Interviewer

So, good morning. Could I ask your name?

Arlene

My name is Arlene.

Interviewer

And, could I ask which friends group we’re talking about today?

Arlene

Care home at Larchwood

Interviewer

Excellent. And could I ask how old you are?

Arlene

I’m 79.

Interviewer

Thank you,  and looking good.

Arlene

Thank you.

Interviewer

So we’ve been having a bit of a chat. And, what I’ve discovered is that you didn’t spend your early years in the UK. So where were you born and where did you grow up?

Arlene

I was born in what was then Bombay, now called Mumbai. When I was 2, my parents moved to a fairly small town called Jabalpur, and that’s where I went to school, Christchurch school in Jabalpur. My sister was born four years later, and she went there as well. The family left India in August of 1961 to come to the UK.

Interviewer

So why did the family decide to come to the UK?

Arlene

After partition, my father found it very difficult to get on. There were trying to change his job to talk in Hindi.  He was not fluent in the language, , and he just decided that they’d come here for a better life. He had tried for 10 years to leave India. He applied to Australia, to Canada, and to England and it took 10 years for him to finally get permission to bring his family, and come to England.

Interviewer

So you came to England, and where did you settle?

Arlene

We went to a rental flat in West London, Ladbroke Grove. And that was where my mother lived until she moved to Larchwood Care Home in Braintree in 2014. She moved to Larchwood in 2014.

Interviewer

So you come from India to West London?  And do you have more education in England?

Arlene

Yes,  I couldn’t finish my education in India because we came when I was 15, so  I went to night school, and I did my Maths  and English GCSCE, O levels. I also did a Pitmans shorthand & typing course, again at night school, for three years.

Interviewer

And what sort of career does that take you into?

Arlene

As soon as we landed my father told me I had to go our and find a job to help the family budget. My shorthand and typing were the skills that enabled me to get secretarial/typing jobs. I went to Brook Street Bureau, as it was then, in Notting Hill Gate. Do you remember?

Interviewer

I do.

Arlene

They sent me for an interview a photographic studio in Kensington High Street. So I went there, and it was to assist a South African lady called Mrs. Beard, bless her, she was the accountant. I got there for the interview, and she said, ‘’right, you can start work right now’’, and gave me all these tasks, I had no idea what I was doing. I’d never worked in an office before, and it just progressed. And I was there five years in the end at that studio, and by the time I left, Mrs. Beard had been given the push, and I ended up doing all her jobs.

Interviewer

Impressive.

Arlene

Yes. Obviously she was too expensive. I was cheaper.

Interviewer

And I get the impression from our talk that you probably worked for most of your life.

Arlene

Oh, from the age of 15 and three quarters, till I retired in 1995, I worked. And even after I left in 1995, I still worked for the company,  in the Law School. I used to go there two days a week, commuting, driving in to Holborn. But then after two years, I thought this is too much. And that was it. I suppose 1999 was my last working year.

Interviewer

And we are now,  for people who don’t know where we are, I would say we are in the Essex countryside now.

Arlene

Yes we are.

Interviewer

We are not really in West London. So when does the move from West London to here happen?

Arlene

Well, from West London I moved to Thornton Heath. I lived there for a couple of years and I used to work in South London, I worked for Pride and Clarke,  who were the first big importers of Toyota cars.  I worked for the Managing Director there, but left as  I was pregnant with my first child. I had to leave. because you did in those days, you didn’t have maternity leave. Then after my daughter was born, we moved to Holloway in North London. From there we moved to Crouch End.

Interviewer

Crouch End is very nice now.

Arlene

Well it was, it’s kind of a bit crowded now. My friend Anne, who had also lived in Crouch End has moved out, funnily enough to Essex. And then from Crouch End we moved to Saffron Walden because my husband was fed up with living in London, and he wanted to get out. So we ended up in Saffron Walden and we lived there for 18 years before moving here.

Interviewer

Okay. And in all that time, and all that moving around, did you do any volunteering?

