CHRISTMASES PAST IN BRIGG - SPECIAL MEMORIES FROM CLIFF TURNER

BY CLIFF TURNER, NOW 91, WHO GREW UP IN BRIGG DURING THE 1930s

When I was a boy the approach of Christmas was heralded by Mam making the Christmas puddings. I think this was done in November. She used to make three; one for Christmas Day, one for the first Sunday in the New Year and one for the Sunday nearest to my birthday on 21 March.  The puddings were cooked in boiling water and then put aside until being re-heated on the big day.  Mam never had a gas or electric cooker in either 5 Princes Street or 4 Redcombe Lane, the two houses in which I spent my boyhood.  All cooking was done either on a gas ring, in a steamer perched above the open fire grate or in the oven which was heated by the fire.
The next sign of Christmas was the opening of Robinson’s showroom. W B Robinson’s shop was near the Black Bull and sold newspapers, toys, stationery and items suitable for presents. It had an upstairs room which opened a week or two before Christmas so that people could browse around. Lots of cotton wool was used to suggest a white Christmas. To children the showroom was a huge attraction. Mr Robinson retired in the mid-thirties and a newcomer to Brigg called Richardson took over but I cannot remember if the new owner continued the showroom tradition.
In 1936 I had started to study chemistry at the Grammar School and yearned for a chemistry set; at the time these were very popular. One night my parents went out and my friend Henry Jacklin came round with his chemistry set. Things went awry and we sprayed a pink substance all over the ceiling. My ambition to get a chemistry set for Christmas was never realised!
School finished a few days before Christmas. At the Grammar School we sang Adeste Fideles (Come All Ye Faithful) in Latin at the last assembly of the year and Headmaster Daughton read out the placings in the term’s exams for every boy in the school.
Christmas was a busy time for the family business and every year Grandad Turner, my Dad and his brother Fred worked through the night just before the big day to ensure enough products to meet the extra demand. Until we grew too big that was the night we were allowed in Mam’s bed. It only now occurs to me that if Christmas Day fell on a Monday the busy day at the shop must have been Saturday; like most shops at the time we did not open on Sundays. We did not have refrigeration but probably did not need it in December.
It was probably Christmas 1939 when more pork was urgently needed. Dad and Fred were so busy that their brother-in-law Arthur Cross stepped into the breach to slaughter another pig. I was press-ganged to help him, mostly by carrying hot water from the copper. Meat rationing was not introduced until 1940 and after that we were then not allowed to sell pork, only pork based products like pies and sausages. So our firm did not have to cope with ration books. An allocation of pork was made but I do not know where it came from. The slaughter house in Redcombe Lane fell into disuse and was never used again.   
In the early 1930’s we used to visit my great grandmother on Christmas Eve at Oakleigh House next to the Grammar School to take her a box of biscuits. Dad was her first and, I think, favourite grandchild. Then it was home to get to bed and put pillow cases out ready to accommodate the expected presents. I do not recall how old I when I realised it was Mam and Dad and not Father Christmas that filled the pillowcases.
One present did not fit into a pillow case. I think it was before I started school that I got a pedal car. It was discovered under the kitchen table when we came downstairs along with a tricycle for my younger brother Ken.
After my parents started keeping poultry in about 1935 we always had a chicken for Christmas dinner. We usually reared one or two sittings of eggs and the cockerels were kept for the table. 
A day or two in advance the chosen victim was put into a sack and taken to Arthur Bulleyment’s house in Glebe Rd. Arthur and his sons Geoff and Cliff had a sideline of dressing poultry to an oven-ready state. I think the charge for a cockerel was six old pence.
I was a choir boy in the mid 1930’s so must have attended St John’s church on at least three Christmas mornings but nothing memorable about the services has stayed with me. 
Christmas dinner at about 1:00 p.m. was always a gargantuan feast. The chicken was cooked with balls of what we called forcemeat, which had parsley as a main ingredient. I have never tasted stuffing so good as mother’s product. Then came the Christmas pudding. I do not know why it was called plum pudding – it had never seen a plum. A small quantity of rum on top of the pudding was set on fire and more rum was added to the sauce to accompany the pudding. 
By the time dinner had been eaten and the dishes washed it was time for the King’s speech. King George V had been asked to make a Christmas broadcast several times since the early 1920’s but did not consent until 1932 when Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald persuaded him to do it. His first speech was written by Rudyard Kipling. (I am cheating here – I have only discovered these facts on the internet). I am however almost certain that I heard all four of his speeches
