Reference
Z1606/11
Title
Personal diary labelled 'vol. IX'
Date free text
19 May 1952 - 30 March 1955
Production date
From: 1952 To: 1955
Scope and Content
Volume focuses primarily on domestic life in Bedford at 66 Marlborough Road in the early 1950s. There are some pencil annotations/corrections in Leah's hand. Diary also includes annotations and calculations on inside back cover. Much of the content revolves around descriptions of the weather, obtaining, preserving and preparing food, cleaning the house and working at the allotment or garden. Frequent references are made to events held by the Literary Society, Archaeological society, Folk Dance club and Rambling club, as well as persistent health problems with teeth, shoulder, hands, stomach and heart palpitations.
Includes:
Gymkhana in field at Bromham bridge (2/6/52)
Reading articles about Durham County Council trying to enforce the "closed shop" for teachers brings to mind memories of her father's refusal to join a Trade Union and his religious principles during the 1914 war (4/6/52)
Folk Dance Summer Festival at Bedford (28/6/52)
Folk Dancing Festival at Ickwell Bury (13/7/52)
Performance of "The Tempest" by the Bancroft Players (25/7/52)
Holiday to Southampton (13/8/52)
Trip to Council Offices to investigate "development plans" for council houses at Thistley Green (24/10/52)
Account of Christmas Day 1952 (27/12/52)
Employment being terminated (6/1/53)
Leaflet/Circular advertising meeting to organise coronation street party (27/1/53)
Bedfordshire Musical Festival Week account (15/3/53)
Easter Sunday and visit to the Cecil Higgins museum for an exhibition of modern art (5/4/53)
Detail of preparations for Coronation of Elizabeth II (27/5/53)
Brief account of Coronation day (2/6/53)
Account of Coronation street party, includes descprition of the Mayor's visit, "steamer trip" down the river and party games (6/6/53)
Remembering her mother's death and reflecting on her own glimpse into "a higher state of consciousness" (10/6/53)
Account of holiday to Kent (10/9/53)
Smarts Circus arriving in Midland station, description (25/10/53)
Rambling Club social to Deacon Hill (15/11/53)
Account of Christmas Day 1953 (28/12/53)
Visit to the Cecil Higgins museum to see exhibition of pictures by C. Wilson Steer Lookard (25/1/54)
Folk dance Valentines dance (16/2/54)
Jim's motor bike accident (18/3/54)
Reference to U.S.A's "Castle Bravo" H-bomb test, and its consequences (25/3/54)
Feelings and thoughts on unemployment, specifically (26/3/54) but frequently mentioned
Obtaining a job as a shorthand typist in an Architect's office (8/4/54)
Leaving job at Architect's office and obtaining work at Fredk Ray Ltd as a typist (29/4/54)
Discusses what will happen to her diaries after she has passed away, intends to bequeath it to "Bedford Record's Office" as an example of the life of the working-class (3/5/54)
Poem by Doris Silver from Beds Times attached entitled "Royal Return" regarding the Queen's return to Britain after her tour of the Commonwealth 1953/54 (19/5/54)
Solar eclipse (30/6/54)
Visit to Audley End house and gardens, Saffron Walden (3/7/54)
Folk Dancing Festival at Ickwell Bury (11/7/54)
Jet bomber accident at Cranfield (14/7/54)
John Bunyan quotes from "In the footsteps of John Bunyan" (25/7/54)
Trip to Whipsnade zoo (30/8/54)
Holiday to Shanklin (13/9/54)
Winston Churchill's 80th birthday speech and subsequent memories of the war and the Russians. Particularly thoughts on prophecy of "The Sect" which predicted that the Russian fleet would chase the British fleet up the Thames. (25/11/54)
Winston Churchill's 80th birthday (30/11/54)
Account of Christmas Day 1954 (26/12/54)
Jim suffers from pneumonia and complications (23/1/55) through to (30/3/55) - last entry
Level of description
item