1950's TEENAGE MEMOIR

INTRO 

A 1950's teenage Retrospective in poetics thru a late 80's year old lens..
a sequel to my HAMBURG MEMOIR &  CHILDHOOD MEMOIR

A.

CROFT AUG 1953 TO DEC 1954 Dad was stationed at RAF CROFT (warrington)& we lived on the camp some way from Croft village

1.

This was where my cricket career started as I played for the station.team a few times to make up their numbers, whilst Dad often umpired.

2.

& I had to cycle a few miles thru the back lanes across to school 

SCHOOL Sept 53 to Dec 54 Newton-le-Willows Grammar School

3.

N-l-W school memories 

we played football(soccer) in the school quad & rugby union on Wednesday afternoons BUT all my fellow school mates preferred Rugby League & one rainy evening at Leigh RFC ,Hilton Park stadium  introduced me to that genre & I have followed their results ever since & even went to the 1955 Cup final at Wembly.

Asto the school itself..I was in Colin Davies form& Headmaster was Mr G Harrison it was note worthy that term reports were in a book form which parent had read&to sign

4.

Croft was midway between Warrington & Leigh & Dad would visit Leigh for a haircut on a Saturday & so we took a bus from there a few times to watch Bolton Wanderers in Division One our most memorable at Burden Park  being described in this poem

Another Childhood Memory

A cool Autumn morning
we caught the bus
off at eleven 
    without much fuss.

One & half return 
         our village Croft to Leigh 
     a birthday treat 
from Dad to me.

Hopped on a 
 tram to Burden park 
    to see Stan Mathews 
make his mark

Through the turnstile 
          at the town end
crushed &crammed 
     like cattle penned.

Mathews& Mortenson 
versus Nathaniel Lofthouse
a joust  no connoisseurs
   could never grouse.

Wembly star Stan
still  playing on at thirty eight 
  still making inch perfect 
crosses on a plate.

Shimmy side-step
   feint & dazzle
leaving the defenders
 in a right frazzle

Our ageing hero 
displayed all his twinkling skills
    the complete pro 
without modern-day frills

Most pundits considered 
  Stan as aged has-been 
but no better talent
     had ever been seen

5.  

Most Saturdays I took the bus into Warrington via Culcheth & Winnick to go to the pictures as this poem reveals

Saturday 50's Picturegoer

When I was in my teens
Hollywood set the scene;
Powerful producers called the shots
On manufactured landscaped lots,
Adventure,humour excitement
In simple wholsome movie plots-
Hayward and Mature
Wayne & westerns..for sure,
Russell and Marilyn Monroe,
Hope & Crosby.. with miles to go,
Rogers & Astaire,
Hudson & Day with love in the air-
Just to name a few....
Each Saturday standing in a queue..
Awaiting escape ..to somewhere new.

6.

In the summer of 1954 I worked for pocket money on a farm in Winwick & we did potato picking for some cash each Autumn half term locally in Croft area.

B. In Dec 1954 Dad was posted to RAF Halton Hospital & we lived in Tedder Road married quarters near Wendover

1955 to 1958 SCHOOL &WORK & all that

1.

I cycled to 7 miles to school from Tedder road Halton Camp to school most days & went to Grans in Southcourt over lunch hour (also staying there most Saturday nights in the football season when I played for Hazel's minors til 18 & then for Wendover & later the Rivets ( where I won an ADL medel in the year we got married)

2.

AGS  (when L.W.Tidmarsh was headmster at the time &C.A.Pope(of music school fame)  my house master) +my memories thereof included playing house cricket for the school on their excellent  pitch on the playing field which also served as the finishing post for the 'cross country' which went up the Wendover road,across Bedgrove farm land & back down Tunfurlong.

3.

In the Easter&Whitsun breaks I earned pocket money tending the hard courts at Aylesbury Tennis Club.

4.

SCHOOL  Aylesbury Grammar School 1955 & having sat & got my 'O' levels & then found an Articled_clerk job with Ramsdens (accountants see below) via letter on the notice board ( no career advice then  unless you stayed on for 6th form & 'A' levels )

5.

