It was 1966 and Muriel had been working at Kings College Hospital Denmark Hill in South London for about a year when Angela announced that she was emigrating to Melbourne in Australia to take a job as a medical secretary in the Urology Unit at the Alfred Hospital. The Australian Government were sponsoring immigrants so Angela went by sea (4 weeks) for 10 pound Sterling!
Within a year she had become engaged to John Clements whom she met at St.George's Presbyterian Church Melbourne. Her
wedding photo is on the right. Angela wanted a Spanish Mantilla style headress which she had made by a dressmaker. Mum
Dorothea found a lovely outfit of peach with coffee lace - she congratulates Angela at left.
Muriel went with her Mum by to Australia by sea on the Greek ship (Chandris Lines)the Ellinis and was a bridesmaid along with John's sister Roberta at their wedding.
Muriel stayed in Australia for a year working at the Veterans Repatriation Hospital Heidelberg in Melbourne and at the Royal Brisbane Hospital in Queensland. She also worked as a typist at a factory in Melbourne for a month when there was no work for an Occupational Therapist(OT)!
Muriel returned to the UK after a year and Dorothea returned after 2 years. Muriel reconnected with her OT friends Jane (seen her with husband Mike and their first child Catherine) who lived in Twickenham and would go and stay with them when time permitted.
Paddy remained (and still does) a very dear friend and this picture was taken in Devon when they returned to check out their old stomping ground) sometime after 1967.
The next post will follow Muriel to Canada in 1970 and will catch up with Angela who leads a peripetatic life living in a total of 14 cities in Australia with her two children Natalie and Stuart.
In the early days when the twins were ages 4-8 Dorothea and Stanley would take them to holiday cottages usually near the sea. This picture was taken at the General Store in Bacton Norfolk.
Muriel and Angela were kept busy on weekends because when they were only 10 Stanley was admitted to a very large and frightening psychiatric hospital in Tooting Bec called Springfield Hospital - most of these are now turned into condominiums. There were about 2,000 patients and huge grounds. Stanley had developed what was called "Pre-senile Dementia" caused by arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. In those days they didn't know how to deal with it so incarcerated patients who exhibited delusions or hallucinations - very upsetting for our family. We didn't have a car or a phone and it took about an hour and a half to travel there by train and bus. Dorothea wanted her daughters to do other things on weekends where possible so we were encouraged to join our local Anglican church youth club, Sunday School and choir which gave us plenty to do on the weekends.
The next picture is of Muriel's "dorm" at the church CovenanterCamp at lovely Mabledonin Tonbridge Kent. We used to go away at Easter and had a lot of fun - they were not mixed camps but girls only!
The photo on the right was taken at a different church camp usually held in mansions that were private schools in term time - Muriel and Angela became camp "officers" at 14 and continued until 18 years of age. It was a great way to get a free holiday and it also taught them organization.
Sadly Stanley died in 1959 at the age of 61 (he was 14 years older than Dorothea) and the twins were 15. It was the same year that they had to take their O level GCE's and amazingly they passed their exams in spite of the emotional upheaval! the pictures below are of Stanley with his left leg amputated (due to a faulty dressing on a cut corn!)with Dorothea's half sister Olive and the second photo is with Dorothea in Kew Gardens on his first outing after being admitted to Springfield.
The next photo is taken on an outing to the Seaside with Angela's Polytech friends. Angela and Muriel are in the front wearing headscarves - it was the usual cold and windy day!! This was taken in 1961 as Angela left school at 16 and went to Chiswick Polytechnical College to become a qualified secretary and administrative assistant. Her first job was in "posh" Mayfair London where she worked at The English Speaking Union in Berkley Square. She loved it and then moved on to Hammersmith Hospital where she worked in the Chest clinic with among other physicians the famous Dr Roger Bannister who ran the first 4 minute Mile!
Meanwhile Muriel stayed on at school and became Head Prefect responsible for looking after order in the school - great fun! She applied to St.Loyes School of Occupational Therapy in 1962 and got in and loved Exeter with its old pubs and beautiful cathedral - she also joined the St.Luke's choral society while there and sang many a Requiem in the amazing Cathedral. The photo to the right is of Paddy and Jane and Muriel (known as Mogs) holding a femur and two skulls!! Paddy and Muriel are still great friends and have enjoyed many a holiday together. Jane in the middle is married to Mike and Muriel has visited with them over the years and will be seeing both Jane and Paddy in September 2010 when she attends Paddy's son's wedding in Gloucestershire. Muriel is the weird one with the woolly hat on the left - Jane is in the middle and Paddy to the right.
The photo to the left is of Angela and Muriel at the Christening of their cousin Joan's (Olive's daughter)daughter Jayne. The twins were good at sewing and made their own outfits - Muriel made her hat by drawing around a wastepaper basket!!This was 1965 a year before Muriel graduated from OT School at Exeter Devon.
This brings the twins up to 21 when Muriel finished OT School and Angela decided to emigrate to Australia. The next blog will follow the twins as they went their different ways.
