As time moved on we started to get a little higher in seniority. On the Railway you was promoted with time served only and when a driver retired then everybody moved up one. It was sad really as you was rostered with a Driver for so long then an old driver would retire and then you would move up one. I did have a couple of drivers that I was rostered with for about 6 months. One was a George **** known as trajedy. He was a lovely man, in his late 50s and intelligent. In the days when he joined you had to have a goog education to get in to the Railways. The proudest moment I had with him was when I think it was when sputnik was launched I guess around 1958. We were booked to bring a light engine back from Peterboro to Grantham. I said to George "We are going to watch sputnik travel the universe tonight George, I have the exact time and know where to look. It is going to be at 10.22pm". He looked at me, I just said "I will get enought steam up, just get speed up, I will make it as dark as I can, you then shut off the regulator and we will free wheel. It will work" Well by some miracle it did and we saw the light going from west to east. I think George thought I was clever but I was not. He had a son who was a Chief Inspector of Police in Bermuda. He told me that his son made him laugh when Hans and Lotte Hass were on T V. Black and White only. They were underwater film presenters. His son always called them Hans and Lot of Arse. They were popular though. Another driver was Billy **** I felt sorry for him as he had a fireman called Jackie **** . He went a little mad. Billy said to me the first time he met me, " I will never complain about you at all" I told him that he would never have any reason to, he then told me of some of the things he had to put up with Jackie. It was a shame. Eventually Jackie was dismissed because of health reasons, went to work on the council as a green card worker. Went roadsweeping and was killed sweeping the roads. A sad end to him. However Billy and I got on well together, each day feeling more confident that he at last had a reliable mate that he could trust. He could aslo have a dry sense of humor. We were on the regular High Dyke run with iron ore to Immingham and we used to change over with crews from Immingham at the half way, Burgh Le Marsh(Burgh) pronounce bourough. Most drivers knew the road to Louth though. Well this evening we changed over and we had this pig of a steam engine. It was well renowned for being a bad steamer. 63923 an O2. Well the fire was a disgrace, Billy looked at it and said, "We've no chance." I told Billy we would go as far as we could then we just had to stop. Anyway we limped to near Boston, Billy went to the signalbox and demanded he spoke to Control. They were the men in charge of running the lines. He cameback about 10 minutes later, I was cleaning the clinkers out of the firebox. He just said. " Take your time mate I told them what was up and all they asked me was if it was 63923, I said guess again and you are wrong, my mate is cleaning the fire out and we will get top Boston as soon as we can. Control said they understood and would wait for arrival at Boston." Needless to say, we made it to Boston and after further cleaning of the firebox,made it back to Grantham. Billy was happy and I was satisfied. Nothing was ever made of the incident, that was the way, if it was unavoidable and you did what you thought best, then all seemed to be O K.
The advent of diesel was soon upon us and the happy days of steam would soon be over, it was a sad day for all of us. I was made redundant with so many other firemen. I was offered a porters job at a small vliiage, a crossing keepers job in the country. I informed them that I thought I could find a much more rewarding job than what they were offering me. I was, however reinstated with many of my mates, but I saw that the writing was on the wall. I began to look for another job. In June 1964 I left the railway and went to work in a ladies fashion closing room( making uppers) as assistant to the manager, there were about 120 girls and women there. The last 2 weeks I worked on the railway was on steam but the prior 6 weeks it was all diesel. So now I was to go to work in a factory after being outdoors. To be continued.
Monday 31 May 2010
Saturday 29 May 2010
So to signing on
Well, from now on we no longer had to clock on and off, also we had 20 minutes meal break free. So we worked for 8 hours without having to set a specific time for a meal. Once you was passed fit to be a fireman you was then sent to one of 3 gangs. They were days, night and afternoons. All rotating. Generally when you started you was on days 6.00am was the normal time nights was 10.00pm and afternoons was 2.00pm. 8 hours a shift, you wers as required or a/r as it was put. Days officially started from 12.01am. to 9.00am nights from 5.31pm to 11.59pm and afternoons from 9.01 20 5.30pm. I write it down as it was days was always followed by a Sunday working and nights. We worked 48 hours one week and 40 hours another week. ie 6 days one week and 5 days another. If it worked out right you could work 8 hours on a Sunday @ time and3/4. and nights from 10.00pm to 6.00am at time @1/4. So you could be paid 14 hours for a Sunday and 10 hours a night for 6 nights. Minus though 4 hours for the week that you only worked 5 days but even so it would be a good week of 70 hours pay. So times were beginning to look better and poverty seemed to slowly disappear. Work for my father was also getting better too and life in general improved.
