I never did any schoolwork in those last few weeks,I was given estimated marks for my end of term report.................................I ended up with the fourth highest results in the class,which was the top form.Not that it was going to do me any good though,I was going to be a butcher boy!
I'd done 5 years at Heath Road and it was quite a wrench to leave.It was Easter and my birthday fell in the last couple of days of the school break,so I assumed that now I was 15,I could start work.Wrong assumption!
I turned up at the new shop to start work the day I turned 15,I had no proper paperwork,I thought the school would send it all on when the holiday was over and the shop manager,Mr Lewis,accepted that that would be the case and put me to work straight away.
The shop was'nt due to open for another fortnight,the floors were still being laid in the main sales area so most of my work consisted of cleaning up after the builders,decorators and carpenters.I still went to Appletons in that first week,I did a couple of deliveries and would officially leave on the Saturday,the butchers not being open for business allowed me to leave Ronnie and the girls with good grace.Come Saturday evening,Ronnie closed the shop door as usual and the girls,instead of rushing for their coats,formed a little circle about me and Ronnie made said a few words about my going out into the real world,and how happy he had been with my time at the shop.
I was choked,old Mary then stepped forward and gave me a beautiful leather wallet,"To put your proper wages in,and with a little bit to start you off with"
As each of them kissed me goodbye I was filled with sadness to be leaving,I was only going 300 yards down the road,but I was taking my first great step into manhood.I walked home,for the first time in 18 months,no more order bike.Taking the wallet out of my pocket,I undid the fastener and saw that there were three pounds in it,with a little note wishing me all the best signed by all of them.That was a huge amount of money,more than two weeks wages at the butchers shop.Mum had to buy my blue and white striped apron
so the money helped out there,Kearns provided the white coats.
Work started at 7.00a.m.,with an hours break for lunch at 1.00p.m.and then you worked from 2.00p.m. until closing time at 6.00p.m.,you had to clean up then which saw you going home at about 6.30. Wednesdays was half day closing and you worked all day Saturday.
The floor layers were still working when I turned up for work on the Monday,they were from Milan and spoke very little english ,but they were good for a laugh and proceeded to teach me to curse in Italian,some of which I have never forgotten.The regular staff who would be working there started to turn up on different days that week,the first two,Brian Kibby and Betty Melia..(Those initials,how did Ernies Mum guess?)came from another of the companys' shop elsewhere in Liverpool.We were all put to scrubbing and polishing,the floor was finished the counters fitted,the fridges stocked with meat,more staff arrived and by Friday the bosses,the Brothers Kearns,arrived to make the final preparations for Sarurdays opening.We now had a staff of twelve and I was the youngest,my job was to do whatever anyone told me to do,carry,clean and polish.When old W.E.,as the elder Mr Kearns was known,found out that I was local,he asked me if I knew where the local timber yard was,I answered in the affirmative and he despatched to fetch a sack of clean sawdust.The timber yard was under the bridge,down by the tanyard,a hell of a walk with a hundred weight bag of sawdust on your back,but that was a journey that I would be making every week for the next 18 months.It was dreadful,I had a sack that was as big as me and I had to fill it to the brim,knot it and then tote it on my back.The sack was of a loose weave and the particles of sawdust would work their way down between my collar and my neck ,I would be chafed raw by the time I got to the shop.
I used to be given little homily's by W.E., or Mr Lewis, about how much harder it was when they were young,like a sucker ,I believed them.It was'nt worth complaining,your parents had been forever telling you how bad it had been for them.This was how you got to being grown up,toting big bags of sawdust and scrubbing wooden blocks until they looked bleached.
My leaving school without the proper paperwork caught up with me in the second week at Kearns,the school contacted me and told me that I was'nt due to leave until the summer break,I explained that I had started work and that it would jeopardised my chances if I had to go back to school,old Mr Simpson said that I could never get anything right ,but he did the paperwork and made things O.K.
It was'nt all doom and gloom at work though,very far from it.The food was great! Every day I was allowed to to pick out chops,steaks, kidneys and liver and take them to the kitchen upstairs where I would put them under the grille for the staff lunch,there I would cook them until they just right,the smell of all that sizzling meat would permeate the whole shop so that appetites were sharpened,there was a near stampede for the messroom as soon as the front door was bolted .I always made sure that I never went short,indeed ,I used to dip bread into the juices as I was cooking it ,oooooooooooooh bliss,but I never put weight on,they worked me to blooming hard for that to happen.
Being a kid,it was like being invisible , five ladies worked there now,at dinner time I would sit in the corner and get stuck into my food,the older lads would go out and tinker with their motorbikes ,or play cards,neither of which appealed to me ,so I would sit and read a paper and overhear the womens gossip.They were salty as hell,talking about their "fellers" and what they got up to,I think they knew I was listening because I would blush crimson whenever I heard anything outrageous.This was the days before tights and they would adjust their suspenders while I sat there.....phew.I think I saw more of them than their "fellers"did,but I was only the kid so what did it matter.But it did,to me.I didn't have a girlfriend but there wasn't anything I did'nt know about suspenders.
Mr Lewis was a stickler for discipline,he did'nt allow talking in the cutting room,every now and then he would put his head around the opening from the sales area and tell me to shut up."any more and it's either you go or I go " he would say,leaving me a very puzzled boy,why would he want to leave because I was a chatterbox?
I was surprised at how quickly the people came and went from that shop in those first few months,gradually a team began to form,Mr Lewis was the manager,he was an ex segeant major,and looked it,with severe short back and side and cheeks shaved to a high gloss,there was John Kearney,he had been in intelligence during the Italian campaign and could speak fluent Italian,not very useful in a Garston butchers,but came in handy in in the war.
