Secondary Education
I sat the 11 plus aged ten, and along with 200 other boys sat the two day examinations in all subjects at St Francis Xaviers College. A lot more boys passed than there were places available. When this happened the council used to ask the parents how much they were prepared to pay towards the College Education. My mother said she was not prepared to do for one child what she could not afford to do for the others, and as a result I was turned down. The next year I tried again; I wanted to go to College but was let down by the school. When the day came to sit the exam, the Headmaster Mr McCluskey, was away from the school with flue, and it appeared that nobody realised the date for the exam. It wasn?t until the second day that the deputy head, realising what had happened, sent me and two other boys to St Francis Xavier?s College to do their best. In spite of missing half the exam I was again awarded a pass mark, but again my mother said that she wouldn?t pay anything, so again I missed out and did not go to College.
On one school outing the school assembled, and, all dressed in Sunday best, marched in single file to catch a tram car to the Pier head, then went on the ferry boat to Eastham and then made a mile walk to a field, where there was a large hut where they ate a cake, and drank lemonade made with lemonade powder and had sandwiches. The day?s activities were taken up with school sports and football. We arrived home tired out; it was the only holiday the majority of the children had. Those who could afford it paid 5 pence a week and saved up by instalments, and the children of the unemployed went free.
The outing was subsidised by the teachers themselves. The choir boys/ altar boys outing was a far better day. Paid for by the three priests of the parish, the outing was usually to West Kirby on the Wirral. Tram, boat, train it was like going abroad, and it finished off with a meal in a restaurant. For the number of services and practices they did the boys felt it was deserved, although most of the boys in the choir seemed to really enjoy the privilege of singing, and to sing in Latin was very special. One Sunday afternoon Wilf was playing cards in card school; he was winning a lot and one of the bigger boys was a bad loser and he jumped on Wilf to steal his money back. But he hadn?t bargained for Wilf?s brother (me) who dived into the fight gave the boy a good hiding and broke his glasses and his nose. Once again I was in trouble, but fortunately a lot of people had seen what happened and the villain became a hero. There were times when I was lucky not to get in trouble with the police through my fighting, but because I usually took on people much bigger and older I got the benefit of the doubt, such as when I took on the co-op milkman who had stolen our ball, and the time when I threw the park keeper over my shoulder in a wrestle, and the park keeper broke his ankle. I was a lively character and from as early as seven was in a crowd of youngsters carrying banners and singing, ?vote, vote, vote for Harry Walker,? this being a Municipal Election. But the Scotland Ward became a miniature battleground at a General Election. T P Connor was the Catholic candidate, followed in later years by David Logan. Life was never dull. On the 17th March every parish held a dance or concert. On the 12th July the Orangemen held their parades; these could be spectacular and colourful.
Streets were lavishly decorated and drew large crowds; these celebrations usually lasted a week. Towards the weekend a large Parade would take place and would go over the river to Eastham. As they were mainly adults an enormous amount of drinking took place, quite a lot got drunk, and when the parade returned to Liverpool , the leaders would defy the police and turn into Byron Street to march up Scotland Road to challenge the Catholic Irish. It usually finished up with a mini battle, with the police helpless. Needless to say me and my mates were there to see it all happen.
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As one of the lucky ones, I got the chance to spend some of the school holidays on a farm in Wales. It was on one of these holidays that something happened that was to affect me for the rest of his life. Farms in the 1920s and 30s were not as hygienic as today, and on this occasion there were a large number of flies, some of which entered my left ear. When the farmer?s wife heard this she produced a syringe which had a large rubber bulb as the pressure piece. She filled it with soapy water and proceeded to squirt it into his ear. The pain was terrific, I screamed, but she continued to squirt trying to clean the flies. When I got home I told mother what had happened.
Months later the ear began to discharge and I became a patient at the ear hospital; eventually it was diagnosed as a badly perforated ear drum which was incurable.
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