KATH DOLLING (nee Smith) and EVACUATION
THE wail of air-raid sirens over Penge, South-East London on Sunday 3rd
September 1939 dramatically changed the life of eight-year-old Kathie Smith.
She had lived as a shy, only child, with her partially-sighted Mum and elderly
Dad, a retired merchant seaman and widower. Kath was born when her
mother was 45 and Dad 66!
The Government’s evacuation scheme for London children found Kath and
her school friend Pamela Houghton (later married to Robert Gomm of
Chesham) happily relocated to the beautiful country home of Sir Cyril
Reginald Sutton Kirkpatrick in Little Chalfont. He was Chief Engineer for the
Port of London Authority and responsible for the erection of many famous
bridges, including the King Edward Vll bridge over the Tyne.
The gardens and barns surrounding the rambling old house were a haven of
delight for two small children from South London. An orchard, knee-deep in
daffodils in spring, abounded in apples. “We could eat any windfalls but
sometimes couldn’t resist ’heading’ a few perfect specimens” Kath recalls.
Roses of every hue offered hips and haws for harvesting – officially to be
taken to Chenies School to be made up into nutritious syrup for babies, but a
more exciting use was found to be itching powder to put into Lady K’s
hairbrushes. (The seeds inside the hips are covered in tiny burrs).
Frau Mueller and Frau Claussen, cook and parlour-maid respectively, (Jewish
refugees from Germany) were particularly kind to Kath and Pam, providing
tasty soups on cold winter days on returning from school in their large cosy
kitchen. When Kath missed the school pantomime at Christmas through
contracting chickenpox, she was treated “like a little princess” when confined
to bed. In TV-less evenings Lady Pauline Kirkpatrick would gather them
round the white grand piano in the drawing room, and teach them to
appreciate French songs and carols. All this because Pam’s granddad once
worked with Sir Cyril at the London Docks, and her gran had been
housekeeper for them pre-war.
Little wonder that when Kath’s Dad arrived in the Spring of 1940 to take her
home to Penge, because there was no bombing and her Mum missed her,
she wept all the way back to London.
September 1940 saw the start of the blitz, and Kath’s father, who had just
opened a sweetshop in Maple Road, Penge, sold up and decided to take his
family to safety. ‘Loudhams’ was unable to accommodate them, having taken
in other evacuees, so the 709 Green Line bus dropped them, with a couple of
suitcases and Gyp their dog in Chesham Broadway.
An elderly man, leaning on the railings on ‘The Plough’ public house at the
bottom of Whitehill took them under his wing. “My wife goes to Newtown
Chapel. Come home with me for some soup. She’ll know someone who can
take you in”. That someone was Miss Maud Ebbs, who had a semi-detached
house in Gladstone Road. She kindly allocated them a bedroom, but poor
Gyp had to be put down. With more attacks on London, the house soon
became overcrowded, and Kath and her family were taken in by Mr & Mrs
Scott of Vale Road. They had a young son Alan, who was a keen stampcollector, and a younger daughter, Marie, who was good company for Kath.
There was also another boy evacuee name Terry Fitzgerald. All managed to
live amicably in a small three-bedroomed semi.
Sweet violets then grew along the roadside down the Vale which Kath and her
school friend Margaret Palmer (now Barnard) made into bunches to give to
their landladies.
Eventually the Smith’s were offered two rooms in a house belonging to Bill
Palmer, a dairy farmer from The Vale, and uncle to Deirdre Lacey (now
Britten) one of Kath’s school friends. Bill’s elderly Aunt Bella occupied the
front room of 172 Broad Street, and Kath enjoyed reading Enid Blyton’s
‘The Wishing Chair’ by candlelight to the old lady each evening beside the
fire.
During this period. Kath’s aged father (then 78) obtained work as a nightwatchman at the Empire Works at the top of Station Road. This was originally
the Empire Theatre but was converted to making small aeroplane parts for the
war effort. This meant that Kath no longer had to sleep on a mattress on the
floor, except at weekends. Then she often slept at the Manse in Bellingdon
Road, the home of her friend Sylvia Gladstone, daughter of the Newtown
Baptist Church minister. “I was always made to feel one of the family”, she
recalls with gratitude. Being a choir member there from the age of eleven,
Kath and her family were invited to move into a two-up, two-down cottage in
Cromwell Terrace, Townsend Road, (now the site of Cromwell House). Here
they cared for 85-year-old Walter Dwight, and after his death, rented the
cottage.
