In August 1961 we travelled over to stay with Mother and Dad in the shop for a couple of days. The news came through over the weekend that Berlin was now a divided City; troops from East Germany had sealed the border between East and West Berlin shutting off the escape route for thousands of refugees from the east. During the night six-foot fences topped by barbed wire was erected preventing access. Within days the fence was replaced by a concrete block wall, which became a permanent structure and a symbol of the political divide between the western nations and the Communist states. You couldn’t help wondering at the time where all this would eventually end, all out nuclear war?

Edna gave up teaching in early1962. She had been having a few problems and once fainted in the corner shop near to our house. Nevertheless this was a wonderful time for us both and she was very much looking forward to the birth scheduled for March. At Christmas we used to alternate between visiting the farm and going up to Lancashire, this time we stayed at home. I didn’t want to risk her perched on the back of a swaying scooter. Emma Jane Clarke entered the world in the evening on March 22nd. It wasn’t an easy birth. The midwife at one point asked me to go over the road and get the Doctor, the only useful thing I did all night. Emma was being awkward and couldn’t find the launch pad. Dr. Stevenson our Scottish doctor had to pull her out with forceps and thankfully everything was fine. We were delighted; I think I could safely say Edna was deliriously happy. I don’t think we got much sleep that night, Emma was pretty disturbed and no wonder. I have a copy of a telegram I sent over to my parents at 8-36am, the next morning. It read, “ Emma Jane born Thursday 10-15pm Grandads birthday (stop) weight 7lbs both well.” Yes, she had been born on my Dad’s birthday, which must have pleased him. Neither of us had a phone, so in those days a telegram was the only means of instant communication. The next day I was mowing the lawn when a neighbour walked by, “ Congratulations” he said, and then came out with that old saying, “You’re life will never be the same again.” How true it is!

Although we did not know it then Emma had been born at a very dangerous time and the facts were not made public for a few years. A drug called “ Thalidomide” had been available in the UK since 1958; it was used as a sedative and to alleviate morning sickness and it was estimated that worldwide some 8,000 women had taken the medication. It was taken off the market at the end of 1961 when the medical profession were becoming aware of the tragedy that was developing. The drug disrupted foetal development; babies were being born with terrible abnormalities and limbs missing.

Edna’s life had certainly changed; She was always making lists and schedules. How about this for a planned day, written in a notebook dated April 1962.

DAILY TIME TABLE.
7. 00 am. Feed and change Emma.
7. 45 am. Cook Bill’s breakfast.
8. 15 am. Wash and dress.
8. 45 am Wash and boil nappies.
10. 00 am Wash, iron, clean house.
11. 00 am. Wash, feed, change Emma.
11. 45 am Prepare dinner.
12. 15 pm. Iron nappies and air.
12. 45 pm. Arrange dinner.
1. 00 pm. Dinner and rest.
2. 00 pm. Walk to shop with Emma and Aggie
2. 30 pm. Relax and exercises.
3. 00 pm. Feed and change Emma.
3. 45 pm. Sleep.
4. 45 pm. Prepare tea.
6. 00 pm Bath, feed and change Emma.
6. 45 pm. Free.
11.00 pm. To bed.

What a merry time she was having. I bet she was glad when 11.00pm came and it appears Bill wasn’t even capable of getting his own breakfast. Edna did everything for Emma and that included all the changing of nappies during the night. Over the six kids we eventually had, I can’t remember once having to get up in the night, in fact I don’t think I ever changed a single nappy. Edna simply loved all aspects of her task; boy was I lucky!

During our Nottingham days we saw a lot of one of my old University friends, Stewart Doncaster and his wife Anne. Stewart got a job working for a firm of private architects, Bartlett and Gray. Their office was just round the corner from County Hall. They used to come round to Tollerton every Saturday evening to watch the new satire programme on our tiny little TV called, “That was the week that was,” with a newcomer called David Frost. We also tried to learn Bridge together, a game I never really got on with.

