Mum and Dad fell in love with Cornwall and they thought, oh it would be lovely to have
a little business that we could give up the shop.
That was in June 1946 and we actually moved down on the 1st of October that same year.
And I was eight.
Off we went to New Street Station.
That was a night train and we travelled to Wadebridge.
We walked over the bridge and arrived at the house about the same time as the furniture
removal van arrived with our belongings from Birmingham.
And here we were in this big house called Veronica because by the front gate there were Veronica
bushes.
Needed a lot of renovation and redecoration and whenever it rained leaks came in the ceilings
and we'd have buckets underneath in the winter.
It was the only guest house as far as I know in Wadebridge for people to stay right after
the war.
We had several long term borders.
We had bank clerks, policemen, office workers.
We had a doctor and his wife and baby come and live with us just while they were looking
for their own new properties.
Some of the visitors that came were from the north of England.
In, I think it was the news of the world, there was a write up about a man at Slage
Bridge called Alfie Edwards and he was a bone setter and they would come sometimes with
crutches or with a horrible plaster cast around them and they'd go to him and he would seem
to have the magic hands to manipulate and find the trouble.
We had lots of visitors come by train and later they brought their own cars but once
they came they said oh can we book again for next year and so it would go year after year.
They became real friends to mum and dad.
We had a piano in the lounge and remember one family especially, she was a wonderful
pianist.
We had some wonderful sing songs, my mum had a lovely voice.
Mum did either bed and breakfast or full board and if they were full board then she'd
pack up sandwiches if they wanted to take them out for the day and always a hot meal
in the evening but she had to go shopping to town every day because we didn't have a
fridge.
We did have a grocer, Charlie Richards used to call, she used to order from either Chapmans
or the international stores.
The milk lady called, I think the milk was left in a jug, she used to ladle it out herself
and the fish man would call, mum used to leave a casserole dish at the bottom of the steps
with a note to say what she'd like and the money.
I used to help waiting table, helping with the dusting, general cleaning and I remember
cleaning out all these fireplaces on a Sunday afternoon with the visitors.
We would go walking in Wade Bridge, usually along Pomorla Road and up around Coronation
Park, very good place for holiday makers really.
