Category: history

1)Born 23/2/24

2) 1932 My first day at Secondary School

3) 12/11/35 The birth of my brother when I was 12 years old

4) 3/9/39 The second World War started when I was fifteen transforming my life with the horror of it all

5) 5/9/45 The most important happening in my life was meeting Jack at the Battle of Britain dance in the County Hotel.

6) 1936 Breeding & showing Guinea pigs from the age of 12

7) Receiving my Open University B A Hons degree after 6 years study.with Jack. Geoffrey and Keith present was a highlight of my life

8). Drawing & painting is a very rewarding part of my life. From a very young age I would cycle with my father and sketch whilst he painted with watercolours

9) Singing I was a member of the Ashford Choral Society, and the Stour Music Choir,  conducted by Mark Deller. I sang in Paris with the Paris Conservatoire, and sang The Messiah in the Royal Albert Hall

10) My Pacemaker has given me better health and made me have a different view on life, to value every minute, to spread happiness and peace of mind.

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Here they are in more detail

1)Born 23/2/24 I am lucky to have very hapy childhood memories, helped by my mother determined this would be so because of her own sad childhood. She lost her mother following the birth of brother John when only six, and her father when she was twelve, and at age fifteen lost her beloved elder brother Petter on the Somme in World War 1. I completed Petter’s history which his young brother John started and is now in the  Imperial War Museum with my World War 2 diaries.

I could think in English when only a few months old I remember laying on ray Mother’s lap in the bathroom for toiletting, thinking I hope my face won’t hit that (the bath). I also remember laying on my back in the pram trying to touch the cream canopy fringe with my toes thinking
I wish I could touch that. I would be about 4 months old. I was bom with two growths which stopped me thriving I remained my birth weight, my parents were told that I would die, nothing could be done. But they trailed from Doctor to Doctor until they found Dr Martin who agreed to remove the growths When I was nursing in Ashford hospital 1 used to polish the
plaque with his name on in theatre and say thankyou for saving my life

2) 1932 My first day at Secondary School was an important time. My mother had discovered that I was being hit and traumatised at the primary school by the Headmistress. The reasons for this punishment were for not forming a good enough teacup from hard solid green plasticine, for knitting too tightly, and mistakes with arithmetic, although I knew all my tables well. I was so upset I was removed immediately. It was dreadful seeing other children hit, one boy was sent flying across the wooden floor, his leg irons clattering.

We had to stand with our right hand across our stomach & this hand was hit with such force we fell back hitting our heads on the wall, falling to the ground unable to breathe Although poor I was sent to the County school aged 8, my little sister joining me later when 6 years old I remember when I was able to jump over the horse in gym after learning to walk again following Diphtheria, the whole class clapped I received all my’ stripes and became head of my House – Becket. Later I was awarded an
Exhibition Scholarship for two years and became the first person in Kent to do a two year prenursing course.

I went on to become a State Registered nurse & State certified midwife. 1 became a Domiciliary midwife in Middlesex, a Practitionecr in my own right teaching pupil midwives, we delivered the postwar bulge’ a very high birthrate, booking 30 cases a month in our area.

3) 12/11/35 The birth of my brother when I was 12 years old was a delight for my sister & I. But I had to suddenly grow up to help my frail mother who had a severe heart condition. I was paid sixpence a week to run the home: shopping, cooking, cleaning, growing vegetables, mowing the lawn.

When I went to school I would drop a bowl with a few households who would put vegetable peelings in for me to collect on the way home These would have to be boiled for hours to feed our chicken which were cleaned out by me. I would darn & mend every night, boil the nappies after doing my homework, making sure I had brushed my sister’s hair…

4) 3/9/39 The second World War started when I was fifteen transforming my life with the horror of it all. Ashford was a Garrison town, I wont to first aid classes with Dad, a Dental Technician who joined the Civil Defence & was on call after work including every night. He was even called to Canterbury We experienced the spectacular Battle of Britain., at one point Dad & I had to shelter underneath our bicycles from the falling shrapnel, we were no where near shelter We were forcibly evacuated, my sister went with the school, it was decided that I accompany my mother & baby brother the following day to meet up with her We caught the train at 9.15 am. A bomb landed on the platform where we had been. 15 minutes after we left.

The train had no corridor. therefore no toilets, mothers were holding their children out of the windows because we only stopped once arriving at our destination late in the evening.

We arrived at Oxford, and were taken by coach to Thame where people came and looked at us to chose who they wanted. We felt like slaves.

They wouldn’t let one nice lady have us because she lived outside the area. Eventually we were taken to an elderly childless couple, very kind but not used to a child. We did not know where my sister was, we never met up with her. we did not know whether Dad was alive or dead.

