In May 1972 my parents resigned as full-time officers of the Salvation Army. The constant moving around was having a detrimental effect on our family, and by this time I had been to 7 schools.
They became instead Envoys (the Salvation Army term for a non-commissioned officer, or a part-timer in charge of a local corps) and we moved to 9 Station Street,
Tewkesbury. We were to live in the small house in Station Street for 5 years - up that point the longest stay I had had
anywhere. The house was next to the Warner's bus garage while we were there.
Nowadays a car park sits on the site of the bus garage.
The little Salvation Army hall in the town has been demolished to allow for road widening. The hall was in Nelson Street which really was a narrow road. I do not have a picture of the hall, but the map below shows the location (on the map it is referred to as "Lecture Hall").
One abiding memory is that of the Steam Fair on the Ham, and the Mop Fair in the streets. All the main road traffic was diverted down our street, including the service buses. There is a picture of the Mop Fair on the corner of East Street. If you look at the map above, the road running at right angles to Nelson Street at the top of the picture is East Street.
In the summer of 1972 we had an outing to London and visited the British Museum; the purpose of the outing was the
Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition. The queue was huge, and snaked round one half of the car park, and then snaked round the second half. I remember we parked the car in the suburbs and caught the tube into central London. There was also a wonderful "British spirit", people would keep places for those who were having convenience breaks, or, like us youngsters, visiting the rest of the museum.
Our holiday in the summer of 1972 was to return to
Oldways End in Somerset (see part 8). That was to be Mrs Fanthorpe's last letting summer, otherwise we would have carried on going there. I got very friendly with her pug.
The next summer we went to Penygroes in
Caernarvonshire. We visited
Caernarfon Castle and
Harlech Castle, and attended the English Baptist church in Caernarfon. In Caernarfon Castle there was still the dias in which the Prince of Wales had been crowned, although not the throne if memory serves.
Summer 1974 saw us holidaying in Shropshire. The only memories I have are a visit to
Stokesay Castle and Sunday meetings at the Salvation Army in
Shrewsbury.
In 1975 we were back in Caernarvonshire, by now called
Gwynedd. This time we were staying in the village of
Groeslon, and we visited the beach at Dinas Dinlle every day (rain or shine).
Our final summer in Tewkesbury (1976) was a "
staycation"; our family had 5 members and each of us chose a day visit to somewhere. Mum chose the
Avoncroft Museum near
Bromsgrove, Paul chose
Skenfrith Castle, David chose
Birmingham, I think I chose
Worcester (to give me chance to observe
Midland Red buses probably) and I think Dad chose
Snowshill Manor and the Cotswold Rare Breeds Centre.
I had a further two schools at Tewkesbury, three years in the local junior school (Tewkesbury Church of England school) and two years at secondary school (Tewkesbury School). I had piano lessons for a time in
Cheltenham on a Saturday morning. I used to catch the Bristol Omnibus Lodekka into Cheltenham, changing onto a town service operated by a two-door Bristol RELL. After the lesson I would go into Cheltenham and have coffee and a scone at Geraldines, and then go to the Coach Station to watch the mass departure. I got friendly with the lady in the Bristol Omnibus bus office, next door to the Coach Station, and when they got a new timetable, she would keep the old ones for me. I then used to catch the Midland Red bus back to Tewkesbury.
One day I caught the Midland Red bus to
Evesham. I went to the Midland Red office there and bought a Hereford & Worcester timetable. They didn't have the other three timetables, but was told that the office at
Stratford-on-Avon would have them. I caught the X91 to Stratford, bought the three timetables (Warwickshire & Oxfordshire, Leicestershire & Derbyshire and Salop & Staffordshire) and caught the X91 back to Evesham. My parents were unimpressed at my extra journey to Stratford.
On one occasion I also went to up stay with my Nan in
Old Hill. I caught the National Express 414 coach from Tewkesbury to Brierley Hill were my Nan met me. I think this was probably one of the best holidays I ever had. I went along to the Home League at Cradley Heath Salvation Army with her. At the end of the week she put me back onto the 414 coach for my journey back to Tewkesbury. Another time we went up to the motorway junction just south of Bromsgrove, and my Uncle Ron & Aunty Margaret drove down to the south junction; there we swopped my Nan over, and she came to us for one Christmas. I really loved having my Nan, and she is one person who I miss most.
My brothers went to cubs, and later scouts. I went along to cubs on one occasion, and they played a game of British Bulldogs. I decided this was not for me. One of my best friends at school was in the Boys' Brigade, and he invited me along. This was far more to my taste, and I had two very happy years in the 1st Tewkesbury.
In 1977 we attended a street party, a couple of streets away, to commemorate the Queen's
Silver Jubilee. The actual Jubilee was 6th February 1977, which was a Sunday. I was then, as I am now, in awe of the Royal Family, and had had a series of "Royal Papers" for a spell. I decided to buy all the papers on 6th February. That was at the time very daring. We did not buy
anything on a Sunday, and of course the Sunday papers were expensive, as indeed they are now. I remember being very disappointed, because apart from a few front pages there was very little of content for the Silver Jubilee inside.
My mum was very involved in the Tewkesbury Amateur Dramatic Society (TADS), and I was an extra in a performance of "The Happiest Days of Your Life" - we wore school uniform and had to periodically pass the French windows to give the impression of the action taking place in a working school. My mum played the Girls' School Headmistress. In another production, "Toad of Toad Hall", she played the judge.
On 6th January 1977 the was a school trip to the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly,
London, to see the exhibition
Pompeii AD79. Another school trip was to
Warwick Castle.
In August 1977 we moved away from Tewkesbury to Atherstone in Warwickshire. I really didn't want to leave the town because it was so pleasantly situated.
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