Railway work was very variable, in the summer there would be so many Special Trains to Kings Cross that there was plenty of work, as we had just passed out to be firemen, the work was generally in the loco sheds cleaning out the fireboxes and in general preparing them for their next journeys, it was hard to start with but gradually we grew stronger and it was just a routine job. Occasionally I would get a small job like a pick up. That was where you went out on a goods train picking up full wagons in sidings and dropping off empty wagons in other sidings, some of these may be by a farmers field that was sending sugar beet to the local factory. Also you would call at some railway sidings on the main line, here you would be shunted off the main line, it did not take me long to find out where the best places were for wild strawberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants and later in the year apples. Most of these were old gardens that a crossing gate keeper had been living or something like that and they had just been let to grow wild. I enjoyed just furraging around to see what I could get.
It was in the winter though when it was fun. After the summer, there was little work at all and we just were given menial tasks like filling wagons of ashes and clinkers, anything to keep us occupied. We all worked hard so that we could get to the messroom and enjoy ourselves.
There are so many stories, I forget most of them but one night this guy called Ian said to me, I'm not having bread and bung(cheese) tionight. I'm having Campbells Chicken soup. Wow I thought. It was expensive in those days. Well he put his can of soup in the side oven. We had an open fire, Told some lads to keep the fire well stoked up and we settled down to play cards(solo) you never won or lost much at that game. As time went by we forgot about the soup, until there was an almighty bang, the oven door flew open and the soup, or what was left of it was deposited all over. I just turned to Ian and said "Looks like we're all having soup tonight Ian" He did see the funny side and we all shared some of our snap with him. There would also be water fights, we had ashpits with water hydrants which would spray jets of water some 20metres. These were used to wash the ash pan of the steam engines. When somebody thought no one was watching there would be a huge jet of water and several guys would be soaked. It is hard to believe but there was NO bullying and no reprisals at all. In general everybody was happy and they were the happiest days of my life. All the recipients of the water would say "We'll get you back" Generally they did. One of the favourite tricks was to urinate in a can, walk into the messroom and sling it on the fire, rush out and close the door and hold it shut as long as they could. The smell I can assure you is not nice. Another was to get a can of swab, which I think was parafin and oil mixed. Throw it on the fire and rush out. The messroom was tunnel shaped so the flames used to curl round the roof and finish up by our feet. We thought it fun really but I suppose it was a little dangerous. More stories next time.
Railway work was very variable, in the summer there would be so many Special Trains to Kings Cross that there was plenty of work, as we had just passed out to be firemen, the work was generally in the loco sheds cleaning out the fireboxes and in general preparing them for their next journeys, it was hard to start with but gradually we grew stronger and it was just a routine job. Occasionally I would get a small job like a pick up. That was where you went out on a goods train picking up full wagons in sidings and dropping off empty wagons in other sidings, some of these may be by a farmers field that was sending sugar beet to the local factory. Also you would call at some railway sidings on the main line, here you would be shunted off the main line, it did not take me long to find out where the best places were for wild strawberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants and later in the year apples. Most of these were old gardens that a crossing gate keeper had been living or something like that and they had just been let to grow wild. I enjoyed just furraging around to see what I could get.
It was in the winter though when it was fun. After the summer, there was little work at all and we just were given menial tasks like filling wagons of ashes and clinkers, anything to keep us occupied. We all worked hard so that we could get to the messroom and enjoy ourselves.
There are so many stories, I forget most of them but one night this guy called Ian said to me, I'm not having bread and bung(cheese) tionight. I'm having Campbells Chicken soup. Wow I thought. It was expensive in those days. Well he put his can of soup in the side oven. We had an open fire, Told some lads to keep the fire well stoked up and we settled down to play cards(solo) you never won or lost much at that game. As time went by we forgot about the soup, until there was an almighty bang, the oven door flew open and the soup, or what was left of it was deposited all over. I just turned to Ian and said "Looks like we're all having soup tonight Ian" He did see the funny side and we all shared some of our snap with him. There would also be water fights, we had ashpits with water hydrants which would spray jets of water some 20metres. These were used to wash the ash pan of the steam engines. When somebody thought no one was watching there would be a huge jet of water and several guys would be soaked. It is hard to believe but there was NO bullying and no reprisals at all. In general everybody was happy and they were the happiest days of my life. All the recipients of the water would say "We'll get you back" Generally they did. One of the favourite tricks was to urinate in a can, walk into the messroom and sling it on the fire, rush out and close the door and hold it shut as long as they could. The smell I can assure you is not nice. Another was to get a can of swab, which I think was parafin and oil mixed. Throw it on the fire and rush out. The messroom was tunnel shaped so the flames used to curl round the roof and finish up by our feet. We thought it fun really but I suppose it was a little dangerous. More stories next time.
