1946 - 1952
Home & Play
 |
| Morris 12 - AUW 264 |
In common with many children, especially boys I suspect, I was not the tidiest child, much to Mum’s disgust, and one day my bedroom window was flung open and a portion of the contents of my bedroom was dispatched into the back garden. I am not sure whether or not it made any difference to my tidiness but I bet it relieved Mum’s frustration.
Our small back garden had a rough path leading down past the garage; on one occasion I was wheeling our wooden tea trolley down the path when it disintegrated without any help from me. Now who would believe that! Fortunately for me, I was being watched when it happened so avoided an inquisition. At some time I acquired a scar on my right little finger. I believe that a brick dropped on it whilst I was building a shelter with a clothes horse.
When I was about six, I was presented with an old bicycle, which was to be a large part of my childhood for quite a few years. When I was first given it, I needed wooden blocks on the pedals so that I could reach them but once I got going I must have covered hundreds, if not thousands, of miles. I guess that Pop kept it going and it certainly gave good service. There were a couple of fields at the back of the estate and the footpaths made very good speedway tracks, especially when they were wet. As I got older I used to set off with other boys, all older than me, and go wherever they went. One great place to go was the ‘Beeston Bumps’. This was an area that had been used for tipping clay waste and over the years the bikes had transformed it into a very interesting circuit around which we used to race at great speed for hours on end. One day one of my trips looking for conkers was to Tadcaster, a round trip of about 40 miles. This on a single speed girls cycle with 15" wheels was no mean feat. I imagine that the other boys, some of them aged 15 with multi gear racing cycles, must have been utterly fed up with waiting for me. I believe it was one of the few times that my parents did get worried as I didn’t get back until late in the evening when it was almost dark. Children, of course, have no concept of danger or how parents worry. It is true of course that parents in those days did not worry the way they do now. Children being abducted was, and remains, a rare occurrence, but, when it happens as I write this in 2013, the media makes such a fuss that the whole country knows within a very few hours. In the late 1940s I don’t remember ever hearing of any child being abducted as there was no TV to speak of and the radio news broadcasts were very formal affairs.
Of course, the bicycle was not my only source of amusement. Whip-and-Top was a common toy during that period and we had great fun colouring the top of the Tops so that pretty patterns were displayed as the top rotated. As I write this, I cannot think when I last saw a Whip and Top being played with. I also had roller skates although I wasn’t terribly efficient in their use; it annoyed me that I couldn’t go backwards and I never did master the art. I learned to skip at one stage and Hopscotch was something played with the girls. Simple games by today’s standards but fun nonetheless. There was a Park only a hundred yards from our house that was another source of fun with lots of trees and bushes to hide behind and loads of open space. There was also a Park Keeper from whom we would always run just in case we had been doing something that we oughtn’t. In the park were a Bowling Green and some hard Tennis Courts. I have previously mentioned the quarries and they were another playground. There were all sorts of rubbish around them and we boys would find an old piece of corrugated iron or something similar and then use that as a sort of toboggan on which to slide down the slopes to the water, and, if we didn’t fall off in time, sometimes into it. On one occasion, by myself, I was exploring one of the quarries and decided that it would be a good idea to climb up the side. This turned out to be a very bad idea because part way up I slipped and bounced back down again landing, very painfully on my backside. I was fortunate really because I could have hit my head, bounced into the water and never been seen alive again.
In addition to the two water filled quarries, there were other ponds nearby which were a source of newts of varied colours. These I used to catch and sometimes bring home. Thinking back, I realise that this was not the most sensible thing to do because they had been taken from their own environment to which they were well suited; there was, however, no malice intended.
In the winter, the park was a very suitable place for sledging with a long slope down towards the bottom gate, which was in Lower Wortley. On some occasions it was known for a householder at the bottom to provide cocoa for anyone and everyone; it was wonderful on a cold wintry day and there seemed to be plenty of those in Leeds.
Leysholme Estate boasted a parade of three shops, a Post Office cum General Store, a Greengrocer and a Baker. In about 1948, I found an unopened packet of cigarettes, Ogden’s Robins, outside the Post Office. I would like to say that I was an honest child but I obviously wasn’t because I kept them and having acquired some matches from home, I proceeded to smoke them behind the bushes in the park. As neither of my parents smoked, they must have known but I don’t remember anything being said although the remainder did disappear from my raincoat pocket one day. It was to be on Good Friday 1971 (9th April) that I smoked my last cigarette, cigar or pipe; yes I tried them all!
We always had dogs at home; Mum in particular was very fond of them. We mostly had Pekingese but, for a short while, I had my own mongrel whose name might have been Rusty. I don’t remember him leaving, but apparently he started to get very nasty with one of the other dogs and he just had to go.
