new house was a very nice surprise to me.
Mum had decorated the whole place,she had made curtains for all the windows,the floors had wall to wall carpets,the first in town,usually everybody had lino ,and mats.
The kitchen was American style, a worktop bar separated it from the large dining area,there was a double sink with garbage disposal,
automatic washing machine,a complete kenwood chef, a double oven, all the worktops were topped in a new fangled thing called formica made in a pale blue gingham print.
It was 1960 -61.
The carpets in the main hall and front room were black with streaks of lightning all over in very bright colors,in the front room there was a modern curved black setee for 8,and one armchair covered in black vinyl simulating leather, a big television bookcases,and the most elegant long low drinks cabinet made in formica with a a small black and white weave desighn on it,the floor length curtains charcoal grey .tweedy material, a gas fire stood in the fireplace .
My bedroom had pink ,and white spotted carpet ,and all new furniture,there were pictures of soft pink sleeping babies on the wall.
I didnt feel all that at home in this show case,i missed my old bed,this new one was so big,and i liked the old heavy furniture
with round knobs on instead of these draws with bits of guilt striped wood the length of them,all this new stuff was far too angular to my eye and touch, but i liked the curtains they had blue ,and white squares with roses inside them.
The boys room was very large ,it had all new furniture too ,and bunk beds they had the same carpet as me but in grey.
Mums room was all pink, and white.
the central hall was very wide ,and all the rooms came off it .
in the ceiling were let down stairs into the attic,which was being floor boarded, and particioned off into two rooms.
one of the rooms was designated as a play room.
I was delighted to find some of the old furniture including my old childs bed,with its patchwork coverlet that mum had made,that made me feel much better in this barbie wonderworld.
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 17/02/2008 : 11:45
The Bungalow was on the very edge of town up on a hill with higher hills at a distance in front ,and behind us ,soft low hills as is usual in that part of the country.
Our front garden stood 3 yards higher than the road,and the drive way was carved into the earth making a very high cemented slope up to the garage, a canion between ours and the neighbors garden.
there were only five houses on this side of the road, all the rest was open country, in front of us was the towns Dairy ,you could see the milk being bottled through the open double doors , it always smelt nice like hot cream, and some puffs of steam always carried it on to the forecourt.
At one side of us lived Mr Mitson a maths teacher at the high school ,and his sister, very nice people,on the other side an old couple,who resented our having built the bungalow on what was a spare ground beside them ,the old man hated children ,animals ,
and people in general.
In front of us beside the dairy was a nice family with three beutifull children, and an old Riley car that i loved, it had the same feeling about it as our old Daisy had had.
At that time the walls of the bungalow were still very wet so the baby was at grans to keep him from the damp,and mum and Keith went to visit him at weekends, so we had a series of baby sitters to mind me ,and Peter,one of which was the son of Mums best friend ,they had been friends since they worked together, in Mr andy,s market gardens.
This man was about eighteen or twenty , he had baby sat several times with another girl in the in between house, but now he always came on his own.
he was always unfair to me , any excuse to demeanor was used,
and all sorts of blackmail techniques employed to dominate.
one day he paid my brother money to go away for the rest of the day,
he then forced me to go up the ladder into the attic where on my bed he did very nasty things,(rape) my screams were not heard ,as he had made sure that mr Mitson was not in before he started his plan by throwing a ball into his garden,then knocking on the door to ask permission to retrieve it.
He threatened me me with so many things , and told me that nobody would ever beleive me if i told them , and i would be sent away to a coreccion home, that my family would disown me , nobody would evr be my friend or love me because he would tell everybody that he had seen me doing it with other men, and he being an adult would be beleived,then he would come ,and kill my dog.
So i never told any body untill i was nearly thirty.
Perhaps if a grown up had told me that not all grown ups told the truth , or that some grown ups did nasty things,and then lied about it ,and that little girls should always tell at least two other adults about it if sombody touched them in a way that you did not like,or hurt you.
Perhaps if these subjects were not tabuu, and were talked about ,not hidden under the mat,just perhaps a lot more children would be able to tell their story ,and be treated in a way that helped them cure the pain of it all.
My mother through ignorance didnt know at that time that men like that existed as the subject had never been talked about ,it would have been beyond her comprension,and still is in a way.
It is definitely not my intencion to offend the sensibility of my readers
So i am writing this to help bring the subject out in the open ,and perhaps some parent will see the sighns of child abuse and do something about it.Or perhaps some child will read this ,and know how to react if they are abused,THERE ARE TELEPHONE NUMBERS THAT CHILDREN CAN RING but as im not in England i dont know them,if anybody does please post them here on this topic.
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 17/02/2008 : 12:02
Childline 0800 11 11
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator"  |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 17/02/2008 : 19:39
He never came back to babysit after that ,but i was sent to his house frequently to be minded by his mother Mums friend i shall call her auntie p for the purpose of the story , and he will be bert,peter never came as he was much older ,and didnt need to be looked after.
i did my best not to be in the house with him , they had a medium sized dog that i took for long walks in order to get away.
