Having each other still so important (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Having each other still so important

9:16am Tuesday 1st September 2009 in

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The five Mitchell siblings hail from a generation which made the best out of what little they had.

The family lived in a back-to-back in Mountain, Queensbury, kept spick and span by their devoted mother, Jenny.

The house was one of a number of rented properties belonging to textile manufacturer Paul Speake. Olive, the eldest of the Mitchells, recalls him riding past in his carriage, checking that doorknobs and steps were polished and painted.

Parents Jenny and Albert, a worker at Speake’s mill, who became a Bradford councillor and charity supporter, lived through the ‘make-do-and-mend’ era.

“Mum could turn her hand to anything. Somebody would give her a good coat, and she would wash it and unpick it and make a coat for anybody who needed it,” says Olive.

Meals were simple as the family couldn’t always afford meat, but their parents ensured the food on their plate was hearty and wholesome. “We would have potatoes and onions. If we could afford, there would be corned beef in it,” recalls Olive.

She also remembers her father singing to fund a joint of meat for the family’s Sunday dinner. “When he went out singing, the money went towards food. They always made sure we had shoes and a bowl of fruit.” says Olive. “It sounds poor, but we never knew any different. What we didn’t have we didn’t worry about.

“I’m not crying the poor tale, because everybody was poor. We were lucky; we were always kept spotless. We were nicely dressed and our home was immaculate.”

The most important thing they had, and which they still have, is each other. Now the siblings, who are all in their 80s, have been reunited for a milestone birthday celebration.

They met up for Reg’s 80th birthday party at brother Donald’s Pudsey home. It was the first time the three brothers and two sisters had been together in the same room for more than a decade. They speak to each other regularly on the phone, but age and ailments prevent them from travelling or visiting as often as they used to.

While Olive, 88, lives with her daughter and her family in Clayton, her siblings are scattered around West Yorkshire, apart from Reg, who lives in Warwick. He moved there from Stratford, where he wrote plays. His love of the theatre began at Bradford Playhouse, where he coached some well-known actors and actresses for RADA.

Following in her father’s footsteps, Reg’s eldest daughter, Ruth, is a TV actress who has appeared in dramas such as The Bill and Heartbeat. She is best known for her appearance in Eighties TV series Joint Account.

Reg, the youngest of the brood, returned home from the Forces to take up a research fellowship in the textile department at the former Bradford Technical College. He spent much of his working life in the Civil Service and, in 1990, was awarded the OBE for his services to the Department of Employment.

Six years ago Olive had open-heart surgery. “I now have a pig’s valve,” she says, referring to the implant in her heart. The former telephonist and receptionist recalls watching the first-ever televised heart transplant carried out in South Africa 50 years ago.

Olive’s 86-year-old sister Edna emigrated to America after meeting her ex-husband, an American airman, while she was serving in the Women’s Auxillary Air Force but homesickness brought her back home to Bradford.

Edna inherited her mother’s seamstress skills, working as a dressmaker at the former Bradford department store Busbys, before joining the WAAF. She married a newsagent and ran five shops in Bradford.

Brother Donald, 82, ran two newsagent’s shops in the city before joining the Post Office. He ran the Armley branch until his retirement in 1990, and was rewarded for his bravery after foiling an armed robbery. “He had a shotgun. I just hit the alarm and stayed behind the counter,” says Donald, who received a cash reward from his employers.

Donald’s fondest memory of growing up in Mountain was of his mum taking him and his siblings to sit in a nearby field and pointing out Paul Speake’s mill where their father worked. “We’d look over to smoky Bradford, as it was then,” says Donald.

Raymond, of Heaton, was born in Scotland where the family briefly moved for their father’s work. He served his apprenticeship in electrical engineering and served with the Royal Corps of Signals. Raymond was in active service in Italy, then in occupation service in Germany. He became a self-employed insurance salesman and also ran three pubs.

So what’s the family’s secret to a long life? “Not giving in to age!” says Donald.