Accolades

Dad's response to the last post which looked at his school reports was, 'I wasn't that bad! It was the teachers ... although I did get the cane a few times!'

So, to redress any imbalance, here are some of Dad's certificates of achievement!

April 1947: for Excellence in Reporting a Lecture on the Hygiene of Food & Drink

July 1947: Steady Progress

July 1948: Grade 1 Swimming

1950: for half hour's flying

© Ruth Coward 2012 

The Class Clown!

Addition by Ruth:

Finding Dad's school reports tucked away was quite a revelation!  Here are three reports from Cobden Street Junior Boys' School and some entries from Limehurst Secondary Modern Boys' School report book which give insights into Dad's character and sense of fun. 

Report from midummer 1945 when Dad would've been 8/9 years old. 

Above the form teacher writes: "Does good work nearly every time. Conduct, at times, is 'silly'."

The headmaster adds in red at the bottom: "Has improved in his work but his behaviour is not always good."

Report from July 1946 9/10 years old

Nothing much out of the ordinary to report on the one above except 2 late marks - tut tut!

Report from Xmas 1946 10 years old

The headmaster adds to the bottom of the report above: "Progress only fair. Peter does not work all the time - he will slack & play if he is not watched. I hope he will resolve to put his back into it as time is short."  Presumably referrring the the fact that Dad would soon be moving to Limehurst school.

 

The first entry in the Limehurst report book, Xmas 1947, shows mainly B & C grades and similar comments for each subject - except P.T. and Games where the teacher writes "Good but inclined to be silly".

Each page of the report shows steady progress and an increase in grades and you can see by the last page (pictured below), dated Summer 1951, that Dad was gaining mainly A grades.

However, the path was not always smooth as some choice entries, particularly for P.T. and Games, show. Here are some snippets:

Easter 1948: (PT & Games) "Still the class clown."

Summer 1948: (PT & Games) "No improvement." (Geography) "Lazy and indifferent." - although on this report he was noted as showing 'special aptitude' for mathematics.

Xmas 1948: (PT & Games) "Rather poor work."(Handicrafts - woodwork) "Very good worker but a 'gasbag'." - this report noted a 'special weakness' as being "too easily distracted."

Summer 1949: (PT & Games) "Work spoilt by silly behaviour."

Xmas 1949: (PT & Games) "Repetition of last year." (English) "Rather haphazard." Under 'special weakness' the teacher notes "He spoils his work by dissipating his energies in foolish antics."

Easter 1950: (PT & Games) "Steady improvement - silly behaviour."

Finally, below, the headmaster offers his final report  just before my Dad's 15th birthday: "Peter has good ability and has concentrated more this term. He should be more serious in his attitude towards his work for life is not all laughter. He is a boy of good average intelligence."

So, the theme of being easily distracted and lacking concentration recurs with regularity but what really shines through to me is Dad's love of fun and the idea of 'not taking life too seriously'. That's a philosophy I admire and Dad's humour is one of his most endearing qualities and one that I'm glad was not completely drummed out of him at school. Whenever any of us spend any amount of time with Dad we always end up having a good laugh and I'm sure all his family and friends would agree with that - he's a wicked 'wind up merchant' much to my mum's exasperation!  When I read the headmaster's final report to my sister, Julia, she said "no, life may not be all laughter but it certainly helps!"

© Ruth Coward 2012

Starting Work

On the day I started work I left home at 7:30 in the morning and reported to the boss at Yeates Buses on Derby Road.  He got someone to take me up to the stores which were open so you could see through some netting and look out over the whole floor where the buses were being made.  I was introduced to the foreman of the coach trimming workshop and he then started teaching me to do cutting and then just more or less left me to it. Within a few days I had made friends with my fellow workers. There were 10 of us making the seats and I soon got talking to Bud Fisher who was also the leader of the town band. Bud taught at a room by the pub on the corner of Granby Street. He invited me to come and have a go at playing the cornet and soon invited me to join the band.  I did well with him and played with the band until I joined the army.

Starting work at Yeates Buses. From L - R: Herbert (lived in Fennel St.), Bud Fisher (the band master), Norman Main, Stanley, Harold, ? , Fred, Me and the foreman.

Addition from Ruth:

Sadly Bud Fisher died earlier this year aged 92.  He kept in touch with Dad all through his life and would often pop to see Dad at the shop over the years.  I managed to find this obituary online:

"4BR has been informed of the death of Charles Frederick (Bud) Fisher MBE.

He died peacefully, aged 92, in hospital surrounded by his family on Thursday morning, 15th March, 2012.

Great figure

One of the truly great figures of the brass band movement, his influence and teaching of young players was an inspiration to generations of players and music lovers.

Lesley Bentley, Secretary of the Leicestershire Brass Band Association told 4BR: "Bud Fisher was an inspiration to all bandsmen, players and conductors that knew him.

