Ealing and Acton Gazette from Ealing, London, England • 19

The Gazette Friday February 2 1 996 EGSCH News Advertising 0181 579 3131 Classified 0181 579 8989 An unusual upbringing HILDHOOD slips away fp so quickly that the Jp memories often fade before you have time to remember them Jean Donaldson has waited Jm nearly half a century before choosing to write her autobiographical account of life in an Ealing boarding-house and yet after Writer Jean Donaldson (above) now lives in Scotland but her childhood memories of her Ealing boarding-house are very vivid The book (pictured below) is illustrated by daughter Sheila reading one page you would be certain the author was barely out of her childhood In the postscript to Child in a Boarding-House Donaldson explains that she partly wrote the book because the child who lived in Blakesley Avenue during the 1930s is still with her today She even believes the writing of the book was an unavoidable consequence of her early life She said: have been thinking about that book for a long time I had this framework of the house and all the stories of the people who lived there just seemed to slot in go out of my way to write it The book had been nagging away at the back of my mind and it was just something I had to do I think why I can remember everything so well was such an extraordinary place for a child to parents were both singers in the Covent Garden opera chorus until her mother had children To make ends meet grandfather bought a large house in Ealing and her parents began to run it as a boarding-house In the book the description of the house and its inhabitants is so full of detail that pictures form easily in the mind It is easy to imagine Mr Dupre hurtling down the stairs to answer yet another telephone call or the cosy Christmases complete with a visit from Father Christmas Among the loving descriptions are fondest memories of Granpie her favourite grandfather who took her on numerous trips including a carriage journey to see the buttercup fields where the Western Avenue now scrapes by The Ealing remembers as a place of horsefairs and Whitsun festivals sounds more like a village than a busy London suburb Now living in the Scottish Borders Donaldson in touch with some old friends who might still live in the borough particularly since Donaldson has never been back to Ealing since she moved with her family to Wales in the early 60s A former pupil of Ealing and Notting Hill High School Donaldson continued her education at Bedford College in London She has spent most of her life teaching and raised two children one of which Sheila has illustrated Child in a Boarding-House Donaldson has also written another book Innocents to Everest the true-story of how Donaldson and her family travelled to Everest in a Land Rover Child in a Boarding-House is published by United Writers price £1495 remembers Ealing as being a fairly quiet place to live remember the horsefairs on Ealing Common and there were hardly any cars on the streets It was a quiet place then was a knife-grinder who also sharpened scissors and clippers on the grindstone remember the chair-mender trundling his little cart down Blakesley Avenue He would sit on the tarmac at the roadside and re-weave rush-seated upright chairs I also remember the Breton onion Donaldson remembers how as a child she thought it was quite normal to share a house full of people remember thinking that everyone probably had it the same way and was surprised when there was only a family when I used to go around to friends for Donaldson has had some good feedback from readers particularly from people who remember the same time The writer is also hoping that she might be put BOARDING-HOUSE Jean Donaldson THE EALING FESTIVAL East meets West in dance WATCH OUT FOR THE Sound of 17 Big Band will get feet tapping when it makes its re Big Band Club on at the Kings Head 830pm Admission costs £3 FIND out which up-and-coming comedian will be making a name for himself at Ha Bloody Ha Club new act competition finals tonight Friday at The Viaduct pub Uxbridge Read Hanwell The show starts at 9pm Ticket cost £6 on the SHERIDAN'S romantic comedy The School for Scandal opens at The Questors Theatre in Mattock Lane Ealing from Saturday next week The performances start at 745pm with a Sunday matinee at 230pm The show runs until February 17 Bookings on 0181 567 001 1 Youth Orchestra welcomes players from the past in a soloists concerts at St Barnabas Church Pitshanger Lane tomorrow (Saturday) The event features David Lloyd in Trauermusik The performance starts at 730pm Tickets cost £5 £3 concessions LEARN more about the artist Cezanne when Ealing National Trust Association hosts a lecture evening at Ealing Town Hall New Broadway on Wednesday February 14 The evening starts at 8pm and is free to members of the group and £1 to visitors JAPANESE Indian dancer Shakti (pictured left) brings a unique group of contemporary performers and artists currently in Japan to Riverside Studios in Hammersmith for two weeks from Tuesday The programme will feature one woman show Eros of Love and Destruction with choreographer Kumiko show In Between After training with dance guru Martha Graham Shakti has toured the world with her sensual blend of Eastern dance and yoga with Western jazz and modern music The shows run until February 18 Performances start at 745pm Tickets cost £9 and can be booked on 0181 741 2255 4 DAYS OF SUPERB ENTERTAINMENT February 19th -23rd at EALING TOWN HALL Phone: 0181 579 5436 for your FREE 12 page programme THE House of Arts Literature Society will be discussing the life and poems of William McGonaghallon on Saturday next week This will be followed by the chance to talk about their favourite poem or piece of literature The House of Arts Literature Society meets in Bedford Road Bedford Park from 230pm Admission costs 50 pence For further information ring 0181 992 7407 by Richmond services is edited Wendy BILLBOARD LISTINGS i.