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Winifred's grandmother (ne Mary Burnett) died at a young age, so her mother ran thehouse for Winifred's grandfather James Grimwood.

When Herbert John and Mary Ann Elizabeth married, they lived firstly in a bungalowbetween Westwood and Betsham. They then moved to what would now be a very

desirable Georgian house at Betsham. Winifred remembered that the kitchen had a flagfloor. When she and Edith were little, their mother had to go out one day and askedtheir father to look after the girls. He made them sit on chairs in the kitchen and notmove - when their mother came home they were in tears.

While living at Betsham Winifred developed jaundice and collapsed in Drunk Man's Alley(by the crinkle-crankle wall). She was found by a workmate of her father.

Then they moved to Green St Green.

At school, the headmistress used to come round and inspect the girls' needlework, andput in a few stitches. Winifred used to undo these as they were not as good as hers.She had an uncle who used to knit. She said it was common for men to knit. Winifredand Edith used to take Herbert to school, to look after him before he was old enough togo to school in his own right.

At about the age of 8 she had her first go at cooking as her mother was ill. She madesome buns but they didn't turn out very well - she kept opening the oven door everyfew minutes. Crickets used to live under the range. The family attended Sunday Schooland church services at the Tin Church on the Green. Their father used to have steak forSunday breakfast. He grew lilies in his garden to sell in London.

At some time - Winifred couldn't remember how old she was - they moved "around thecorner".

Their father used to take the girls to visit his parents at Culverstone Green. They had towalk. He preferred Edith because she had long legs and could keep up. Winifred usedto enjoy combing Edith's hair, and if Edith was being awkward, she wouldn't let her.They had a wind-up gramophone for entertainment. Their father got so fed up with oneof their records that he threw it out of the window. When Winifred had her hair cutshort her father was very angry.

Winifred Mary left school at the age of 12 or 13 and went to work as under- nurse- andhouse- and parlour-maid for Captain McDonnell, son of Lady Antrim, at Clock HouseFarm, Green-Street-Green, Dartford, Kent. She was able to leave school early as shehad a job to go to. She had one half day off per week. After a while she got fed up asshe thought half-day should mean she could finish at midday. On her first half-day shewalked out at noon - when she got part-way down the drive she turned round and saw

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the butler and the other staff looking at her in disbelief through a window. She used toplay with the children - one day she was in the pond with her stockings off, and herdress tucked into her drawers, when Captain McDonnell came into the garden and sawher.

During the First World War she decided she had had enough of service, at first shewent to work at Hawley Road, Dartford, in a gas mantle factory. Her normal transportto work was in a horse-drawn cart. Later she worked in Burrough's (which becameBurrough's and Wellcome's) in Dartford, and cycled there daily. She didn't last therelong as she spent most of her time in the sick room and she got fed up cycling toDartford - it was very long hours - then often found she had a puncture that had to bemended when she got home.

At some time Winifred worked in Kent - "Canterbury way". She and a friend worked for

a very religious lady - on Good Friday they were supposed to spend most of the time inchurch. When cycling back to the church in the afternoon Winifred decided she had hadenough and told her friend she was getting a puncture so couldn't get to church. Shespent the afternoon in the sun in a field.

When her sister Edith worked at Squerries Court, the Duke and Duchess of York wentto a ball there - the sisters watched them dancing from upstairs.

Lady Antrim (Captain McDonnell's mother) visited Winifred's mother and asked ifWinifred would work for her as a parlourmaid in London. Edith was to be the kitchenmaid. Winifred was asked to serve drinks - she squirted Captain McDonnell with sodawater. Fred came to visit them at the Antrims' - Chelsea Park Gardens. There was a bigbearskin rug on the landing - they used to slide along on it. Winifred didn't like thebutler there. The pantry was at the back of the hall and he used to watch everythingthat was going on through the glass in the door. When Queen Alexandra and PrincessMary visited Chelsea Park Gardens for tea, Winifred took their coats. At the Antrims' sheused to answer the telephone. Sometimes Lady Antrim answered, and callers asked to"speak to Winnie", then she was asked to pass on a message to Lady Antrim.

Winifred was a voracious reader. When she was supposed to be cleaning the library,she used to sit behind a settee with a book, reading. Eventually she gave up reading as

"it took up too much time".

She went to work for a family on Dartford Heath but didn't stay there long as thewoman used to bring in a load of laundry to be done, just as Winifred was supposed tobe finishing.

Winifred also worked for a while for a lady in a bungalow at Green St Green or LanesEnd. She thought that was hard work - every time a room was cleaned, it had to be

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"turned out". All the furniture was washed with vinegar and water, and then polished -and this was done every week.

Walter volunteered her for work at Sutton Place. She was not too pleased as she didn'twant to go back "into service".

She went to work for Miss Florence Fleet and Canon Henry Tudor Powell of SuttonPlace, Sutton-at-Hone. Winifred had vowed never to be in service again, but foundherself as housemaid, and later housekeeper when Miss Fleet died.

While working for Lady Antrim, she met Cyril, the electrician at Chelsea Park Gardens,and got engaged to him. She left Lady Antrim's and they set off on a tandem-cyclingholiday to Devon and Cornwall together. Winifred called off the engagement when sherealised he was ruled by his mother. (Later, when she was married and living inCrayford, he came to look for her and she had to get Walter to get rid of him.)

At the time she was married, most housewives used to get up early on Mondays to dotheir weekly washing. Winifred gave up doing this, as if she was up, Walter used to gether to cook his breakfast, so her washing was always the last to go on the line.