Townsend Road schooldays were very happy ones for Kath, where she
recalls May Day celebrations, with May Queen Iris Canning whose crowning
glory was long dark ringlets, whilst blonde and curly Deirdre Lacey was chief
attendant. “I really appreciated the fact that although I could never have a
birthday party because of my home circumstances, my many school chums –
Eileen Lawrence, Margaret Brown, Gracie Dickinson, Janet Pruden, Pam
Dwight, Rita Holloway and Deirdre Lacey always invited me to theirs, without
thought of return. Such was the generosity and acceptance of Chesham
people”.
Although she passed the scholarship examination, due to her circumstances
she was unable to take up the opportunity of education at Dr.Challoner’s
Grammar School, where most of her friends went. Instead she attended
Whitehill Senior Girls’ School, under the headship of the human dynamo and
Methodist Lay preacher, Miss Florence Dyer. Kath was encouraged in her
writing by another evacuee, a young teacher, fresh out of Training College,
Miss T.M. Shaddock, who now lives in retirement at Great Missenden, and is
still a valued friend.
At the age of 14 Kath left school and was employed as a junior clerk at the
Children’s Special Service Mission (C.S.S.M.) & Scripture Union which had
moved from London to ‘Emberton’, Stanley Avenue for the duration.
Evening classes at Germain Street school for shorthand-typing and bookkeeping landed her a job with George Williams & Co. Ltd, the Juvenile
Clothing Manufacturer in Asheridge Bottom. In the modern factory (1946) she
trained as secretary to the manager, Mr Ernest Wallin, did the wages, with
bonus system, for the 90+ employees, dealt with reps, invoicing and
switchboard duties and must have been one of the original DJ’s organising
‘Music While You Work’ sessions, which encouraged productivity. Hours
were 8.30-6.00p.m. plus Saturday morning, all for the princely sum of £2.00
per week, plus one week’s holiday in July. Two years later, Kath was allowed
a ‘junior’ to assist her and Margaret Herrington cycled in from Latimer Village
each day to share the suite of offices located at the front of the building.
Kath’s wages then went up to £3.00 per week.
The factory supplied high quality clothing to such firms as Harrods, Daniel
Neal, John Lewis and Barkers of Kensington, and was known as ‘The Factory
in the Garden’. Aptly-named gardener Mr Sidney Budd grew vegetables in
the surrounding landscaped area to serve the workers’ canteen, which was
presided over by Miss Olive Appleby, Mrs. Kitty Payne, and Mrs. Budd. In
1951 the company sold out to Van Houten, the chocolate firm, and Kath found
herself a post as Secretary/Cashier to Norman Jenns, entrepreneur
businessman of Hill Avenue, Amersham, specialising in furniture stores in
Amersham, Gerrards Cross and Marlow.
The next step in her career was in the Public Health Department of
Amersham Rural District Council, where she was secretary to the Chief Public
Health Inspector Fred Caudery and assisted the Medical Officer of Health,
Dr.T.Evans. Here she spent nearly five happy years until, in obedience to
God’s calling, she entered the International Training College of The Salvation
Army at Denmark Hill in August 1957, receiving her commission as a
Lieutenant in May 1959.
KATH DOLLING (nee Smith) and THE SALVATION ARMY.
Attracted initially by the music of a small Salvation Army band, conducting an
open-air service on the corner of Eskdale Avenue one Sunday afternoon in
May 1945, Kath went along to their meetings and was ‘hooked’.
She pays tribute to the excellent foundation to her faith given at Newtown
Baptist (now Evangelical) church, where she had attended since the age of 9.
But this was a call which could not be denied, and resulted in more than 50
years full-time service as an officer (ordained minister) of The Salvation Army.
William Booth, a former Methodist minister, was The Army’s founder in 1865,
when he formed ‘The Christian Mission’ in response to the poverty, squalor
and sin evident in London’s Whitechapel. When the movement spread like
wildfire throughout the land, it was renamed ‘The Salvation Army’ and now
operates in more than 111 countries worldwide.
The Army Citadel in Broad Street was erected in
1898 but its first meetings were held in a tent in
Nashleigh Hill recreation ground, before moving to
premises in Gladstone Road. General Booth visited
Chesham on 16th July 1908 where a platform had
been erected in The Broadway for his oration. Due
to inclement weather, Broadway Baptist Church was
used instead.
An overflowing congregation assembled there. ‘Cheer after cheer rang
through the building as he stood there, supported by his staff and many local
gentlemen’ according to the ‘Bucks Examiner’ report the following week.
