As caretakers, they had a lot of work to do- cleaning and polishing the floors, looking after the toilets and, if an event was on, setting out and clearing away the chairs. As well as general maintience of the place (Betty) and repairs (Albert), they had 3 children (1 did not live at home) to look after, so their space time was precious.
Albert volunteered for the Lincolnshire RAFs and won various campaign awards as a tank driver. He was a big fan of planes, especially the Lancaster bomber and the spitfire. So much so that 2 years before he died, a friend painted a picture of the plane that brought him back from the war. He always had a pipe in his hand and continuously smoked a pipe, so much so that his kids used to set off the fire alarm to try and make him stop.
In her garden, Betty wanted fish and attempted to make a pond out of bricks. After this failed, she got an old bath and filled it with water, which served as her fish pond. She also wanted to attract birds, so had birdfeeders which attracted a good few. She hated being called Bertha and her family had to get the nurses in the hospital to change her name to Betty. She also wanted to be called Nan, rather than Grandmas as it sounded younger. After her death, the Drill Hall let her family have her wake there and put on food and drink.
Up to the age of 6, (when his grandparents moved out) Steve used to go down into the cellar looking for ghosts. Although he heard strange noises, (made from the cars along the main road) all he found was spiders, which scared him more than the idea of ghosts.
As the family had free run of the Drill Hall, they made the most of the space. On Boxing Day they’d lay tables out with food, drink and games on and bring the cars inside for the celebrations. During their fortnightly visits, if there was nothing on, the children would play football, badminton and on rollerblades in the hall. Betty and Albert loved chopped Brazil nuts and sherbet lemons so there was always a stash in the house.