In the summer of 1962 we went on holiday with Keith and Janet Grantham to Hunstanton on the North Norfolk coast. We travelled over by coach to Kings Lynn and then caught a bus to Hunstanton. We stayed in a small timber chalet on the beach, the weather wasn’t too good and it was very cold at night. Emma was only five months old, I bet Edna was piling the blankets on her. We didn’t go very far, I recall endless games of cricket on the beach with Keith. Sadly after the holiday we saw very little of Janet and Keith again. I think they came over once to Shrewsbury a few years later with their two small sons and that was about it. I have had no contact with them for nearly forty years; it’s odd the way things work out. Two of my closest friends Frank and Keith I completely lost contact with for so many years. Only recently I have found out through Abdul that Janet and Keith later got divorced. At the moment I have no idea what happened to Keith. The last news I had he was working in Hong Kong in the early 1980’s.

Life was good at this time. Edna was happily settling down to life as a mother and I was getting to grips with learning the practicalities of being an architect. I had started to handle major contracts on my own. Ironically my first two jobs were fire stations, at Beeston and another at West Bridgeford. I really should have done that Fire Station for my thesis, there weren’t too many Reform Club clubs being designed by County Councils. Visits to both our families were regular events. Since having Emma we had to use public transport, Edna didn’t fancy holding onto Emma, sitting on the back of the scooter and clinging to me with her knees. We needed a car so I began to take lessons again; I remember the man giving the lessons wasn’t much older than me. He persisted in calling me “Chief.” I’ve been called many things but never that; he must have been a John Wayne fan! Whatever, he got me through at the first attempt. Edna asked her sister June if her boyfriend Les could get us a car. A few weeks later Les rang to say he had got one for us. It was a Ford Anglia. I can’t remember how old it was, but it cost £60. It proved to be a brilliant bargain, three years later I sold it for £35. Not bad, depreciation cost per year just over £8. One sad thing is I can’t remember at all what I did with the scooter. For four years it gave us both the ability to travel at minimum cost and we had some great times on it despite the constant mechanical problems. Unfortunately there was a big black cloud looming and our happy days were soon to be under threat from a most unexpected source, far away on an island off the American coast.

There was a major crisis in world affairs in October 1962. It is hard looking back now to those few weeks to remember how frightening it was at the time. The Cuban Missile Crisis was without doubt the most serious episode in the cold war and was probably its turning point. For two weeks from the 16th to 28th of October, the world was closer to nuclear war than it had ever been. The Americans had discovered that Russia had placed long-range nuclear rockets on Cuba aimed at cities in America. Kennedy the American President had given an ultimatum to Khrushchev to remove them; In the meantime a fleet of Russian ships were already at sea heading for Cuba with more material. The world held its breathe to see what would happen when the Russian ships met the American forces. We were listening anxiously to every news bulletin. If this all went wrong the consequences were unimaginable. I can close my eyes now and see the scene in our small dining room late one evening. Edna was doing some ironing; we had the radio on and in the next few hours the Russian ships were due to be intercepted. Emma was in a carrycot on the floor, I remember looking at them both wondering whether we would all be alive to see Emma’s first Christmas, the situation was that dangerous. The next morning when we heard the overnight news that the Russians had backed down their ships had turned round and were heading back home, the relief was enormous. By facing down the Russians without resorting to force first, there is no doubt John Kennedy had saved the world from a catastrophe. This life story would never have been written for a start. It was not known at the time that a secret deal had been worked out with Russia that in return for their withdrawal America withdrew all its Jupiter missiles from Turkey. This was only revealed years later.

Thankfully we did see that Christmas. I have only one photograph and it shows a chubby Emma sitting up on the floor by a laden tree with a big paper hat on. In her hand she is holding a Gollywog (a very politically incorrect name these days!) that Edna had knitted. Emma still has it, although the neck is very floppy after forty-three years. On Christmas Eve we had a few flakes of snow, little did we know what was in store. We were on the brink of what became known as, “The Big Freeze.” I have never experienced anything like it here and don’t suppose I ever will again. I have read that a winter that severe has a 250-year return rate and many records were broken. From the 28th December to 4th March temperatures never rose above freezing with repeated heavy snowfalls, the only time that happened in the 20th century. Records showed that the winter was the worst since 1740. You may gather from these statistics life was very difficult. Temperatures of -15 to –20 degrees were commonplace and roads and pavements were permanently covered in ice. At Eastbourne the sea was reported frozen to an extent of 100 yards offshore for a length of two miles. Getting to work was not easy and for Edna pushing Emma in our big pram walking along to the shop along Melton Road was a regular hazard. All professional sport was virtually abandoned during January and February. Eventually during the first week of March a slow thaw set in. We were glad of the warmth; our heating system had been totally inadequate to cope with those conditions.