My Aunt and Uncle lived up the road at number 51 and I was a frequent visitor there. They had a large back garden and different places to hide in the house. One day I got into the airing cupboard and managed to close the door. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the door open again and had to shout for help. When I was eventually found, it was quickly decided that a ball catch on the door was a much more sensible option than the catch that was fitted. My Aunt and Uncle never had children and I, and later my brother Michael, were always made most welcome. I don’t ever remember being told off for being untidy or rowdy but I can’t have been an angel and my Aunt’s house was always immaculate. At Christmas, my Uncle, who was meticulous, would make up all sorts of games to play to earn little presents. One year, I remember, he made his own version of a pinball machine without the pins. We had to roll marbles through holes to earn the presents.
Many of the boys I played with were older than me and on one occasion we met at the local beck (large stream really). The lads were swinging out over the water on a rope attached to a tree branch. When my turn came, out I went, eyes firmly shut, only to let go in the middle. I came home very wet but having learned another lesson, or maybe not, as will be described in a later chapter. Someone offered to tell Mum what had happened but I declined the offer as I was so embarrassed. I suppose I was pretty much a typical boy, with a taste for adventure, who would have a go at most things.
In 1949 home life changed when my brother Michael came along to upset the equilibrium in my life. There were undoubtedly times when I resented having to look after or play with him but to be fair, I cannot really remember being put upon. With eight years between us, we were never to be the greatest of playmates except when we were out as a family at weekends or holidays.
When I was about 8 or 9, my parents threw a birthday party for me and invited all my local friends of around my age; it turned into a riot I think and, as I remember it, it was the one and only party I had until I was 21. Frankie HODGSON comes to mind as ringleader in a fighting game but I am sure we were all as guilty.
Next door to us lived the FISHER family; they had a daughter named Margaret who was probably a year younger than me; next door to her were the DONALD family whose daughter was Christine. I did spend some time playing with them but I was much more fond of boys games. Once I left Leeds I never saw Christine again but in 1977 whilst sitting in the Services Families Club in Poetto, Sardinia, who should walk across the room but Margaret FISHER, now Margaret KENT. She had married into the RAF and her husband, a Flight Lieutenant, was stationed out there. Margaret was the image of her mother and I recognised her instantly.
 |
| Margaret FISHER, Me, Christine DONALD |
Other names from the estate were Maureen BRUNTON, who may have been the Princess in my school play, and Delia HODGSON. Towards the end of our time in Leeds, I also became very friendly with a boy from the top of the estate named Derek FIRTH who lived at 119. The family who lived opposite was, I believe, called WILLIAMSON and the son, who must have been five or six years older than me and had a very posh bike, would have been one of the boys that I followed to Tadcaster.
At some stage Pop bought a garden shed from the top end of the estate and it was brought to number 5, completely built, by means of wooden rollers; what a job that must have been. Behind the shed were some poplar trees, which were fun to climb for a boy; they used to blow well in the wind.
Apparently, I had a novel way of getting into the back garden avoiding using the gate. I used to climb up a drainpipe onto the kitchen roof and drop down the other side. I think my parents found out about this from Mrs. FISHER next door.
Cub Scouts
At some time I joined the local branch of the Cub Scouts. My main memories of Cubs were the camping trips, which were great fun. I don’t recall getting homesick although some of the boys most definitely did. On one occasion, the camp we went to had so much rain that the tented accommodation became unusable and we all slept in a farmer’s barn. Because the Cubs were associated with a local Church of England Church, in fact we used their hall, we were encouraged to go to church parade on Sundays. This became awkward for me because when I started taking Catholic instruction I was forbidden to take part in any service of a differing religion. Fortunately, and much more sensibly, these days the Catholic Church takes a much more liberal view. I know that one week I got into trouble because I had the Cub’s Wolf’s Head Mascot, which was supposed to lead the boys on parade and I wasn’t there.
Train Spotting
Train spotting became a huge part of my life with two Stations in Leeds and the main line to London passing only a mile or so from where we lived. We boys didn’t go to the stations much because in those days a Platform Ticket was required to get past the Ticket Inspector and that cost one penny! The engines most looked for were the Class A4 or ‘streaks’ as we knew them; Mallard was the most famous and I did see her a number of times. It seems odd to relate but as I write this, on TV is a commercial for Yorkshire Tea that features a cartoon version of Mallard. Recently I have visited the real thing, which is in York Railway Museum. Life and limb were sometimes risked by getting on the tracks at various places and putting a halfpenny on the line. When a train ran over it, it became rather thin and twice its original diameter. It was very dangerous as well as a waste of money. One day a couple of us were exploring at Nineveh Sheds, which was a repair workshop. We got caught snooping around but instead of giving us a clip round the ear, this very nice driver asked if we would like a trip on the footplate of an engine he was testing. What an experience for a couple of youngsters. We didn’t go very far but we were one up on all the other boys without a doubt.
