Chapter 4

Mother, Bunny and I came to live in a newly built house in Woolton, a village on the outskirts of Liverpool. Bunny had been accepted as a cadet on the training ship HMS Conway, then moored in the River Mersey at Rock Ferry. (She was moved to the Menai Straits in North Wales during the war.)

I joined form 3B at Quarry Bank High School. It was my happiest school. "Bill" Bailey was an outstanding headmaster, he had been head since its opening in the early 1920s, and had created a school with quite a special character. He was a "young at heart" example to his staff with whom the pupils had an easy relationship, without over-familiarity.

I made several life-long friends. Reg and Cyril Coleman, whose family owned an old established removal and storage business acquired an old A.J.S. motorbike. Ray Sewell, Jim Strachan and I were invited to join them in many happy and quite hazardous hours riding around the yard adjoining their warehouse. We all became motorcyclists, Ray and Jim were dispatch riders during the war, Cyril used a bike all his life which ended sadly, with a heart attack, when he was just fifty. Ray was the envy of us all. His elder sister was a model for Boots No. 7 cosmetics, and her photograph frequently appeared in the glossy magazines. When ever we called for him at home, his mother was wearing her hat and coat. We never did discover whether it was a ploy to deter visitors or that she was just eccentric.

My best friend, Noel McKenzie was not at Quarry Bank, I met him through Alan Stewart who lived next door. They were both at Liverpool Institute, Alan's sister Wendy and I were close friends - she was two years older than me. I seemed to have formed a pattern of enjoying the company of older people. Geoffrey (Tubby) Kneale, I met later, when we were in the 5th form.

A pleasant memory of the "always fine" summers was the weekly Wednesday afternoon trip to New Brighton open air swimming baths. We would board the New Brighton Ferry boat, but, by disembarking at Egremont and walking along the promenade to New Brighton, save enough on the fare to buy a cup of hot chocolate after our swim. I had never shown much enthusiasm for sport apart from tennis. Rugby, which had been played at Caterham, I made every effort to avoid. Soccer, played at Quarry Bank, I enjoyed. I was not a good player and my highest achievement was the house second eleven - although I was captain!

Cinematography was still a major interest, and I bought my first ciné-camera, a "Coronet," the price, three pounds, fifteen shillings. Films were hideously expensive, four shillings and seven pence for about three minutes on the screen. After years of adding to and improving my equipment, I was able to give film shows with musical accompaniment and remote controlled curtains over the proscenium.

Mother was planning another move, this time only a few hundred yards. She had decided she would like a bungalow built to her own design. Completion was late, and we were obliged to move from our old home. We lived for a while in a caravan on a farm in Gateacre, a nearby village.

Soon after moving to the bungalow I bought my first motorbike, a Francis-Barnett 150cc two stroke. I made a couple of trips to Caterham which must have been quite an adventure as its maximum speed was about forty miles per hour. Kim and I had a holiday on the Norfolk Broads during which we spent considerable time filming and taking still photographs. We developed our pictures overnight and printed them on daylight paper. We were still an odd pair!

I was given permission to use my motorbike for school and to be excused from wearing a cap, which was compulsory. I understand that schools now have car parks to accommodate student's cars.

The cinema still played its part in my leisure time. When I was seventeen mother lent us the car most Saturday nights. Noel, Geoffrey and I had the choice of more than 20 cinemas in our area of Liverpool, The Allerton Plaza was usually our first choice. There was a very pretty usherette who looked quite stunning in her blue "Gaumont British" uniform, with a "pill box hat" on her blonde hair. One Saturday night we plucked up the courage to ask if we could take her home after the performance. Geoffrey was the oldest and did the asking. When she accepted, requesting that her colleague, who was also quite pretty, could come too we were delighted. On many subsequent Saturdays we took Jessie and Audrey home. The Plaza had become our only choice. The relationship did not progress beyond an escort service. We did have one Sunday outing to Southport, but our three to two ratio ensured that there was no pairing off.

One night after visiting the "Grand," a small cinema with no car park, we were unable to find the car. We searched every street in the vicinity before telephoning mother to ask if she had taken it. She informed the police who we later heard giving a description over the short wave radio. It was found abandoned at about 1:00am on a grass verge two or three miles away. This must have been one of the earliest "Joy-rides."

I left Quarry Bank with two school certificates, both with five credits, but only a pass in mathematics. My goal was to be an engineer and I was considering the motor industry. On my way to an interview in London, on my second motorbike (a BSA 250) I was involved in a collision with a lorry and was taken unconscious by ambulance to Hinckley Cottage Hospital with a broken arm and a suspected fracture of the skull. On my return to Liverpool it was discovered that my other arm was also broken and I had a short spell in Liverpool Nursing Home from which arose my lifelong love affair with Nurses. With both arms in plaster, I had to surrender myself literally into the hands of a very beautiful nurse. As time went by I became quite adept at performing many normal functions, quite often using the left hand where I would normally use the right and vice-versa.

Following my recovery, I considered my other love, "ships," and with help from the family firm, obtained an engineering apprenticeship with shipbuilders Cammell Laird in Birkenhead.

Mother was on the move yet again. This time to a thatched (modern) house with a large garden, which included a hard tennis court. "Greystoke" was in the village of Hale about five miles further out from Liverpool. The house was named after the ship, Greystoke Castle which my mother launched at Austin Pickersgills yard in Sunderland when she was fifteen. We had the ship's bell mounted at the front door. Sadly it was stolen during the war.