February 2011
Valerie Ann Brightmore was born January 1902 and Albert Carr, Tiny, for short as he was 5ft 1, was born six hours later.
Valerie was a bright girl from a family of eight living in a village in Suffolk. Her parents managed to get her employed by a well off family close by, in the kitchen. She had helped her mother with the cooking at home and after a couple of years just preparing vegetables, clearing and cleaning, began to start cooking for the family. Ellie the cook had previously married and started a family, so Valerie had the kitchen to herself. Tiny was an upholsterer who worked at people's homes when they applied for a suite of furniture to be recovered. The couple met this way when Valerie offered him some of her delicious cakes while he was busy. He seemed to take rather longer on this assignment than usual. But, as he was working for a company, he had eventually to move on.
Love will out though and he managed to call in on his off days to see her and she was so pleased to welcome him. As all stories go he eventually asked her to marry him.
They left to rent a little house in the city where Tiny was able to find more work and soon there was a child on the way - then another and another.
Valerie was happy enough until money became short due to the slump after the first world war; folk did not have the money to have things revamped. He worked from home making small furniture to sell but they were still very hard up.
Valerie was a hit of an entrepreneur and started a small drapers shop in her front room. There were factories nearby and she encouraged the girls to start a club of payment of a shilling a week. Turns were taken to have one pound to spend. The stockings, blouses, underwear etc. were bought from a warehouse on the other side of town and the money situation improved.
Unfortunately, because Valerie was always so busy and the money was hers to keep the family, Tiny, on the few jobs he still found, took longer and he was later and later getting home. He would enjoy the company of the lady of the house and go on to a public house drinking the money earned.
Valerie enlarged on her business by lending the girls money and charging a percentage of interest on the repayments She therefore brought up the children by herself and finally told Tiny to shove off.
He went off the rails entirely and caught pneumonia, dying in a few months. This news upset Valerie so much as they always previously had been so close. On the day of his funeral, some upset husband whose wife had borrowed so much money and had taken her own life, attacked her so severely she didn't recover and was buried a few days later.
They were born within hours and always said they would die together. So this is the tale of Val and Tine and this was their day.