Frances Silk
Coronation day in Cheadle, Cheshire
June 2nd was my mother’s birthday so at breakfast time we gave her cards and flowers from the garden.
I was 13 and my father had got me a length of dress material with a Coronation pattern – cream cotton with a pattern of maroon crowns so I had made a new dress to wear. I went to my Grandma’s house and we went to her next door neighbours’ house to watch the ceremony on their television.
The ladies were well-to-do local bakers. I read in Dick Bosley’s 1953 magazine that an English Electric TV giving a picture (black and white of course) 14 by 10 & a half inches cost £99 & 15 shillings (tax paid) – including 66 & two thirds purchase tax!
Their sitting room was crowded with neighbours watching avidly. We children sat on the floor, going out between showers to the back garden to stretch our legs.
We watched the whole thing from start to finish at the Palace. I do remember how heavy the crown looked after she was crowned and how young she looked.
