Back to the Sharpes

So, taking everyone in ascending order, we’ll start with me, Peter James, at 3 years old.  Rumour has it that I was a beautiful child and whenever I went to the market with my mother people would stop to say how beautiful I was. I just usually stared back at them – I thought they were teasing or just having a good laugh for some reason!

Beautiful child!

Me with Mam and Dad at Skegness

Next in order was Rita who was now at school aged 5 and working very hard at skipping! She mainly used to play with the other girls but sometimes she would take me out, too.  We didn’t really fall out but I always remember the time when she got home from school and was looking for the toasting fork, which was a long twisted metal fork, I got it first and she was trying to take it off me so I bent it in half. She shouted at me saying ‘I’m going to tell mam!’ I can’t remember if she did, though, or what happened to the bent toasting fork.

Sid was 9 and at school - he hung around with all the older boys. When he was around 12 he worked as a newspaper boy for about an hour and a half a day. He started work as a draughtsman at 14. When he was 21 he served in the Royal Air force for two years and then returned back to his usual job.

Renee was 12 and was still at school. When she was 14 she went to work at Godkins where they made lingerie. Being a bigger girl she was often out with her friends. When she was about 16 it was still wartime so she became a land army girl but she soon came home - it obviously didn’t suit her and she was released from duty and went back to the factory. Not long after, Renee courted a young man whom she then married. She went to live with him in Ireland for a while but they later both moved back.

Mary, 14, was my eldest sister.  From about the age of 13 she used to work at the hospital in Baxter Gate after school. After that she worked at a large factory on Derby Road where they made parts for planes etc. Another part of the factory carried out repairs on small aircraft and you could often see the planes taking off from the large fields nearby. Mary later married and moved to live in Shepshed.

Thomas was about 17 and had earlier attended Shakespeare Street School.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know too much about him because he was a lot older and often out and about.  When he was 14 he worked at a Butcher’s shop in Great Central Road.  He worked at the Butchers until he was called up for the army and was based at Barracks in Warwick.  After his training he was sent up to the Orkneys. Once or twice he had leave to come home for a few days and he always used to manage to bring some sugar down for us as it was hard to get.  He got married whilst he was still in the army. When he came home for good, he worked in the Butchers again and then later on had a job painting cars.

Lenny was the eldest. I didn’t see a lot of him as he was married and lived in Hartington Street, off Nottingham Road. But he still called to see us and often had dinner with us. He worked in a printing building in Church Gate. During the war he was called into the army and was sent over to India where he became a Sergeant Major.

One of my earliest memories was one night when the air raid siren went off and we all made our way down to the cellar carrying a tin box with a candle in it so we could see where we were going.  (For some reason our Dad didn’t want us to go to the specially built shelters).  Suddenly Mam said ‘where’s our Tom?’ She hurried back upstairs and shouted for him (he was on the third floor) but he shouted back ‘I’m not coming, I’m too tired!’ Tom liked a drink and Mam thought he was probably a bit worse for wear although sometimes he was so tired when he was back on leave that he just used to sleep right through the sirens.  I used to sleep on a blanket on the heap of coal under the coal shoot. Eventually, the all clear sounded and everyone went back up to bed.  When I woke up, however, I was still in the cellar and I wondered where everyone had gone. I made my way back upstairs bleary eyed and my mother said ‘you looked so cosy I didn’t want to disturb you!’  I was too young to feel worried about any of it. To me it was just like an adventure.

ADDITION FROM RUTH

Having done some family tree work in the past, we have found that Dad was actually one of 10 children born to Lizze and Leonard Sharpe so, as far as we can tell, the family chronology of births and deaths is as follows:

DAD: Leonard Sharpe (1895 – 1962)

MAM: Lizzie Vesty (1897 – 1972)

1. Leonard (1914 – 2004?)
2. John Thomas (1920 – 1977)
3. Gladys Joan (1922 – 1925)
4. Arthur (August 1923 – September 1923)
5. Doris Mary (born 1926)
6. Renee (born 1928)
7. Sidney Harold (1931 – 2004)
8. Raymond (March 1932 – May 1932)
9. Rita (born 1934)
10. James Peter (born 1936)

So, it’s clear that Arthur and Raymond were only a few weeks old when they passed away and Gladys was only 3 years old.

Janet, my dad’s niece explained that Tom (her Dad) and Gladys both contracted Scarlet Fever. Janet told us how Tom bore a scar on his front where a nurse had placed an overly hot poultice which had scalded him and left him scarred – this may well have saved his life, however, whereas poor Gladys passed away.

© Ruth Coward 2012