I was born November 20th 1913.

I had four older sisters so when I arrived there was much joy for my mother and father. My mother told me that I had whooping cough when a small baby and caused great concern for my parents. Still having such a good mother she nursed me through that bad period of early life.

I remember faintly of going to school at the infants of Elm Grove; I cried quite a lot and hated school. I also remember coming home from school in the winter and they were cold and snowy my little hands were warmed by the open fire and remember my mother warming me. At that time when I was a young child we only had a paraffin lamp to give us light; I can even smell that odour now. When I was about 12 years old we moved to a council house at 255 Elm Grove.

This was really wonderful because we had electric light, 3 bedrooms, and an outer room where we had a fire boiler in copper to boil the clothes. Adjacent was a lavatory. We had a scullery, where there was a long stone sink and iron gas stove the floor was solid concrete and very cold. Passing through the scullery there was a door on the right side that our coal was housed on the other side was another door, where our larder was. Going straight on was another door which led into our dining room which went the whole length of the house.

In this room was a long iron stove with a fire and beside the fire was an oven. It was my job as a boy to polish the iron work with a brush and black lead polish and it used to gleam when polished. We had one other room downstairs which was called the front room not very large mostly used for my father’s office as he worked as an insurance agent for the Prudential. There was a desk a large chair, a little whatnot which stood in the corner of the room and displayed various items of crockery and souvenirs. On the walls were pictures of my grandmother looking most elegant with her hair parted down the middle of the head and smoothed down either side. She had a black neckband and looked very graceful. At Christmas we used this room to sit beside the fire and chat with our guests.

We always had our grandmother for Christmas. She was dressed in black. I don’t remember how many skirts she wore, but they were plenty. Her bonnet was a feature for headwear. Grandmother had no teeth because false teeth were not made, but it amazed me how she would chew her food, how she did and always had a good appetite. We always invited our aunties. There was Auntie Alice, Uncle Joe, Auntie Lizzie Balmer, Auntie Lizzie Knight and my father’s sister Auntie Bessie. They were wonderful Christmases and my father was a great man for arranging games etc.

Of course my dear mother was an expert on the food side. Her Christmas puddings were made in October about 8 in all. The cakes were made and well remember my job to take the cake to the local baker in Elm Grove who used to bake it after the bread oven was finished.

We had ham, turkey, pork, ox tongue, homemade picked onions chutney etc. My mum was a past master for cooking food. As children we all had jobs to do for Christmas; stoning the raisons, grating the various fruits, going down to the local pub to get a pint of stout in a jug. Families were very involved with the Christmas fare. Even to stir the Christmas pudding was a tradition where you stirred and wished. Families were very close in my youth. We lived very simple lives. Needlework, darning, dressmaking was done by my mother and sisters. My mother had 12 children, 4 boys and 6 girls. I was very close to my sister Hilda, 3 years younger than me. She was a good looker and beautiful body and could sing and dance. She was in pantomime one year at Bath. I will tell you more lately. Well we were all educated at Elm Grove School. The teacher was strict but kind. They had complete control over the class room and if you did wrong it was bend down and cane on your bottom!

I wasn’t a brilliant scholar. Maths I hated, History, Geography and Painting were my best subjects. When I left school at 14 I went to a small factory in Kemptown Brighton my job was to polish hinges for eye glasses. I did not stay there long. My next job was working at Barratts the shoe shop. This meant scrubbing the marble floor; polish the brass work, washing the windows and many other jobs around the shop.

After a year I was made a salesman and made good progress. The shoes made then were leather box calf glaze kid - patent leather. When I used to come home from work my sisters used to complain of the leather smell; It used to get on ones clothes. We used to start work at 8.30am finish at 6pm. On Saturday it was 9am, half day on Thursday, wages 12 shillings and 6 pence. Commission was 3 pennies in the pound.

If a customer gave you a sixpence piece it was good and you could buy 2 packets of cigarettes or ½ lb of sweets or six bars of Cadbury chocolates. When I reached the age of 17 I applied for a job at Horne Bros who were opening a shop in North Street near the clock tower.

I was interviewed by Mr Cecil Hornes and given a job as a salesman in the shoes department. I was now getting my teeth into the job and enjoyed serving the customers. We were paid 15 shillings per week (75p) and 6 pennies in the pound commission which is 2.5 new pence.

I used to give my mother 10 shillings (50p) per week and kept 5 shillings for myself.
I was able to save quite a bit because my father insisted that we should be careful and not waste money. He was right as it is a good habit for all young children to adopt in this day. I used to go to the Regent cinema (one shilling and six pence) after that to the Hippodrome (for 1 shilling and 5 pence) that was standing at the back. We had many famous stars, Max Miller etc people used to enjoy themselves and laughter was everywhere.

I like to write a little regarding my mother’s family. She was born in Chichester, Sussex. Her mother and father lived in Boxgrove (near Chichester). My grandfather worked on the estate of the Duke of Richmond and at one time was a jockey for the Duke. My grandmother was a seam mistress in the Duke's household and by all account was a most attractive woman. It’s been told that she caught the Duke’s eye and one can only put two and two together what happened. I have no proof at all, my auntie Elizabeth knew the history and only gave hints away when she was alive. I think there was some connection with the Duke of Richmond – but the secret will never be known.

My mother had 4 sisters and 2 brothers, her eldest brother was Mark Tune and a real dandy, smart debonair, likes the girls and wonderful dancer, smartly dressed with silver knobbed cane and spats etc.

My mother’s other brother was Charles Tune - a wonderful charming man. He was a naval man and served on Queen Victoria’s yacht. He was coastguard at Filey Yorkshire, Portland Bill and Freshwater Isle of Wight. He used to come to Brighton every year for a holiday. He used to drive a motor bike with a side car and looked very impressive in his naval uniform. He received a medal from the king for great bravery rescuing 30 Italian seamen who were wrecked on the rocks at Flamborough Head.

Uncle Charlie had 2 sons and 2 daughters. My mother and father and family spent many holidays at the lighthouse buildings and had some great holidays. My Uncle Charlie spent his last year with my mother at 255 Elm Grove. They were very fond of each other. He could put his hand to anything. He was a very good tap dancer.

Win was a buyer in a large store.......................................

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