Dad was a fervent Royalist and until we got our own wireless we used to listen at my grandparents’ house. Mam did not share Dad’s enthusiasm and stayed at home. Thanks to the internet I have been able to hear George’s words and discover that he had a very good speaking voice. He died in January 1936 and the next Christmas speech was given by his second son George VI as his first son Edward VIII had abdicated on 11 December. We sang ‘Hark the herald angels sing, Mrs Simpson’s pinched our King’.
George VI did not inherit his father’s speaking ability and his first Christmas speech was an ordeal for both him and the listeners. A recent film ‘The King’s Speech’ tells of his efforts to overcome this problem.
By Christmas 1939 we were at war. Apart from the blackout and the war at sea, life went on much as usual. The period before the spring of 1940 was called ‘the phony war’. Rationing had not yet been introduced so our shop was as busy as it had been in peacetime.
 By Christmas 1940 dramatic events had occurred.  Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland and France had all capitulated to the Germans; Britain and its Empire and Dominions were Germany’s only opposition. That Christmas we had two soldiers from the Devon regiment as dinner guests; Dad had, I think, met them in the Queens Arms. By this time many items of foodstuffs, including meat, were rationed. No doubt we had our usual home-reared cockerel. 
The situation was much better at Christmas 1941. The Germans, ignoring the lesson that Napoleon had learned in 1812, had invaded Russia and thus made an invasion of Britain highly unlikely. Then on 7 December the Japanese launched their attack on Pearl Harbour and Germany declared war on the United States. Britain and its Empire now had two powerful allies which made victory a certainty in spite of Japan’s early successes in the Pacific and the loss of Singapore, Hong Kong and Burma.
Early in 1941 I had joined the navy as an artificer apprentice. At Christmas we had 14 days leave but only half of us could have Christmas at home; the other half had 14 days embracing the New Year. I cannot remember now which half I was in and I cannot be sure about the following year. I am sure about Christmas 1943 as it was a sad time for us as Mam was dying and was confined to a bed in the front room.  My brother had joined the navy a year after I did and we were both home for Christmas leave. This leave was the last time we saw our mother as she died in February 1944. Not many memories remain but one is of Ken and me taking the housekeeper Dad had employed for a Christmas Eve drink at the Angel. Ken was only 17 but no questions were asked. Perhaps being in uniform helped.
By Christmas 1944 I had finished my navy apprenticeship at Torpoint, Cornwall, and travelled to Portsmouth Barracks on 23 December. There I left my hammock and kitbag in the baggage store and left for home and 14 days leave. This was my first experience of travelling in an electric train. I arrived in Brigg mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve and walking from the station met a girl I had known since childhood. We agreed to go to the Grand Cinema that evening but when we got there found it was a full house. So we spent the evening in The Angel and the Queens Arms. Back then Brigg pubs closed at 10.00 p.m. but on Christmas and New Year’s Eves were given an extension to 11.00 p.m. and I have no doubt we took advantage of the extra hour. 
It was clear that the war was coming to an end but in mid December the Germans launched a counter attack in the Ardennes area which occupies parts of France, Belgium and Luxembourg. It was initially successful and the Americans sustained many casualties. Because the Americans’ front had been breached the operation was dubbed the ‘Battle of the Bulge’. By mid January the threat had been averted and the Germans lost many men and tanks. Concurrently Britain was under attack from the V2 rockets which travelled faster than the speed of sound.
Christmas 1945 was the first in peace time for six years. Rationing was still just as rigorous as it had been in the war years. Few, if any, would have guessed it would continue for many years; meat and some other food stuffs were rationed until July 1954. 
I had joined my first ship, HMS Birmingham, in October 1945 and as a result had a royal gift of food at Christmas. The Birmingham had been the first Allied ship to enter Copenhagen a day or two after VE Day and King Christian X arranged for a parcel of Danish cheese, bacon and butter to be sent to the home of every member of the crew. I had not been in the Birmingham at the time but was included in the bounty that was delivered to 4 Redcombe Lane.

Cliff Turner during his time in the Royal Navy

Cliff Turner now lives in New Zealand, from where he emailed Brigg Blog these Christmas memories