Woman’s Weekly UK – 23 July 2019

12 womansweekly.com

It’sbeen 69 yearssinceEileenParkand

AnnRoperbecamefriendsworkingat

Yardley’sfamouseast-Londonfactory

O

n a crispautumn

dayin 1947,

EileenParkstood

outsidetheiron

gatesto Yardley’scosmetics

factoryin Stratford,a bag

of nerves.It wasbedlam.

A loudsteamhooterblasted

upthestreetandstreams

of girlsin whitetunicsand

turbansbustledpast,eager

toclockon.

‘Youcandothis,’shetold

herself.At19,Eileenfeltas

if shehadbeenpreparing

forthismomentallherlife.

Friends

It wastimeto leave‘tin-ribs’

• herfather’snicknamefor
  her– behindandto become
  a ‘LavenderGirl’.
  Workingin Yardley’seast-
  Londonfactory,helpingto
  packtheirsoaps,perfumes
  andiconicredlipstickswas
  a riteof passagein theEast
  End, and the Britishfirm
  employedovera thousand
  youngwomenbackthen,
  in thepost-waryears.
  I first met Eileenbecause,
  asanauthorsettinga novelat
  Yardley’s,I waskeento meet

withformerworkers,to geta

senseof theplace.A natural

storyteller,Eileenwasthe

rightwomanto talkto.She

toldmehowshe,liketherest

of thecountry,waskeento put

thepainof warbehindher.

‘InBethnalGreen,where

I wasbornandraised,the

bombsiteswereremindersof

allthatwesurvived,’Eileen

recalls.‘I lostmanyfriends.

I canstillhearthedreadful

momenttheDoodlebug

enginecutoutasit began

itsdescentto earth.’

‘In my neighbourhood, we

had such poverty, kids with

patched-up shoes, families

forced to do moonlight flits...

But my mother, Ada, always

shared what little she had

with our neighbours. She’d

take the rings off her fingers

to help women in trouble.’

Eileen knew the 25 shillings

she earned at Yardley’s would

make a valuable contribution

towards her household. But

it was a bewildering place.

‘It ponged,’ she laughs.

It was ironic that Yardley’s

cosmetics, sold in the fragrant

calm of Bond Street, were

produced in an East End

REUNITED

Eileen (top left) and

Ann (bottom left)

with some of their

Yardley pals in 1950

Eileen (top) and

Ann recreate

their old photo