Oral Histories: Sally

Well my single name was Morris-Grodinski and when I got married I became Flood, but it didn’t flood all my memories out!

I was born in Brick Lane, in Chambord St. I can tell you what it was like when we lived in Bethnal Green because there was a lot of blackshirts there then and you had to be very careful who you spoke to and what you did and it was a bit frightening as a child. There was also a district that was linked to them that we weren’t allowed to go to. My memory isn’t as good as I’d like it to be. But yeah I do remember that.

To be honest I went to a school in Bethnal Green, we moved to Bethnal Green, and I went to the school and they were all English. One girl, Doris Flanner, I even remember her name, her mother came up to school and said (cause they put me in front with her daughter): “My daughter’s not sitting next to that Jew.” And the teacher said “Well if that’s the way you feel, you had better take her away.” And she did.

That was how it was, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t tell my family, I didn’t wanna involve them cause I know what they would have done. I didn’t want all of that. My mum was a fighter. They used to call her Biddy, cause she had the Irish colouring, the auburn hair and the blue eyes and that, and they used to love her. If there was a party of the street “We must get Biddy to come”. Cause my mum was a singer. I was very lucky actually. Cause my mum could speak to anybody. Everybody loved my mum, she was that kind of a woman. And nobody would start with my mum because she had a fiert temper as well and… I remember her having a fight with two women. And she had ‘em both by the hair pulled down and they couldn’t move. They never started with her again!

My husband had a very slow temper but when he lost it… god help you! He was Irish. He was lovely.

I did the right thing but my father didn’t speak to me for years. Must have over sixteen years. And I remember he only came over cause I had the children in the pram. Came over to speak to the children.

My father wanted to make an arranged marriage and he did bring a boy around… he was a nice boy, I had nothing against him, but I didn’t want my dad making my arrangements you know.

I am an Eastender, yeah I am. Because my family all came from there. And I remember when I was a child the things they had to put up with.

I get on with people actually. I get on with people from different religions. But I was upset, the way they treated them. They were treated differently. My father would walk along Bethnal Green and he’d have some of these young boys shouting “Jew! Jew! Jew!” after him. I remember things like that. And he wouldn’t let me turn on them cause I was going to and he said “Keep walking”.

My friend Edie, she was my best friend, she was the most popular girl in school because of her uncle being a boxer so I had the best friend I could have. and if it hadn't been for Edie i think my life would have turned out different… no she wouldn’t have let anybody…she was there.

It’s funny how life works isn’t when you think about it that I just had to be her friend and she was there to protect me, sort of thing.

There were a lot of things, but obviously I can’t remember them all. I remember fights with somebody who used to live not far off. I remember he picked on my dad and I remember going round there and my he ended up having a fight but they left my dad alone after that so we did the right thing. His father was a Rabbi so they were brought up very religious and I remember his father coming round and teaching the boys but not the girls. And I used to sit outside the door listening and as he used to come out he used to ruggle my hair. He was a lovely man but he wouldn’t teach the girls, isn’t that bad? But I learned a lot sitting outside that door.

It was a real community. They were there for each other and it was lovely. It really was. I still feel it but it’s not there, not like it was no, what can you do? That’s life. But I’ve still got good neighbours. I know that if I needed anyone I could. But I don’t make friends like I used to not in the street. Because you don’t make friends like you used to. So uh.. No it is.. People don’t seem to talk like they used to. Which is a shame. I think people were more friendly when I was younger. It was all Jewish and they were a community and they were there for each other.

I remember we lived in an upstairs flat and people downstairs used to complain about the smell of the cooking. Lovely smells but they didn’t like it.

A lot of Jews became boxers then didn’t they? It was one way of doing what you wanted, yeah. They were fighting. But they were fighting for more than just boxing. It was who they were. They were brought up fighting so it was natural to carry on. If you could fight and take… then you were alright cause people left you alone.

My sister was a Communist, a young Communist, they used to call them. And we were proud of her and she was caught up in fights but she could fight. You had to. From being a Communist because there were so many Fascists then.

We used to have them [Blackshirts] all along the street and I remember sitting out on the doorstep and the guv’nor came down, it was one of the workshops along there and he was lovely he said “would you he said “would you like to come in? I said “No thank you”. He let me sit on his doorstep. He didn’t make a big thing of it. And yet people were afraid to sit on his doorstep. But, no, he was good with me.

When I left school I did dressmaking. Along Brick Lane they were all dressmakers… I made dresses, menswear, childrens. And I loved it. I enjoyed it.

Then I worked in another place with a sweet shop opposite. And he wouldn’t take no money from me. I was about fifteen. Mind you, I started work at thirteen. So maybe i was little bit younger.

Oh I used to do a lot of writing. I used to do poems and books. I used to be a reader up the West End. I used to be on stage and used to get paid for that of course . Then when I started doing that I stopped working in the workshop cause I was earning more just reading.

I wrote about working, I wrote about what was going on, I wrote a lot of things, different things. I did stop writing because I told myself what am I gonna do with it, it’s a load of scribble so I stopped myself. That’s how I felt at the time.

I had a good upbringing. I did. I had good parents and good friends. I believe in people not in their religion in how they were and that’s how I learned. Everyone’s religion is important to them but it depends how they act towards other people, you know. That’s where the difference comes in…

[A short verse, A Corner of Whitechapel, written by Sally Flood]

Just a corner of Whitechapel

That holds this mystery,

It is part of what I am,

My family history,

One day another face will gaze upon this scene,

And wander at this garden,

Where my footsteps once had been.