Casgliadau Arlein
Amgueddfa Cymru
Chwilio Uwch
Recordiad sain / Audio recording: Dorothy Gilbert
Oral history recording with Dorothy Gilbert collected as part of The Hineni Project, an insight into the life and stories of a Jewish community in all its diversity. Hineni was a collaborative project between Cardiff Reform Synagogue and Butetown History & Arts Centre.
I was born in Manchester in 1930 and we lived in Old Trafford. I was a clever little girl and had three scholarships, which was my great pride, and I had a free place to Manchester High, which in those days was a very big achievement. My dad looked like an old man because he had a walking stick and a bad hip. He had been in the First World War but in the Second World War he was too old and enrolled in the Special Constables. In the Manchester Blitz he was killed on duty, which was terrible because he had been such a good father to us all. My mother, by then, had five children. She was a very strong minded, brave and remarkable woman. At fifteen I joined a left-wing Jewish youth movement called Hashomer Hatzair. I left school at eighteen because I wanted to go to Palestine, and then all the troubles broke out and I was too young and I couldn’t speak Hebrew. I tried to learn modern Hebrew. I had no success and I could never understand why because I’m good at languages. I wanted to go with my friends because a lot of the older ones were making aliyah, but some of them had been killed in the fighting, so they wouldn’t let me go. I went to college instead and got my qualification to be a teacher, and taught English at schools for many years. I met my husband, Arthur, when I was on holiday with my mother. He looked like Buddy Holly; he had big glasses and very curly hair, and I liked him very much. He lived in Manchester and we got together and were married shortly after. We moved around a lot because of Arthur’s promotions with Marks & Spencer’s, where he worked. Eventually we moved to Cardiff and I didn’t want to come, and I remember we came up the motorway and it was snowing; it must have been February. And we came off the motorway and I saw all these signs in Welsh all of a sudden, and I thought, where am I? It was traumatic. I thought, what am I doing here? I had no job. I had no friends. Arthur used to go off to work, and my youngest son, Adam, would go off to school and I’d have nothing to do, and I’m not a housewife. The transition is not a pretty scene because you’re always a newcomer, and I used to be shy but you learn not to be shy. Then we joined the shul. We opted for the Reform. The rabbi, Elaina, was delightful, and suggested Arthur be the chairman of the shul. I think it was one of the finest roles in Arthur’s life. He thoroughly enjoyed it and I think it was good for him, and I enjoyed him being the chairman. I’ve always felt that our shul is very supportive and a very happy environment to be in. I’ve lived in Cardiff now thirty-odd years, which is amazing, because several times when Arthur retired we thought we could have gone to London but we didn’t want to. We could have gone to Manchester where my family are but we didn’t want to; we were happy here.