Interests

One day I watched the ditching machine at work, and noticed some blue grey clay in the ditch I went back with a trowel and bucket and collected some then spent some time picking out stones and grit. I was then able to make models and pots but had no way of firing them. But I did manage to get Aunty to bake them in the oven at a time when Aunty was not cooking. Uncle brought me home a bit of the clay from the clay pit but it was very soft so I did not mix it with the clay I found.
One of my presents from London was a box of paints and brushes but they were a mixture of oil paints mainly small tins which Dad had managed to get, I soon started on a water line model of a battleship with gun turrets that turned. When the modelling was finished I painted the model in blue grey camouflage colours.

I had been rather slow at learning to read, Mary my sister learned very quickly she had started school at the age of three and could read well by the time she was six, my reading was slow until the age of about eleven. Teachers used to read us bits of classical story’s,” The cloister and the hearth”,” Treasure Island”. Now that was a story that really grabbed me and I got a copy and read it for myself. That was the start, I then read every story I could get my hands on Rider Haggard, Baroness Orcsy, and R.M. Ballentine. Uncles sister who lived at St Columb Major used to come and see us every month or so and on one of her visits brought me a whole stack of magazines of A Cone Dole story’s I was allowed a candle to read in bed I read ghost story’s. Also” Sherlock Homes “mysteries until the flickering light and the ghostly stories made me stop put the candle out and go to sleep. Mary said I used to retell the stories to her on the way to school.

THE MAN OF THE HOUSE.

At one time Uncles Brother. David Ould who lived at Ruthvose on the Goss Moor was ill. Uncle went visit him for several days, it was at Christmas or Easter, or some festive time of the year, or perhaps Wallace was coming home on leave, or our parents were coming down. Aunty said “You’re the man of the house you will have to kill the chicken”. It might have been Auntys chicken had got too old for laying eggs, anyway I did not care for this job but realised I could not refuse to do it. I had seen Uncle do this a number of times one of the requirements was a nice sharp billhook. So I sharpened it to a fine edge arranged the wood chopping block .Mary stood watching while I pinioned the chickens legs and wings, then 1,2,3 and I chopped the head straight off. Unfortunately I did not appreciate the nervous twitch was strong enough to spring the headless bird straight out of my hand, It run around three times in a circle before falling dead. The next thing was to pluck it, Aunty helped me with this; the chicken was hung by the legs over a bath to collect the blood and feathers. I don't remember if that chicken tasted very different. Uncle’s Brother recovered and we were back to normal.

SEX EDUCATION.

At about this time the mixed classes in school began to cause some troubles there were kissing sessions between some of the older boys and girls. Some of the children had a mile and half to two miles to walk home. One of the nicer looking girls must have complained of. Undue attention from four of the boys who lived in the same direction. The rest of the school was not quite certain of what exactly had happened. But we knew it was serious when the boys were given six of the best in front of the class. Another incident involved a girl visiting an American. Soldier’s camp.

The teachers had got news of this and had gotten rather worried, so we were split into gender groups and found ourselves the recipients of sex lessons. The lessons seemed to be more to convince the teachers they were doing their best than to help us with rising hormones. Tom and Ted Allbourgh who staid with Mrs. Dyer for about six months were very open about the onset of wet dreams. Tom and Ted were ginger haired twins we got on with them very well I guess they came to see us when they got fed up with each other’s company. Eventually they went back to London.

JAUNDICE.