Friday 28 May 2010
So to the happy days.
Before I start, I will only say that my profile has the stool that I made over the 4 years of woodwork.
Now in July 1952 I was to start on a new career, earning money fir myself and eventually gaining independence. School days were certainly not the happiest days of my life. To be honest, thers next few years were, with the exeption of National Service ehich was a disgrace regarding humanity. The total disregard for civility or any sort of compassion was unbelievable. The NCOs were nothing more than bullies. I will not dwell much on Army life, but I will say this, once you finished basic training and went to your posting then things improved.
Back to my leaving school ad starting on the Railway. The first week it was turn up at 8.00am clock on. We were about 24 of us 15 year olds. I knew nobody as I went to the Secondary School and all the other lads had been to the new Comprehensive School. It did not take lond for me to integrate. We had to clock off at noon for 30 minutes meal break, clock on again at 12.30pm then clock off at 4.30pm. That was the days time. We were taught to clean steam engines. This sonn altered though. Towards the end of the first week we were split up into 2 gangs of 12 The first gang was to report for duty on the following Monday at 6.00am and at 10.am clocked off for 30 minutes meal break then finished our shift at 2.30pm. This was from Monday to Friday. On Saturday we clocked on at 6.00am and finished work at 10.00am. Thus completing 44 hours which was the normal hours to be worked each week. The following week the 2 gangs swapped and we clocked on at 1.30pm had a break of 30 minutes at 5.30 then clocked off at 10.00pm again Monday to Friday. On Saturday we clocked on at 10.00am until 2.00pm. Thus completing the 44 hours. The rule was that you could not go to work unless you had 12 hours rest between your last shift and the next shift.
One of the disadvantages was that we all had to go throught a sort of initiation, that was have your trousers taken down and your genitals greased liberally with oil. This happened on a few occasions as there were 3 shifts but as 15 year old cleaners we were onlt allowed to work until 10.00pm in the evening and not before 6.00am in the morning. For the 44 hours work, we had the princely sum of £2.16s less N.I so we earned 2.11s 9d in todays terms about £2.58p. My mother took off me £1.50 board another 50p for clothing which she saved for me and I was allowed to keep the 58p. To put it in perspective. Players cigarettes were about 23p for 20 so you can see that we were still very poor. Everybody was broke come Thursday. Friday being payday. We collected our wages every week at the Railway paybox. It was always cash. but sealed of course with a proper payslip.
It was about after me being there for 5 weeks or so that I was informed that I was to be moved to the office as I was too intelligent to be a cleaner. What they really meant was the office boy had given his notice in and they thought I would go willingly to fill his position. How wrong they were. I fought like mad and after several attempts to get me to work there permanently they finally gave in and I was once again out with my cleaner friends and happy.
I should have told you this from a start. When you started on the Railway, you was issued with 2 pairs of bib and brace and 2 pairs of Jackets. When you was passed out as a fireman(passed cleaner) you was then issued with an overcoat or a reefer jacket or a mackintosh, plus a serge jacket every 2 years in addition to your overalls. As the years went by you seemed to be more careful with the use of your overalls so they managed to last a lot longer than a year. I still have a complete set of overalls a serge jacket and an overcoat(lambing gown that is what they were called as they were thick and heavy). I use my overalls even today. Yes I can still get into them after 50 years. I am proud to tell everybody that piece of information.
There were so many characters on the Railway. There was a guy who was in his late 30s but he always used the cleaners mess room. He had failed his eyesight several years before so he was a boiler washer, labourer really. He made out that he was a hard bully. When he walked in he woulf sneer and get his snap tin. This was an old Oxo tin, his tea tin which was an old Colemans Mustard tin and his milk bottle, which was an old Heinz Ketchup bottle. Yes we all used things like that. He would put his things on the end of the table, then threaten to break anybody's arm if the touched them. Well there would always be one of the lads who would have no milk so mash his tea at the break so he would steal some of this fellows milk then top it up with water. This was alright if only one did it, sometimes more than one would. When the guy came in to make his tea, of course it was so strong, he would play hell and get angry throw it away and then rant on about he kept telling his wife not to put so much tea in the mashing. He would on the other hand notice if someone was not eating. He would insist that they had his because he knew what it was like to go without when you was young. He knew that sometimes there was no food to take to work somedays. He really was a pussy cat and everybody got to like him although he still pretended to be a bully. Incidentally his father was a Driver and he was just the opposite. He was a very nervous man, likeable though. Next time I shall start to begin to talk about the times following the steam engine cleaning era. The happy days.
