Side A of the first audio cassette in a collection of eight, which records Ron A. W. Perry’s memoirs entitled ‘The Way It Was’. The information written on the case of the tape outlines that Ron started this pilot taping in 1992.
Side A is 00:46:52 long and begins with an excerpt of the song ‘Welcome to my World’ by Jim Reeves. The music fades out to static noise with Ron’s voice coming in at 00:00:47.
Side A provides a wonderful overview of a childhood growing up in Bath and what daily life was like. Themes explored on Side A are: Ron’s birth on the 24th of July 1918 as Ronald Archibald Warron, at 44 River Street, Bath; his family's evacuation from London to Bath, living by the Hat and Feather Pub in Cornwell Cottage; his mother’s death from influenza and being fostered by the Perry family, living with them at 16 Fairfield Avenue (now 19 Fairfield Avenue); description of the family’s occupations and the house, the view of Charlcombe and Lansdown from their bedroom window; daily life, such as using the outside toilet and how they washed their clothes; becoming a choir boy at Charlcombe Church and attending Sunday school at St Stephen’s, with a description of Mrs Clayton and Colonel Clayton from Charlcombe Manor attending church in a carriage; time spent at the scouts and the junior YMCA at Prince’s Buildings, George Street; having phenomena and visits from Dr Moody from Cleveland Bridge; Christmas preparations and celebrations; getting their first wireless with a description of how you could follow the football commentary with a grid diagram printed in the radio times; and trips to the Picturedrome cinema.
Existence and Location of Copies
A digitised MP3 version is available on Preservica via internal access at Bath Record Office.
