Growing Up in Sussex

Gerald Wells

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2009
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9780752480091
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

This compelling memoir starts with a boy's journey through the early years of the 1930s: days of the rag and bone man, street lamplighters, Hercule Poirot, and in the background, Hitler. Then life gets real: at school where cane and cricket bat rule and where the mustard sandwich fills a hungry corner, and even more real with army call-up and training. Then, in 1944–1945, comes the crunch of combat in Operation Overlord—a boy's growing-up time. And after all that, with his ears still ringing a bit, comes the blessed call of demob and a taste of new delights: days of farming and finding a woman daft enough to marry him before settling on a farm to start his life as a man. In this nostalgic book evoking recollections of childhood and wartime in Sussex, the memories are the author's, however the sights and events are those that will be remembered by many others, and readers will warm to the narrator, who has found the perfect balance of humor and sensitivity.

Table of contents

• Title
• Dedication
• Acknowldgement
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1. A Boy’s Eye View
• 2. Summer Times
• 3. Shops, a Salon - and Maybe a Model
• 4. Concours and a Cathedral
• 5. When Life Gets Real
• 6. Skating the 1930s
• 7. Bonfires, Barbeques and a King or Two
• 8. Grammar, Crammer and the End of an Era
• 9. Lancing, Quads and Choirs
• 10. The Loving Cup and a Concert That Wasn’t
• 11. Without Labels
• 12. Shotguns, Pitchforks and Minnows in the Sky
• 13. By God, Gaslight and the Groves
• 14. Masters, Saints and Brass Monkey Places
• 15. Don’t Be Such a Baby
• 16. A Foot in the Other Camp
• 17. Dad’s Army ... and Mumps
• 18. Getting Involved
• 19. Getting Nearer Getting Real
• 20. Not Quite the Shilling – Or Maybe Not
• 21. Tanks and Virgins
• 22. Chasing the Rainbow
• 23. From Somewhere up Front
• 24. Brussels Without Sprouts
• 25. Rhine Jump and a Bit Further On
• 26. Strange Summer
• 27. Dives
• 28. Aftermath
• 29. Göttingen ... and Lloyd George Knew My Father
• 30. Banks and New Beginnings
• 31. A Farming Year
• 32. Back to School
• 33. Is That a Proposal?