There is a TV programme on BBC 4 TV tonight which caught my eye.
The beginning of Rock & Roll.
Triggered to think of my R&R life.
When I was 15 I left school with my one and only certificate::-
'Swimming a breadth'
I went working in a factory in Sutton St Helens my home town.
I was a 'slow to start' reading child.
My Mother paid half a crown each Saturday morning to a Grammar School boy up the street to teach me how to read.
I was about 9 I think. (Not very good at counting either !)
Then I became obsessed at reading adventure stories about the sea, seamen etc..
So leaving school I wanted to go to sea NOT like most of my peers who went 'down the pit' in the coal industry - the pay was really great for a school leaver IF you went down the pit!
For the rest of us pay was poor.
My Dad, in the coal industry himself, wanted his 4 sons to get a trade = apprenticeship before eventually getting a skilled trade & pay.
Arthur became an Electrician
Don a painter & decorator
James a Bricklayer
AND me, the little brother, an engineers apprentice in a factory/foundry that made large equipment for the ships - mainly all made of non-ferrous metals = stainless steel / brass etc..
So there I was in the factory learning to be a Fitter/Turner and go to College to get a Mechanical Engineering qualification.
I did eventually qualify at the age of 21 on £6 a week pay.
BUT back to when I was a young apprentice -
we went to the local pub one day AND .............
As we stepped inside I saw this magical piece of equipment
playing a record and a song emanating ............
"Since my baby left me
I found a new place to be
down at the end of lonely street in
Heartbreak Hotel ..........."
My life changed when I met Elvis on this Juke Box !
(I recall it was playing 12inch vinyl records - can I be right about this????)
I can picture the Juke Box now - in a corner next to the Bar.
Stamped on my memory.
Elvis wasn't my favourite artiste in those day - I loved a whole specrum of singers & groups.
FLOODS of memories ...................
BHP
.