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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1995-07-19, Page 22—THE HURON EXPOSITOR, July 19, 1995 Close-up War bride, playwright tells personal tale BY TIM CUMMING Expositor Editor War meant different things to the people who experienced it, says Norah Harding, playwright and former war bride. For Norah, war meant meet- ing her husband Ben and embarking on a new adventure when she came to Canada. For Norah's sister, Ivy, it was the end of her dreams when war took her husband away when his ship was sank at sea. "One thing 1 feat I should point out is everyone's war was different," said Norah. "For Ivy, who lost her husband right away, it was a personal tragedy...but for me, when I met my new husband, it was the start of my new life." Norah became a professional playwright last year at the age of 71 when she wrote the auto- biographical This Year, Next Year. The play previewed last night (Tuesday, July 18) and has its opening at the Blyth Festival tonight (Wednesday, July 19) at 8:30 p.m. Since her play was accepted at Blyth the London resident .has been adjusting to being called a playwright. It was worth a million dollars, she said, when she first telephoned the Blyth Festival and heard an employee say 'you're one of our playwrights, aren't you?'. This Year, Next Year is set in war -time England in 1944. It coincides with the 50th anni- versary of the end of the war. The play is, in part, the story of three sisters: Norah, Ivy and Sheila. The playwright fondly recalls going out to dances with her sisters. "The three of us went out together during the war," she said. "We didn't need other girl friends, we were best friends." An important part of the play is - the big band music of the era. The music takes one back to another time where the writer remembers exactly where she was dancing and who she was dancing with. "You hear a tune you know just where you were, it takes you back to a certain place." The ideas for This Year, Next Year have been with Norah Harding for a long time but it was about four years ago when the writing of the play began. "I felt it was a story worth telling." Although pleased to become a playwright at such a late age, she would have written This Year, Next Year even if it never saw the stage lights. "Even if no one ever wanted to do this play it's a true fam- ily story." When she began writing the play she expected to eventually change the names of her family to fictitious characters. "Somehow I couldn't do it." 1 r an• Barbara Scott, shown in this photo of their honeymoon. TIM CUMMING PHOTO RECALLING THE WAR - Norah Harding became a play- wright at the age of 71. Her play This Year, Next Year revolves around the war experience and the story of her family. It is premiering this week at the Blyth Festival. The Second World War was a time when lives were turned upside down but people would stoically respond by saying, "There's a war on." The unusual became the norm. "It changed life for every- body," recalls Norah. Norah had a brother-in-law who was a Prisoner of War, a brother-in-law who died in action and a sister who rode as a dispatch rider in the army. Her story, she says, was far from exceptional. "Everything was what you would expect to happen," she says. "You ,shrugged your shoulders and just went on." In fact, several times during an interview, Norah took great pains to emphasize that her story is no more significant than the experience of anyone who lived through the war. "We weren't heroines," she says of the sisters in the play. "This is what everyone was like." For instance, the air raids in London were worse and more frequent, than those in her native Bournemouth. "We had nothing like what they had in London," she said. "Our (experience) pales in comparison." It was not uncommon, how- ever, for Norah and her family to be awaken by the sounds of air raids only to fall right back to sleep. Looking back now, Norah realizes things weren't 'normal' at all. Ship cuisin One of the fondest memories for some of the English war brides coming to Canada was the fine food on the ships. "The food was out of this world," remembers Peg Coombs. "There were things we hadn't had in six or seven years." After suffdring through war- time rations, fine cuisine was a rare treat. On the ships and trains, the Canadian govern- ment provided the best of everything. During the war, rations severely limited such staples as cream and sugar. There were line-ups in the morning at a butcher shop advertising it had sausages available. Rabbit was "When you think about it you sort of marvel at it." War -time was an age when every moment was lived to the fullest because no one knew what tomorrow would bring. "There was an urgency about life then," says the war bride - turned -playwright. "You wanted to grab the day, grab the moment...the future was something you couldn't count on." Although there was certainly tragedy during World War I1, there were also feelings of camaraderie as people lined up in