I had the good fortune to be born in Hull in 1904. I was the third of my parents' very fruitful and very happy marriage.
When I was born I had two older brothers, Joe and Moshe. I was the third. The next two were also brothers. So, I was one daughter with two...
And I was born on a very lucky day. It was Erev Simchas Tora. That is the evening before the 'Rejoicing of the Law'. And, my mother told me, I didn't hear it, I don' t remember hearing it. My Mother told me that she had two midwives. She knew she was going to have a lot of children. She had a Mrs. Fisher and a Mrs. Schneider, and Mrs. Schneider said to her, "You know Annie, you've got a mazeldikke tochter and your baby is a little girl and she will always be lucky she will have mazal because it is Erev Simchas Tora. Simchas Tora is the 'Rejoicing of the Law'. And when I was told that . . . when I was old enough, I was very proud.
And then I had another very lucky thing happen to me. In Hull, attached to the Western Synagogue there was a Jewish Girls School. So from the age of five, I was learning every mitzvah every blessing. Every blessing under the sun. We learned, we learned from the old (text) to the very top. And so, when I grew up if I went to shul, I could take part in the service. I could read,.. It's not that we didn't have a religious home - we had a very religious home. But its not like being at home and learning negal wasser. (dry washing her hands)....
....There was a time that I don't think anyone here will remember the general strike of 1926. The country went to pieces. There were no buses, no trams, nothing. The government were giving people the opportunity to go and live in Australia. For £12 you could take your belongings, your wife and children, your relatives and for £12 you could go to Australia. My father had died very young and my older brother Joe was like a father to us.... People were in a state. Joe's money was going - and he decided we would go to Australia. But he wanted to make sure we would all go -- so he wanted Mama to let Minnie go. Minnie was Mama's favourite. He wanted Minnie to go with him but Mama said no. She said "You go first. If you make it good we'll come". So they came to London to say goodbye to Dorrie's father. They came to London and as Joe tells it - it was a "leberdiche veldt". It wasn't like Hull which had gone to sleep it was a different world. He said "You know what Dorrie, if I can get a job here we won't go to Australia." She said "What you mean - we've sent all the things." He said "It cost me £12 to send it out, it'll cost me £12 to bring it back". And this is what happened. And Joe ended up the managing director of Willerbys. That's just adding another little bit to the story. So we might not have been here today we might have ended up in Australia!