|
I went to Brockhurst School in 1946 to, I think 1951then on to Grove Rd,.I remember Danny and Billy McNamara, Peter Penecot, Dougie Wilson, Spud Mitchell,
Benny Baker, Trevor Arm and lots more but I need to think on a while .I played football for the school I remember the colours maroon and yellow, boy this is bringing back some memories. My Dad started the first
mobile fruit and veg shop in Gosport. I knew Gosport like the back of my hand as I spent a lot of time playing hookey. I remember the school beadle a Mr B'astard [pronounced in French] .I have been trying to trace
an old girl pal of school days for a while maybe you can have more success. Her name was Janet Barnes, she lived at the Broadway and emigrated with her parents to Perth, Ozzie in the 50s may be she still has
relatives in Gosport be good to find her out here in Ozz. I left Gosport and went in the Merchant Navy and on to Ozz .I was born in 5 Kealy Rd.
I remember that in the assembly hall where we sang God save the King each morning there used to be photos of all the school football teams the last year I
was there we lost to Lees Lane school in the final, I did have my medal for years but in my travels lost it .So my old birth house is no longer that's a shame. I used to have mates that lived at the top of The
Crossways by Catchpoles ,Cecil Shepard and Frank Alford wonder where they are now. I would have scrumped apples in just about every house that had trees in that area. I have a story that might interest you about a
certain policeman Sargent Bull he was so fat us kids thought he could never get up more than a trot, but one night down town at the ferry there used to be a keep left sign in the middle of the road, this night I was
larking around with Janet Barnes and wrote on the sign Sargent Bulls a fat..... ,well he saw me and off I took up the alley along side Isle of Wight Hoy pub thinking I`d out run him. I was pulled up short at the
other end by the sarge and received a clout alongside both ears and a boot up the rear and made to clean the sign. Years later when I'd see him he'd wink and touch his ear and a big smile I bet the old bill are not
like that today.
I was mates with a feller called Jeffery that lived at The Crossways, can`t get his name just now maybe it was Dave. Here's another one, when we were kids
Hardway was the place to swim, on our way we would have a bit of fun like ,milking old man Treacher's cows, good laugh, we'd have had our ears ringing if he have caught us, we used to spend a lot of time over at
what was called the tide fields opposite Grove Rd. school the tide used to come right up to the school gates sometimes, we'd be over there searching for scrap copper and brass, as a kid I always had a few bob on
hand, old man Jelly, the scrap man would rob us blind so after dark we'd climb his back wall and rob some back off him, we reckoned fairs, fairs. We used to mooch around in the bombed out buildings like St Mary's,
church one day we found a scull and when Mrs Ritchie who lived at the back of the church was hanging out her washing just on dark we put the scull up on a stick over her wall and frightened the day lights out of
her, her son was on the war path for that but never found out who done it, good stuff eh I'm having a ball remembering it all. My Granddad owned Murphys Stores down town, in North Cross St. and I spent a lot of time
collecting lead pipes out of the bombed buildings around by his shop,[ unbeknown to him or my Dad ] we'd fill them up with wet sand and flog them flat, then down to Mr Jelly, worked for a while but he sussed us out,
only want pipes I can see through he said. By Peter J Murphy, Ozzie. 2005
|
