TASHY DID - A LIFE
1959
This was Yorkshire and this year started with non-stop snow for the first ten days and was completely photo-less throughout. The bad weather meant that
rugby practice was cancelled but instead of a trip to Lawnswood as normal, we went to the senior school grounds and had an organised snowball fight. Those who
run today’s schools may be shattered to learn no one was killed. School remained open all through the bad weather and, although people would often arrive late,
we pressed on. On the other hand, mother did not go out at all during the first month of the year. My sister and I would go, each Sunday, to some fields near
where we lived and play ball or watch the ponies. Guess who did what?
At the beginning of March, father learnt that his request to be transferred back to London had been granted. We put the house up for sale and it was viewed
the next day. Round about the same time, my sister succeeded in being sick over her teacher and then in her headteacher’s car. She had gone to the same prep
school as I had done, but obviously, taking the meaning of being brought up properly to a new level.
At the start of April, father went up to London each week but came home at weekends. Luckily for mother, although she seemed a little better, this single
parent time only lasted a couple of months. By mid-April the house was sold and at the beginning of June we left Leeds for good. I had enjoyed my time there
and had felt more a part of school life than when in London.
The last friend’s party I went to was in the May. My friend’s uncle came to collect me and he had a white, open-topped, MGA with red leather seats. The
friend lived some way away and the journey was one of the best I had ever taken. Don’t tell mother but we sped along, no idea if there was speed limit, and I
then knew how much I loved speed.
Mother, with her usual precision, notes we left Leeds on 4 June 1959 at 3.35pm and arrived in London at 7.40pm. Now, its half as much time. The first few
nights we stayed at a guest house in Harrow-on-the-Hill and then moved to stay with father’s sister and his mother at their house in Slough. We remained there
until the beginning of August when we moved into our new house in Chester Drive, North Harrow.
This was, as some may remember, one of the hottest summers on record and I remember spending much of our time sitting in my aunt’s garden or even going to
her school with her. She was Head Of Science at Slough Girls’ High School and also in charge of time tabling. She had this massive soft wood board which showed
all classes and all lessons and we had great fun moving the various pins, representing teachers, around so that we never had one teacher in two places at once.
In the evenings, sometimes, my aunt would get out her violin, father would sit at the piano and they would play a selection of songs and tunes. Father had
this incredible, to me, ability to read a piece of music and play straight from it. I could never do that. It had an effect on me though as for my birthday that
year father bought me a violin and I began taking lessons. However I found repeating the beautiful sound my aunt could elicit from this lovely instrument almost
impossible.
At other times my grandmother would teach me yet another game of patience. She used to play cards a lot and taught me so many different games. She also let
me know that, even if you are old and by then she was 85, you can still lick your plate. We had gone out with mother to buy an ice-cream, what in those days we
called a brick because that was the shape of it although, sadly, somewhat smaller. We bought one for grandmother and put it on a plate. After we had finished,
remember it was really hot that summer, mother took us upstairs to have a lie down. As I went up the stairs I caught sight of this little old lady bringing her
plate up to her mouth and licking off the ice cream. Loved it.
On 21 June 1959 we had arranged to go to see father’s other sister in Berkhampstead. Bad timing. It was the Le Mans weekend. I had been waking up each hour
through the night to hear Robin Richards, probably, give his report and it looked like the Aston Martin’s might beat Ferrari. Fortunately, my sport loving uncle
understood the seriousness of the whole thing and allowed me to listen to the result on his radio and Aston Martin finished 1-2. During our time in Slough we
also went to watch the polo at Great Windsor Park. I have no idea who was there and what happened.
The house in North Harrow was semi-detached; current value about £450,000. It had three bedrooms, two reception rooms and a 80 foot back garden, which I would
put to good use in several ways. I was the eldest child. The two children’s bedrooms were either 14ft by 13 ft or 8ft by 6 ft. I got the smallest one, which
looked out on the front of the house. This picture, courtesy of google, shows the house today. Originally there was no porch, a rickety wooden garage, no garden
wall, no gates but my bedroom is that little window on the left. We had the porch and garage built in 1966.
Once we had settled in and the new school year began, I returned to Quainton Hall School. I was in a class with some of those I had known three years
before. Academically, we had a problem because I was way in advance of them in mathematics but they had done 3 years of French and I had done none. This would
have a big effect on my future life.
