Our mothers trained to be teachers during WW2 at Edge Hill Teachers Training College. The Edge Hill campus was requisitioned for use as a military hospital and the students were relocated to Bingley Training College, near Bradford.
The attached note about VE Day was written by Joyce (Cath’s Mum) and mentions her roommate, Stella (Annie’s Mum) and another friend Irene. The three qualified as teachers and kept in touch for decades, all living in the northwest. Joyce and Stella would meet up with their families twice a year. They stayed in contact by phone and Christmas and birthday cards after Stella retired to Somerset in 1980. When they both became frailer and not inclined to write cards anymore, we (Cath and Annie) reconnected after 50+ years to pass on messages between the friends of 80 years.
Joyce is approaching her 100th birthday later this year. She often talks of Stella and Irene, their holidays in Switzerland and France (which was quite adventurous for three young women just after the war) and also of VE Day. Stella died in 2023. We read out part of this note about VE Day at her funeral – including the part about drinking cider in the park, which to us family seemed so unlikely!
