We used to go down the Caledonian Market and look for evening dresses. You could get really good ones, didn't look as though they had been worn, for only half a crown. By then I was earning £3 a week (there were 8 half crowns in £1). I always sent some money home to my mother in Herefordshire. Cook used to give me tea to send home, too - it was all a racket. When I got married she gave me cutlery and saucepans through ordering more than she needed for the House.

When you think about it, we all looked after each other. There were only 5 in the Family, and all of us working to look after them, but really looking after each other too. The under-housemaid used to make my bed, for example, and turn it down at night ready for me to get in. If I used a spoon in the kitchen, the second kitchen-maid would pick it up and take it to the scullery-maid to wash up. One lot of servants waited on another. The scullery-maid waited on the second kitchen-maid. The second kitchen-maid waited on the head kitchen-maid (me) and I waited on Cook. Every morning we laid out the big kitchen table with Cook's chopping board and knives, piping nozzles, bowl of eggs, containers of spices, etc. Every evening we cleared it all away and scrubbed the table.