queues for the scarce rations. "We were all in it together," Norah remembers. There were some moments of danger, she recalls, which provided unintended flashes of humour. In one instance, Norah and her sister Ivy were outside when a plane cams; out of the air at roof -top level... "Ivy said it's alright, it's got crosses on it," says Norah. The Nazi swastika on the tail was hidden from view. "As soon as it started machine-gunning we had an idea it wasn't friendly." Another time, there was an air raid and one of Norah's six sisters got stuck trying to hide under a bed. Although the family could easily have bro- ken down in tears of anxiety they broke out in tears of laughter. During the war, tragic and anxious moments co -existed with moments of joy. Norah e recalled one of the few meats not hard to obtain in war -time England. Eggs were rare indeed. "We had one egg a month if we were lucky," Barbara Scott remembers. On the ride to Canada, how- ever, treasures like bacon and eggs and white bread were being served. The Salvation Army was fondly remembered for provid- ing small kits containing such war -time luxuries as chocolate, pop, fruit and cookies. "The Salvation Army were the greatest people you'd want to meet," says Cleave Coombs. "Even if you wanted a choc- olate bar you'd go over and they'd give you one." hopes she has captured those two aspects of war in her play. "What I think I have achieved is a good balance of laughter and tears." Is there a chance that the comic moments in This Year,• Next Year could trivialize war? "If you've lived through war you could never trivialize it," she said. "But unless you've been through it, it's hard to understand how you have to have the fun as well...it's what keeps you sane." If one didn't laugh at times during the war, she said, one would be forced to cry. The play's author hopes people will see what family life was like during the war. "There were no great big heroes or heroines, just all of us carrying on the best we could." Watching This Year, Next Year, Norah sees actors por- traying herself and the people in her life. She said the actors do a good job portraying these familiar faces, such as Jacklyn Francis as Norah. The actress had helped workshop the play in Toronto. "She was just right for the part," said Norah. "I was so pleased they hired her. As Norah has seen the play rehearsed she has had to con- front some painful memories of the past. "Some of the more painful moments I'd buried and I had to dredge them up," she said. "It's very hard to take some- times hearing the very words you've said or the words which my mother came out with." Although a very personal tale, Norah has no concern that it will be mishandled when it hits the stage. "SI can't say I actually worried too much about how it would be on stage because I had great faith in it being por- trayed fairly faithfully," she said. "I'm certainly not a bit disappointed, they're doing me proud." Norah Harding is now 72. When the war started, Norah was only 16. She met her future husband at the age of 20 and she was married at the age of 21. When she came to Canada as a young woman on the Ile de France almost 50 years ago it was a profound change. She left a home of seven lively sisters (including herself) to live with her husband's quiet, elderly parents. Isittoo 7 hotforyou to cook? Would you like a change of scenery? 527 0030 0030 If you are a senior, then join us for a complimentary lunch in air conditioned comfort at Seaforth Manor Retirement Home. Offer valid from July 17th to July 31st. Reservations are necessary, please call the retirement home at 527-0030. SEAFORTH MANOR RETIREMENT HOME 527 100 James St., Seaforth Were you a war bride, or war groom? If you came from Europe and married someone in the Canadian services we would like to add your story to the ones printed here. Please send us your account of your war -time Marriage to The Huron Expositor at P.O. Box 69, Seaforth, ON NOK 1 WO. "I was alone all the tine," she recalls. "1 found it. so dif- ferent, it wasn't a bit the way I thought it would be." One of the strangest experi- ences for Norah was arriving in Canada to see her husband waiting for her in civilian clothes. "I'd only ever seen him as a soldier in that rough khaki uniform," she said. "I felt like he was a stranger." In a newspaper interview Norah shares some personal recollections about her family but the playwright in her comes out as she tells the reporter not to reveal too much. "I've got a story to tell and I don't want (the audience) to know until the end of the whole thing." 'The novice playwright says she shouldn't be nervous about the opening because the Blyth • Festival is doing such a good job with her play. She is, per- haps, a little worried about what critics may write. What- ever they say about the play, however, they can't say it's dishonest. "They can't say it's a load of rubbish because it's all true," she said. "Whatever theywant to say about it, it is true." 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