Lesley was born on 29 April 1920 at 37 Brook Street, Luton.

Lesley Ball with her mother Lilian 1920

In her own words some of her earliest recollections.

I suppose the first thing I can remember is being in a push chair with a carrier bag between my knees, when my mother stopped to speak to a friend; I think her name was Mrs. Ward. Of course they seemed to go on talking for ages, so I looked in the bag and there were some peas; now I just loved small green peas, so I started podding some and eating them. Then I heard Mrs. Ward say to my mother "You shouldn't let her do that, she'll get worms." What a silly thing to say! Always after that I looked for worms in the pea pods!

At that time we lived at 37 Brook Street, Luton, and we had to have the chimney swept through a flue in the passage, and I remember one day when the sweep was coming my mother had washed a toy dog of mine and put him on the doorstep in the sunshine to dry. When the sweep came he looked at this dog and said "Oo-er, will he bite?" I did think he was a stupid grown-up to think a toy dog could bite and I just looked down my nose at him!

Other things I remember about Brook Street are the time there was a very bad thunder storm during the night, and although I had my cot in my parents' room I was very frightened, so my father took my cot mattress on to the landing and shut all the bedroom doors and we sat on the mattress in the dark away from the lightning. I also remember, not long after I had been promoted to a bed (still in my parents' room, which was very large as it ran across the whole front of the house), my mother crept in one evening and went to the chest-of-drawers and when I asked what she was doing she said she was getting something for the baby. Not long after that my sister, Margaret was born; I remember the day very well; we had a very nice maternity nurse living in, her name was Nurse Wightwick, and she let me play in the hall, which had a coloured tiled floor, and there was coloured glass in the front door, which made pretty patterns at the foot of the stairs. Suddenly the front door was opened in a great hurry, and the doctor, who I thought was really nice, jumped straight over my head and up the stairs without even saying "Hallo". My nose was out of joint! That was 22nd December l925 and later that day I had a baby sister named Margaret Noeline. Christmas Day that year was spent in the big bedroom; Nurse Wightwick had decorated it beautifully with paper chains and holly and candles; when they lit the candles at dinner-time I was absolutely terrified - I was afraid they would set fire to the paper chains, and I wouldn't eat any dinner until they blew them out; I can still remember that awful feeling of terror. Apparently Nurse said to my mother "Poor child, it must be terrible to be so fearful".

But I wasn't afraid to go and meet my father from work on my own, and my mother wasn't afraid to let me; I used to walk down Brook Street, turn right along New Bedford Road as far as the tunnel bridge at Crawley Road - about a third of a mile - and usually my father would just be coming through the bridge. Ah happy days when a mother could let a child out of sight quite safely.

Some time during that year (l925) my father had his first car; it was a bull-nosed Morris, registration number YM 8455. My father had a few outings in a friends car, and then one day, they set off for the Morris Works at Cowley, Oxford, and my father collected the car and drove it all the way home! No driving tests in those days and very little traffic, and fancy collecting your own car from the works!

My mother used to say that we moved from Brook Street when Margaret was 5 months old. So that must have been at the end of May l926. On 29th April l926 I was 6 years old and started going to school; at that time schooling was not compulsory until the child was 6, though the schools did like them to start at 5, and lots of parents were only too glad of that. I don't remember my father actually teaching me, but I do know that I could read when I started school, and I was moved up twice in my first two days because I could read all the books they had in the lower classes! My father used to take me to school in the morning and I was always late as my father couldn't walk very fast because of his rheumatism, and I was usually in trouble because I didn't know why I was late! The teachers were nice, but I really disliked the headmistress - her name was Miss Pile - and I remember one occasion when she asked me why I was late and I said "I don't know" and she pushed me in the stomach and said "Don't know, what?" - I was supposed to say "I don't know, miss"! At dinner-time I was collected by a friend of my mother named Mrs. Pateman (I think) who was collecting her little boy named David, and sometimes she would buy us chewing gum, but I had never been allowed to have anything like that, and in spite of her warnings when the flavour had gone I swallowed it - well, how else was I supposed to get rid of it? I wasn't allowed to put my fingers in my mouth nor to spit and I didn't have a spoon to do it like cherry stones!

