“Best” China

Threading Together

Instantly recognisable in the charity shop or on the boot-fair stall – for a few pennies – the odd plate or saucer, bowl or tea cup.  The central design of harvest corn (the bread if not the wine) and flowers, framed by the distinctive dull green rim band of solid colour. My parents married in 1960 and like thousands of other couples chose one of Arthur Meakin’s family of designs – this one is hedgerow – for their “best” dining room china carefully reserved for Sundays and special occasions – Christmas and Easter – the rare occasions of extended family gatherings. The marriage was not happy and so neither were the meals. Look carefully at these old plates, tilt them to the light and you will see the cut scars left by the knives.

1962 was one of the coldest winters of the century.  My parents moved in December to a house with open fires and a solid fuel boiler. My mother was 8 months pregnant.  It wasn’t long before the chilblains arrived from standing in the north facing kitchen with its view of the sunless side yard. In the years to come she often said she felt chained to the kitchen sink.

(Diana Baldwin)