Now in July 1952 I was to start on a new career, earning money fir myself and eventually gaining independence. School days were certainly not the happiest days of my life. To be honest, thers next few years were, with the exeption of National Service ehich was a disgrace regarding humanity. The total disregard for civility or any sort of compassion was unbelievable. The NCOs were nothing more than bullies. I will not dwell much on Army life, but I will say this, once you finished basic training and went to your posting then things improved.
Back to my leaving school ad starting on the Railway. The first week it was turn up at 8.00am clock on. We were about 24 of us 15 year olds. I knew nobody as I went to the Secondary School and all the other lads had been to the new Comprehensive School. It did not take lond for me to integrate. We had to clock off at noon for 30 minutes meal break, clock on again at 12.30pm then clock off at 4.30pm. That was the days time. We were taught to clean steam engines. This sonn altered though. Towards the end of the first week we were split up into 2 gangs of 12 The first gang was to report for duty on the following Monday at 6.00am and at 10.am clocked off for 30 minutes meal break then finished our shift at 2.30pm. This was from Monday to Friday. On Saturday we clocked on at 6.00am and finished work at 10.00am. Thus completing 44 hours which was the normal hours to be worked each week. The following week the 2 gangs swapped and we clocked on at 1.30pm had a break of 30 minutes at 5.30 then clocked off at 10.00pm again Monday to Friday. On Saturday we clocked on at 10.00am until 2.00pm. Thus completing the 44 hours. The rule was that you could not go to work unless you had 12 hours rest between your last shift and the next shift.
One of the disadvantages was that we all had to go throught a sort of initiation, that was have your trousers taken down and your genitals greased liberally with oil. This happened on a few occasions as there were 3 shifts but as 15 year old cleaners we were onlt allowed to work until 10.00pm in the evening and not before 6.00am in the morning. For the 44 hours work, we had the princely sum of £2.16s less N.I so we earned 2.11s 9d in todays terms about £2.58p. My mother took off me £1.50 board another 50p for clothing which she saved for me and I was allowed to keep the 58p. To put it in perspective. Players cigarettes were about 23p for 20 so you can see that we were still very poor. Everybody was broke come Thursday. Friday being payday. We collected our wages every week at the Railway paybox. It was always cash. but sealed of course with a proper payslip.
It was about after me being there for 5 weeks or so that I was informed that I was to be moved to the office as I was too intelligent to be a cleaner. What they really meant was the office boy had given his notice in and they thought I would go willingly to fill his position. How wrong they were. I fought like mad and after several attempts to get me to work there permanently they finally gave in and I was once again out with my cleaner friends and happy.
I should have told you this from a start. When you started on the Railway, you was issued with 2 pairs of bib and brace and 2 pairs of Jackets. When you was passed out as a fireman(passed cleaner) you was then issued with an overcoat or a reefer jacket or a mackintosh, plus a serge jacket every 2 years in addition to your overalls. As the years went by you seemed to be more careful with the use of your overalls so they managed to last a lot longer than a year. I still have a complete set of overalls a serge jacket and an overcoat(lambing gown that is what they were called as they were thick and heavy). I use my overalls even today. Yes I can still get into them after 50 years. I am proud to tell everybody that piece of information.
There were so many characters on the Railway. There was a guy who was in his late 30s but he always used the cleaners mess room. He had failed his eyesight several years before so he was a boiler washer, labourer really. He made out that he was a hard bully. When he walked in he woulf sneer and get his snap tin. This was an old Oxo tin, his tea tin which was an old Colemans Mustard tin and his milk bottle, which was an old Heinz Ketchup bottle. Yes we all used things like that. He would put his things on the end of the table, then threaten to break anybody's arm if the touched them. Well there would always be one of the lads who would have no milk so mash his tea at the break so he would steal some of this fellows milk then top it up with water. This was alright if only one did it, sometimes more than one would. When the guy came in to make his tea, of course it was so strong, he would play hell and get angry throw it away and then rant on about he kept telling his wife not to put so much tea in the mashing. He would on the other hand notice if someone was not eating. He would insist that they had his because he knew what it was like to go without when you was young. He knew that sometimes there was no food to take to work somedays. He really was a pussy cat and everybody got to like him although he still pretended to be a bully. Incidentally his father was a Driver and he was just the opposite. He was a very nervous man, likeable though. Next time I shall start to begin to talk about the times following the steam engine cleaning era. The happy days.