Then there was Joey,cocky ex National serviceman,did his time in Cyprus and was full of tales about EOKA,there was Ted,nobody liked Ted,he was spooky,quietly spoken,near middle aged,the women said they always said that
he looked as though he was undressing them,I never felt comfortable with him either,could have been an axe murderer!After Ted came Mick,he was a body builder,fit as a flea,built like Garth but was a great bloke,taught me the different cutting methods and and how to pull the girls(never worked );below Mick was Bernie,he was just a bit older than me but his social life was a lot wider than mine,more of which anon,and after Bernie came Harry and me.
Harry came from a new estate on the edge of Gateacre,he looked a lot like Marty Wilde and he ,like Bernie,loved rhythm and blues.Long before I'd heard it called one,Harry used to play the air guitar,moving his hips like Elvis,he would go off on a riff,old Sid Lewis would go beserk."Corser!!" he would yell,"Any more of that racket and yer down the road!!"
Bernie would also play the air guitar....silently.This then was the male crew,the females consisted of two Marys,Betty(she was Jimmy Melias sister)
there were three other ladies whose names I have forgotten,but whose faces remain in my memory,they were pretty,but older than me,they never knew how I felt when they would tickle my chin or kiss my cheeks,I loved them to death but was mute with shyness.
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I still kept in touch with Ronnie and his wife Mary,little Ronnie was now a toddler and I would often babysit for them and,as a reward, Ronnie would either take me to his favourite pub ,the Queens, and buy me cider and guinness,or take me to see a science fiction movie,he loved them.
That autumn they told me that they were going to have another baby and were very excited about what the child would be,Ronnie fancied having a daughter.They were a lovely couple and life looked very rosy indeed.
Bernie asked if I would like to go to a dance at his youth club,it was in Speke,in a catholic church hall off Central Avenue.There would be plenty of girls there! Mum had just bought me an outfit that was very hollywood,a pastel green jacket with patch pockets with pale green gaberdine trousers,a gold flecked shirt and crepe soled shoes.I felt like a killer!
When I got there,there were girls, one of them looked like a film star,her name was Helen and she was at college.Her hair was jet black and hung in perfect
bangs with a neat fringe,crimson lips beneath the deepest blue eyes.
Even though I couldn't dance ,I plucked up courage and asked her to the floor while the band played "Witchcraft"I smooched around the floor ,feeling electric with this dream in my arms.Luckily,the band only knew about three tunes,Witchcraft being their favourite,so the dance seemed to last forever.
She turned out to be one of Bernies social circle so we all sat together.I couldn't imagine a girl like that wanting to know someone like me ,but she was kind and included me in her conversation.The night passed in a whirl and pretty soon it was coats on time and off for home.I just seemed to stay with Helen....all the the way to her house.I wanted to hold her hand but was too shy to attempt it,I wanted to tell her that I thought she was great,but was too tongue tied.Instead we talked of her college work,she was doing Greek mythology,which I liked and the more we talked the less chance there was of asking for a date.I was stupid,I had three sisters,but knew naff all about girls.I left her,standing at her gate saying see you next week,and walked hopelessly to the bus stop.
I thought I was ugly,with my scrawny neck,jug ears,big adams apple and spots,how could a girl like me?I used to envy the lads at work when they spoke of their weekend conquests,all talk about first and second base was over my head,I was'nt even on the field!
It's a good job I had my relatives,helping Frank and Vera with their garden and going out with Uncle Bill for wagon rides helped keep me anchored.
The railway cottage and garden was becoming idyllic,isolated,acres of garden behind a long,long,wall,away from the prying eyes of nosey neighbours,no busy roads,it was a lovely place to bring up kids.Vera took a part time job to supplement the household bills,and little by little, their house became a home .Vera could bake pies as good as my mothers ,with all the rhubarb that Frank had harvested she was baking on a production line basis,that sugar dusted, short crust pastry would just melt in your mouth.I was so glad they lived so near.
One Sunday I went to Grandmas and met a young lady who captured my heart,she was red haired,green eyed,and loved me on sight!When she put her paws on my shoulders and licked my face I was hers.Every Sunday I would take her to Stanley Park and we would spend hours running and chasing through the trees over the bridge,round the palmhouse and on the fields.I had been frightened by a dog when I was very young but Rusty,for that was she,removed any fear that may have been left.We'd get back to Grandmas ,just in time for dinner and then I would leave her for another week.Sadly for Grandma,Rusty needed a home where she would get regular exercise,happily for Rusty,Uncle Bill took her to his house,his daughters,there would be six of them eventually,loved her .And that was the reason I made sure that I visited them every Sunday,I too missed Rusty.When I walked around the corner of the top of their road ,Rustys' head would shoot up and she would come bounding toward me.There is nothing quite like a dogs devotion and I enjoyed Rustys' for many a year.
One Sunday when I was at uncle Bills,he engaged me in a conversation in which he asked me what my favourite things were,I thought it was a bit unusual and wondered were it was leading to.He stopped his questioning and then clicked something and the next thing I knew was that he was asking the same questions that he had just asked me,only his lips were,nt moving and I did'nt recognise who was giving the answers.The girls were looking at me ,giggling for they knew what was going on,Billy had just used his newest gadget.....a tape recorder!!! I was amazed,that strange voice was mine. I had to have one,they were enormous great reel to reel things but I could see all kinds of possibilities.It would cost me a shilling a week for 4 years,I didn't have to think about it,the following Sunday I picked up my Phillips reel to reel and started a whole new career,or so I thought.But although I never became an ace reporter,or record producer I did have fun........................
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