Videos tagged with SCHOOLDAYS

Life before, during and after WW2 in South London

Life before, during and after WW2 in South London

Beryl has lived in Rotherhithe all of her life. Before WW2 started she lived with her mother and father in a town house with a large garden, but the council knocked the houses down to make room for a large estate of flats, where she has lived ever since… During the war Beryl was evacuated to Hove and did not return to London until the worst of the war was over. She talks of how childhood and the area was so very different back then, it was a simple life where children played in the streets, caught trams to school and women never worked after they were married. Beryl went to work in the city when she was 18 for an accountancy firm. Women never worked in accountancy before the war, but after all the men were sent away to fight the women had to take over from them. She proceeded to work successfully in the industry for 42 years...

Growing up in Rothrhithe during WW2 (Part 2)

Growing up in Rothrhithe during WW2 (Part 2)

In the second part of her interview Vai Newman carries on talking about her life growing up in Rotherhithe before and after WW2. She focuses in particular on her routines and play as a child and as a young adult. It was a poverty stricken neighborhood and children had to mainly make their own ways of amusing themselves in the streets. Vai also talks about Rotherhithe and the little community feel that surrounded it. Before the age of undergrounds that went all across London, Rotherhithe was very isolated and even taxi drivers refused to go there as they would not get a fare back! Vai reflects on how the area has changed over the past half a century...

Growing up in Rothrhithe during WW2 (Part 1)

Growing up in Rothrhithe during WW2 (Part 1)

Vai Newman was born and has lived within the Rotherhithe area all of her life and experienced life there during the Second World War. Vai recounts some of the strict rules and regulations people adhered to during the war, life during the blitz and her schooldays. Vai also gives a vivid account of how different Rotherhithe was back then, with its dangerous riversides and mainly industrial wharfs that surrounded the area.

School and Home as a boy in the 1950's

School and Home as a boy in the 1950's

Andre talks about his childhood whilst growing up in London in the late 1940's and the early 1950's he talks about experiences he had at school and some of the things he witnessed at home including a horrible accident involving a boy and the canal and a burglar being shot climbing into a tower block.

Childhood memories of life in Jamaica during the 1930s annd 40s

Childhood memories of life in Jamaica during the 1930s annd 40s

Esme recounts her life growing up as a child in Jamaica before she moved to London in the 1960s. Esme came from a poor, working class background and here she speaks of what it was like living in those circumstances. She talks about living conditions, schooling, looking for work and a typical Christmas for her and her family.