Cecilia Anne Duggan (nee Holdom) who goes by Anne..
Born 10th January 1938 in Wallsend Hospital.
She was one of 11 children! 7 girls & 4 boys
Anne told me her mother was involved in a motorbike accident where she was in the sidecar. She was pregnant at the time & lost the baby. (it was her 3rd baby) The Doctors told her she would have no more children after that. So she had 9 more, just to prove him wrong.
Her father had a bad heart & did quite young at 56.
She recalls her mother telling them to get outside & play from early on in the morning. They would return for mealtimes, but then were quickly ushered back outside no matter the weather.
They had double beds throughout the house which they shared for sleep. She said they were so happy & didn't even realise how poor they were.
Anne attended Cardiff high school, then Merewether. She finished up at 14 years 10 months to work in a milk bar.
Then she worked in a gift shop near the hospital at Wallsend.
At 19 she became engaged to William, she was married at 20 & had her first baby at 21.
She had 2 children, a son & daughter.
Anne worked from home making baby clothes, then she would walk the streets door knocking & selling her clothing.
In the end she took orders as her designs were quite popular. I asked where she learnt to sew. She said her mother had given her the old machine she used, but she had no idea how to use it.
When her eldest baby as 11 months she had no clothing as times were tough. So her mother came around, threw a pattern & some fabric at her, & said cut this out & I will be back in an hour to show you how to make it.. she showed her once, & the rest is history.
Anne opened a fashion shop in Charlestown which she ran for 15 years.
She sold the business but soon got bored at home & started applying for jobs. She refused to fill in Rockmans paperwork, insisting they either hire her off her word or she would walk away.. they were set on the form being filled out, so she left..
She then went to Cue fashion, & offered to do a days work free to show what she could do.
As she approached the store she saw a lady leaving with other shops bags but not Cue. She approached her & said, excuse me madam, but you just left this store without a Cue purchase.. please come in & let me show you around.. She waltzed in & told the sales assistant to get her everything in a size 12. She proudly told me she sold that customer $800 worth of clothing.. an amount she said was huge for that day & age.
She stayed on for a time at Cue before working in another shop called Petronella, where she managed the stores, she was 60 when she left.
Anne & William bought an old church in Hinton & renovated it into a house. When they sold that they moved into a retirement home at Bonnells bay.
Sadly William was diagnosed with dementia in 2014 & he had to be moved into a care facility across the road. He has been there just under 3 years.
Anne sees him either daily or every second day. She said he still remembers her, & is obsessed with her, but doesn't socialise with others much. She misses being able to be with him all the time, but she said she knows it's the safest place for him to be.
Anne has 6 Grandchildren, & 12 Great Grandchildren. She loves going out on day trips. Catching the train, & still she still drives.
