Individual results

Interviewee: Sylvia Moore

Track 1
Born in Gulson Road Hospital. Nixon Road, Tile Hill. Aged 4 years old moved to Stoke Aldermoor (until 17 years of age ). "Loved" Aldermoor Farm School. "Scratched pigs in styes". Moved river. Dad engineer - Cov Rad, then Armstrong-Siddeley, then Rolls-Royce.

Track 2
Dad came to Coventry aged 21 years old (originally a Cockney, from London). Dad retired and died in 1989. "Up and coming city…lot of money". "Always well fed…indoor toilet". (short track).

Track 3
Class - "all kids together". Mix of religions. White people. "I was neighborhood babysitter and shopper" (young). No Asian people (or black).

Track 4
Parents not prejudiced. Asian people at senior school (girls school). Eleven plus examination - "failed miserably!". "I was bright but lacked concentration". In recorder band. Stoke Secondary (now gone).

Track 5
Wanted to be a housewife and work part-time (office and shop after school). Social life - youth club at senior school - oboe and flute. Mixed with boys - "did more…danced". Aged 15 years old when she left school.

Track 6
Dance at church hall - met in "gangs" (in two - Mods and Rockers!). Longford Rockers (roller-skating aged 13 years old). Wyken Rockers (motorbikes). "Parents very liberal"…"life safer for children then".

Track 7
Walked to youth club and back…"allowed to go" (to early hours). Sister two years younger. 'Rockhouse' became 'Loco' - Saturday morning dance. "Locarno provided a lot of entertainment". Left school 1967, aged 15 years of age …office junior.

Track 8
Worked Owen-Owen. Thursday lunch-time dances. Saw 'The Troggs'. Still in gangs. Wearing chiffon blouse, mini-skirt (early sixties), ski-pants, stripey T-shirts, ankle boots, twin-sets, trouser suits. Dad said about mini-skirts, "Oh my God you're not going out in that pelmet are you!". Tights, so suspenders didn't show.

Track 9
Trouser suits…Dad said "You're not coming in with those things on" (flares). "Hair went up and down like a yo-yo. Bell-bottom trousers. Aged 15 year old - "didn't know a lot about sex"…clothes "a tool to attract the boys". "Sex was a no-no" (too frightened).

Track 10
Dressed to attract boys. Left school in 1967 - office junior. Dressed smartly. Men whistled when she wore a short skirt. Smoker. Owen-Owen - Children's Department.

Track 11
"Liked serving people…" - flower girl (in Coventry Evening Telegraph). Worked a summer season in Jersey in a shop - met husband (1968).

Track 12
Second son now 28 years old. Caravan holiday. Daughter. Told she was "giddy" when 16 years of age. Brought up to be sensible - "shy - forced myself to be gregarious". Met "wonderful Irishman".

Track 13
Homesick - depression (London). "Like half a yard of pipe water!" (thin). Rolls-Royce - data processing department. Dad said "What are this man's intentions?!" (future husband). Sister pregnant (boyfriend beat her up).

Track 14
Parents upset she hadn't mentioned pregnancy. Got pregnant. Got married 1969. Aged 16 year of age - "Oh God I'm going to marry him".

Track 15
Pregnancy test positive. "The usual then was getting married". Wedding day - "had to get married in church in white…didn't want any hoo har".

Track 16
Wedding dress description. Thin - people told her to "step over a crack" (in the pavement). Auntie tailoress.

Track 17
White shoes for wedding - "I could still wear them now if I wanted to". Men wore suits. Not a hippy (more Metropolitan). Mini-skirts "were mini!". Honeymoon in Cheltenham.

Track 18
Bob (husband) lived in Vernon Street, Hillfields (outside toilet) - "Red light district". Lived in Canterbury Street "a slum".

Track 19
In house from 1969 to 1971. 1970 pregnant with second son. "Hillfields a very old fashioned community". Tried to get a council house - got one in Stepney Road - "fantastic".

Track 20
Stocks disco. "Close-knit family". Didn't want an only child. Hillfields "dreadful slums". Rolls-Royce (punch card operator).

Track 21
"Unions strong in Coventry" (late sixties to seventies). "A lot of smaller businesses". Wooly's (Woolworth's) record counter - Jill Hanson's. Market Tavern, Black Eagle, etc. Jazz club at the Leofric. "Drugs a no-no".

Track 22
Schoolfriend smoked pot. The sixties - clothes and dancing (Locarno and Stocks). "Happy with my life". "Locarno changed to Tiffany's".

Track 23
"Very happy". Stepney Road (1974) to present address. "Stricter than Mum". Father worked at Ansty. Husband worked shifts. Moved to Cheylesmore in 1974. "I was the discipline in the family".

Track 24
"Not like Mum" - (stricter). Wanted her kids to do the best they could (but if she did it again she'd like them to go to University).

Track 25
Would have left Coventry if her husband had wanted it. "Fortunate we could afford holidays". Frightened to take kids abroad. Left school with "no formal qualifications". From 1990 went to college to do a business skills course.

Track 26
Careers service job. Part-time degree. Suffered with exhaustion in 1995 - husband retired aged 51. (short track).

Track 27
"I am a Coventry Kid". Was emigrating to USA. "Coventry has changed…from being a huge industrial area into a service industry place". "I don't like Cathedral Lanes". "Coventry lost some of its pride…but has a lot to offer…a nice place to work". "Lot of litter on the streets" (blames parents).

Track 28
Doesn't think the Council listen to people. Likes museums. "Precinct is good…an innovation". Change Coventry - "like Council to be more open" - "bring more industry in".

Track 29
Shops. "Cleaning the streets is a problem". "I've seen (the city) change so much". "Traffic free-zone wonderful".

Coventry Lives Oral History project, date of birth: 1951