Iris Mignon Calver, known as Miggie, seen here in 1932.

Born in 1909 Miggie was the youngest of the Calver girls. She married Willam Edward Alexander Branch in Leyton, London in 1932. Both her parents were able to attend.

Miggie is the mother of Chris Branch who has kindly loaned us all the Calver images and has taken immense trouble to add information to them.

Chris Branch says in 2011:
" Mum b.1909 (Miggie) and Dad (Bill Branch) b.1907 married in 1932 but I was not born until 14 years afterward when she was 36 and he was 38. Times were hard; Miggie worked at Gordon and Gotches as a typist and then Selfridges in London. Bill was a Civil Servant gaining the Imperial Service Medal for long service before retiring at 65. They had honey-mooned at Ventnor in the Isle of Wight in 1932 but Miggie always longed to returned to HOME. They also spent one holiday at Heacham in a caravan but otherwise Station Farm was the place to be - No place like HOME. And I must agree.

They visited Alistair Hill, mum's then widowed brother-in-Law in October 1967. He had returned to live in Scotland where he had recently married his second wife. Bill's brother Douglas Branch had married an italian Adelia in 1946. Douglas worked for BP during the 70's/80's then and for a while lived in Milan. Bill and Iris accepted an invitation to visit them in Italy once the Family connection to Station Farm had been severed following its sale in 1978 for £200K.

During the War, Miggie was working for Cable and Wireless and actually worked at Bletchley Park where intercepted radio messages were decoded using Enigma. She must have got the job through Cecil Herniman, (her sister Ethel's partner) who also worked for Cable and Wireless pre-war.

Bill served out his war in Nassau in the Bahamas and obtained autographs of both the Governor: Edward Windsor and of his wife Wallace Windsor, on a programme of music dated 3 February 1945. It is to be auctioned by W&H Peacock on 7th October 2011 with a couple of unique photos that my father Bill took at the time.

In the 1960's Bill's brother Douglas was summoned to Claridges Hotel in London by the Duke of Windsor and his wife Wallace who he also met. The Duke wished to purchase some scientific instruments that my Uncle's firm : Short & Mason, London pruduced. A second visit that week to Claridges was arranged for Douglas to show samples and Bill lent his brother (Douglas) the origial autographed Programme and the photos to show the Windsors, which he duly did.

After their marriage in 1932 to make ends meet my parents lodged with Mum's sister Dollie and Alistair Hill in Sidcup, Kent. During the war until despatched to Bletchley Park, Mum told me about the blitz and bombing of the London Docks at night how it was visible and could be seen and heard from Sidcup.

Mum and Dad also worked at the Dogs - on the Tote at Harringay, and at White City, after a full days work, but they never earnt quite enough to buy a home of their own.

Re-united in 1945 after the war Miggie and Bill took posession of a rented flat - until then occupied by her sister Ether and Cecil Herniman, who had just moved to the next street and were buying a house near by. They lived there until 1957 when their occupancy was questioned, but fortunately were allowed to remain after a court case ruling.

When I was four, Mum had a thyroid operation in 1950 and then stayed a house-wife and mother. I married Diane in 1967 and moved to Great Barford. Dad (Bill) died aged 79 after an operation, while under anesthetic in 1987.

Mum stayed in London for 3 more years but became deeply depressed as Diane and I had moved to Bedford in 1971, so she was then left alone.

Fortunately I was able to get help from Bedford Borough Council to have her transferred from the private rented flat to Bedford (into a Housing Association Warden Controlled Bedsit - just three minutes walk from my office.). Her depression vanished and she enjoyed most of her final four years pottering around in Bedford town, and by "The Embankment" where there are beautiful formal gardens next to the River Great Ouse which is now navigable from Bedford to King's Lynn and "The Wash" (The River Great Ouse passes through our village of Great Barford and is shown on my own website www.uniqueviewsgreatbarford.com.)

Opposite her London flat another sister: Marjory and her husband John Leggett and my cousin Pat b.1944 had lived but excepting Pat, they too died and John's second wife moved away.

So you see how the Calver girls relied on one another for accommodation, getting jobs and being close to each other and all of them enjoyed return trips to "HOME" which was Station Farm. But as things changed and family ties were removed tough decisons had to be made to help Mum move on.

We were able to make several more drive Pasts with mum before she died in 1994 after a long and very varied life."

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Wednesday 29 June 2011

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