This annoyed him after a while, me not being there to get at when he came home from work , his mother one day refused to let me take the dog out,this made me very sad for Judge the dog ,as he spent all day tied to a chair in the kitchen,and hen he saw me he used to be very happy.
when Bert came home auntie P forced me to go up to her bedroom to listen to records with him , i said i didnt want to but she forced me to go.
In those days it was unheard of not to obey an order from an adult.
this happened on several ocasions, and i was always abused in more than one way.
He even dared to do things to me in front of his mother ,who acted
as if she saw nothing,
He said that he had done things like that with his mother , his sister
,and other girls my age that i knew.
He repeated all the old threats ,and some new ones just to make sure i never spoke.
i became sullen, i cried constantly for a long time at school i was in a deep depression, i was under pressure already in school bacause of being so much younger than the rest of my class but now schoolwork had no interest for me, after the first time something seemed to have gone wrong inside ,and i started wetting myself , and the bed at night, something that i had not done since i was two, I started going to different church sunday schools but i did not find whtever i was looking for so after two years i lef the churches, except the Roman catholic church which i went to nearly every morning whilst aconying my friend mary to school.
I Ialso started eating like a horse ,and got very fat, at eleven i was put on a very strict diet but at the end of a year on drinking complan meals at miday,and white boiled fish at night i was five pounds heavier.
I did tell a grown up about what Bert did ,but she did not do anything more than decide that i should not come round ,and play with their daughter for a while.
we had been playing mums ,and dads,so i showed my friend how they made babys,she told her mum , who in turn questioned me ,and i told her how i knew first hand.
That is why i would tell children to always tell more than one adult about these things.
When i was ten i had grown to big to be interesting so he had left me alone , and i was considered big enough to look after myself.
one day Auntie p was talking with my mum in her kitchen, Bert had been taken to court for abusing an invalid girl at the end of the road , Auntie p was slicing into her as a liar,a poor thing that only wanted to be the centre of attencion a brainless cripple that aught to be put away for disgracing her family this way, then Auntie P,and mum came up to me and screamed in my face he,s never touched you has he ,HAS HE! i was terrified ,and could only shake my head .
All the old fears came back with the way she Auntie P threatened me with her eyes.
Perhaps if my mother would have asked me alone in private it may have been possible to tell her something.
Edited by - Doreen on 17/02/2008 11:53:45 PM
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 17/02/2008 : 23:46
quote:
Another wrote:
Childline 0800 11 11
Thanks for the number
Childline 0800 11 11
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 18/02/2008 : 07:21
I have recently come across a case where a child who needed help did something entirely different. Basically they engineered admittance to hospital on the grounds that she needed emergency help. This triggered off the support services immediately. A smart kid!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 18/02/2008 : 13:35
the child did that on its own?
a very good idea.
Trouble is when you are seven years old
its not that easy, for me there was no telephone childline,
or any other informacion to help guide me in any way.
Edited by - Doreen on 18/02/2008 1:42:15 PM
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 18/02/2008 : 14:35
THE MURPHYS
Keith had finnished flooring ,and plaster boarding the walls up in the
other side of the attic,and it had all been painted pale yellow, that made a very large ,and pleasant room the only thing in it was mums old double bed.
Then word of mouth adverts were given out ,that there were cheap lodgings to be had for working men, something that was very hard come by in the town there were only very expensive select hotels .
the day after , before mum had even had time to furnish it the police sent four Irish workmen to our door that worked on the Balfour Beaty gangs putting up electricity pylons nearby , and had been traveling long distances to ,and from work because of the shortage of acomodacion.
Mum explained that it was not ready , that she had not even bought the beds yet , and there was only a double at present.
But the boys begged her to let them stay as they didnt mind sharing the bed top to toe just like back home , they were used to being in a large family in cramped condiccions.
They would advance the weeks lodging money so that mum could get beds in the next saturday market sale.
As she needed the money she accepted them,the money from grandad for the bungalow had all gone with to the builders , and the last of the amazing furnishings,and Keith having no ambitcion was in a very poorly paid job in a seed merchants, and the bills coming in fast....
these four Irishmen were the salt of the earth , they shared everything,
they drank ,and made merry, many an irish jig was danced in the kitchen , i learnt all sorts of songs from the emerald isle, they stayed with us almost part of the family for a few years, untill the work was so far away that they had to travel two hours to get there .
Edited by - Doreen on 18/02/2008 2:39:06 PM
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 18/02/2008 : 18:28
She is older and more street wise than we were Dot.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
belle
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Posted - 20/02/2008 : 09:34
Can i just add details of the Samaritans to the number given, as I have heard that childline is sometimes difficult to get through to because of large numbers of calls received.
Samaritans are for people of any age to talk to
08457 90 90 90 or speak to them online
www.samaritans.org
Life is what you make it |
Doreen
hippies understudy
429 Posts
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Posted - 28/03/2008 : 18:54
Just a hello everyone , im having some pc trouble ,hope to be back soon.
Dordygail
always the one to make the best of things. |
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BIRTH, any body else born in a pub?
