June Corner and snippets from the 1930s

Snippets from the 1930s by June Corner

If anyone can find a hilarious angle to a talk then that lady is June Corner!

Renowned for her comical insights into ladies knickers, this time the Embroiderers’ Guild were taken back in time to the 1930’s when most of us were just a twinkle in our parents’ eyes!

We were regaled with reminders of this decades firsts – Women allowed to wear shorts at Wimbledon, Men’s Y Fronts, the craze for ladies to pierce their ears, the introduction of cats eyes, the first M&S store opening, polio immunisation, Beano, Millie Molly Mandy books, Lyons Corner Houses and the “nippies”.   The list was endless.

Guild members closed their eyes blissfully as they recalled dancing and singing to the hit tunes of the thirties – “Smoke Gets in your Eyes”, “Stormy Weather”, “Red Sails in the Sunset”, “When I’m Cleaning Windows”, and June’s personal favourite hit, Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood”.

This was the decade when it was customary to give hand made Christmas gifts and June presented us with a selection that she had acquired  – beautiful beadwork bags, embroidered sewing boxes, pyjama cases and delicate handkerchief sachets!

Inevitably June reverted to character and out came a variety of “Bloomers”.  Large knickers with pockets for dinner money and a hankie, which if you were “posh”, like Audlem ladies, (her words), you probably wore with liners, meaning you only had to change your outer knickers once a week!

Then there were the French Knickers, with a little button on the side. If you wore these you had to remember to carry a safety pin in your bag, as the button would often come off.

June regaled us with the story of a friend of hers who was waiting for her boyfriend, when the inevitable happened. She deftly stepped out of her French knickers, ran around the corner and posted them into the nearest postal box before her boyfriend arrived! One shudders to think what the postman must have thought.

Guild members fondly recalled distant memories of Liberty Bodices with their rubber buttons, “The Spirella Corset” lady, rags and dinky curlers, hair tongs heated on gas jets and Grandma’s boudoir cap! All now past history, but never forgotten.

June had bought a selection of thirties clothes with her. Which of us had not worn a proper wool button coat with bonnet and leggings as a child and smocked and lace dresses?

We were reminded of the standards of hygiene in the thirties when dresses were infrequently washed and often made with no sleeves, but a little cape to prevent rotting.

This was the decade when you could purchase a Vauxhall car for the princely sum of £695, petrol was 1/4d a gallon, sirloin steak 1/8d a pound, theatre stalls were 6d and the circle a shilling.

Ladies wore 4711 Cologne, and if they were “posh” Chanel No 5 perfume.  Holidays abroad meant somewhere like Anglesey, and nearly always entailed wearing a knitted or smocked swimsuit to preserve one’s modesty!

June Corner managed to add a comical twist to everyday life, leaving us all smiling inwardly at our own personal memories.

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