Thursday 27 May 2010
The results
What I did not tell you was that we were still very poor, I am a little ashamed to admit this but while I was at Juniors School, on more than one occasion I have gone to school with cardboard in my shoes because there were holes in the soles. It is sad but true.
Well the day arrived when the results were announced and what a surprise I have passed the first half. Thickie saw the list and asked me if that was my name up there. I of course smiled and said yes. I also asked if his name was there, when he said no I just said to him who is the thickie then. He never spoke to me again. Joy was short lived however because the second half was more or less to see if you parents could pay to send you to Grammar School School was on Saturday mornings Thursday afternoons was early closing days. Each town in the county had an early closing day when the shops closed for the afternoon. Well the Grammar School had the forces brigades. Either you had to join the Army, Navy or Air Force cadets. If one didn't go to university then you was expected to go to either Sandhurst, Cranwell or Portsmouth to train as an Officer in the Services. I finished up at the Boys' Secondary School. This was more for practical skills. Me, a total failure in making anything of value going to a practical school. I was good at Maths, English History Geography. Hopeless at Woodwork, Metalwork, Art and Science. I will show my stool when I pluck up the courage, which I made over the 4 years of woodwork, but the woodwork teacher finished off for me. It should have been a joint only stool. However my woodwork teacher put a few nails in. It still works, but it is very amateurish. I often think he must have been a very patient teacher. He was incidentally an excellent cabinet maker. A nice man. He was our class teacher in the last year. We finished up with about 12 pupils. In those days if you attained the age of 15 after the summet break and before the Christmas break. You could leave school at Christmas. The same at Easter hence the few of us left whose birthday fell after late March.
School at the BSC was not very interesting really. I must tell you this though. If there is really old people reading this they will realise that Whitsuntide holiday fell 6 weeks after the Easter break. So it cold be in early May. Well we had swimming lessons in the local outdoor public baths. from Whitsuntide and the coldest I can remember the water temperature being 56f. Balls in the mouth time, it was so bitter cold but once you was in, it was not too bad. Also cricket was played. It was and always has been my first love, but my mother could not afford the white flannels so I could not play my favourite game. I was always the umpire. We never used a leather cricket ball. It was a cork type ball. We knew no different though I would have loved to play with anything but that is just the way it was. When I was approaching 14 I was asked what I wanted to do when I left school. I said I wished to work on the Railway. Soon after my mother fell seriously ill. She had some sort of paralysis overnight. She was never able to walk properly again and spent many months in Harlow Wood hospital. Amazingly although she lived in pain and died about 5 years ago aged 91. So now I was soon going to go to earn money. To be continued.
Well the day arrived when the results were announced and what a surprise I have passed the first half. Thickie saw the list and asked me if that was my name up there. I of course smiled and said yes. I also asked if his name was there, when he said no I just said to him who is the thickie then. He never spoke to me again. Joy was short lived however because the second half was more or less to see if you parents could pay to send you to Grammar School School was on Saturday mornings Thursday afternoons was early closing days. Each town in the county had an early closing day when the shops closed for the afternoon. Well the Grammar School had the forces brigades. Either you had to join the Army, Navy or Air Force cadets. If one didn't go to university then you was expected to go to either Sandhurst, Cranwell or Portsmouth to train as an Officer in the Services. I finished up at the Boys' Secondary School. This was more for practical skills. Me, a total failure in making anything of value going to a practical school. I was good at Maths, English History Geography. Hopeless at Woodwork, Metalwork, Art and Science. I will show my stool when I pluck up the courage, which I made over the 4 years of woodwork, but the woodwork teacher finished off for me. It should have been a joint only stool. However my woodwork teacher put a few nails in. It still works, but it is very amateurish. I often think he must have been a very patient teacher. He was incidentally an excellent cabinet maker. A nice man. He was our class teacher in the last year. We finished up with about 12 pupils. In those days if you attained the age of 15 after the summet break and before the Christmas break. You could leave school at Christmas. The same at Easter hence the few of us left whose birthday fell after late March.
School at the BSC was not very interesting really. I must tell you this though. If there is really old people reading this they will realise that Whitsuntide holiday fell 6 weeks after the Easter break. So it cold be in early May. Well we had swimming lessons in the local outdoor public baths. from Whitsuntide and the coldest I can remember the water temperature being 56f. Balls in the mouth time, it was so bitter cold but once you was in, it was not too bad. Also cricket was played. It was and always has been my first love, but my mother could not afford the white flannels so I could not play my favourite game. I was always the umpire. We never used a leather cricket ball. It was a cork type ball. We knew no different though I would have loved to play with anything but that is just the way it was. When I was approaching 14 I was asked what I wanted to do when I left school. I said I wished to work on the Railway. Soon after my mother fell seriously ill. She had some sort of paralysis overnight. She was never able to walk properly again and spent many months in Harlow Wood hospital. Amazingly although she lived in pain and died about 5 years ago aged 91. So now I was soon going to go to earn money. To be continued.