Family-wise we returned to a big crisis. My grandfather had been living at my aunt’s house since the death of his wife some 4 years before. In November
they had a massive row about something so trivial. I think it was about who should feed the cat. Whatever, the end result was grandfather moved out into a
hotel in Harrow where he remained for the next four years. This also meant he visited my mother almost every weekday for those four years. He would come over
about 11am, bring some lunch, and leave about 4pm
I was going to and from school on my own, one stop on the tube, and he would usually be there when I got in. On that first occasion, when the argument had
just happened, he was quiet tearful. I had no idea what was wrong but decided to try to make him laugh. I did it so well he actually ended up crying again but
this time with tears of mirth. It was probably the first time I realised I could make people laugh.
This was connected to my violin and the music stand I had been given. I decided to play for mother and grandfather, got the violin out and set up the music
stand. I was just about to start playing, having placed my music on the stand, when the stand collapsed. You had to secure it with little screws which went
through one tube and tightened against another. When it collapsed, they both laughed. So, next time I set it back up, I didn’t tighten it quite enough and
deliberately knocked the base with my foot so it collapsed again. For the next twenty minutes I gave a pretty good display of slapstick comedy which certainly
lightened the mood.
I was, slightly, becoming less shy as I had more familiar faces around me but I still went red too easily in a public situation. On my first day back at
my new/old school we had all had to give a brief reading to see who had the best voice and would read the lessons in chapel for the next few mornings. I was
judged the second best reader and was allocated the following Monday for my performance. The best reader was to read on Friday. I didn’t want to do it and was
working out how to be ill on Monday. I may not have been the first to think of this idea as, when we turned up on Friday, the first reader was off sick.
I had five minutes notice and had to do the reading. It went off with no major issues although, had you wanted a toasted sandwich for a snack, you could have
just put a slice of bread on each of my cheeks.
The house in North Harrow was semi-detached; current value about £450,000. It had three bedrooms, two reception rooms and a 80 foot back garden, which I would
put to good use in several ways. I was the eldest child. The two children’s bedrooms were either 14ft by 13 ft or 8ft by 6 ft. I got the smallest one, which
looked out on the front of the house. This picture, courtesy of google, shows the house today. Originally there was no porch, a rickety wooden garage, no garden
wall, no gates but my bedroom is that little window on the left. We had the porch and garage built in 1966.
Once we had settled in and the new school year began, I returned to Quainton Hall School. I was in a class with some of those I had known three years
before. Academically, we had a problem because I was way in advance of them in mathematics but they had done 3 years of French and I had done none. This would
have a big effect on my future life.
Family-wise we returned to a big crisis. My grandfather had been living at my aunt’s house since the death of his wife some 4 years before. In November
they had a massive row about something so trivial. I think it was about who should feed the cat. Whatever, the end result was grandfather moved out into a
hotel in Harrow where he remained for the next four years. This also meant he visited my mother almost every weekday for those four years. He would come over
about 11am, bring some lunch, and leave about 4pm
I was going to and from school on my own, one stop on the tube, and he would usually be there when I got in. On that first occasion, when the argument had
just happened, he was quiet tearful. I had no idea what was wrong but decided to try to make him laugh. I did it so well he actually ended up crying again but
this time with tears of mirth. It was probably the first time I realised I could make people laugh.
This was connected to my violin and the music stand I had been given. I decided to play for mother and grandfather, got the violin out and set up the music
stand. I was just about to start playing, having placed my music on the stand, when the stand collapsed. You had to secure it with little screws which went
through one tube and tightened against another. When it collapsed, they both laughed. So, next time I set it back up, I didn’t tighten it quite enough and
deliberately knocked the base with my foot so it collapsed again. For the next twenty minutes I gave a pretty good display of slapstick comedy which certainly
lightened the mood.
I was, slightly, becoming less shy as I had more familiar faces around me but I still went red too easily in a public situation. On my first day back at
my new/old school we had all had to give a brief reading to see who had the best voice and would read the lessons in chapel for the next few mornings. I was
judged the second best reader and was allocated the following Monday for my performance. The best reader was to read on Friday. I didn’t want to do it and was
working out how to be ill on Monday. I may not have been the first to think of this idea as, when we turned up on Friday, the first reader was off sick.
I had five minutes notice and had to do the reading. It went off with no major issues although, had you wanted a toasted sandwich for a snack, you could have
just put a slice of bread on each of my cheeks.
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