98-year-old now lives at grand house where she was a parlour maid

As a teenager Yvonne Howlett worked as a parlour maid in Scole Lodge. Now at the age of 98, she is living in the same grand property. Having lived all her life in the Diss area, she is now a resident at the Oaklands Care Home. Mrs Howlett recalled: “I was one of 12 children.

My mum used a crutch so when each child left school they stayed at home for a year to help look after the others and the house.” She said she went into service at 14 and worked in several large houses one of which had been Scole Lodge where she worked as a parlour maid. “I wore a uniform with a white pinafore and hat.

I helped look after the family and serving the meals was one of my jobs,” she said. “The lady of the house was always telling me to put my hat on straight but the master of the house used to tell his wife to leave me alone,” she said.

Mrs. Howlett met her husband Dick when he was delivering bread to her mother’s house in Oakley; they moved to Dickleburgh after they wed and had two children, Anthony and Marlene. Later in life, Mrs Howlett worked in home care, travelling to clients’ homes on her bicycle.