Wednesday 26 May 2010
War is over but did we win?
Now I was about to go to Juniors School. This was from age 9 until 13 unless one passed the 11+ which I sat at age 10.
This was in 1946 when I went to Juniors School My father was discharged from the Army I think in 1946. I, of course didn't recognise him at all and to be honest I never did have any sort of relationship with him at all during his lifetime. We had no arguements and he loved us all. He was one of the finest of men finding enough to keep us all together during the harsh years after the war. It is that he had been in the jungle for so long, had lost contact with us children when we needed it most. It was just that. We moved house in early 1947 and went on the same estate but to a semi detatched house and it had ELECTRICITY and 3 bedrooms. I had a bedroom to myself. That was great. It also meant that I was further away from my cousin and we played together in the summer. In the winter he would look for a willow branch, a large one and he would whittle it away and make a cricket bat. It was my job to get some balls, the ones that you find at a fair on the coconut site. Wooden balls that were perfect for us 8 year olds. I tried to get about 12 if I could. It was also my job to make pads out of rush matting that was used in the bathroom. It was no good and my mother was to throw it away, it made great pads. It perhaps gives one an idea as to how we improvised because there were no bats or balls much at all in the days of war and just after too. My father was out of work as much as in work for the first few years after the war. This was in part due to the massive borrowings we had to make from the USA. They sold us I think Corvettes that were mothballed and ready to be disposed of, all at high prices. Could you blame them? No! The dissapointment was that they also insisted that they could have bases in all our dominions too. Remember the British went into the war with a Commonwealth and a healthy bank balance. When war was over, most of the commonwealth was either demanding independence or was not happy with the situation as it was. and we were then BANKRUPT. America went into the war rich and came out FILTHY rich. I think G. B was the only country to honour it's debts and I do believe that it was only about 10 years ago that we honoured our debt and finally cleared it. perhaps one can see why the question was did we win the war?
1947 was a dreadful winter too, we had little fuel such as coal and everything was still on ration, it was the start of my Juniors School. I caught Rheumatics. Had I caught Rheumatic Fever I would have had a weak heart and almost certainly not be here now. I had to stay in bed for about 3 weeks. I managed to recover though and sat my 11+ in I guess March 1947. Noboby expected me to pass anything at all. I certainly didn't as this episode will give you some idea. There were about 24 boys in our class and the teacher selected a boy every night to collect the pencils and sharpen them. there was no ink or writing pens either. Today it was my turn. I collected the pencils and took them to the teachers table. At the end was a had turned pencil sharpener. Well after about 10 minutes I had sort of sharpened about 2 not good at all. Anyway the teacher asked this boy to help me. This boy was really thick. However he sharpened the pencils in about 3 minutes sharp. He looked at me and just said "Thicko" I went red faced and wanted to crawl in a corner out of the way. I had been turning the sharpener the wrong way. To be honest I was, and still am hopeless at anything practical. Now I waited for my 11+ results.
More to follow.
This was in 1946 when I went to Juniors School My father was discharged from the Army I think in 1946. I, of course didn't recognise him at all and to be honest I never did have any sort of relationship with him at all during his lifetime. We had no arguements and he loved us all. He was one of the finest of men finding enough to keep us all together during the harsh years after the war. It is that he had been in the jungle for so long, had lost contact with us children when we needed it most. It was just that. We moved house in early 1947 and went on the same estate but to a semi detatched house and it had ELECTRICITY and 3 bedrooms. I had a bedroom to myself. That was great. It also meant that I was further away from my cousin and we played together in the summer. In the winter he would look for a willow branch, a large one and he would whittle it away and make a cricket bat. It was my job to get some balls, the ones that you find at a fair on the coconut site. Wooden balls that were perfect for us 8 year olds. I tried to get about 12 if I could. It was also my job to make pads out of rush matting that was used in the bathroom. It was no good and my mother was to throw it away, it made great pads. It perhaps gives one an idea as to how we improvised because there were no bats or balls much at all in the days of war and just after too. My father was out of work as much as in work for the first few years after the war. This was in part due to the massive borrowings we had to make from the USA. They sold us I think Corvettes that were mothballed and ready to be disposed of, all at high prices. Could you blame them? No! The dissapointment was that they also insisted that they could have bases in all our dominions too. Remember the British went into the war with a Commonwealth and a healthy bank balance. When war was over, most of the commonwealth was either demanding independence or was not happy with the situation as it was. and we were then BANKRUPT. America went into the war rich and came out FILTHY rich. I think G. B was the only country to honour it's debts and I do believe that it was only about 10 years ago that we honoured our debt and finally cleared it. perhaps one can see why the question was did we win the war?