On my 6th birthday Mrs. Ward and her daughter, Phillipa, who was about the same age as me, came to tea, and Pip gave me a little silver bracelet for my birthday - it was fastened with two forgetmenot flowers which twisted round each other, and was the second nicest thing I'd had that day; the other was from my mother and father, and was an unbreakable baby doll, which for some reason I insisted on calling "Marzipan"! I didn't really like marzipan, but my mother did, and sometimes she used to let me go to a little shop in Hillside Road, which was straight opposite our house, and get her a bar of marzipan, which cost 2d.

After we had the car we used to go to Northampton quite a lot to see the Grandparents at the weekend. We used to go to 121 Colwyn Road to have dinner with Grandma & Grandpa Ball and Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Eric. Then after the washing-up, Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Eric all put their feet up and had a snooze - Grandma in her bedroom, Grandpa in the front room, and Uncle Eric on the slippery leather sofa in the dining room. Sometimes Aunt Kathleen would take me to "Happy Valley" where there were swings and slides, and I really liked that. And sometimes mother would take Margaret and me to 141 Clare Street to see Grandma Berry, Aunt Annie, Aunt Lottie and Aunt Barbara and we'd have a cup of tea and biscuit. Sometimes Uncle Joe would be there but he never seemed to stay long - I expect he felt a bit out of it, being the only man. I used to like sitting on the sofa reading "Woman's Weekly", though after a bit I used to be urged to go and play (I think they didn't feel it was suitable reading for a 6/7 year old, but I'm still reading it!). It was a delightful house for a child, being two houses knocked into one, so everything was duplicated except the kitchen-dining room which ran the width of the two houses; it was possible to go up one flight of stairs and come chasing down the other - a smashing place to play hide and seek, except there was no-one to play with. One of the side rooms had a bicycle rack in it with Aunt Annie's bike in it and after a time I grew tall enough to be able to get on it and pedal backwards, pretending I was out for a ride. Other times I would go in the garden, which, of course was the size of two gardens; there was a walnut tree which bore the nicest walnuts I have ever tasted, and at the top of the garden was a greenhouse with a vine (and grapes in due course) and they also grew cucumbers in there - that was another of my favourite foods.

After a few years Uncle Eric had a car and sometimes we used to meet up with him and Grandma and Grandpa at places like Castle Ashby, Ashby-de-la-Zouche and Painswick for the annual yew cutting service. Both families took picnics and we used to swop things. Occasionally in the autumn Aunt Kathleen would come as well and then we went blackberrying - I used to enjoy that because there was a tangible end-product! We used to borrow Grandma or Grandpa's walking sticks to reach the brambles which were out of reach - they always seemed to carry the biggest berries. Then we would part company and go our separate ways, and the next day there was the bottling of blackberries, the making of blackberry jelly, and a big blackberry and apple pie. Grandma also used to make Blackberry Vinegar to serve with the Yorkshire Pudding, which was the first course at Sunday dinner, and if we happened to be there she'd always ask me if I remembered picking the blackberries way back in September.

If we went to Northampton on a Saturday we would sometimes call in at Grandpa's office at 65 Abington Street; he had his offices on the first floor and there were two shops on the ground floor with a doorway between them leading to the offices. One of the shops was an antique dealer and I can't remember what the other was; but the antique shop was like a magnet to Grandpa. I think Grandpa owned the premises and the shopkeepers rented from him; I hope so because sometimes he would go in through the antique shop and suddenly swoop on something, saying "I like that - I'll keep it - I'll take it off the rent" - sometimes it was a piece of jewellery or a picture or a carving or a sculpture. And when we got to his office it was like an Alladin's cave. At the door you were greeted by an effigy in chain mail - it had the most ferocious face and I used to look away quickly! I seem to remember that there was another figure in plated armour, but that didn't have a face so wasn't quite so gruesome. There always seemed to be something interesting lying around and some in small cabinets. Thinking about it now, it must have been quite difficult working for him; I'm sure I'd never have been able to concentrate on my shorthand and typing! There was a garden at the back of the building; I think that at some time the building must have been a private house, as the garden was nicely laid out with steps and a statue and a mulberry tree. That is the only time I can remember having mulberries to eat - they were lovely. I could do with some right now! I remember mother telling me that when they were children they used to keep silkworms and they feed on mulberry leaves; I wonder if they came from Grandpa Ball's garden?

