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 OLIVE VIGARS

Born: Simonsbath, Somerset, 1920
Lived: Simonsbath, South Molton, Winsford, Bossington
Recording made: 2001
Length of recording: 2 hrs 52 mins

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Olive Vigars started working for her aunt at the Exmoor Forest Hotel before she left school. They worked long hours, polished the brass, scrubbed the floors, waited at table and rang the gong for breakfast. Then she moved to the Royal Oak at Winsford, wore a different uniform morning and afternoon and cycled home to Simonsbath on her half-day off, going to dances until 1am.

She married Frank in 1941 and they went to the Honeymead estate. She worked in the morning, helped out at dinner parties and raised her family. They were happy there, but she no longer drove and it was an isolated life, particularly after the children had grown up. She hadn't got enough to do. She took Woman's Weekly for 61 years, only cancelling her subscription when the magazine amalgamated with another one.

She still goes out to work four mornings a week. She says it was heaven for her when Frank finally retired and they moved to Bossington.