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A Brief Encounter with Marcia BB  (Before Bob)

Foreword - This is a particularly emotional story which has been difficult to extract and difficult to write.  The writer perhaps should have been a third person as the author has been handicapped at times by emotional involvement.  Marcia does have a particularly good and detailed recall for situations, conversations, names, people and places but has difficulty recalling sequences of events, dates and timeline.  If you require to delve further, Marcia still has secreted away stories, photographs, documents and particularly letters from the period, mainly from one relationship which will become obvious.  The author has not read the letters - yet!.  Bob.          

If you search for births for a Marcia Elizabeth Beesley on your ‘free birth, marriages and death ‘ website    http://www.freebmd.org.uk/  between the years 1939 - 1941 you will discover two Marcia Elizabeth Beesleys both by the same parents, Harry and Eileen (née Banks).  The first Marcia was born in September 1939 in Perivale (Brentford District) the second was born in February 1941 in Brackley Northants.  If you now search for deaths of Marcia Elizabeth Beesley for the same years you will discover that the first Marcia died on 11th November 1939.

Tragically Marcia (the first) was a ‘cot death’ baby at the age of about 3 months.  The trauma for the parents, also their 4 year old son Brian can only be guessed at as it was only Harry that dealt with the funeral which took place at St Mary the Virgin Church in Perivale where she is buried.

The family home at 39 Torrington Gardens Perivale, was, like all others in the country, at risk of being bombed as war had been declared in September 1939 and by the spring of 1940 the Battle of Britain raged in the skies particularly over London and the South East, Perivale getting its fair share of bombs as the Hoover Factory nearby was making components for aircraft, a fact which was known to the Luftwaffe.   Europe had been overrun and the fear of Nazi occupation was very real in the minds of all on this side of the Channel.  Pieces of aluminium with swastika’s painted on raining down was evidence enough of the fight going on overhead.   So, Harry like many others decided to ‘evacuate’ his family to Brackley in Northamptonshire.  Brackley and the villages round about was the area where the Beesley family hailed from.  Harry was born in Slapton nearby and his brother Richard (Uncle Dick) together with his wife Nellie and their son David lived in Syersham which was where Harry had negotiated a temporary home for his family at the end of 1940 with Eileen pregnant with (our) Marcia.

Marcia Elizabeth Beesley (the second) was born on February 9th 1941 at Park Hospital, Brackley, Northamptonshire.   It is understandable that Harry and Eileen for themselves wanted their first Marcia back so gave their second daughter the same name but perhaps didn’t consider what effect that might have on Marcia (the second).  It wasn’t until Marcia was a young teenager that she found out, from ‘Auntie’ Betty, that she had a sister.   This news perhaps wasn’t a good omen for a future relationship with her mother as many years later her mother nearing death said to Marcia that she would have loved to have Marcia (the first) to take her to Art Galleries, Museums and the Theatre etc. while Marcia (the second) could look after her.

In the next bed to Eileen on the labour ward was ‘Auntie’ Daph (not a relation) but was the beginning of a relationship together with Tom White her husband and their five children which continued for many years into the future.  The Whites lived in Rugby where Marcia visited often and spent many happy holidays, discovering her love for horses and learnt to ride.

It turned out that for some reason Auntie Nellie in Syersham was not as welcoming as Harry had hoped, Auntie Nellie in various ways made life particularly difficult for Eileen and Brian.  The result was that Eileen refused to continue living in her in-laws house and demanded that Harry find alternative accommodation.   The alternative accommodation also turned out to be unacceptable to Eileen as one of the landladies turned out to be a ‘lady of ill repute’, another landlady demanded that Eileen, in her pregnant state, regularly carry the heavy dog up and down stairs to keep the sick landlady company and another who was equally unwelcoming to Brian and his mother.

So, some months after Marcia was born Harry and Eileen decided that life back in Perivale was the better option despite the threat from Hitler and the Luftwaffe.  

From an early age Marcia was used to many waifs and strays taken in at No 39 from all parts of the globe also babies and children dumped, sometimes for months on the charitable family, mostly from family but also from friends, neighbours and strangers.  Marcia’s natural affinity for babies led her to responsibilities which she very much relished but as a youngster probably would have been better left playing with dolls!

At the age of 5, just as the war was ending, Marcia started school at Perivale Infants a short walk across Bilton Road and into Federal Road.  At the age of 8 her parents decided to send her to a slightly whacky boarding school recommended by Adelheid, an Austrian lady who spent a lot of time with the Beesley family and was a refreshing, before her time, holistic influence in the way of health, wellbeing and general outlook on life.  She even arranged for a horoscope and star chart to be drawn up for Marcia at the age of 3 by Mrs Wong, which makes interesting reading.

Marcia's new school was known as ElmTrees in Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire (probably one of the first Steiner Schools in the UK).   The weekly journey, clutching her train ticket and little leather case tightly, to Great Missenden alone on the train was somewhat of a challenge for Marcia but by this time she was developing an independence and confidence (in her words 'I was wild') which many times got her into trouble at this slightly ‘off beat’ school.  The headmistress was ‘Willow’ an admirer and previous friend of Isadora Duncan an American dancer who’s unconventional approach to morality; education and dancing probably had some influence on the young Marcia and her school friends.  Lessons it seems were optional? which Marcia took advantage of, accidents were common place, like surviving being electrocuted, surviving second degree burns tripping over an electric heater and surviving a fall when trying to sleep suspended in the roller towels in the toilet.

