The Lady

We used to hire our "Mother's Help" for the summer holidays via The Lady - had some lovely girls and stayed in touch with a couple.

The ads were always so interesting. If I remember rightly, posts at Royal residences were advertised - art gallery assistants and the like. A sort of yesteryear "Made in Chelsea" in print.

No story, but I loved reading The Lady.
Sadly,now, the end of an era.

I had a blissful Summer after ‘A’ levels in the Scottish Highlands thanks to an ad in The Lady.

I worked as a chambermaid in a five star country house hotel, miles from anywhere. I learned to row properly, that swimming in a lake is very different to sea or pool swimming, that midge bites are very itchy and how to cook in a fire pit with hot stones NZ style.
I hitchhiked all over the place on my day off and saved all my wages. I didn’t go anywhere near a town for 5 months and still remember the confusion and wonder that was Inverness after that break.

I left in early October as the first snowflakes began to fall. Still in touch with some of my colleagues who came from all over the world, but none of us have ever been back. Best to keep the magical memories.

My friend used to advertise for “help” in The Lady and I looked at her copies, don’t think I ever bought one but I loved looking at them.

lixy your lovely story pretty much describes what The Lady was all about. Sounds heavenly - bar the midges!

DD2 found a holiday job in Cornwall thanks to The Lady. She worked for a lovely couple looking after their two little boys. The following summer they recommended her to the husband’s brother and his family who took her with them to America for three weeks.

She is still in touch with both families and of course the children who are all grown up now with children of their own.

I have an annual sub just for the Ladygram crossword puzzles.At £70 they work out as expensive puzzles, but I can access and print off back copies from 2010.
I'm hoping someone will buy it - or the best bits transferred to other prints - but will probably have to write off my sub. which runs from every June.

Incidentally, the best years were when Rachel Johnson was the editor; gone very fusty/dusty since. Apparently, the average age of readership is 80!!!

used to look for jobs as a nanny when i first qualified in the 1970's. Had 2 amazing jobs with 2 lovely families. Still looked on and off years later from a nostalgic viewpoint

Had some lovely holidays when the children were small in cottages advertised in that publication.

I was reading a copy recently, I think there was an article about Zandra Rhodes that caught my eye. Among the personal ads was a man in his 80s looking for a lady - not older than 50. Talk about hope springing eternal!

I have been reading this for a few years now. I get it passed on to me from a friend who has it through her sis in law. I love the sumptous front cover pictures, and the articles on stuff for sale, even though they are mighty expensive... . There are always some very readable articles, and I do like the columnists, who always have an interesting point of view.
And the ads are so interesting, with some amazing opportunities for employment if you fit the bill.
I will be extremely sorry if it is no longer in print, a real lose to their loyal readers. And of course, the columnists who have lost their jobs.

I used to look at the Nanny/au pair jobs in the Lady when I was a teenager but got a holiday job as an 'au pair' by word of mouth in lovely Cornwall one summer.

We had a job interview for a historic house years ago - they wanted a couple to do some front of house and lightbulb changes etc in exchange for a tony cottage - but we decided it wouldn't suit as they wanted us both at the same time and we had a new baby.

*tiny cottage

Rachel Johnson's diary of her time at The Lady is an entertaining read.

Oh that's a shame, though it is a bit twee these days.
25 years or so ago we advertised our holiday properties in the back pages, which offered properties from all over Europe and beyond. It wasn't so much to attract the right calibre of guests that we used The Lady, but more to get the ones who prwoared to pay top prices for high end properties!
Then along came along the likes of Holiday Lettings and Homelidays on the Internet, so there was no longer any need for us to use The Lady, and advertising there seemed very expensive in comparison.

*prepared not prepared!

prwoared

Gosh I remember “The Lady”. When I was looking for holiday jobs, home from Uni, it was the place to go to.

I’ve heard of this magazine but never read it, or even seen it.

I got a nanny job in London from the Lady, used to be pages and pages of jobs. Also used to be adds for companions and jobs for couples. All very interesting.

Shame those innocent days are gone.

I remember looking in The Lady for jobs as a NNEB nanny in London

I got a temp job through The Lady years ago when I was between jobs/ marriages.