Leaving school in summer of 1955 memories centre around Ramsdens as this poem recalls

The Office a Chronicle

the class
   of summer fifty five
left to ply
   their business lives

the office     partners just two
pens   pencils nearly-new

clerking the lowest
                of the low
daily drudgery
  reality soon shone thru'
down the cellar
    my steps did wend
scuttle filled   fires to tend
the 'old man ' yelling
      'ere lad  chop chop
get me baccy
   from t'corner shop

wait-on
 tea-break brews'
                        in a stew
bellow the back-office crew
one more task
       to get done
   for the partner's son
another errand     no time to chat 
  he'd forgotten the fish
          for his wife's cat
then
    the switchboard clicked
           the doorbell chimed
skills to learn  juggle  prioritise
        which to choose   to attend
mail in the tray
            still to send

whew!
    nearly five  knock-off time
in view
    just one task  still to do
fetch the 'boss's evening  news

  was this really
           the career    to choose

6.

GOING DANCING 

was the goto weekend activity & learning to dance (&jive) at Courts School of dance  in George Street Aylesbury.

This was the era of birth of the 'generational ' word 'teenage' & rock  'n roll with 'home-made- skiffle' creating the pop-group as a genre (& all that that  implies) the dance floor being the place to meet & court girls.

Rock'N Roll Epiphany

dropping a shilling 
         .. in  the snug juke box
   playing   Haley & Elvis
     around the clock-
jiving to music so unorthodox

Jukebox Jive
A swift half of cider in the Bodega bar
sadly none of us could afford a car.
Dropping a shilling in  the snug juke box
Haley and Elvis,then so unorthodox

Trad jazz with Donegan,Bilk or Collier 
no ballroom bacchanalia
Skip,hip-hop style jive 
50's music had come alive

dancing   fancy free
quick-step 
      & ladies excuse-me
fox trot &
     last waltz slow
holding close
    as passions grow

dance craze
jive  skip  hip-hop
twirl forward
       jump and stop
through the legs
         over  the back
to
 
Teenage
dancing   fancy free
quick-step 
      & ladies excuse-me
fox trot &
     last waltz slow
holding close
    as passions grow

dance craze
jive  skip  hip-hop
twirl forward
       jump and stop
through the legs
         over  the back
to

Teenage
hair brylcreamed.
   into town 
       to the pub in the square, 
our gang always met there

trad jazz with Donegan,
                        Bilk or Collier 
or maybe the ballroom for
bacchanalia

skip,hip-hop or jive
 or more sedately 
to the Friday Five.

a swift half of cider
         in the Bodega bar
sadly none of us then
       could afford a car.
dropping a shilling 
         .. in  the snug juke box
     Haley and Elvis,then
so unorthodox.
Saturday Night -Nineteen-Fifties Style
Tea with Gran,her muffins supreme,
Bath and change and hair brylcreamed.
into town to the pub in the square, 
our gang always met there.
Checking the football scores 
in the Oxford 'green un'.

Trad jazz with Donegan,Bilk or Collier 
or maybe the ballroom bacchanalia.
Skip,hip-hop or jive or more sedately 
to the Friday Five.

A swift half of cider in the Bodega bar
sadlynone of us could afford a car.
Dropping a shilling in  the snug juke 
box,Haley and Elvis,then unorthodox.
Bought tickets for the coming live shows,
Cochrane,Cliff and Shadows.

Later, at the dance the last waltz about 
to begin,if you were fancied ,it 
showed in her coy grin.

Requesting a date took a little courage,
so glad my choice that day,led 
to marriage.

7.

SPORT 

as mentioned earlier apart from sports at school & til 18 I played for Hazel's minors,then locally to me for Wendover FC & finally for Rivet Works FC with whom I won an ADL  div 1 medals (see my art installation ) in the year Kathy & I married.

and in the summer playing  cricket for Wendover Cricket Club as  Teenage fast bowler