Dark

Yesterday I was late up, so late that I misses the young man next door. He likes me to wave to him as he goes to work at soon after 7.45am.
This morning I decided that when I woke up I would turn on the radio. I didn't turn on the radio yesterday because I thought it was too early. The reason it was dark was it was pouring with rain and my garden was standing in water and the driveway was more or less flooded.
 So this morning on went the radio. It was soon after 7.00am. After the news it started to talk about education and the main problem was where you lived depended on the sort of education you got. I then started to think of my own education which is only basic. This is how it was in my days.
 I went to an Infants School both for boys and girls when I was 5. It was for children from 5 to 9 years of age. When I was 8 I, together with the other children was moved to what most would call it a Boy Scout's hut. It was actually a small place to pray, a C of E Church. It was made of wood. there were 2 classes divided by a large velvet curtain. There were no desks only chairs and each was given a cloth satchel to put our books and pencils in. We didn't think anything of it and at the age of 9 was then moved to a Juniors School. Schools from then were segregated Boys going to a different school to girls. This was a good way from where I lived and we youngsters had to walk over the main A1 road also known as The Great North Road. I guess it was a little over a mile to the new school. This was not so great during the harsh winter of 1947 but we just got on with what we had to do.
 At 10 all had to sit the 11+. Some were just 11 but most were 10 years old. If one was successful one was then moved to either the Grammar School or a new concept called a Secondary School. If one failed all then one stayed on till 13 years of age then moved to the new Comprehensive School which was mixed, both Boys and girls. They had to leave school at 15 years of age.
 I managed to get to the Secondary Modern School at 11 years of age. It was nearly 2 miles from my home but we were so poor I had to walk there every day. At 14 my Parents did manage to get me a second hand bicycle which I was over the moon with.
 At 14 years old the Careers Officer( a Lady) came to talk about careers and suggested that we consider leaving school at 15. This way we could help with some income as most families were poor. It would be another 10 years or so before my Parents could say they were not destitute.
 I must tell you this. Many years later after I had been in business for well over 10 years and feeling a little better off, I once said to my Mother, my Father had passed away several years before. I just said that I still considered myself Working Class. My mother then said"I consider myself Poor class." I just laughed and told her I couldn't talk sensibly to her but it does give you some idea how things were in post 1945 years.
 Anyway the Careers Officer interviewed us individually and when it came to my turn I told her that I wanted to work on the Railways and eventually be an Engine Driver. She seemed pleased that I had made my mind up as to want to leave at 15 and start work.
 I guess originally there would be a total intake of some 60 boys. It those days term started on about September 4th. If your Birthday fell before that day you could leave. If however your Birthday fell after that date but before January 1st. the following year one could leave at Christmas. The same applied at Easter so that for the last few months there were only about 15 of us left.
 Out of the original 60 or so pupils only about 6 decided to stay on for O levels. There was a small room where they studied. If they got their O levels and wished to take A levels then they had to go to the Grammar School for a 2 year study.
So as you can see, Education was not all that important in my youth but almost all of us managed well enough and have had a reasonable life style and we seemed contented with our lot.
 It was not easy as in 1947 winter my Sister who was 4 years older than me, we had to go to the coking Company to get a bag of coke to put on our fire as there was a strict ration of coal. We of course couldn't carry it to our home, we took a pram and got one of the men to lift it on the pram for us to push uphill to our home, about 3/4 of a mile. Not too bad when the paths were clear but we had snow on the ground for several weeks. It must be remembered that my Sister was at the oldest 14 and me at the oldest 10. The coke didn't give out much heat but it was better than nothing at all. More soon.