All too soon the summer holidays came to an end and it was time for my last year at school.
When I returned to Heath Road, I was tickled pink to find that they had put me in the top form,4a.Not that I deserved it,I was an academic duffer,could'nt do maths to save my life,could spell physics,but had absolutely no understanding of them.And science,forget it,our science master,Mr Hamilton,later became leader of Liverpool City Council.He came from a very old and distinguished family,but he failed with me.Sad to say,the only subjects that I shone in were History,Geography and English Lit.There were not many jobs on offer in Garston for anyone who specialised in those subjects.
Settling in with my new classmates was not too difficult,they knew of me and treated me with an easy caution,when they knew me a bit better,things improved.I missed my old gang and had to make new friends,one boy I became friendly with was called Ernie,he lived in the terraced houses just past Blackwells.He was an easy going fellow and we spent some time together,we even went to night school.He was a much smarter dresser than me,but he was'nt condescending,we found we enjoyed most of the same things and we even managed to get girlfriends who were mates.
They came from Allerton,college girls,they only ever wore their uniforms and we never got to taking them out at night.We met them at the 86 bus by the church at the other side of Mather Avenue,they were geting off the bus we were supposed to be getting on.We had seen them a few times and this time we took the chance to talk to them.I was amazed when they chatted back,we didn't bother getting on that bus,but walked awhile with them.Every night after that we chatted when we could and then hurried off,Ernie to home and me to Appletons.I had my first proper kiss with Brenda,I can remember wondering how it was done.Did you keep your lips closed or did you ....I can remember our noses bumping and our teeth clashing.As a great first kiss it rated zero.I can recall the conversation Ernie and I had on the bus afterwards,it was all about the proper technique for snogging.We dallied with the girls until the dark nights came along and then they were met at the bus stop by one of their mothers.We found out later that they were only thirteen!
Christmas that year was one of the first that we spent at home,we made a lightening visit to Walton and returned to Garston for a proper Christmas at home.Mum did a goose and a leg of pork and all the trimmings that went with
it,we had christmas pud with custard to follow and,as a treat were given a glass of port.After the dishes were cleared away,we watched t.v.,this was the beginning of the modern christmas.
Mum had bought me a huge artists cartridge pad for my main present and a whole load of pencils.I was very much into art at that time.I used to spend hours down at the Pier Head ,trying to sketch the waterfront.I would get so absorbed in what I was doing that I never noticed how many people stopped to look at what I was sketching.Sometimes they would stop and talk,in fact I met the most beautiful young lady there who got chatting to me,I was smitten the moment she started to speak.She was from Cheshire and had come over on the ferry,I cannot remember too much of what we spoke about,only that I wanted that moment to last forever.Alas ,her father came for her and I never got to know her name.
I loved that landing stage,this was in the days when there were ferries to New Brighton ,Wallasey,Secombe and Birkenhead.There was such a hustle and bustle about the place.The ferry boats themselves were like bewhiskered walruses,huffing and puffing across the river,there would be three alongside ,three in the river and three on the other side.The whole waterfront was alive with ships,whistles and steam horns blowing,a forest of masts in the docks ,the sound of jack hammers and rivetting guns in the shipyards across the river, all adding to that marine symphony that provided the sound track of that wonderful ,dirty old river.
As I walked around the streets across the Strand I would look up at the shipping offices,their walls arrayed with the names of the places their ships were bound,Pappayanni's,Blue Funnel,Pacific Steam Navigation,and many ,many more ,What boy could not be curious about the places named,Pago Pago,where was that?Sumatra,Chile and far off Hong Kong.Mr Pomfrey had lit a fire within me and I wanted to go off and find these places for myself.
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I was made deputy head boy of the school,only because they did'nt know what else to do with me.The head boy was the total opposite of me,an all round sportsman,iron jawed,tall and resolute,I felt tired just looking at him.I was a prefect too,totally useless,but the badges mattered,they gave you a certain cachet.I spent very little time in class in my last term,the teachers used me as a kind of gofer.Any boys that had to be taken home or to the doctors ,yours truly was the man for the job,I was'nt unhappy to do it ,in fact I liked it,after all those years of swotting, this was the business.
When the schools inspector came to give the leavers career advice,he offered to help me get a job in journalism.When I told Dad ,he scoffed at the idea,he still expected me to work with him.
I was determined to be independent of him and started to look around for any kind of a job that was not factory work.
Ernie and I had become engaged in finding some place that suited our talents and to that end,we would scour the jobs adverts in the Echo,although it was the period of full employment,for a Garston lad,that usually meant the Bottle works,the Bobbin Works,The Tannery,the gasworks or one of the factories in Speke.None of which appealed to yours truly.
Mum spotted an advert for a new butchers shop that was opening in Spring,Grandma knew the owner of this chain,W.E .Kearns,she helped me compose a letter.It was weeks before I got a reply and Dad was growling that I should'nt be bothered trying to get a job anywhere when he could get me a job at the ROF.
Meanwhile,I'd got into the pattern of going to Ernies after we had been to night school,he would make a bit of supper and we'd have a chat about this and,I'd noticed his Mum sitting in the front room,sitting at a table upon which there was a small board game,or so I thought.I asked Ernie what she was doing,"Oh she's talking to Dad",I must have looked puzzled,because his Dad was dead."Er,how d'you mean?"I asked."She's got a ouija board and she talks to him every night" he replied ,as if it was the most natural thing in the world."Come on in ,I'll get her to introduce you to him".So in to the parlour we went,Mrs Hesketh looked up and said "Ernies brought someone to meet you".she said to the ceiling. Now I was having a job to keep a straight face,I thought they were joking.The little glass she had her finger on started zipping around the letters,so fast that I could'nt keep track,she said "He says Hello"My face must have been a picture,I must have shown my disbelief."Don't be frightened Brian (I was'nt),he can see the future,ask him anything." Well, I wasn't going to ask the obvious,like where will I work when I leave school(just weeks away now),so I asked him who I would be working with. Back came the reply "You will work with a B.K,a B.M. and an S.L,there will be others too" Seeing as how I had'nt got a job yet,that could have meant anything.
Next day I got a reply from W.E Kearns,they wanted me to go for an interview
at their head office in Old Swan.It was very intimidating ,my first interview for for a proper job.Mr Kearns was a very kindly man,cut from the same cloth as Mr Simpson,first world war veteran,churchgoing and very much the business man.They had a chain of shops and their Garston shop would be their biggest,it would have 12 employees.I got the job and would start during the Easter holiday.I could'nt believe it,I would soon be starting a whole new life...
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