Arlene

No, I didn’t do any, it didn’t even occur to me until my Mum went into Larchwood in 2014. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and she was living in West London. I used to drive every week to see her. She was then starting to wander about on the streets, and the warden from her sheltered accommodation,  would be ringing and say that “Mum’s had a fall”. So we decided that the time had come to move her near us.  We looked for a care home in Braintree, and she was there from August, 2014 untill she died in April, 2015. So not very long really. It was while she was in there, and after she died, the Manager at the time said, “Arlene, why don’t you come and volunteer?” She put that thought in my head, and I thought, yes, I’ve seen people here, and I’ve seen how there are people who don’t get visitors or family, and I like chatting to people. So that’s how it started, David.

Interviewer

Excellent. And so what sort of things do you do volunteering now? What do you get involved in?

Arlene

Talking.  I love to go into rooms and talk. Obviously lots of them don’t want to talk, but those who do will talk, and I’ll sit there, and chat to them, you know. With the activities, we used to do art things, painting and drawing, sticking cards, knitting but they don’t seem to do that now on the day I go in. Now it’s Songs and Smiles on a Tuesday. So that is mainly what I do. At lunch time I help residents who need help feeding themselves

Interviewer

But also talking to you, you seem to have got involved in doing some other things as well with the local church, for example.

Arlene

That came about after my husband died in November of 2023. My daughter went to the local vicar, and asked, ‘’Is there anything my Mum can volunteer at?’’ Very nice of her to put my name forward. The vicar was here the next week, and said, ‘’oh, we would love to have you. We run a lunch club, and there are always things to do’’. So I thought, ‘yes, why not?’’ So that’s how I ended up volunteering at the church lunch and soup clubs. I do that once a week on Thursday. They also do a lot of fundraising. And last Saturday, I did a nine hour sting for Midsummer Tea at the church, which was full on. But they made a lot of money for the church funds. We had over 70 people turn up, and they enjoyed it. I’ve never buttered rolls in a vestry before in my life. That’s what I was doing last Saturday. Putting together cake stands, and making the tea, and taking them out to people in the marquee. It was a brilliant day, and it was very good. Yes. It is the second one I’ve done actually. The first one was last year. We also hold fund-raising dinners. We did a St. Patrick’s night dinner and there is a Mamma Mia evening next month, and a Puds and Proseccos evening in August.

Interviewer

So you, I mean it’s interesting because you were clearly very busy, and conscientious in your working career, and now you feel just as busy, and conscientious in your volunteering career. Is that fair?

Arlene

That is fair because I hate being stuck in the house, not having anyone to talk to.  Number one it gets me out, and number two, I like doing it, you know, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. Obviously everyone thinks I do too much, and my garden is suffering because I’m spending more time elsewhere.

Interviewer

Oh, but you can always get a gardener, can you?

Arlene

I could, but I like doing it myself. I need to cut the grass.

Interviewer

So  do you have any favourite memory of any volunteering that you do? It doesn’t have to be at Larchwood, it could be anywhere. Do you have anything that particularly resonates?

Arlene

Well my main volunteering was Larchwood. There are quite a lot of people I still remember but it makes me sad when I turn up there, and find someone I spoke to a fortnight ago has passed away.

Interviewer

No, is there anything else you want to tell me?

Arlene

To what

Interviewer

I don’t know, anything you think about that you’ve been thinking about? Thinking well I must mention that, and you haven’t had the chance to.

Arlene

No, I think I’ve probably said more than I should already.

Interviewer

No, you haven’t. It’s been lovely. And can I say how much we’ve appreciated spending time with you and getting to know some of your stories today as well?

Arlene

I’ve known you now for the last what, 10 years?  I’ve been volunteering since end of 2015, beginning of 2016. Yes. It’s quite a long time.

Interviewer

Well, I can remember. So I didn’t interview you, Nichole interviewed you, she interviewed you, and she told me that she’d met you, and you were “going be the perfect volunteer, she’s going to fit in really well”. And I have to say it’s been great. So thank you. Thank you,

Arlene

Thank you., I enjoy it.