Most of the maids, who worked for Janet, came to Sudeley from South Wales. They always had a winsome Welsh lilt. Most of their fathers were unemployed Welsh miners, often on the Means Test. They were often only half fed and poorly clothed when they came, in politics they were Labour minded. The girls used to come and go, typically after six months. I believe they most often left to go to London to get a better job with more money. Mr Pearce would quite regularly take the girl to Cheltenham station and collect the new one from Wales. The girls used to ask me to get them a postal order for one or two shillings and a stamp to post it to their parents. One of the things they seemed most often to want to save up for was a new overcoat. Some of the shops would allow them to buy a coat on the ‘never-never’. Janet allowed the second housemaid to go with the new girl to buy the garment, they varied in cost from £4 3s to £4 8s. Janet always advised all her girls to by a neutral coloured coat to start with. Even I was thrilled to see them in their new coat. I suppose it would be like someone buying a new car today!

In the whole of my nine and a quarter years in domestic service I never met a servant who did not have a post office account. Even if a new member of staff did not have a book to start with they would soon get one. You could put in or withdraw as little as a shilling. A person like Janet would impress upon her girls the importance of saving. Within a month of my starting work at Sudeley castle a man from the Pearl insurance company came into the pantry and persuaded Edward the footman to start a policy for £150 over 15 years.

It was halfway through December 1930 when the Dent-Brocklehurst family came from the lodge to the castle for Christmas. The last person to join was the butler who lived in the West Lodge. The Christmas party included Lord and Lady Newcastle. In arranging the visit, the Lady’s maid had to go into the servant’s hall to get a line from Sudeley to Newcastle and she discussed with the telephonist at Winchcombe the problem of the best route. The suggested route was to go from Sudeley to Birmingham then Sheffield, then Newcastle and from there to Lady Newcastle’s house. This took about 10 to 15 minutes to set up and then Mrs Dent-Brocklehurst was able to discuss with Lady Newcastle the matter of the Christmas visit.

During the visit, Edward, the footman listened to Lord Newcastle tell the other guests of the threat of the miners employed at one of his mines, to flood the mine. The Lord said that he had told the miners not to be silly and that if the mine was flooded, he would never open the mine again. I believe that he was referring to 1926 during the general strike when the miners were striking against a pay cut.

Each day would start at 6 a.m. with Janet and her flock of three Welsh girls getting out of their rooms on the second floor and coming down to the servants hall, Janet’s room was a small room near to the servants hall. Janet would give the orders to each girl as to what to do. The first thing for them was cleaning out the fire places and to set a new fire, but not to start it, in all the rooms used by the gentry. The castle did have coal fired central heating and which fires were lit depended on the weather and on whether the gentry were going out or staying in. By 7 a.m. the kitchen staff and the pantry staff would be doing their respective jobs. The kitchen range had smokeless fuel and the staff had to prepare and cook porridge and the main dish for the nursery staff and the servant.

At 7 a.m. Edward would put his apron on in the pantry and take a tray up to the dining room for the Major’s breakfast. He would also prepare a tray for Mrs Dent-Brocklehurst and leave it in the kitchen. Mr Buckingham, the butler, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, stiff collar and looking dignified would inspect the ground floor. If the Major had been sharing a bed with Mrs Dent -Brocklehurst, Mr Buckingham would not go in but the lady’s maid could go in remembering to knock and wait. One lady’s maid was a Welsh spinster of about 50. If the Major was sleeping in his own room then Mr Buckingham would come in put the light on and pull the curtains. If the Major had asked for a morning tray of biscuits and tea then Mr Buckingham would come in and place it near him. The Major might ask about the weather in which case Mr Buckingham would look out and comment briefly on it as far as he could.

I would go into the pantry, take off my jacket and put on a dark apron and then go into the servants’ hall, take a duster and clean the table, put the table cloth on and lay the table. At 7.50 a.m. I would go into the kitchen with a tray and take the food to the hall and ring the bell for breakfast. After that I would go into the pantry, take my apron off, put my jacket on and have breakfast. We would get two cups of tea, two eggs and two rashers of bacon etc, Mr Buckingham would distribute the food and then say grace, the cook would distribute the tea. During the meal Janet would find out from Mr Buckingham what the Major would be doing that day. Mr Buckingham was like Hudson of ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ and a sure source of knowledge. The Lady’s maid would also advise us concerning Mrs Dent-Brocklehurst’s movements during the day. This information was very useful for Janet as she planned the cleaning for the day. If there was any food left after breakfast then Mr Buckingham or the cook would offer it to the youngest first.

After about half an hour we would go out and do our jobs. Janet would tell the third and fourth maids to go and empty the chamber pots. On Fridays the pots had to be washed and bleached and dried and then replaced. The lady’s maid would go to Mrs Dent-Brocklehurst and at 9 a.m. Edward would come with the tray for her, which the maid would take from him outside her room and take it into her. At 10 a.m. Mrs Dent-Brocklehurst would go to the kitchen to set the menu not only for the gentry but also for the nursery and servants. Once a month Mrs Dent-Brocklehurst would inspect the servant’s bedrooms with Janet. The newspapers were delivered by a firm based in North Street, Winchcombe. Mr Buckingham used to put some clips round the newspapers and put them in the lounge and then take the old papers into the boot hall in the tower.

At about 8.30 a.m. Janet and her number two would go and complete their jobs in the gentry’s rooms by 9.00 a.m. The gentry did not want a lot of servants around their side of the castle while they were relaxing. My job at 8.30 a.m. was to take the large plates, the pots and the big tea pot into the scullery to be washed. I would then take the cutlery and crockery to the panty and wash them while Edward and Mr Buckingham would dry them. Mr Buckingham and Edward would then get items that had been used from the bedrooms and the dining room and take them to the scullery. One day in December 1930 at about 11 a.m. I was going from the boot hall to the servants’ hall when the new scullery maid was coming the other way. Instead of saying how are you etc. I started kissing her and put my arms round her. She told me I ought not to do it and I replied I could not help it. She told me to control myself and I said “Why are you not stopping me?” “Because I like it very much” she replied.

After I had finished the washing up for the servants and later the gentry I went to the ‘Boot Hall’ to clean the shoes and boots and polished the knives. I then had to go to the clothes rooms for any clothes to be brushed and scrub the hall and path weekly. I then washed my face and neck etc. and later shaved and got the food to the hall for lunch by 12 noon. After lunch Mr Buckingham, Edward and myself would again wash and dry up and we would often discuss the gentry.