Gallery Samples Stories of our Ancestors | Page 39

T HE F O U R A N D E R S O N G I R L S I N A B O U T 1 9 3 3
F r o m l e f t t o r i g h t : R u b y , V e r a , T ha l ma a n d i n f r o n t l i t t l e S t e l l a w ho mu s t h a v e
b e e n a b o ut 4 y e a r s o l d .

Ruby writes: ‘when I was in my later teens, surprise parties were all the rage. We each brought
eats and landed on someone’s doorstep for music and dancing and fun. At one such party held
at our house in July 1926, when I was 18, I met Les Hodgkiss and straight away we fell in love.
Les said it was touch and go for him because I was flirting with all the other ‘super chaps’ there.
He won my heart but he often said that it was because of the pink rose in the button hole of my
white dress that did it for him. He loved flowers.’
Les Hodgkiss, also 18 when they met, was the youngest son of John and Rebecca, whose story
will be told next. Les started his working career as a meter reader. He too came from a family
who had little money or regard for education. As far as they were concerned a Standard Eight
qualification from Boy’s Model School was more than enough education for their youngest son
to receive.
Les and Ruby ‘courted’ for seven years before Les eventually had e