Marcia was always disappointed at weekends as her parents insisted she went home instead of joining in the fun and games with her school friends over the weekend.   Unfortunately after a couple of years at Great Missenden Marcia sadly had to leave as Willow it appears preferred not to concern herself with the finances and went bust, the main reason being that many of the whacky parents didn’t pay their bills.  The Beesley family finances were also stretched but not so stretched that for a long time they were the only family in the street with a telephone and a car also allowing Marcia to continue with a private education at The Wembley House School for Girls which meant a long hike to Alperton Station and then a bus to school.  Many times she used to walk all the way home to save the bus fare in order to buy a sherbet dab and a cough candy, also sometimes skilfully avoiding other hazards along the way.  Marcia’s efforts at any academic school work it has to be said were below standard, especially when confronted with figures and knowing your left from your right.  Nowadays this is a common condition known as Dyslexia from which she still suffers but back then the label ‘stupid’ or 'lazy' was too easily applied, especially by her mother and many times by Marcia herself.

It was during these years that the Beesley family made many trips to Harry’s old aunt’s cottages in Cornwall.  The trip to Trembroath Cottages, Stithians sometimes took 12 hours in the old Austin Seven with many stops for running repairs, refuelling and toileting the dog.  Harry being a mechanic by trade never complained or got flustered when the rest of the occupants complained bitterly about the delays.  Their holidays in Cornwall especially for Brian and Marcia were, in their words, ‘magical’ as they became very much involved with the daily tasks of getting water from the pump, lighting candles, tickling trout in the stream, collecting milk from the farm down the lane owned by ‘Uncle’ Bert and ‘Aunt’ Mabel also helping with the milking and Marcia feeding the calves using her fingers as teats with her hand immersed in a bucket of milk.

Harry’s work was as a motor mechanic had, amongst his clients back in the 30’s, a guy with a Brough Superior motorcycle called a Mr Thomas E Lawrence who was better known as Lawrence of Arabia.  During the mid 50’s Harry’s place of work was at Pinks Motorcycles in Harrow on the Hill and in the harsh winter of 1954 when Marcia was 13 Harry tragically slipped on the ice at work and suffered a severe blow to the head rendering him brain damaged until his death in 1959.

Juggling life with an invalid father the family at No 39 coped – just.  Mr Pink his employer continued to allow Harry to do menial tasks but when Eileen asked for a raise for Harry she was told that he was incapable of anything useful.  Marcia’s mother worked mostly as a receptionist/clerk at Acton Hospital and probably was an influence on Marcia’s decision to apply for a job with the Church of England Children’s Society and train for the NNEB qualification.  The interview was for a place as a student in St Mary’s Children’s Home Sandy Lane Cheam.   Marcia and studying were not the greatest bed fellows so she didn’t do at all well at the written entrance exam but with a real passion for the job and a kindly Matron who could spot potential Marcia was offered a 6 month trial period  but not starting until she was 16, she was 15 and already had a boyfriend in tow.   Little did she know that the boyfriend would turn up unexpectedly 60 years later when re-taking her vows for her 50th wedding anniversary!

It is clear that, even at an early age Marcia was not short of admirers and in the next ten years or so had many relationships one of which led to a short lived engagement which ended abruptly when she discovered that his intentions were less than honourable.  Sorting the wheat from the chaff was usually second nature to Marcia but nevertheless wasn’t able to control the inadvisable ‘crush’ on occasions.

So, she applied for a fill in job at The Elizabeth Garratt Anderson Hospital for Women in the Euston Road.  Marcia’s job at the hospital, initially, was as a Messenger girl running errands from one department to the other looking after patients and visitor’s needs.  Sometimes this would mean accompanying heavily pregnant ladies to the Pathology Department which was located down some stairs along a narrow corridor, through the boiler room and up into an adjacent building.  She loved it, especially if she was allowed to come into contact with any babies or young children.

On attaining the ripe old age of 16 she started as a live in trainee nurse at Cheam.  The home was a large imposing house built in 1914.  The first years training at St Mary’s was demanding, very demanding.  Apart from seeing to the children’s needs, which were many and varied, duties included cleaning 60 pairs of shoes daily, scrubbing floors, piles of ironing and night duties.  Night duties, sometimes alone, included dealing with armies of cockroaches down in the kitchen when trying to grab a sandwich also dealing with taps on the curtainless, low cilled, insecure windows from inmates loose from the Mental Institution up the road.  Cooking skills were also part of the training with Mrs Birchall down in the kitchen; Mrs Birchall a cockney character from Bermondsey was a good teacher of the basics but didn’t stand any nonsense.   Marcia always sensitive to the children’s needs often came up with ideas and schemes for making the place more homely, most of which were implemented with the approval from Matron Long.  Like allowing the children to have their own clothes, shoes and toys next to their bed rather than fighting for clothes and shoes from a pile every morning.  One morning Marcia turned up with 30 orange boxes purloined from the local green grocer and converted them into colourful bedside cabinets complete with shelves and curtains.