Memories of Joan Priday by her adopted daughter, Maggie Mayne

I am the adopted daughter of Miss Joan Priday and lived in Douglas House till we moved to Ipswich in 1962 when I was about 13. Douglas House was all No 12 when we lived there, though we didn't have the ship’s figurehead on the front. If you stand in the street facing the house, the shop door was to the right, and, as you can see, has been filled in. There were two parts to the shop: the front section started with a real old-fashioned counter. One day, though, some shop-fitters came and replaced it with a very modern glass counter; it was never quite the same. The front part of the shop had a library - people came and exchanged their books - and also a wool store, where people could come and buy a skein of wool when they could afford it. The back of the shop was an absolute treasure trove of clothes - boxes and boxes, all labelled, with so many different items such as ladies and children's underwear, dresses, duffle coats and goodness knows what else.

It was in this area that most of Southwold gathered, especially at ‘elevenses’, when I would be told to go next door to the bakery (No 14, Frederick House) and buy doughnuts and Chelsea buns. I still have never tasted buns like them and never will… superb!

Everyone loved "Miss Priday": she had a heart of gold and would help anyone out. I don't think anyone was fully aware of what a wonderful person she was, as she was over-modest and probably her wartime experiences were too fresh in her mind. She had won the MBE in the war working in the Red Cross with Major General George Lindsay, and went into Belsen with the troops when they first discovered the awful truth. She was also a very talented, trained musician who played the cello and piano and was a member of the Southwold Orchestra.

I digress… There was a door from the back room into a separate but adjoining cottage (12a), which had a sitting room, kitchen, stairs leading to a bathroom and a bedroom. The bedroom then had a door which linked back into the main house on the first floor. This was originally my mother's bedroom but later became an overspill dormitory for Saint Felix School. I was a day-girl at Saint Felix, cycling up there daily. My mother was a friend of the headmistress, Mary Oakley and, one year, the school found itself with more boarders than it could accommodate which was when my mother volunteered to help out by creating a small dormitory in the cottage at Douglas House for three girls. I was upset because I had to remain in my own room! Meanwhile, during term time, when the house was full, my mother slept underneath the old shop counter!

Also on the first floor was the sitting room, housing a baby grand piano where my mother practised with her friends who formed a quartet, The sitting room had a lovely view looking down Chester Road to the sea, There was another bedroom which was the spare room with a bathroom leading off it.