We’re delighted to introduce our resident Dora, who has been at Barty House since August 2020.
Dora is a much-travelled lady who has led an interesting and full life. After her parents met at work in a Richmond laundry, Dora was born in December 1925 and grew up as an only child, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She remembers that her father always wore braces. In the photograph that Dora keeps by her bed at Barty House, her mum is wearing her sparkling white laundry uniform while her dad is sporting a traditional pair of braces.
Dora thinks that at some point in her early life she lived with her grandparents. Mr Rogers, her maternal grandfather, was a baker who worked all night and slept during the day. “He made the most wonderful bread and proper tasty cakes,” she recalls. “We had to be very quiet during the day as he would be sleeping before his night shift.” Later, Dora went on to make all the family’s Christmas and birthday cakes and feels strongly that in this she took after Mr Rogers.
Her schooldays were spent at Fort Pitt Grammar School in Chatham. The school is on top of a hill but Dora remembers it as “more of a mountain” that she had to climb twice a day “as in those days you went home for lunch,” she says. “It is still a lovely view, even now.”
After learning shorthand typing at Fort Pitt, Dora went on to work in Rochester as a typist. At that time she lived in Gillingham. One night, while walking home after seeing friends, she passed the Rose Inn Pub. Now sadly closed, the pub was where Dora met George, who later became her husband. The couple married and went on to have three girls and two boys. George worked at the nearby dockyard, although his work later took the family further afield to Singapore, Hong Kong, Malta and Gibraltar. During this time, the children attended English schools which helped Dora to make friends with the other English mums. When the family was in Singapore, Dora’s eldest child, Pam, got married. Shortly after that David, the couple’s youngest child, put in an appearance!
Dora loved the lifestyle abroad. “Looking out across the sea, dipping your toes in the water… oh, they were the days!” she said.
She cannot decide whether Malta or Singapore is her favourite among the four countries. But she remembers the time when her mother visited her in Malta. “It wasn’t like flying these days. It was all very different. My mum must have been scared making that trip all by herself,” she says.
Dora has always enjoyed walking in the countryside and seaside, taking in the fresh air. Nowadays, she looks forward to visits from her children and grandchildren.
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