Serving with the Royal Leicester Regiment, he was a contemporary and friend of the late Major Peter Parkes and began conducting the Loughborough Band in 1950.

Buds work with young players is legendary, spending almost every spare hour in the Bandroom, teaching hundreds of players. He not only trained musicians, but through his caring, disciplined approach, trained them for life.

Amongst those who benefited from Buds work are Martin Winter, Bryan Allen, Murray Greig and Richard Bissell, who along with many others joined the professional ranks. Few Bands in Leicestershire or indeed the Midlands do not have a Bud Fisher trained player in their ranks.

Loughborough Band owed all to Buds Youth policy with the Youth Band winning the Midlands Youth Championships on 6 consecutive occasions, and the National title.

Loughborough Band came from the 4th Section, under Bud, to the Championship Section taking 7th place at the Royal Albert Hall playing Blitz, when the Band was virtually the same as that competing in the Youth Section.

Many Bands in this area now have Youth Bands, thanks to the example of this extraordinary man.

When awarded the M.B.E. in 1980 he was quoted as saying, 'we were lucky because of the tremendous amount of talent available to us over the years'.

What he failed to say was that it was he himself who trained all this talent!

A true gentleman, we shall not see his like again."

Found at: http://www.4barsrest.com/news/detail.asp?id=14903 [01/06/12]

© Ruth Coward 2012

Additional information about Thomas Sharpe

From Ruth -

The great thing about writing this blog is that other members of the family can read it and fill in some of the gaps for us.  My cousin, Janet, has emailed with some more information about her Dad, Tom:

'Dad was in the Royal Artillery from 1940 - 46 and was stationed on the London Docks throughout the Blitz.  He should have gone to France on D-Day but was medically unfit due to damage to his ears due to anti-aircraft guns. He then went to Scapa Flow'.

Thanks, Janet.

Dad and I are looking forward to going round to visit some members of the family over the coming weeks for more stories and to get some more photographs, particularly of his brothers and sisters when they were younger.


© Ruth Coward 2012

Getting the hang of School

Coming back to the war years. I was now at Cobden school. Mother dragged me in on my first day and I was ready to come straight back out again! I soon settled down though and was always happy if I had some plasticine to play with.  I didn’t know what school was all about and I was always ready for the break when we got the milk which arrived on a cart full of crates containing small glass bottles of about a third of a pint each.

Occasionally, there would be an air raid siren and we had to run out of the gate into a jitty and into a small shelter with wooden seats. We seemed quite happy there pulling faces at each other and messing about. Most of the time I think the teachers would turn the siren on just to get a little rest! When we went into the top class we had a teacher who was about 50 and rather well-built. She used to take us for music but she had her work cut out trying to keep us all together and in tune.  She used to start playing the piano and everyone was so out of tune that she used to put her hands on her head and plonk her elbows on the keys.

We also had two or three male teachers who had just come back from the army, they managed to keep us under control better. We seemed to get the cane quite a lot and were often sent off to the headmaster’s office. After leaving Cobden Street we went on to Limehurst School.

Limehurst - can you spot me? See answer below*

When we went to Limehurst it was very strict. We did Maths, English, Woodwork, Gardening and Drawing.  The school was split into two and some of our classrooms looked out onto the playing field.  One day I was sitting looking out of the big window watching the girls playing hockey. The teacher came up to me and spoke in my ear ‘Nice aren’t they?’  ‘Oh, yes, sir!’ I replied and then next thing I knew I was getting a good wallop around the ears from him!

Towards the end of our time at secondary school the school was getting too big so three classes went over to Lodge Farm. The teachers there were very good and never gave anyone the cane. There was also a large field for playing football etc.

Whilst I was at school I used to get up at 7:50 and send out the Newpapers which Sid used to do. After school I used to go to the Echo office taking parcels and letters for them. After that, on Thursday, I used to go to Sea Cadets which I did for about 4 years. We did lots of activities including racing rowing boats at Burton, 5 days at Bramcote shooting and we went on a short flight on a plane twice.

Various photos from my time in the Sea Cadets

Sea Cadets on Nottingham Road bridge

Before I started work I went with a group of sea cadets to a ship at Southampton where we slept on hammocks. We took part in boat races with other teams and shooting in the shooting range. We were let out at 5 o’clock and the sailors on the door said ‘don’t be later than 10 o’clock or you will be locked out!’ We set off home on the Friday and it was soon after that trip that I really started thinking that it was about time I answered to call to start work at Yeates buses. I was 14 when I started work.

*Limehurst photo - I am second row, second from the left!

© Ruth Coward 2012

Shakespeare Street school today!

These are photos of how the old Shakespeare St school looks today from Rushes' Tesco car park.

© Ruth Coward 2012

Sketched Map

(Addition from Ruth) Below are two copies of a sketched map  (same sketch different sizes) that Dad has drawn to help me get an idea of where things were. This is a work in progress ...

© Ruth Coward 2012