Home Page

Title

710 – Interview - Donald H. Newport and Ethel M. Newport

My Aunt Ethel Pilbeam′s Reminiscences of her early life in Hooe

In May, 1988, my uncle, Donald Herbert Newport, taped an interview with his sister, my aunt, Ethel Matilda Pilbeam (née Newport), concerning her memories of her life as a four-year old child, in Pentridge, in Dorset, and those she had of growing up in her home of "Caritas Villa", in Hooe, in East Sussex, and as a young woman, living at "Caritas Villa", in Hooe and her early working days as a teacher.

The sound quality of the tape, unfortunately, varies a great deal throughout the interview; sometimes the words are so faint that they are impossible to make out and sometimes the background noises distort the sounds so that the words can′t really be understood.

In May 2012, I produced a transcription of the intervie, missing out much of the hesitation, the sudden change, and small murmurs that might have been words.

There are, in fact, three tape cassettes; each with Uncle Don′s memories on side "A" and Aunt Ethel interview on the "B" side but each, unfortunately, has the same poor quality of sound - they must be copies of the same master tape.

The interview begins with my uncle giving an introduction but, unfortunately, the opening words are cut off - though it′s obvious that he was going to identify himself. He does, however, give his and the interviewee′s relationship to each other and to John James Newport, my grandfather.

Click HERE to hear the interview

Click HERE to read the transcrip[tion

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional