Lockdown day #75

Another nice sunny day - temperature up to 24 degrees - I had to put sun block on for the first time this year as my legs were cooking nicely.

Today should have been "A Night at the Musicals" at Rochdale Citadel - I gave my apologies since I was going to the "Chairman's Charity Dance" at St Matthews Church Hall in Stretford - both were cancelled due to COVID-19.

The reason for the Charity Dance was because our Chairman is 65 today!  Instead I visited him and had a nice socially distanced natter with some food in his garden (it was where my legs were cooking) ... so the day wasn't totally wasted.

I did some shopping at Asda - as is my wont on a Saturday (to get the meat for Sunday lunch), and didn't have to queue long - Asda actually felt quite empty.  Perhaps people were sitting in their gardens rather than shopping.

When I got home I did some work on a book, and then watched a film called "The Last Year" - telling the tale of Christian [lack of] love at a Bible college in America.  Some of the behaviour of the Dean and his misquoting of the Bible were scandalous - why so many Christians believe in a God of punishment I do not believe .... I believe in a God of love.    The film, however, had a lovely ending.

Lockdown day #69

The news breaking today is that Dominic Cummings, the Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister, broke the lockdown rules.  Apparently while having symptoms of Covid-19, and his wife having symptoms too, he drove 264 miles to Durham to "self-isolate" with his parents, who are in the high risk category being over 70.  This is contrary to the specific rule from government - do not visit family who are not part of your household.  Not only was his journey unnecessary, but he exposed his parents to risk - what kind of man would deliberately put his own parents at risk of catching Covid-19?  Unbelievable!

The Prime Minister has defended him, and I suspect that is a serious miscalculation of the part of the PM, given to widespread anger at this incident.

After getting up this morning I watched two films of YouTube - one entitled "Buses of the North East during the late 70s and early 80s" (watch a catchy title) and the other entitled "Aloud" being the story of a young boy in an orphanage who joins the choir, but can't sing - his reason for joining the choir is that choir members get adopted.  It was quite a sad film.

Buses of the North East during the late 70s and early 80s

Aloud

 I met up with Alan and we walked round Boggart Hole Clough; the walk was 3.7 miles and it was good fun, even though it was fairly cool.

I watched another short film on YouTube called "The Living Word"

I then did a lockdown quiz in the Midland Red Group on Facebook having people guess the various MAP designs for local bus networks introduced in the 1980s.  It was good fun.

Lockdown day #57

For one of my Facebook challenges I have to pick a Top 100 UK hit for each year of my birth.  Today was for 1965, and I cheated.  The album I picked did not feature any song in the UK hit parade, let along the top 100.  1965 was, however, the Centenary of the Salvation Army and I stumbled upon a recording of the Service of Thanksgiving in Guildford Cathedral, held on 20 November 1965 ... so I chose that!

I watched another episode of Fortunes of War on YouTube.

My friend Mark Croasdale is putting together a series of short films for the Manchester International Festival and I watched his film Landbreaks: The Grove.  It had a very powerful message and I enjoyed watching it.

The Eurovision Song Contest is, of course, not taking place per se, due to this COVID-19 pandemic.  However on the day that the first semi-final was due to take place, a run through of all the acts took place - utilising their music videos.

At the moment, my top 5 acts are from Cyprus, Germany, Netherlands, Croatia and Ireland:

Lockdown day #44

Today was International Dance Day and National Postal Workers Day.  To celebrate I had a wee dance as I wiped by letterbox with disinfectant.  Good job too as I received post - one of my membership magazines

I watched a film after I had my breakfast: Beautiful Thing - a film I have watched many a time.  A coming of age, and a love, story set against the backdrop of London's Thamesmead estate.

I pottered around for most of the day, took some exercise, and watched a couple of things on YouTube - "Ripping Yarns: Roger of the Raj" and Rossini's "Overture to the Barber of Seville" 'sung' by the Kings Singers.

I have been challenged to share some inspirational records, one per day, over the coming days - just the record cover without comment.  So I re-listened to one of my choices: "A Century of Salvation Song".  My parents had this record and it was played, and played, and played to death - and I love it.  It was a nice trip down memory lane to close the day.

The road to 2013 part 13

Having failed so miserably at my studies, I was left with some choices.  Either I return to Atherstone (not an entertaining prospect), or I move to Cardiff, or I move to Bristol.  I opted for Bristol on the grounds there was likely to be more work available. 

