Barbara Simmons was born in Little Witley in 1935 and grew up in Winnall Cottage where her parents, grandparents and great grandparents had lived. Her grandfather, Tom Jones had been a gamekeeper at Witley Court.
She left there when she married and moved with her new husband, Ken, to a new council bungalow in Well Lane. There they had a son and stayed until Barbara was 60 years of age when she moved to Bromyard to be nearer her aging mother.
Barbara tells about life growing up in Little Witley, her education in Great Witley and Worcester, the old Little Witley shop run by Miss Harper, Sunday School at the Church, the courtship between her and Ken and her various jobs in a hairdresser at Holt Heath, Worth’s Carpets in Kidderminster, a shop in Worcester and the post office in Little Witley.
Barbaras recording (35 mins 20 secs):
Start | Topic | Period |
00:15 | Birth of Barbara Simmons | 1935 |
00:37 | Living at Winnall’s Cottage, Little Witley | 1930s-50s |
01:50 | School at Little Witley and falling ill | 1940s |
03:05 | Going to school at Great Witley | 1940s |
03:35 | Going to Christopher Whitehead School in Worcester | 1950s |
05: 00 | Parents sell Winnall’s Cottage and build a bungalow in the grounds | 1960s |
05:20 | Growing up and playing with friends in Little Witley | 1940s |
06:13 | Activities at Little Witley village club | 1940s |
06:25 | Going to Little Witley Church/Sunday School | 1940s |
07:40 | Life at Christopher Whitehead School, Worcester | 1940s |
08:59 | Work after leaving school | 1950s |
10:37 | Leisure activities after leaving school: Dances; whist drives | 1950s |
11:30 | Travelling to dances in other villages | 1950s |
12:35 | Working in Rayner’s clothes shop, Worcester | 1950s |
13:48 | Miss Harper’s shop in Little Witley | 1940s |
17:10 | Courting and marriage | 1950s |
22:35 | Moving to a new bungalow in Little Witley on marrying | 1950s |
24:35 | Working life of her husband (Richard Thomas Baldwin; Parson’s Chain) | 1950s/60s |
27:10 | Working at Worth’s Carpets in Kidderminster when newly married | 1950s |
29:40 | Getting a new puppy | 1950s |
31:10 | Working at Little Witley Post Office and Stores | 1960s |
34:55 | Working at a hairdressing salon in Holt Heath | 1970s |
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