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.