Betty Briggs lived in a council house in Duesbury Close, Allenton for 63 years has died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 92 years. Her son, Paul remembers Betty’s wonderful life.
Mum was born at Derby City Hospital in 1929. Ten years after the end of the First World War and ten years before the start of the Second. Her dad, Harry Harrison, was a farrier and worked with the horses in WW1 – he took some shrapnel but made it home. Her mum, Ethel, was a guard on the trains at Derby Station in WW2 and waved a tambourine in The Salvation Army. Mum had three older sisters, Hilda; Dora and Edna (Joyce). The growing family moved from Fenwick Street to Douglas Street. Her brother David was born ten years later. The toilet at Douglas Street was outside, down the shared garden path and there was no bathroom. They all used a tin bath, placed in front of the fire and you had to be careful you didn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!
Mum went to St James School during the war and was left handed. She told us that if she was caught writing with her left hand the teacher would hit it hard with a ruler. She told us about the many barrage balloons in the sky above Royces, to stop the German planes over the factory. One morning she was going out the front door when a German Plane came low over the rooftops firing bullets at those going to work. My grandma grabbed her and pulled her back inside to safety. Mum left school at 14 and was soon working on the looms at a mill in Uttoxeter Old Road. She made some good friends – one was called 'Little' Betty, At weekends they went dancing in Derby Dance Halls. One Saturday mum was having a drink with friends in the County Hotel in Sinfin, when dad (‘Bill’) was playing darts with his best friend George Baker. Dad asked mum if she wanted a drink and they got chatting. They were married at St James Church on 22 September 1951, with George as best man and soon went to live in a council house in Allenton to raise a family.
Paul Briggs
16/05/2023