My first address was in Westbury Park in a bed & breakfast "establishment".  I was told that the price included breakfast, and moved in accordingly.  Then they told me the breakfast bit was a scam to get more money off the social, and no breakfast was actually provided.  It was squalid, despite Westbury Park being an area of subdued grandeur.  There was a Waitrose there, which I visited infrequently, but found a great like for their wholemeal shortbread.  My stay in Westbury Park was short-lived and very quickly I found myself in a Christian hostel in Clifton.  Again this was not very suitable accommodation; I had far too much stuff for the space allowed.  Not long after I found a much more suitable place to stay in the Chessels in Bedminster.  I shared a house with a guy called Philip who I grew quite fond of. 

I started attending the Salvation Army in Bedminster which was a nice fellowship.  I was very happy in the Chessels; there was a nice community feel about the place.  I got my first job whilst living there, working as a voluntary clerical assistant at the Friends of the Earth office, and in April 1985 I got my first paid job as a Typist with Avon Play Service, a community programme in the same office.  I also joined the trade union (NUPE).  Unfortunately the job, being a government scheme, only lasted 12 months.

Whilst working at Avon Play Service I moved out of the Chessels to a bedsit on Coronation Road in Southville.  Just round the corner from where I was living was a former church hall and in it was a theatre, run by St Paul's Players.  I noticed one day an advert for an audition for a play they were putting on - Under Milk Wood - and they needed a lot more people than any normal production.  I got the part of Mog Edwards.  I also developed my joy for props, and helped out in the props department.

My second play was in November 1985 where I had the part of Gerard in Abelard and Heloise, but this was only a bit part, most of my time was spent doing props.

I also took part in a production of The Crucible, again a bit part, spending the rest of my time doing props.  I wasn't involved with any other productions. This was mostly because I had moved again in 1986 to the Stokes Croft area of the city. 

I also got a new job coinciding with the passing of the 1986 Transport Act which deregulated bus services in England & Wales.  My new job, another community programme post, was as the Public Transport Information Worker at the Hartcliffe Community Information Centre.  My first task was to get the timetables of all the bus services in the Hartcliffe area, and then to provide the timetables for any members of the public who wanted them. 

Quite early on during my time there I went to the local parade of shops one lunchtime and asked for a Salad Sandwich - they asked me if I wanted Beef Salad, or Ham Salad, or Chicken Salad - and I said no just Salad - and to make me even weirder I wanted it on brown bread.  Every lunchtime thereafter I had to have a Salad Sandwich on brown bread - and they made it specially for me when they were making the other sandwiches, kept it on one side, and it was waiting for me for lunchtime.  That was sweet of them, but highly repetitive.

During this time I kept up on my by-election trail visits, helping mostly Liberal Party candidates.  In January 1986 I travelled to Northern Ireland to help the Alliance Party in the famous "Anglo-Irish Agreement" by-elections, when all the Unionist MPs resigned their seats.  I helped out in Belfast South and in North Down.  I did not tell my mother until I came back.  The other by-elections I helped at were Fulham (April 1986), West Derbyshire (May 1986), Newcastle-under-Lyme (July 1986), Knowsley North (November 1986), Greenwich (February 1987) and Eastbourne (October 1990).

The road to 2013 part 9

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.

 

The road to 2013 part 8

Shortly after the fire in Kidderminster, we moved again (in May 1971), this time to Stroud in Gloucestershire.

The house we lived in was right next to the Salvation Army hall.  The hall was originally a Countess of Huntingdon's Connection chapel and is octagonal in shape. 

At the bottom of Acre Street there was a corner shop (and indeed it seems to be still there) where would get our Saturday treats from.

I have a school photograph of me taken in 1971.  I was probably at this school for a very short time indeed, from May until the end of the school year in July.  In September we moved to another school which from memory was called "Spire High". 

In Summer 1971 we went to Somerset and stayed at Oldways End.  The house was actually two houses adjoined by a passage way.  Mrs Fanthorpe, the owner, lived in one house, and let out the second house for visitors.  Mrs Fanthorpe also ran the hamlet's petrol station.  We had a number of excursions and I remember visiting Dunster Castle (I still have my parent's copy of the souvenir brochure for Dunster Castle) and Tarr Steps.  I wonder if the beach we went could have been Minehead, but I think it was at Blue Anchor.

Dunster

 Tarr Steps