Autobiography. Auntie Ethel.

I have had some lovely people and family members that have had a great effect on my life at various stages. One such lovely lady I will not forget is my Auntie Ethel, who was my mums sister.
From a very early age I often ran down the street to her house about ten doors down from us. Sometimes I called for a butty other times just to see her and my gran Polly Greaves. I would often go with old ties in my hair and Auntie Ethel would exchange them for coloured ribbon.

My auntie Ethel was the head waitress in a restaurant called Lockhart’s Cafeteria. Back then, she would take my cousin Winnie and me to work with her. Auntie would lavish food on us that I had never seen before, let alone eat.
On those days, when we were allowed to go to the restaurant, Auntie Ethel would supply me with a change of clothing that belonged to Wyn. This was to ensure that I looked smart. I felt that I was too. My mum couldn't afford many clothes for us children, as there was five of us and she brought us up single handed.


Saturdays were the best in those days, as auntie would let me do some errands for her and ensured I had enough money for sweets and ices. Uncle Albert too was always wonderful to me and many times he paid for my cousin and me to go to the Empire Pictures and sometimes we took Christine my sister with us.
The Empire was called by us kids, the Bug and Scratch. Yes! you can imagine why? We followed every breathtaking adventure of Flash Gordon and rarely missed an episode. I even remember his wife was called Gail.

Before the film began, we were all aloud to sing or dance on the cinema stage and winners were picked out and we received sweets or presents quite often. It was as though it was xmas every Saturday for us.
I have many good memories of Auntie Ethel and will always treasure them. The worse memory was when I had to say my goodbye to her, when she left this world. I was so lucky to have had her in my life. Goodnight and God bless my Auntie Ethel.