Secondary School
 |
| 1952 St. Michael's Uniform |
St. Michael’s was a City School and, as such, had no Playing Fields. As a consequence we had to travel out of the city to play sports. Football was the winter sport played there and I remember playing but not being very good.
Whilst I was at St. Michael’s, I joined the Scouts, who were attached to St. Anne’s Cathedral; my abiding memory was being blindfolded with boxing gloves on, then seeing who or what we could hit. I got hit on the nose, which promptly started bleeding and refused to stop. I wonder who thought up that idea. For more information on St. Michael's Catholic College, which is now closed, see Annex F.
Sport
Pop was an all round sportsman, playing football, cricket, tennis and hockey. Later on he was to take up golf and later still, bowls of both Crown and Flat Green variety. He played Bowls for Thornton Veterans up until the age of 92 and remained competitive to the end. He was a hockey player of some note, attending for some years the Yorkshire trials with no success. In 1947 he had joined Adel Hockey Club, which, initially, played its home games at Cookridge before moving to the public playing fields at Roundhay Park. In the early days, the team used to meet up at Headingley and the players with cars used to take those without the rest of the way. Goodness only knows how many players fitted into our old Morris 12; it seemed like the whole team sometimes. I used to tag along and I developed a fascination for the game, which was to become a large part of my sporting life. Pop also spent hours in the Summer months teaching me to play cricket; in particular he taught me how to bowl and it was a great disappointment to him that I never showed much inclination to play the game. For a while, I played for the boy’s team of Farnley Hill Methodist Cricket Club. I seem to remember, on a couple of occasions, batting for a considerable period and scoring only the odd run. Pop told me that he had kept some of the scorecards but when he died there was no sign of them.
Health
When I was very young, I was taken very ill with pneumonia and I believe that I had another bout when I was about seven, however I was basically a fairly healthy child. The same could not be said for my teeth. To start with, I have Mandibular Prognathism, which means that when I bite, my bottom teeth close in front of the top ones. When my second teeth started to come through, the two at the front at the top came through twice the normal width and growing one behind the other with two more growing through the roof of my mouth. It was decided that they would have to go and in 1951 I spent time in St. James’ Hospital in Leeds having them taken out. One of the things I remember is that I had to have injections in my bottom every day and I got an enormous bruise on one cheek. I was told that my oversized teeth ended up in the Leeds Dental Museum but I cannot confirm that. For the rest of the time we spent in Leeds, I paid frequent visits to an Orthodontist who tried all sorts of things to correct my jaw, including wearing a contraption like a rugby skull cap with rubber bands attached to two pieces of webbing which fitted around my chin. This attempt to pull back my lower jaw was remarkably unsuccessful. I also wore a brace to push my remaining top teeth forward, which was only slightly more successful. This dentist also did other work on my teeth including fillings using a foot treadle drill, which, by today’s standards must have been remarkably inefficient; it was also painful because no anaesthetic was used. Before we left Leeds, I was fitted with my first set of false teeth; I was just 11.
One strong memory was of being allowed to go into Leeds by myself and wander around. My favourite place to go was the Leeds Museum in which I must have spent hours. It was free of course apart from maybe the ‘Coal Mine’ into which I did not venture. I was particularly interested in all things based on Natural History. In later life, I asked Pop about this freedom to wander and he told me that both Mum and he felt that I was quite responsible and sensible enough to be allowed out alone. It was not easy to keep in contact in those days. At home we didn’t have a phone and the thoughts of every child having a mobile were in the realms of science fiction fantasy.
As I got a little older I remember listening to the wireless every evening when ‘Dick Barton, Special Agent’ came on. I was terribly disappointed when it finished to be replaced by ‘The Archers’!! My Nanna took me to the pictures in Leeds once to see a film made of his adventures. Also on the bill was ‘The Last Days of Dolwyn’ about which I remember more. When I was in the house I did read a lot. I particularly liked ‘Biggles’ by Capt. W. E. Johns. The first one I read was ‘Biggles Sweeps the Desert’ in which the hero came up against the German, Von Zoyton. We had two large books in the house containing all sorts of information but what I remember most were two serialised stories. By that I mean that the chapters were split throughout the books so that you needed to search for the next part of the story. One story was called ‘The Wooden Heads’, which was about a family that woke up one morning to find that there was virtually no-one else about. The Wooden Heads were ghostly beings who surrounded people and made them disappear. (Written about 1922 by C.L. Hales, I found it recently at http://www.fulltable.com/vts/w/woodh/menun.htm.) The other story was about Dinosaurs, but I could not tell you any of the story. Maybe this story fuelled some of my interest in the pre-historic displays at Leeds Museum. The other books that I came to like were the ‘Adventure’ series of books by Enid Blyton, the heroes being Philip and Dinah Mannering and Jack and Lucy-Ann Trent.
It seems opportune at this stage, as we are about to leave Leeds for Bradford, to write a chapter on my Auntie Betty and Uncle George.
No comments:
Post a Comment