As we got older we used to go to the Cotswolds quite a lot; our parents were both very fond of that area, and we were very lucky to be able to go to such places as Burton on the Water, Stow on the Wold and Broadway before they became such tourist attractions and spoiled.

When we moved to Leagrave Road I went to the Infant School at Biscot; this was still like a village school, with only three classes; it was heated by tortoise stoves and open fires (how dangerous that would be considered these days, but I don't remember any child ever having the slightest burn). The biggest room could be used for morning prayers which everyone attended, and then a curtain was drawn across dividing it into two classrooms. Most of the children seemed to come from poorer homes than in the town, and some of them were quite raggedy, until one day a new girl started and I distinctly remember thinking to myself "She looks a nice clean girl; I'll have her for my friend" !!! Actually we did become "best friends" which lasted until we went to Senior School at the age of 10, when we went to different schools. I really enjoyed Biscot Infants; the two teachers and the headmistress, who took the top class, were all good teachers and we seemed to learn a lot in an enjoyable way. Mother told me later that one of the teachers was married, but she couldn't wear her wedding ring and had to be called "Miss" as married teachers were not allowed at that time (something to do with the unemployment of the time, I suppose), but this teacher's husband was an invalid and they needed the money, and as Mother said she was a VERY good teacher.

When we got to the third class, which was taken by the headmistress, we seemed to spend an awful lot of time learning to knit; we used to knit woollen vests in 2 plain 2 purl, and some very peculiar articles appeared, though I don't remember any being finished; but never mind, they were always pulled undone ready for the next class! Looking back it seems to me that we had a very good grounding in arithmetic and writing in the first class, and then a lot of reading in the second class, and home crafts like darning, knitting, and making things like pen wipers with felt in the third class, so that by the time we went to the Junior School at 7 we had learned quite a lot.

These reminiscences were written after her sister Margaret died in February 1991.
Sadly, Lesley never wrote down any more of her memories

Lesley Ball with her mother Lilian and baby sister Margaret 1926

Nearly 4,000 Guides from Australia, Bermuda, Denmark, Great Britain, France, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Kenya, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Suomi-Finland, and Switzerland attended.

From 28 July 1943 to 7 October 1946: 488604 Sgt. L.B. Ball

Luton News Saturday 7 August 1954 page 6

SECRETARY MARRIED Bridegroom Is A Lecturer    The wedding took place at Luton Parish Church on July 29 of Miss Lesley B. Ball, who was secretary to the Principal of the Luton and South Beds College, and Mr. Sidney A. Jackson, of 37, Manor-road, Luton, a lecturer at the South-East London Technical College.    The bride, the daughter of Mrs. H. J. Ball, of 3, Marlborough-road, Luton, was given away by her uncle, Mr. E. Ball.    She wore a gown of pink organza, with a perl necklace, and carried a bouquet of roses and sweet peas.    The Rev. J. Gravelle officiated, and Mr. F. Talbot was best man.    After a reception at the George Hotel, the bride and bridegroom left for a honeymoon at Newquay. The bride went away in a grey two-piece constume.

Sidney, Lesley, Andrew, Dennis & cat Dandy summer 1963

The family on Lesley's 70th birthday Dennis, Lesley, Andrew, Sidney & dog Sammy 29 April 1990

Lesley, Sidney and the grandchildren 4 May 2003

Lesley and the youngest grandchild 4 May 2003