Legacy
Legacy
Please note: this post is 58 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only
Valentines, galentines, palentines, whichever way you celebrate, February was the month of love and friendship. So for this months’ storytelling blog, we thought we’d champion our Love Your Neighbour programme, which brings people together to champion neighbourliness and connection year-round.
One neighbour on the programme who is the epitome of neighbourliness is Josephine, 87. Josephine has lived on the same quiet street in West Norwood for 53 years, and when I come to her house, I’m instantly greeted with a slice of (delicious) victoria sponge and a cup of tea. And as we sit down to talk, it’s apparent she knows everyone on her road. ‘Well, she’s a sister in the hospital, and he used to work in the probation service. And next to them, she’s just had another baby.’
‘My best neighbours lived a few doors down for 30 years, but when they retired they moved out of London. I still miss them.’ It’s precisely this kind of deeper connection that a lot of us lack in London, and is the main reason why younger neighbours in particular sign up to volunteer with South London Cares.
For Josephine, a born and bred Londoner, South London Cares was introduced to her through a friend back in 2015, and she signed up as she liked the look of our dancing, coffee and script reading clubs. Since 2018, Josephine has been matched with Becky through our Love Your Neighbour programme. Becky visits each week for a cup of tea and a chat with her friend.
Love Your Neighbour gives people who ordinarily wouldn’t meet the chance to share stories with one another, and find things in common. Spending an afternoon with Josephine hearing her stories, I was reminded just how rich the experience volunteering on this programme can be.
Josephine and her brother were evacuated from London when she was seven. They stayed by the sea for two years before her father decided that they should go to a private mixed boarding school. ‘I hated boarding school - can you imagine, we used to hear these bombers go over every night, and I used to think, will they kill my mother and father, will I ever see them again? I used to be terrified the whole time.’
(below, Josephine, on the right, and her brother playing on Hyde Parks Rotten Row, before they were evacuated)
I’m lucky that I can’t imagine anything so scary. But when Josephine accounts for the various jobs she’s had over her long career, we find something in common. Moving from place to place in search of the perfect job is something I think a lot of us can relate to! Josephine tells me of her first-ever job, as a hairdresser at the Ritz Hotel. While that might sound glamorous, Josephine shudders as she recounts a story of a mother and daughter coming in to get their hair done together for a debutante ball. “The main hairdresser did the mother's hair, and I had to do the daughter. Of course, I wasn’t trained, I had no idea what I was doing! The woman was incensed! So that was the end of my career at the Ritz!”
(Right, Josephine, her brother and their nanny on the way to Hyde Park)
Eventually, though, Josephine found her perfect job, as a manager at a college in Belgravia. “They treated you very well. The pay wasn’t amazing, but we used to get three months of the year off with full pay when the officers were on tours. I stayed there for so long because we were treated so well.” Josephine was awarded an MBE for her work, and has many anecdotes of her time at the barracks, including meeting the entire Royal Family! “Princess Alexandra was lovely, talking to us all. She was so down to earth”.
“There are loads more stories, but I can’t tell you everything!” Josephine laughs. And it’s true, one afternoon isn’t enough. That’s why our Love Your Neighbour programme is so unique, giving neighbours space to share stories week in, week out.