The Old Greyhound Public House at Tinsley Green

On her return from Haft Kel at the end of 1937 Nancie stayed at the same hotel in London that she had previously stayed in with the Holt family. It was near Kensington Gardens and she enjoyed the lovely green grass and the 'heavenly trees. After the bare landscape of the Anglo-Iranian oilfields it must have seemed like paradise.She also went home for a few weeks and enjoyed meeting up with all her old friends. She celebrated her 25th birthday while she was there.
On July 19th 1937 Nancie returned to London by train and met a Mr Winter with his brother in law Mr Deason. A few days later she met Mrs Deason and on the 29th they left Shrubbery Gardens for Tinsley Green.
Nancie was to look after the Deasons' little daughter Diana. They lived at The Old Greyhound Pub in the village of Tinsley Green, in West Sussex. The pub has been replaced by a more modern building but is still the home of the annual World Marbles Championship. This was apparently revived in 1932 after a break of 50 years and takes place every Good Friday, the prize being a silver cup.
Nancie never mentioned this to us as children so I don't know if she was aware of the marbles connection. The old pub building is still there at the edge of the car park for the new pub building. It is just an old cottage really. There is a film of the World Marbles Championship taking place there in 1938 on you-tube, if anyone is desperate to see it!
When I first wrote these notes up I was amused to realise that I was doing it on  Good Friday. Nancie didn't stay with the Deasons for very long and didn't, as far as I know, keep in touch with them. She does mention 'working in the evening' and I take this to mean that she was expected to work behind the bar. Having been used to be waited on in her time abroad, this really wasn't her 'cup of tea'. By October of that year she was being interviewed for her next post.

Nancie's First Romance with Bill Park

Nancie left Kilmacolm School when she was about fifteen and went to work in an office at Hurry Brothers in Greenock. She found it very boring but it was probably then that she met Bill Park. He was several years older than her and she considered herself 'engaged' to him when she set off for Baghdad in 1929. On her return he bought her a ring and the engagement became official. Bill Park was at sea and travelled the world on the Prince Line, eventually becoming Chief Electrician on the 'Southern Prince'. In 1930 Nancie went off to Le Havre, in France to work. They kept in touch by letter and when Bill met a girl called 'Tissie' he asked Nancie for his ring back. She happily sent it to him but regretted it later. Bill and Tissie had a son, David but sadly she died of cancer in her thirties. Nancie considered that her early courtship had been a good life-lesson. She had her principles and wasn't going to give up on them, even with a ring on her finger. Other people, she decided were not so principled. She believed in marriage but it had to be with the right person and one who shared her moral principles. She had seen unhappiness in a marriage and wanted something better for which she was prepared to wait! Her faith and her strong moral sense kept her safe through many romantic adventures. Both jobs, in Baghdad and Haft Kel were in isolated places where females were in short supply. No wonder Nancie was never short of an escort or a dance partner!

Haft Kel - the middle of nowhere.

Nancie met quite a few young men during her time in Haft Kel. One of these was Len Smedley and others included Ken Henry, Graham Service and Denzil Ian Norman McCleod. The latter, known to her as 'Mac' was to figure quite largely in her life. Unfortunately her diary for 1936 has not survived and part of  the 1937 one is missing so there will be gaps in her story. She did always boast that she was engaged five times before she met my Father! Her first engagement was a 'useful' one that served to put off prospective suitors. She claimed to be engaged to 'someone back home'. That someone was  I think, Duncan Bryson. It was a convenient arrangement and he always took her out when she came home. Nancie and 'Mac ':

Nancie's life in Haft Kel. 1936

As you can see from the photographs Haft Kel was a bleak and desolate place for a young woman to spend a whole eight months. The scenery is like a moonscape!It was quite a long way inland from the port of Abadan. The complex's living quarters consisted of a lot of identical bungalows for the employees and a clubhouse. There was a golf course, a swimming pool, tennis courts and workshops associated with the oil business.
There was one other unattached young lady who was called Iona Watson and she and Nancie became firm friends. They met up later in London in 1937, the day before Nancie left for another job in Paris.
Life revolved around the social club and the two girls would have been in great demand for tennis, dancing and so on. They were amused to see how the wives had tried to decorate the identically furnished bungalows with fabric brought from England to bring a bit of individuality to the decor.
It must have been a strange life and eight months was probably quite enough for Nancie.

Haft Kel Anglo-Persian Oil Company Complex 1936

Nancie travels to Persia in 1936

Her is the actual pass provided for one of  her trips on shore as a 'crew member'! After leaving Antwerp they spent two days in Rotterdam and then continued to Dunkirk where Nancie, Mrs Rodgers and Ann went ashore to do some shipping. Nancie, being a fluent French speaker after so many years living in France acted as interpreter.
By this time the weather had calmed down and they had a good sail along the English Channel. When they reached the Bay of Biscay there was 'a bit of a swell' but Nancie would later report proudly that she only missed one meal!
She must have found the 'No smoking on board' rule quite difficult. As children we remember her telling us how careful they all had to be on board the oil tanker as even a spark from metal on  a shoe sole could cause a disaster.
The journey took 6 weeks in all. As they sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar they were 'shadowed' by fighter planes with machine guns aimed at them. From there they had a lovely sail across the Mediterranean to Port Said in Egypt where, in beautiful weather, the ladies went ashore to shop and Nancie went off on her own in a 'gharri' (horse-drawn cab) to explore the Arab and Egyptian quarters  and saw much more of the area than the others.
The British Commodore then sailed down the Suez Canal and round the Arabian Peninsula, up to Abadan in the Persian Gulf.

Nancie goes to Haft Kel, on the Persian Gulf in 1936

Nancie's next job, in 1936, was with an English family called Rodgers. She went out with Mrs Rodgers and her young daughter Ann, to live on a complex on the Anglo-Iranian oilfields, at Haft Kel, on the Persian Gulf.
They travelled out on the British Commodore, one of the fleet of oil tankers belonging to the company. Sailing from Newcastle they got caught in a terrific storm. There were four other passengers, in addition to Nancie, Ann and Mrs Rodgers. The boat got as far as Deal, Kent and had to anchor off shore as the weather was too bad to risk the crossing to Antwerp. Nancie's Mother was going frantic, at home in Scotland, ringing the Anglo-Persian Oil Company for news. Apparently
ships were sinking all over the English Channel.
In her memoirs Nancie said that the Goodwin Lightship overturned , not far from where they were but I can find no evidence of this. There was, however a German lightship that overturned at that time in  the mouth of the River Elbe, with the loss of 25 of her crew in what was described as a 'hurricane'.
Eventually the British Commodore made it across to Antwerp where Nancie went ashore as 'one of the crew' with the First officer, the Radio Officer and another crew member. She introduced them to Pernod, which they had never heard of, with 'disastrous' results. They probably wanted to celebrate having ridden out the storm safely. Back at home, Nancie's Mother was mightily relieved to hear that they were still afloat!