Brenda Ashford - A Spoonful of Sugar: A Nannys Story

FROM BRITAINS OLDEST LIVING NANNY COMES A CHARMING AND UPLIFTING MEMOIR OF A REAL-LIFE MARY POPPINS

Brenda Ashford is the quintessential British nanny. Prim and proper, gentle and kind, with a subtle wit and a no-nonsense attitude, she seems to have stepped straight out of Mary Poppins . Every year during the holiday season, Brenda receives more than one hundred Christmas cards from the children and families shes taken care of throughout her sixty-two-year career. From tough East End evacuees to pampered children of wealthy aristocrats, Nanny Brenda has taught children to be happy, healthy, and thoroughly well bred. In her extraordinary memoir, she shares her endearing, amusing, and sometimes downright bizarre experiences turning generations of British children into successful adults.

As a teenager, Brenda attended Londons prestigious Norland Institute, famous for producing top-class nannies. Norland nannies were the most sought afterfrom the white-gloved mansions of Kensington to the manor homes in the English countryside, it was a sign of wealth and status if the children of the well-to-do were seen being pushed in their Silver Cross prams by a Norland nannyrecognizable by their crisp, starched black uniforms with the white bib collars, and their flowing black capes lined with red silk. The training was rigorous and discipline strictly enforced, as Brenda and her classmates scrambled to pass inspections on everything from morality and neatness to needlework and pram pushing. For the next sixty-two years Brenda devoted herself to the care of other peoples children, opening her warm heart and gentle soul to countless boys and girls.

With her jolly wit, charm, and plucky enthusiasm, Brenda narrates in vivid detail the remarkable life of a British nanny. A Spoonful of Sugar is a rare gem: a real-life, irresistible memoir of a woman who is practically perfect in every way.

BRENDA ASHFORD is a graduate of Norland College, a world-famous institute for British nannies. For sixty-two years, she cared for more than one hundred children, making her Britains longest-serving nanny. She lives outside of London.

Published by Doubleday 2013.

This is an uncorrected eBook file. Please do not quote for publication until you check your copy against the finished book.

Copyright 2013 by Brenda Ashford

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.doubleday.com

DOUBLEDAY and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

With thanks to the Hothfield History Society; Geoff Webb, author of A Redbourn Commoner ; Katherine Stone of the War Studies Department, Kings College, London; Penelope Stokes, author of Norland: The Story of the First One Hundred Years, 18921992 , published by the Norland College in 1992; Susan Briggs, author of Keep Smiling Through and The Home Front: War Years in Britain, 19391945 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd, 1975); Kevin Telfer, author of The Remarkable Story of Great Ormond Street Hospital (London: Simon & Schuster 2008); and Richard Holmes, author of Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 19141918 (London: Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins 2004).

Book design by Pei Loi Koay

Jacket design by [to come]

Jacket illustration Jessica Hische

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING - IN - PUBLICATION DATA

[to come]

ISBN 978-0-385-53641-7

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

Dedication

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Epigraph

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C ONTENTS

P REFACE

T HIS BOOK CAME ABOUT (out of the blue), via the Norland College, at a time when I was getting very tired of being confined to my flat following a hip operation. I was asked if I was interested in writing about my time as a Norland nurse before and after World War Two. My immediate reaction was one of excitement, but I also felt very daunted at the prospect. I neednt have worried. Kate Thompson, whose help has been invaluable, came to see me soon afterward, bringing her six-week-old son, Stanley. I had the privilege of giving him a bottle throughout our first meeting. Right from the start Kate and I got along so well together. My sincere thanks go to her for the hard work, research, and dedication to the making of the book. I am truly indebted to her.

I am grateful to my two brothers Christopher and David, who have been so encouraging all along, and to the friends who have allowed me to write about the time I spent with them and their families. We have changed names and some locations for confidentiality.

My sincere thanks go to my agent, Diane Banks; the editors at Doubleday/Random House; and also to the Norland College, for all their help, encouragement, and friendliness throughout the writing of this book. Without them it would never have made it into print.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the warden Julia and my friends in sheltered accommodation where I now live, also my many friends in the Baptist church where I worship, for their prayers, encouragement, and support.

Above all, I thank God for his love and care for me throughout my ninety-two years.

Brenda Ashford

P ROLOGUE

CLIFTON COURT RESIDEN TIAL HOME

OLNEY , BUCKINGHAMSHIR E , ENGLAND

[ 2011 , AGE NINETY ]

Sunday Schedule

: AM :Wake up, wash, and dress.

: AM :Eat breakfast of cereal with banana and cream.

: AM :Receive my daily call from my little brother David.

: AM T o : PM : I used to get out and tend the residents communal garden until I suffered a fall, after which I could no longer tolerate the physical strain of gardening. The morning is punctuated by visits from the warden or friends from the church who pop in for coffee. If fine, I always try to get out for a walk. When people hit ninety they seem to stop walking. Well, thats not going to happen to me. I shall never give up; and even if its a small walk in the garden, I try to get out every morning.

: PM :Eat hot lunch, followed by a pudding in the residents lounge.

: PM :Watch the news on the television.

: PM :Bake a chocolate cake or biscuits.

: PM :Take phone calls from former charges, asking after me, or from church members.

: PM :Have a light supper of homemade sausage and mash or chicken casserole.

: PM :Watch television. I love One Born Every Minute , a real-life documentary about babies and childbirth; Downton Abbey ; and Upstairs, Downstairs .

: PM :Wash and undress slowly. Read proverbs from the Bible, then lights out by 10 PM .

T HE TIME IS : AM; the date is Christmas Eve, 2011.

I smile as I pull back my bedroom curtains. A little warm glow that starts in my toes soon tingles up the length of my spine. I simply adore Christmas eve. No other day on the calendar promises quite so much joy and magic.

Right on cue a light dusting of snow falls from the white skies and settles on the chimney tops outside. A breath of wind picks up a white feather from the ground and I watch transfixed as it dances, floats, and flutters into the air.

A white Christmas, I murmur. How perfect.