He like the other men had not been allowed to leave Ashford, they had to defend it. We could not get any money or post. I could not get into any school they were full so I took a job as a ward maid at the evacuated children’s department of the Radcliffe Infirmary housed in ancient Rycote Manor – a bus ride & journey through fields to reach.

I lived sharing a room with the dining room maid. I was hopeless as a ward maid so they trained me to be the other dining room maid. But they allowed me to nurse the children & feed the babies etc. The night nurse I used to speak to before she went off duty each day turned out to be my life long friend Olive.

We next met doing our part one midwifery. & then did our second part midwifery becoming domiciliarly midwives. I lived with Olive & her mother for three years.

At the time of the Dunkirk Evacuation, trains laden with casualties passed our home every ten minutes for a week . I was nursing at Ashford hospital, when one day I had just swept the ward & the railway station was bombed and the ward ceiling fell down with the impact, covering every bed in white. Shortly everyone was evacuated and the ward became an operating theatre. The wounded lay on the floor, one was having a leg amputated. I admitted a soldier with a broken jaw to be sent to East Grinstead I was given two train drivers scalded when their train engine boiler was hit, I had to cut off their clothes, but their skin came off as well, they were sent to the Bums unit at East Grinstead.

I was in my parents garden when a flying bomb cut out Calling to the children to run to the Anderson shelter I threw in my sister, my brother, a playmate & the dog & then jumped in as the bomb exploded. I peeped out the door & could not see our home for thick dust. & Mummy was in there. But she was alright but for two miles around all the glass in the windows was broken & roof tiles damaged. Windows had to be repaired with picture glass because there was a great shortage of stronger window glass.

5) 5/9/45 The most important happening in my life was meeting Jack at the Battle of Britain dance in the County Hotel. I had nursed both owners and as a thankyou all the nurses could go free every week.

I was so late home I had to climb through the kitchen window. We married three years later, I was reluctant to give up my salary & having my cooking, cleaning. & laundry, done for me, so I saved up for a Bendix washing machine & vacuum cleaner.

My marriage has been wonderful, we have celebrated our Silver, Pearl, Ruby & Golden weddings. We have three wonderful children, and five wonderful grandchildren.

When we had our second child, Geoffrey, we bought a Morris Minor & both learnt to drive. I drove a blind piano tuner to his grand pianos in beautiful country manors for a few years. Lord Coggan and his wife would bring us in a tray of tea at their home

When my leg was paralysed we had to have an automatic car. now I use cruise control and powered steering as well.

I was also an Adult Literacy Tutor for many years on a one to one basis.

6) 1936 Breeding & showing Guinea pigs from the age of 12 with my mother’s influence was a successful hobby. This hobby restarted for my sons Geoffrey & Keith. Geoffrey had to wait a year for an Abysinnian tortoiseshell & white guinea pig to be bom.

We called our stud the Shakespeare Stud and we won every one of the eight sections in the London Championship Show three years running. We had enquiries from Sweden & America, but they were too expensive to export. We even had a waiting list for pet guinea pigs.

During her last illness in my home I gave my mother a baby guinea pig to hold after it was bom. The Dr would stroke it when he called. We called it B B for black bottom, she lived to be eleven.

I was also a Guinea pig judge & was asked to join the overseas panel of judges, but my family needed me & I had to decline.

7. Receiving my Open University B A Hons degree after 6 years study.with Jack. Geoffrey and Keith present was a highlight of my life I chose an arts degree but concentrated on history because I missed out with the school evacuation.

Drawing & painting is a very rewarding part of my life. From a very young age I would cycle with my father and sketch whilst he painted with watercolours This was & still is my way of recording memories.

My little sixpenny camera from Woolworths was useful but not quite as good.

I have books of guineapig sketches, also of my poodle.

I have many paintings of flowers I have been given from my children and from friends, as well as recording holiday scenes

Many times my paintings have been voted as best at exhibitions.

9) Singing has been a most rewarding part of my life I was a member of the Ashford Choral Society, and the Stour Music Choir,  conducted by Mark Deller.

At one rehearsal for Stour I sang a duet with Alfred Deller the world famous counter tenor. He was a great friend who lived down the road from us with his wife Peggy who is still alive. They came to our pearl wedding.

My mother was a soloist with a most beautiful voice she sang in the Dome Brighton in 1923. Her singing teacher taught her fnend Evelyn Laye who wanted Mummy to go to Hollywood with her but she had already met Dad.

My mother trained my voice and I sang in Paris with the Paris Conservatoire three years running giving two concerts each time. I sang The Messiah in the Royal Albert Hall with a Thousand voice choir, my whole family had seats near me in the front row. with my German friend.

