Oral history audio recording of Bernice Taylor Brown.
Bernice first talks of her second husband Jack O’Brien’s background. She then describes her employment after her children Graham and Hayley were born: firstly, she describes the office set-up at the Bucks Standard, then working as driver for Mother’s Pride deliveries locally for three years. When the opening of Stantonbury Leisure Centre was announced, she immediately applied for jobs there and was appointed receptionist and theatre usherette, which led to her meeting Jack again in 1978.
Looking back, Bernice remembers the freedom she enjoyed as a child, with few restrictions on where she could go. Playing on the ‘Pancake Hills’ by the canal was popular; she recalls seeing ‘Rock Around the Clock’ at the Newport Pagnell Electra cinema and being thrown out of the cinema for dancing; aged fifteen she travelled to Switzerland with a friend. Reviewing some of the photos in the Taylor Brown collection, she talks of the lively social calendar at St George’s Church Wolverton (Beetle Drives were very popular); she mentions many local people by name, both at the Church and the Bowls club.
Bernice and Roger look through a set of cards sent by members of the family to each other and try to identify them. She then reviews a scrapbook she made of items collected by her grandmother ‘Nan’ Taylor: they include early 20th century photos, many of which are difficult to identify, the Taylor family at Anson Road in the 1920s, photos of the various Co-op shops in Wolverton, the family at Wolverton open air swimming pool in the 1960s (Bernice remembers the collection to build the Pool), and photos of St John Ambulance members. Bernice talks of the dominance of the Co-op in Wolverton, listing all the various shops and their locations, recalls the need for St John trained staff at the Works in case of accidents, and remembers that Works employees were occasionally allowed a cart load of wood for their fires and boilers at home.
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