1947 was a dreadful winter too, we had little fuel such as coal and everything was still on ration, it was the start of my Juniors School. I caught Rheumatics. Had I caught Rheumatic Fever I would have had a weak heart and almost certainly not be here now. I had to stay in bed for about 3 weeks. I managed to recover though and sat my 11+ in I guess March 1947. Noboby expected me to pass anything at all. I certainly didn't as this episode will give you some idea. There were about 24 boys in our class and the teacher selected a boy every night to collect the pencils and sharpen them. there was no ink or writing pens either. Today it was my turn. I collected the pencils and took them to the teachers table. At the end was a had turned pencil sharpener. Well after about 10 minutes I had sort of sharpened about 2 not good at all. Anyway the teacher asked this boy to help me. This boy was really thick. However he sharpened the pencils in about 3 minutes sharp. He looked at me and just said "Thicko" I went red faced and wanted to crawl in a corner out of the way. I had been turning the sharpener the wrong way. To be honest I was, and still am hopeless at anything practical. Now I waited for my 11+ results.
More to follow.
Tuesday 25 May 2010
early school days
Before I talk of school I think I had better remind anybody who will read this that we had rationing, nightly blackouts and of course had to carry with us at all times our gas masks. Black outs meant just that, it was pitch black outside so we never went out at night. No light must be seen at all and warden would check to see that no light was showing at all. We knew nothing different as it was the way we were bought up so it was normal to us. If we had any new clothes, very rarely that was, we had immediately we were home agin had to change into our everyday clothes. Believe this I even now do this today. Food was rationed and what we children missed most was sugar. Many a time we have put golden syrup in our tea to sweeten it, all it seemed to do was darken the colour. there was plenty of bread and potatoes so we did not go particularly hungry. What we did miss though was fresh fruit. I never saw a banana orange peach apricot pineapple etc. the whole of the war. In fact it would be about 1947 before we saw a banana. The first fruit I saw was a pomegranate. That would be in late 1946 or early 1947 I think they were from Italy. I was not impressed though as there seemed to be 90% pips and little flesh.
So to school. It was late summer in 1942 that I started at an infants school. I was to be there from the age of 5 until age 9 or if your birthday was after the summer holidays and before the late summer intake you could only be 8. I was 9 and 1 month old.
The first day at school. together with our gasmasks we went into uor classromm for the first time. The teacher informed us that if she clapped her hand together, we were to immediately leave what we were doing and get under our desks. She would then read us a story. Thank goodness the real occasion never happened. We had to put our gasmasks on from time to time. All I can remember is that the perspex got steamed up and I could hardly see anything out of them. Still that was how it was. My sister was 4 years older than me and she loved to go and try to find some perspex. She showed me some and told me that it was off an aeroplane but to be honest I was too young to make any judgement. Often though when going to school, which was about 500metres away there would be an UXB with some army men round. Of course we young ones were inquisitive and try to have a look down the crater. We would be told in no uncertain manner to clear off as it was dangerous. Sometimes in the early months of my schooling there would be an air raid and you would be able to see the dogfights in the air. To be honest I had no idea which was which. With the passing of time though thr raids diminished and gas masks were not carried, thank goodness. We were allowed out at break time and gradually the fears of bombing receded.
At 8 we had to move out of the primary school and travel over the road to the local Church Hall. This had been requisitioned because of the increase of children wishing to go to school. It was a wooden hut, similiar to a scouts hut. It was divided into 2 classrooms with a velvet curtain, all there was in each class was a blackboard, a chair for every child and a sort of cloth satchell big enough to hold about 3 excercise books and a couple of pencils. It is a wonder that we were taught anything really but we seemed to do alright. Around this time we had V E celebrations. It is hard to believe but all streets had a party and there would be a piano playing, buntings out all over and food, such food we had never seen before in our lives. The comradeship was just impossible to describe. I was only 8 though so did not really appreciate it as much as I would have done had I been as old as my sister. So at age 9 we now had male and female schools. I was to go to a boys junior school about 175o metres away across the busy A1 road. More of that the next time.