I sang whenever I had the opportunity in Kent and London

10) My Pacemaker has given me better health and made me have a different view on life, to value every minute, to spread happiness and peace of mind. I was so thankful that I had never smoked nor abused my health in any way. Life is very precious.

Lent to Becky

1. Silver thimble my Grandma gave me

2. Tiny first photo album with baby g pigs just before war school trip on Thames

3. Bears claw set in gold worn on my wedding day & given to me by Grandma on my 10th Birthday. Her brother brought it back from the Pvranees where he was in the Spanish Civil war

4 Letter written by Uncle John explaining how he finally found his brother Petter’s name on the Thiepval memorial and the photos

5. Tiny boat my father had made

6.. Small painting of mine

7. Photo of me

8. My SRN badge

9. My Hospital badge-I was a gold medallist

10 Poodle model

The whole pdf can be downloaded here: Hazel Griggs – Ten Important Things in My Life

A very short diary entry from my mother written on last day of Second World War featured in the inside front cover of the book Witness to War. There is nothing in the actual book about her or her writings, just the inside cover.

The book is available second hand on amazon.co.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/Witness…/dp/0552151084/ref=sr_1_1 . The montage of diaries is definitely in the hardback, not sure if it is also in the paperback.

The date we were evacuated was the first day of the Autumn term September 1940 during the Battle of Britain.. My sister Mickie went with the school that day and I travelled the following day with my four year old brother and my mother who needed me to look after her with her heart condition and the promise that we would meet up with my school and sister. The train left the station at 9.15am for an unknown destination, the place where we had been standing was bombed shortly after wards, the line we were on was bombed during our journey and we had to be diverted. The train was not a corridor train and children were being held out of the windows for their toileting needs. We stopped once to queue for a toilet, needing to cross railway lines to reach it.

We reached Oxford station in the evening and were taken by coach to Thame where we sat in a huge circle on the wooden floor of a wooden building to be chosen by people walking round looking at us, I remember thinking that this must been how the slaves felt when they were being chosen. My mother was given a wooden chair and we were offered sandwiches and drinks,

A lady put her arms round us begging for us to stay with her, she lived on a farm and said that we would love it there but she was not allowed to have us because she was just out of the area. We were the last people to be allocated and were taken to an elderly childless couple who owned a hardware shop on the corner of the main street opposite the Butter market, by now it was very late and dark and we were exhausted but. Mr and Mrs Lewis were extremely kind and showed us to our really lovely bedrooms next to each other. They gave us one cooked meal a day and sufficient rations for me to organise breakfast and lunch in our part of the beautiful Georgian house. We were in the servants quarters and could use our basic living room upstairs next to our bedrooms during the day. We had to struggle up a narrow circular staircase with a loose hessian carpet which I had to keep knocking tacks into to make it reasonably safe. Our kitchen was downstairs, although we didn`t cook, but made sandwiches to take out every day in the country with my lively little well behaved brother. On one of our walks we saw two adders entwined along the top of a chestnut paling fence, their brilliant colouring enhanced by the sun, they must have been well over a metre long.

Distraught tired and anxious we could get no news from Ashford and no money furthermore the schools were full and could not take my brother who was due to start school in November when he would be five.years old or myself aged 16 years of age. We had a wind up gramophone and one record in our sitting room, I soon learnt `Serenade in the Night `neath a Fair Lady`s Window` by heart.. Downstairs in the beautiful Georgian panelled dining room with its Georgian corner fireplace where we shared the evening meal with Mr and Mrs Lewis was an electric Gramophone with records of all the works of Elgar, my mother`s favourite composer. Mrs Lewis said we could play the records any time but we were too shy to use it. They had a huge kitchen garden where Mr Lewis his hands crippled with arthritis enjoyed showing me the fruit trees and produce, this was where I groomed their lovely golden cocker spaniel, my very favourite dog, not realising that ten years later newly married, my sister would give me a golden cocker puppy promised to her by one of her patients as a wedding gift for me.. These were grim devastating days,

Every day I went to the Town Hall to try and find news of my father and sister, not knowing whether they were dead or alive and with the anxiety of no money. We were bombed twice, one fell on the cricket ground half a mile away. The air raid siren was fixed at the top of my bed room window, an ear shattering grim sound.

One day we saw an advert for a ward maid in the requisitioned Rycote Manor containing the entire children`s wards of the Radcliffe Infirmary.. My mother agreed that I should go and have an interview. I had always wanted to be a nurse and had been awarded an Exhibition scholarship by my school for a two year prenursing course the first to be awarded in Kent.

