My parents, Lucy and Sidney, married in 1925 and lived in a small house in Custom House, East London. From their marriage until 1937, they had nine children, all girls, three of whom died in infancy. The family was bombed out in 1941 and evacuated to Reading. In 1943, they found their way to Brentwood in Essex where they all lived in a small rented house in the nearby hamlet of Pilgrims Hatch. To everybody’s surprise, my mum gave birth to her tenth child in June in 1944, the only boy, and I was christened Brian. The family was poor and none of the girls had received much of an education during their time in Reading. My dad worked as a painter and decorator but was often unemployed. My three youngest sisters were all prototype ‘Essex Girls’ with all that now applies. Despite having six sisters, my life was often akin to that of an only child. However, I was fortunate to have lots of friends when growing up and, despite the lack of money, I had a wonderfully free and entertaining childhood. This book documents my memories of this childhood as seen from the perspective of a 75-year-old.
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