He was welcomed by the Chairman of the Urban District Council, saying ‘the
Council is pleased to recognise the great work which, during a period of
upwards of forty years, the Army has accomplished in uplifting religiously,
morally and socially the weak, poor and fallen, not only in our land but also in
other parts of the world’. Booth responded by remarking what an appeal
Chesham ‘nestling in this beautiful little valley’ made to him, even though he
rode into it in the rain (in an open car, aged 80+!)
The Salvation Army’s maxim can be summed up ‘Heart to God, Hand to man’
and after the government is one of the largest and most diverse providers of
social services in the world. More than 1.6 million members worldwide
maintain its programmes for the homeless, drug rehabilitation, family tracing
service, schools, hospitals, eventide homes, shelter for battered wives,
probation and prison visitors. Recently, chaplains have been introduced for
retail outlets, etc.
In its 16,000 churches and community centres, dedicated bandsmen and
songsters provide weekly musical ministry, visiting elderly and infirm in homes
and hospitals. Uniforms are not provided (contrary to popular belief) but have
to be purchased, along with instruments and equipment required by individual
members. Free tuition is given to children from the age of eight desirous to
learn to play or sing. This is regarded as part of their ongoing ministry for the
Lord. Each year, Salvation Army sections are invited to conduct the Carol
Service for the MPs at Westminster.
During the two World Wars, Salvation Army Red Shield Mobile Canteens
were at the forefront of operations – at Dunkirk, the North Africa campaign, DDay etc. Winston Churchill remarked ‘Where there’s need, there’s The
Salvation Army.’ More recently, The Army has been in operation during the
Falklands conflict, the Gulf War and in Iraq.
Salvation Army officers assisted with rescue work and counselling at the
Aberfan tragedy, Lockerbie and the Piper Alpha oil-rig disaster in Scotland.
During the 7/7 London terrorist attack of 2005, SA officers were assisting the
emergency services, and are ‘on call’ constantly to attend where needed –
floods, fires, earthquakes and tsunami’s. More information about SA work
can be found on the website www.salvationarmy.org.uk.
Kath Dolling’s covenant, signed at her commissioning on the platform of The
Royal Albert Hall in 1958, when she was appointed as Sergeant to help train
another session of cadets, took her to a variety of locations. King’s Cross;
Chelsea; Kirkburton, West Yorks. All brought her many adventures, prior to
her marriage to Lieutenant Derek A. Dolling in Chesham, in May 1962.
A new housing estate at New Addington, Surrey brought further challenge
with its 9,000 children. The birth of a daughter, (now Major Catherine Wyles,
serving with her husband Russell and four sons in North Scotland) was a
joyous event. Two years later, a move to Marlow saw the birth of son William,
(who now serves as a Captain and Retail Chaplain with Captain Karen Dolling
at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. Ami, Caleb and Joshua complete their family.)
Further appointments for Kath and Derek were Notting Hill, Newport (Mon),
Blackheath (Birmingham), Southall, Enfield and then back to Chesham for five
years to care for Kath’s elderly and almost-blind Mum.
“I never regretted the years I spent caring for my dear mother, who had
always encouraged me in my calling. Being an ‘only child’ I promised my old
Dad I would be there for her, and the fulfilment of that vow brought great
blessing – both our children found their life partners at Hillingdon Corps, which
gave them great hospitality during their teen-years.”
Following Mrs Smith’s ‘Promotion to Glory’ in January 1982, the Dollings
became Administrative Officers to The Republic or Ireland, finding great
opportunities for service in Dublin, running a large Men’s Hostel, finding
missing persons, and promoting SA work throughout The Republic.
In June 1987 they were appointed to inner city Manchester, and then to Public
Relations work in Aberdeen. Derek became Assistant Head of Fund Raising
at International Headquarters, Queen Victoria Street in 1991, and Kath took
up duties in the Editorial Dept as a ‘Roving Reporter’, with a weekly ‘War Cry’
Katie’s Column. Among celebrities interviewed were Tony Blair, Henry
Cooper, Richard Whiteley, Fiona Castle, Wendy Craig, and Thora Hird.
Kath officially entered retirement as an ‘active officer’ in February 2001 but
over sighted the Chesham Corps, which was without leadership, until a new
officer, Major Fred Thompson, was appointed in August 2006.
Her interests now include heading up a weekly ‘Lunchbreakers’ fellowship for
women on Wednesday mornings, where a welcome cuppa and varied
programme of events and speakers is offered to approx. 45 ladies.
Music figures largely in her life, playing the piano, and entertaining at
residential homes throughout Southern England. Her small book of bedtime
reading ‘Diamonds & Driftwood’ profits Duncan Dyason’s charity
STREETKIDS DIRECT.