I caught the bus and walked over two fields to reach the beautiful ancient Manor House and was accepted as a ward maid. I had to wear a pink dress and overall, with an old fashioned mop cap – a starched circle of material which had a tape near the perimeter to draw up into this huge mop cap. My first instruction was to clean all the lockers. I had to carry them downstairs to the coutyard, one at a time, taking it outside and scrub it out leaving it to dry in the warm sun shine. I was so slow I was quickly made dining room maid.

To be a dining room maid I had to wear a black dress, white lace cap and apron and cuffs. , I had to borrow the other dining room maid`s clothes because I could not spare clothing coupons and of course had little money. I also had to learn to serve the food using two dessertspoons in one hand and holding the dish with the other, ever scared of dropping the food into the Sisters and Doctors laps. I had to make sure the dining table and cutlery was pristine and laid correctly for twelve or more, I had my own parlour where I kept my `joy of joy`s an electric polisher. I was also allowed to help with the children and feed the babies, sitting with them under sunlamps both wearing goggles. I constantly asked if I could join the nurses lectures and the Matron was going to interview me but I decided to return home before seeing her.

Every morning I was in the kitchen for half an hour preparing breakfast on a huge black tray for the day sisters` breakfast which I had to carry up the very wide stair case to her room. Tentatively knocking on the door I entered when she said `enter` putting the tray down in the dark and walked over to the massive velvet curtains covering two beautiful windows and opened them to allow the bright sunshine pour into this huge room, displaying the day sister resplendent in her curlers sitting up in the four poster bed. I placed the bed tray over her before balancing the heavy black tray on it and went down stairs to the kitchen. For this half hour every morning my duties overlapped with those of the night nurse clearing up before she went off duty, and during this brief time we chatted, never dreaming that we would meet again five years later, and still the greatest of friends in our eighty`s! It was this night nurse Olive that I met again after becoming an SRN whilst doing my compulsory first part midwifery course at St Heliers Hospital Carshalton, chosen because it was the most modern in the country. One day we wondered where we had met before, yes it was at Rycote Manor!

While at Rycote I used to explore the vast grounds and lake where there was a rowing boat. The owner saw me one day and said the family had moved to a smaller house on the estate for the duration and he gave me permission to use the boat whenever I wished. One day I struggled through the dense overgrown under growth

to reach a tower that I could see in the distance, It turned out to be an old church, I struggled to reach a door in this gloomy dark area and managed to push it open as it eerily creaked, I had to really feel my way over the uneven paving through into the church and was momentorily blinded and utterly amazed at the beautiful sight of the bright sun pouring through beautiful stained glass windows in the distance. I paused hardly daring to move at this unexpected sight, and eventually made my way to the altar pausing to gaze at what seemed an elevated throne half way up the church. I was to learn thirty years later whilst obtaining my BA, Hons degree with the Open University, that this was indeed a Throne, used by King Charles 1st whilst staying at Rycote Manor.

Sometimes when the day sister had her day off, we took turns to have a bath in the most gorgeous completely marbled bathroom I have ever seen. Exquisite sparkling gold taps adorned this massive bath. We forgot that water was rationed, there was no six inch high tube to prevent the water becoming deeper than 6 inches, compulsory through the country..

Unbeknown to me my poor mother was taken ill again and efforts to locate my father resulted in him travelling to Thame to take her home, amazingly he was on the very same bus as me when I was going to Thame to see her,. She had left Mr and Mrs Lewis and was staying with Mrs Quanting meanwhile my bicycle had arrived so that I could cycle to and from Thame, but I gave in my month`s notice having been working for a few months and went home to Ashford and returned to school where I was made head of my House Becket.. This meant going straight down into the zig zag underground shelters on the front lawn of the school. At each corner of the zig zag was a dim oil lamp, our cold feet in their Wellington boots rested on duck boards with a feeble attempt to keep them out of the water. We leant against the freezing damp concrete walls trying to hear what was being said by the poor teacher standing in the corner of the zig zag..

I shall never forget the excited happy feeling I had cycling at 6am in the morning to catch my train home to my family. The sun was jusr rising in front of me, a most glorious colourful sunrise that I was cycling straight into all the way to Oxford with carefully packed provisions given me by the generous concerned cook. I knew also that my sister was alive and well. A few months later notices all over Ashford instructed us to be evacuated again. I wrote in my diary in capital letters – I REFUSE TO BE EVACUATED AGAIN.

I corresponded with my lovely little dining room maid friend whom I had shared a bed room with, and who took me to dances, teaching me how to get rid of over friendly men. I also wrote to Mr and Mrs Lewis for very many years. And as I have already mentioned I had the unexpected pleasure of renewing my friendship with my life long friend Olive when I was twenty one. Evacuation was an experience with its compensations. .