So to school. It was late summer in 1942 that I started at an infants school. I was to be there from the age of 5 until age 9 or if your birthday was after the summer holidays and before the late summer intake you could only be 8. I was 9 and 1 month old.
The first day at school. together with our gasmasks we went into uor classromm for the first time. The teacher informed us that if she clapped her hand together, we were to immediately leave what we were doing and get under our desks. She would then read us a story. Thank goodness the real occasion never happened. We had to put our gasmasks on from time to time. All I can remember is that the perspex got steamed up and I could hardly see anything out of them. Still that was how it was. My sister was 4 years older than me and she loved to go and try to find some perspex. She showed me some and told me that it was off an aeroplane but to be honest I was too young to make any judgement. Often though when going to school, which was about 500metres away there would be an UXB with some army men round. Of course we young ones were inquisitive and try to have a look down the crater. We would be told in no uncertain manner to clear off as it was dangerous. Sometimes in the early months of my schooling there would be an air raid and you would be able to see the dogfights in the air. To be honest I had no idea which was which. With the passing of time though thr raids diminished and gas masks were not carried, thank goodness. We were allowed out at break time and gradually the fears of bombing receded.
At 8 we had to move out of the primary school and travel over the road to the local Church Hall. This had been requisitioned because of the increase of children wishing to go to school. It was a wooden hut, similiar to a scouts hut. It was divided into 2 classrooms with a velvet curtain, all there was in each class was a blackboard, a chair for every child and a sort of cloth satchell big enough to hold about 3 excercise books and a couple of pencils. It is a wonder that we were taught anything really but we seemed to do alright. Around this time we had V E celebrations. It is hard to believe but all streets had a party and there would be a piano playing, buntings out all over and food, such food we had never seen before in our lives. The comradeship was just impossible to describe. I was only 8 though so did not really appreciate it as much as I would have done had I been as old as my sister. So at age 9 we now had male and female schools. I was to go to a boys junior school about 175o metres away across the busy A1 road. More of that the next time.
Monday 24 May 2010
the start of it all
Well to anybody who decides to have time on their hands and wants to read my ramblings, you are most welcome.
I was born in 1937 in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire. I had an elder sister and we lived in a terraced house on what you would now call a Housing Association. It was a large private housing estate comprisind of about 200 houses. They were modern built between the wars but even then the house we lived in had no electricity. It did however have a bathroom, two bedrooms a living room and a kitchen. An outside toilet and a coalhouse.
In 1940 I had the pleasure of welcoming my younger sister in this world. The joy was soon forgotten when my father was called up to serve in His Majesties Armed Services. He had one good eye was almost 30 and was passed A1. After initial training he was selected to go to fight the Japenese behind the lines with the famous Orde Wingate. Yes he was one of the original Chindits. It was the only thing he was proud of in the entire time in the Army. Having the mythical Chindit Flashes. Needless to say my mother had to bring us 3 young children up on here own. It must have been dreadful for her. As you may know, Grantham was a hive of activity with the Airforce, so much of Lincolnshire was. The air raids were frightening for her. Most will have heard of the Anderson Shelter which was supplied and had to be erected in the garden, well we had a Morrison Shelter which was like a reinforced steel shell shaped like a bed and we 3 slept in that downstairs in the front room for about 2 years.. In 1942 it was time for me to start school. to be continued.
I was born in 1937 in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire. I had an elder sister and we lived in a terraced house on what you would now call a Housing Association. It was a large private housing estate comprisind of about 200 houses. They were modern built between the wars but even then the house we lived in had no electricity. It did however have a bathroom, two bedrooms a living room and a kitchen. An outside toilet and a coalhouse.
In 1940 I had the pleasure of welcoming my younger sister in this world. The joy was soon forgotten when my father was called up to serve in His Majesties Armed Services. He had one good eye was almost 30 and was passed A1. After initial training he was selected to go to fight the Japenese behind the lines with the famous Orde Wingate. Yes he was one of the original Chindits. It was the only thing he was proud of in the entire time in the Army. Having the mythical Chindit Flashes. Needless to say my mother had to bring us 3 young children up on here own. It must have been dreadful for her. As you may know, Grantham was a hive of activity with the Airforce, so much of Lincolnshire was. The air raids were frightening for her. Most will have heard of the Anderson Shelter which was supplied and had to be erected in the garden, well we had a Morrison Shelter which was like a reinforced steel shell shaped like a bed and we 3 slept in that downstairs in the front room for about 2 years.. In 1942 it was time for me to start school. to be continued.
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