Rita Buckrell
of 10 Tidy St
Rita, right, with friends
Rita remembers her time at 10 Tidy St
I came into this world on February 6th [1926], my mother's birthday - a 10lb bundle of joy for Phillip Stephen and Winifred (Angel) Bannister. What a birthday present - no wonder she never had any more. They had me christened Rita Winifred at a Brighton Church of England, possibly St Peter's. My parents had been married for six years before I was born and were living at No 10 Tidy Street with my maternal grandparents, Sidney and Louise Augusta Angel.
My first memories
My first memories are when I was two years old walking home from a pantomime at the Hippodrome in Brighton, the air heavy with smoke from all the chimney pots. I always seemed to have a bad headache after going to one of these shows. Mother thought this was because I became too involved in the story, but years later I realised it was from cigarette smoke in the theatre or the cinema, and I am severely affected by it to this day.
Dancing days
That was
the time too that I had danced on the stage of the theatre at the end of the
Palace Pier. My mum used to show me the little tutu I wore. There are
numerous pictures of me posing for the camera around this time. At
age four I danced in a gypsy costume, complete with tambourine, on the
stage of the Dome and a picture was taken in the grounds there. This costume
came to Canada with me. My daughters and granddaughters played dressing up
in it.
Mother
had been a Morris dancer when she was in her teens. She and my dad used to do
the old time dances such as the Lancers, Valeta, St Bernard's Waltz etc and
they won a medal in waltz competition too, so it was only natural I had dancing
in my genes. There was always music playing around the house, mostly Strauss
waltzes.
Rita and her mum outside no 10 Tidy St
Family history
Grandpa
Sidney Angel died of tuberculosis before I was born so I never knew him. This
was the reason my mother was paranoid about washing hands and not using other
people's cutlery and dishes. Later my grandma married Charlie Wilson, a
builder by trade, and they still lived in the same house. I remember they
always had Cadbury's Bourneville chocolate in the drawer of a rolltop desk. I
still like it (the chocolate)!
School days at Pelham Street
At age
five, my school days began at Pelham Street. I was a scared and lonely
only child. They put mats on the floor for us to take afternoon naps - I
was not used to sleeping during the day and found it very annoying having to
waste time lying down. We used a slate board to write on with a special pencil,
graduating later to a lead pencil and paper. If we broke our pencil lead
we had to write with our fingernail - it was not like today's kindergarten.
Punishment was to sit with your hands on your head until your arms went to
sleep, or fold your arms behind your back for a length of time.
My
dancing days came to an end when I had to have my tonsils removed and
the doctor said I was outgrowing my strength. It didn't stop me from
growing, however. My friends called me "Titch" at school.
My mother's work
Mother
never worked outside the home after I was born. Previously she had
been a carpet layer and she would tell me how hard it was to sew carpets,
especially on staircases. I don't know if she worked after her marriage but she
was always sewing. She made my clothes - mostly wool, which irritated my
skin, and many years later I found out I am allergic to wool. The saying was
'Change n'er a clout 'til May is out' and if May happened to be hot life was
miserable.
Mechanical engineers in Elder Place
My father
was in partnership with his brother at W F Bannister, Mechanical
Engineers. Their shop was at 27 Elder Place, Brighton. I remember
watching the machinery there when they were grinding crankshafts and cylinder
heads. The young apprentices were remetalling and machining conrods, and
fitting piston rings, for the Southern Railway delivery trucks and other
garages. This procedure is not heard of these days. Dad worked long hours
and I looked forward to when he came home in the evenings. He always brought candy
on Saturday evenings and we would listen to 'In Town Tonight' on the radio.
Rita aged four
Bammy's model railway
A Mr
Bamford (Dad called him Bammy) had a tobacconist store directly behind the
machine shop on the main London Road and he rented space above the machine shop
for his model railway, which I always liked to watch. He had a larger model
railroad in the garden at his home, one big enough for me to ride on, and I
really enjoyed that.
He was told at a séance
By
age five, my grandmother had died from breast cancer and my
step-grandfather [Charlie Wilson], a spiritualist, claimed he was told at a
séance by my grandmother's spirit to build two houses in Patcham. One was to be
named 'Louise' for my mother and the other 'Augusta' for himself. (These were
my grandma's first and middle names and the name can still be seen today.) They
were being built on Winfield Avenue (my mother's name was Winifred - I don't
know if there was a connection there) and we were working on the garden getting
ready to move in.
Rita's mum
An 'up and downer'
My dad
loved music and the radio was always playing when he was working but Charlie
Wilson told him there would be no playing loud music when we moved in next door
to him. That did it, there was an 'up and downer' and Charlie made it clear we
were no longer welcome to live in his house on Tidy Street. I don't know what
the spirits told him then. He would not let my mother get any pictures of
grandma or any keepsakes, so my Dad climbed in the window one day and picked up
what mother wanted - pictures of her ancestors, the Passingham family from
Cornwall. Jonathan Passingham, her great-great-grandfather, had been Lieutenant
Governor of Cornwall. One picture I remember was of grandma's cousin in court
robes.
[Also
published in the North Laine Runner, No 209, March/April 2011]