My mother Mavis Robertshaw Booth

Mavis aged 14

 My mother was born in November 1920.  When she was little, she remembered going to the doctor, who said she was under-nourished. 'You're all jelly and no bones.'   Their father was accused of not providing enough money to buy meat.

Mavis in late teens

     Mum went to the local secondary school until she was 14, then she left to go to work.  Her first job was in a large department store, H E Closs & Co., who sold materials and patterns.  Apparently, the manageress used to stand in the middle of the shop floor every morning, wearing a long black gown, waiting for the staff to arrive and checking who arrived late.  My mother's oldest sister also worked there, partly the reason why she was able to get the job.  Irene had a highly respected position as a material cutter.

Mavis, Ethel her mother and Melvyn,
her youngest brother.

         One incident, while my mother worked there, included her receiving permanent damage to the middle finger on her right hand.  She had to carry a bag, which fell open, pulling her finger back and breaking it.  For days she walked about with her finger dangling loose, until her mother said to her that she wished she would 'do something about it'.  She visited a doctor, and after various problems, including it going septic, and following her refusal to have it cut off, my mother was pleased that the doctor was able to set it in a permanently bent position. Not ideal, but it didn't prevent her from playing the piano, which she loved to do, as all the sisters used to like singing Yorkshire folk songs from a large black book. I still remember that book now and the songs from it, even though I was a small child when I last heard them sing together.

Irene, Mavis and Joyce

     Another medical memory was when her sister Joyce caught Diphtheria.  The house was cordoned off with large signs warning people to stay clear.

     Mum doesn't remember how long she worked at Closs's but she longed to get a job in the Cooperative.  She eventually achieved her ambition (she guessed about two years' later) and obtained a position in the Cooperative Tobacconists.  She became Manager and looked after eight shops in the area. 

     This came to an end at the beginning of the war.  Fortunately, because of her finger, she was not sent to work in Barnoldswick making ammunitions, so it was acceptable that she could  work at the Cooperative GROCERS as an alternative wartime occupation.  

Mavis (18) and Norman (aged 19)

     One of her memories of late teen life during the war was her 'promenading' with her friend, Dorothy.  They used to go to Brighouse (Rastrick was far too small for them!) and walked around the park, looking out for eligible boys.  She doesn't remember meeting my dad but it must have been on one of these trips to Brighouse when she was 18. 

Norman sitting on Nelly's lap, with
Nelly's children, Jean and David.

     One of her older sisters, Nelly, also worked for the Cooperative for a short time.  But it was while working at the mill that she met her husband, Dick, who was several years older than her.  They got married quite quickly while she was still only 18.  She said she wanted to get out of working at the mill!  Her other older sister, Cora, taught herself to be a hairdresser: she had a hairpiece she used to practise on.  During this 'training', it is not clear where she was working.  She used to borrow Irene's clothes, though, to go out.  She would smuggle herself out, buttoning up her coat so that the dress would not be seen.

Mavis and Norman getting married
in 1943.  Bridesmaids include
Norman's niece Mavis, cousin Elsie (2nd
left and Mavis' sister Joyce (right).

     What all the sisters did in the war is as yet unclear.

     My mother's older brother, Douglas, also worked for the Cooperative - the bakers, though.  When the war started, he joined the army and was a highly regarded army officer.  Her younger brother, Keith, was 16 at the beginning of the war but when he was old enough, he took up active service in the RAF.

Joyce and Mavis with
Ethel their mum (early 1940s)

My grandfather died in 1943, the same year that my mum and dad got married.  Their mother died in 1945, at the end of the war. As a minor still, Joyce went to live with my parents. Not long after, Melvyn, their youngest son, joined the merchant navy and jumped ship in Australia at the age of 17.  He never returned for a visit to see his brothers and sisters until he was 50.