When I was about twelve, and certainly after Wallace had gone into the navy I got jaundice. The first sign was I was sick on the way home from school, I thought it was just something not agreeing with me, but the following day I was sick again, On Friday I was sick about five times on the way home. When I told Aunty she sent me back to the village to see the Doctor, who ordered me straight to bed, saying he would come and see me. When I got home I told Aunty what the Doctor had said she said “you cannot be ill here”, but packed me off to bed where I staid. The Doctor came to visit couple of times a week I cannot remember having any medicine, only some white substance. I was mainly fed on dry toast and jellies, or egg custard, a bucket was placed outside the bedroom door my stools had turned white, this scared me but the Doctor said it was normal for the complaint. After three weeks I was starving, and got very thin. Mary was not allowed to see me as the Doctor thought it might be infectious to other children but not to grown-ups. A Sterilised sheet was put over the door. I was reading Zane Grey cowboy stories at the time but got fed up with that, my dreams were very strange. Piles of pork pies, but when I woke up I could not eat much. Aunty tried me with lots of things but I only managed to eat a little at a time the toast tasted like chewing gravel the jellies slipped down easier after about three weeks Mum and Dad came down to see me, they said my skin and eyes were very yellow. By the end of the month I began to get better. At first I sat in the kitchen, and then began to take short walks, to build up my strength. I remember the first walk up the lane being surprised at how everything had grown. The plant the grass and the wild strawberries were all coming on .I had missed early spring that year. Then it was back to school.

RAKING DOUST – TRACTION ENGINES.
After the hay and corn had been carried into the farmyard and stacked into hayricks the next job was the thrashing, this was done by a travelling Thrashing Set that is a Traction Engine which supplied the power for the thrashing machine and a bailer if needed. on several occasions got a job raking the doused I . Which was to keep the machine free of corn and husk dust, it only paid five shilling a day and would be totally illegal now. I did this for Mr. Betison as they were short handed, coming home from school on Friday evening I saw the thrashing set of John James being lined up in Roy Solomon's yard ready for work so resolved to get my jobs done quickly. Saturday morning I was up at the farm and stood watching for a while, Mr. James was probably a bit bored, and asked me if I would like to climb up to the foot plate and see what he was doing .He showed me the pressure- gage and how it showed steam pressure, and how to regulate it by ether putting more coal on the fire or adding more water to the boiler. How to keep these in balance, then he watched while I did it, then he said I am off for a little walk around your in charge. After about half an hour Mr. James came back and asked how I was doing, I said all right and he disappeared again for a while. I will always remember that time and was sad to see the traction engine and its machines disappear down the lane to a new site.

ARP EXERSISES.
Towards the end of the war Wallace had been home on leave and I slept with Aunty Dyer, Wallace was in signals on an aircraft carrier. Aunty and Uncle must have felt as we did after Mum and .Dad had gone back to London .The A.R.P., and the nurses were having an exercise, some of the school children were asked to volunteer to act as casualties, I was one .and on Saturday we were arranged on the corner of the church lane with injury notices pinned on us. The first aid people arrived and we were all strapped up in splints and bandages and were taken back to the Women’s Institute by ambulance for assessment. After which we had a cup of tea and a bun before going home. Cannon Carr had seen one of my paintings and asked if I would do one for him ; I did a painting of St Enoder Church, One Easter I read the lesson in church ,and although I new the piece off by heart. The huge bible and the very large type fonts used in it did surprise me, the thing was not to try and rush things or panic, the timing was also very important.

The annual school plays were another village event at the end of the school year.” King Alfred and the cakes”, and “Far from the Madding Crowed”. In the first year of Mr. Payne’s Headmastership we were rather reluctant to take part but after the first one was a success every one wanted a part. On the night of the play the whole village must have turned up and the school room was expanded by with drawing the wood and glass screens which divided .the main class room .I was King Alfred in the first play and had to kiss one of the girls in another. Notoriety lasted about a fortnight.

One weekend Uncle wanted to see his sister at Ruthers, which was on the Goss moor, the village could also be called Ruthrose or Ruthross. By this time I had the use of Uncles bicycle, Uncle was using Wallace's bike, and we took sandwiches and some drink and started off on the A.30, up through Fradon and Indian Queens out on the Goss moor. We went to Roche first where the tiny chapel is built on a rock, after our sandwiches and a rest, we went back to see Uncles sister and then home. The outing took up most of the day.