Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Nancie gets a job nearer to home, and visits Lytham St Annes

Nancie's next job, in April 1933, was with a family at number 83 Maxwell Drive, Bellahouston, Glasgow. They were called Kay and she describes them as 'a charming Jewish Family'. Mr Kay had a business in the Trongate in Glasgow. Nancie was to be Nursery-Governess to Mira, six, and Gordon, five. Mr Kay enjoyed playing tennis and liked Nancie to partner him. All that practice in the south of France stood her in good stead.
In the summer of 1933 the Kay Family went on holiday for the month of August, to Lytham St Annes, in Lancashire, taking Nancie with them. Little did she know at that time how this part of the country was going to become such a vital part of her life some six years later. In a strange 'reverse echo' she visited the town where she would marry Jack in September 1939. She even went to Jack's hometown, Fleetwood. Reading her 1933 diary really sends shivers down one's back, knowing what happened later but back then it was just a place to visit on holiday and have fun with the children. They also visited Blackpool and various relatives came to join them.
She stayed with the Kay Family for about nine months, losing touch with them. Mira became a Teacher and Gordon, a Doctor.
Around this time Nancie's Mother was in a Glasgow Nursing home for observation. Always very slim, she had a floating kidney and displaced organs, suffering back pain as a result. She lived until 1958 but was never very strong.
Nancie had realised that her romance with Harry Legroua was probably over but managed to enjoy herself in the company of another old Kilmacolm friend, Morton Raeburn. He later became the local Bank Manager. Every time she went back to Kilmacolm the faithful Duncan Harrigan would take her out and cheer her up. She was never short of an escort. They used to go regularly to the cinema in Glasgow, sometimes more than once a week.
Trips on the Clyde ( 'doon the watter') were another favourite outing and sometimes Nancie would miss the last bus and have to walk home from Port Glasgow. There were always relatives to visit when she was at home at the various farms around Kilmacolm.
About this time Nancie's Mother, Mary and her sister, Min, ran a hairdressing business from Ashton House in Cardwell Bay, Gourock.
Unfortunately Nancie's diary for 1934 went missing a few years ago, which is a great pity. During that year she took a job in Paris with the Marquis de Chabannes and his family. Eleonore, his wife was to become her greatest friend of all with their closeness only ending with Eleonore's death.



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