Interview with Mrs Perkins (b.1903) and Ernest Perkins (b.1904) about employment at Bletchley Park by the Leon family and the Bletchley Show.
Mr & Mrs Robinson, the parents of Mrs Minnie Perkins, c.1950s. Mr Robinson had been Sir Herbert Leon's valet. Illustrative photograph supplied by kind permission of BCHI (Accession Ref: BLE/P/522). Original donated by Bletchley Park.
Mr Ernest & Mrs Minnie Perkins' 50th Wedding Anniversary. Photograph supplied by kind permission of BCHI (Accession Ref: BLE/P/521). Original donated by Bletchley Park.
Mrs Perkins came to Bletchley as a small girl; her father worked as valet to Sir Herbert Leon, owner of Bletchley Park (BP). She attended Fenny School because the Leons disapproved of Church Green School. Her mother worked in the Bletchley Park kitchens, so she spent time in the kitchens as a young girl. She mentions members of the Leon family, and recalls how busy it was when all the family arrived for Christmas, with their servants. She recalls that in World War I the Leon family turned the Bletchley Park Pavilion into a home for a Belgian family. Lady Leon did charitable work for the Nursing Association.
Mrs Perkins worked in the Bletchley Park greenhouses from around 1917. She describes the gardens in detail, the fruit and vegetables grown, and remembers some of the staff. She describes helping in the dairy and recalls deliveries of ice from London to make ice cream, and the great variety of foods delivered from London for Christmas. She could usually have a ‘taste’ of everything. She remembers the Leon family’s other homes in France, London and Broadstairs, and joining them on holidays there with her family. She recounts various anecdotes about the seaside holidays. She met her husband at the Bletchley Operatic Society and married in 1927, holding the reception in the Pavilion at Bletchley Park.
She has happy (and detailed) memories of the Bletchley Show and fireworks: ‘Oh the show, oh well, that was great a day they used to come for miles around, there was all sorts of sports going on, cycling, running all sorts’. She disliked the fairground rides herself. Some of the Bletchley Park greenhouses were open to the public for the Show and as a greenhouse worker she had to watch over the plants so that they were not stolen.
She mentions the local doctors taht she had known – Danes, Bradbrook, Matheson, Morphy and Nicholson.
Creator
Perkins, Mrs. Perkins, Ernest.
Extent
1 audio tape cassette
Contributor
Excell, Robert.
Reference number
BBB/003/009
Comments about this page
You may see more details at –
http://www.mkheritage.org.uk/archive/bpt/Leon/prewarBP.html
Mrs Robinson mentioned by Valerie Nichols in the above comment was Mrs Perkins mother.
My late mother Margaret Prestidge worked at Bletchley Park from the age of sixteen ( 1931 ) working in the kitchen plus undertaking other domestic duties around the house..
The cook at the time was Miss Buckland who came from Hotspur Park London and would invite my mother back home when they had time off from their chores
My mother also mentions a Mrs Robinson who lived in the village and would help in the kitchen. My mothers states in her memoirs that she was very green and gullible at the time and Mrs Robinson would tease her in the nicest possible way about the rights and wrongs of food preparation etc !
In the spring Lady Leon would spend two months at her London residence in Cleveland Row and would be very involved with young debutantes about to be presented to the Queen.
The staff at Bletchley Park would use this time to completely spring clean the entire house. When lady Leon’s returned she would host numerous dinner parties throughout the summer months for her friends .
Her guests always dressed formally for dinner and according to my mother looked stunning as did the men in their formal dinner suits !
The gardens were spectacular and my mother remembers the scroll garden,the sunken garden and a maze and lily pond!
My mother stayed at Bletchley park for two years and was extremely happy there but felt at eighteen it was time to move on.
my previous comments regarding my mothers employment at Bletchley Park included a comment about her being baptised
This is incorrect .
It was her previous employer Mrs Entwistle of Kenilworth House who arranged my mothers baptism at the age of fourteen
Sorry for the confusion
If you would like me to send my mothers memories of her working life at Bletchley Park in 1931 I am happy to do so !
my late mother Kathleen Prestidge worked in the kitchens as a young girl circa 1931- 33
she wrote very eloquently about her time there but unfortunately no photos exist
Lady Leon also organised my mothers baptism along with children from the village
Kathleen had very fond memories of her time at Bletchley park pre second world war
Is there further information I can glean ?
Mr and Mrs Perkins interview brought everything back to me re my mothers memoirs
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