Early Years

 I was born in Old Brompton Hospital Chatham on March 21st 1923. My father was still in the Royal Engineers (C.Q.M. Sergeant), so my maternal Grandparents brought my eldest brother Ernest and my only sister Gladys and myself up from childhood to school age. A strict home-life was endured, my Grandfather being an old “four rigger sailor” in the late 1800′s. He was a deep-sea diver by trade; my Grandmother really mothered us though, knitting all our socks, jumper’s etc. We had no television in those days so we had to make our own amusements. As for pocket money, I had 3d per week. , This was spent on a comic the “Butterfly ” for the sum of 1p and the remainder was spent at the pictures on a Saturday morning. We called it the ”Tuppenny rush” cartoons, cowboy & Indian films etc. We made pleasure outside, having no motorcars about, with two pram axles and a wooden box, to make a ‘push or pull’ 4 wheel cart, which we all thought was great fun.

 My Grandfather was very keen on teaching us children to swim, but 1 was excluded, as I had been deemed very delicate having had double pneumonia as a baby. Ernie and Gladys both trained weekly at the “Strand” beach area on the River Medway. It had a big circular swimming “open” pool for the public and also for the schools tournaments, this practice paid dividends as they both won many cups and medals annually.

 My school days were good and bad. I liked pencil drawing and sports in the playground, there were no luxuries like sports-fields like the schools have today. During my school years I developed an impediment in my speech. I could read very well but to read aloud in class was quite a stressful experience, with some children picking fun at me, but I survived.

When my parents finally settled down near my Grandparents, my sister and I went to live with them; I then found out that I had two more brothers Kenneth and Charles who were both younger than me. To earn some pocket money I used to help the Co-op Milkman before I went to school. Our area was rather hilly and he had a 3-wheeIed pushcart. We had ½-pint & 1-pint bottles in those days. My wages for 5 x 1 hour daily and 4 hours on a Saturday morning was 2/6d equivalent to 12p nowadays, this money was spent in the local cinema, the prices for a seat being 9d, 1/-, 1s. 3d & 1s. 6d.  My father took us children to see our local football team. Gillingham Football Club when they were playing at home. I saw some great games there not played with the plastic footballs of today but with real leather and when it got wet they were even harder to kick or head. I stayed at school until I was 14 years old, by now my father was an electrical fitter working in the Chatham Dockyard. My name was “put down on the books” to work there, but I couldn’t until I was 15 years old.