Top Picture: The Radio Times for Christmas 1963
Bottom Picture: The TV Times for Christmas 1963
Happy New Year Everyone
New Beginnings
Well yet another New Year with all its hopes and fears but if you remember nothing was quite like the trepidation of the new school year.
We first encountered the New School Year at Infant School. The first fear was of actually starting infant school we did not know what was coming and when we found out that we had to leave our mother that, for some was disaster. I started infant school in the church hall of the Drayton Methodist Church in Station Road. Our teacher there was a kindly lady Mrs Patten but I am afraid to say that I remember very little about it. I remember going to school with Keith Conlon, in fact we pedalled there on our tricycles and our poor mothers had to bring them home again. I remember my first girlfriend Pauline House and going to her birthday party in Station Road and I also remember Edward, known as Bungy, Wells. Bungy came from an intelligent family and in later life went on to become a solicitor. One afternoon we were sat down and given sand trays to draw pictures in. We all set to it will a will, all except Bungy who could not be bothered. The teacher came and looked over our shoulders and commented on what we had drawn. When she reached Bungy she saw the untouched tray and told him he had to draw something; so slowly he drew a vertical straight line and sat back. Mrs Patten looked and then asked Bungy what he had drawn, “A walking stick” was his reply! Well he had drawn something!
Our next major fear was going up to Junior School and the start of another New School Year. I went to Solent Road School where one of my teachers, Miss Waters who later went on to become headmistress of Court Lane Junior School, terrified me and gave me all kinds of problems. Remember the headmaster was Mr Hawkins and atone school bazaar I sold his trilby hat by mistake. Other teachers stick in the mind Mrs McGee and her dog, Boson, why she was allowed to have a dog in the school beats me! Mr King was strict but a favourite, I believe his wife ran a hotel/guest house in Southsea, Les Rose, the less said here the better I think, Mr Wing (known as Old Pop Wing), Miss Greenleaf and Mr White are some of the other teachers I remember.
The main school playground backed onto my back garden and it was always annoying that I had to walk right around the roads four times a day and not jump over the fence (it was far too high). Other highlights and lowlights of these school years were the annual visit of the School Nurse when we all had to queue up in the cloakroom room in our underwear with our mothers to discover if we were healthy and did not have nits. The highlight was the Coronation. Our teacher used food colouring to colour our milk red, well pink actually, white and blue. We had a school party with golden cardboard crowns supplied by Cow & Gate and were all given gifts. I still have the crown coin and the book Elizabeth Our Queen we were given but the model state carriage and horses have long gone
It was at Junior School that I first encountered a uniformed organisation as I joined the Wolf Cubs at Scoutlands in Farlington. We met on a Monday night and the pack was run by one of the boys mother, Mrs Chambers.
Having settled in at Junior School after taking the 11+ we knew we were off to ‘Big School’ and another New School Year with all its uncertainties. The first indication of this impending event was the letter informing my parents to which school I had been assigned and the second indication was being taking to Beaumonts in Cosham High Street to buy the new School Uniform. Shirts, tie, grey trousers, blazer, cap, two school badges (cap size and blazer size), sports kit and all the rest ready for Court Lane Secondary School. We had not inkling that within three and a half years it would all change as Manor Court Secondary Modern School came into existence. But that was all in the future. All that worried us at this time was a New School Year, in a New School with lots of people we did not know. But that is another story which I shall continue at a later date.
Stay in touch,
Yours,
Peter
DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk
You Write:
Peter asks:
Does anyone else remember a troupe of actresses coming to the school to perform Macbeth? They arrive in two old Rolls Royce Hearses with a trailer on the back. Anyone remember who they were?
News and Views:
Frankie Valli's estranged wife (he filed for divorce in 2004) has gone to court asking that Frankie pay her legal fees during their legal wrangling. While Frankie can afford it-- he reportedly makes over a half-million dollars a month, much of it from the Broadway musical, "Jersey Boys"-- he already is paying his wife $30,000 a month.
On this day 31st December 1960-1965.
On 3
1/12/1960the number one single was I Love You - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. The top rated TV show was The Arthur Haynes Show (ATV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68. End of National Service in Britain The big news story of the day was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada)
On
31/12/1961the number one single was Moon River - Danny Williams and the number one album was Another Black & White Minstrell Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Geologist explains Continental Drift.
On
31/12/1962the number one single was Return to Sender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Tax reduced to 25% on TVs and radios.
On
31/12/1963the number one single was I Want to Hold Your hand - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On
31/12/1964the number one single was I Feel Fine - The Beatles and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Donald Campbell sets water speed record.
On
31/12/1965the number one single was Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out - The Beatles and the number one album was Rubber Soul - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
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