Gwen Divall interviewed by Colin Divall (session 1 of 2)

Oral history interview with Gwen Divall conducted and recorded by Colin Divall on 12 April 2006, in Swilland, Suffolk. The interviewee is the interviewer’s mother. This is the first session of the interview. Duration: 2 hours 2 minutes. The interview focuses on Gwen Divall's passenger experiences on the railways and other forms of mobility, especially during the period between the First and Second World Wars. First recollection in 1928, Walworth, father occupation, Manor Road Place, walking ; [00:05:00] entertainment; bus to Camden to see aunt; tube; lights in London; [00:10:00] uncle in Walworth market; travel by tram; travelled from south to north London by tram; shopping; [00:15:00] shop at Co-op; milk deliveries; no other door deliveries; school in Walworth; 2-hour lunch break for children. Infants' junior then secondary school; [00:20:00] seaside trips; visits to park; parents did not travel; walk to Kennington Park; [00:25:00] joined HSA; visit to Zoo when north of river; [00:30:00] lived in three rooms; slept in put you up in front room; moved as rent increased; electro plating; moved furniture by van; to Tottenham until leaving home; [00:35:00] father still working; walked along Broad lane to school; trams but no trolleybuses in Tottenham; Drapers foundation school; girl from Waltham Cross; [00:40:00] Children’s money; free school meals; home at half past four; mother thrifty; [00:45:00] trolleybuses to Waltham Cross; bus to Camden; bread delivered daily and came with cart; coal delivered; [00:50:00] co-op; meat regular but shopped daily; walked; entertainment; battery and accumulator recharging; [00:55:00] Saturday morning pictures; girls friendly society and brownies walking in dark; playing in street; Tynemouth road; [01:00:00] first car a Ford in 1937; trip to Broadstairs; coach to Kew gardens; Tower of London; dust cart procession; [01:05:00] activities, walking, cinema on Saturday, football; works outing by coach to Southend; [01:10:00] Danger spots, belisha beacon crossing; [01:15:00] train to Southend; evacuated to Baldock by train; head of family wheelwright; two girls their age; factory in Baldock; school on three days a week; came home by train; [01:20:00] Tottenham library; shopping; schoolwork; Central schools; rheumatic fever; [01:25:00] medical conditions; workhouse query; looking after other people's house; [01:30:00] education during Second World War (WW2); walk to grammar school; children's country holiday fund; went to farm in Worcester, travel by train; mother worked in hospital during war; British restaurants; [01:35:00] bike for air raid warden; harvest work in summer holidays; train to Cambridge with bikes when there; [01:40:00] walking everywhere; motorbikes; bikes in country; blackout; Coronation; various female organisations in war; travelled by tube at end of war; [01:45:00] Coronation parties; cinema by bus; various female organisations in war; travelled by tube in war to west end.; [01:50:00] paid holiday after war; travelled on tram to theatre or Kew; Christmas; doodle bugs and V1’s and school; [01:55:00] cycling to country after hearing sirens; Forty Hill by bus; buses were plentiful [02:02:15] [end of session 1]

Oral history recording made by Colin Divall from the Institute of Railway Studies and Transport History (University of York) in partnership with the National Railway Museum. This specific interview was made as part of Everyday Mobilities in Inter-War Britain project