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The Path of Fate School's out! by
The
TaleWagger
As the war progressed the bombing raids became fewer. Slowly, the troops started to move away; just the anti-aircraft gunners and the personnel manning the barrage ballons remained in our village. Over the other side of the railway-line was a canteen for the few that remained, and those passing through. I remember this canteen well for the huge number of maggots that infested the dustbins in summer. There must have a lot of food wasted; perhaps they were extremely bad cooks! In 1943, I joined the 6th Scouts as a cub and once a week attended a meeting at the hut in the adjoing village. Afterwards, those living in my area would always make a dash for the local chipshop. There, we would gorge ourselves on the weekly treat of a pennyworth of batter chippings and finish off with the normal children's means of evening exercise: knocking on someone's door and running away like mad! The main reason I joined the cubs was the football league that they played in and they had the nearest tenm to where I lived that played in it. The 6th pack became one of the top two teams in the league, the other being the 9th pack in the next area on. I played centre-half and, as we inevitably played the 9th in both the league and cup matches, their centre-forward, the league's top scorer, became my sworn enemy. Over the two seasons that we played each other, results were remarkably even although they were probably the slightly better team. In 1946, the country was slowly recovering and with the return of the members of the Armed Forces, there was a need for new housing to replace those damaged and destroyed. My grandfather who was nearing retirement age, and the family decided to sell his business and all of our houses, and move a few miles along the coast. A largish house bought and we moved into the house, which had German plumbing. Before the war, German plumbing, with its 'Heiss' and 'Kalt. Taps, had been the 'must-have' accessory. It is funny how one remembers such mundane and inconsequential things so vividly! I was not quite old enough to sit the eleven-plus exam for entry in a Grammar School, but was deemed to be too bright to stay another year in an Infant School. The 'powers-that-be' decided that I should attend Secondary School until I the next annual exam took place. I enrolled and, as the school was only a few miles away from where I had been a member of the 6th pack of Cub Scouts, I knew several of the pupils from having played football against them. I was soon in the school's football team and selected to attend a trial for under-14 team of our local professional football club. Of course, I was over-the-moon with joy, as football was my all-consuming passion, and playing for the youth section of a professional team would be like finding the Holy Grail. The trial had been arranged for the afternoon of a normal schoolday and the previous evening I could think of nothing else. When I attended school on the morning of the trial I did not have my homework with me, I cannot remember whether I had forgotten it or I had not done it. Anyway, my teacher would not let me attend. Thank you Mrs Pugh, I shall always remember you when the word 'compassion' is mentioned! I presume that the club thought that I was not interested, as there was no follow-up and I was not even offered a trial in the other seasons that I was eligible. That September, having been successful in the exam, I started at Grammar School and who should I meet in there in my class, but my footballing enemy, the 9th's centre-forward! For most of the first term we had punch-ups after school, but as it became evident that neither of us could impose ourself on the other, we became the closest of friends for the six or so years that we remained in connected. This is often the case as I have found out in later life; children who are the bitterest of enemies one day can often become the closest of friends the next. Unfortunately, bullying of the younger pupils was prevalent at the Grammar School. Most of the pupils still in their pre-teens years were subjected to it by some of those in their final school years. Looking back, I cannot help wondering if this affected my tuition, as I quickly went from average class 1A to be relegated at the end of my first year, to 2B and in the second year I was possibly below average in that. I certainly cannot blame it on, as I was still passionate about football, and I did not play in the evenings. As I progressed through school, I played football for the school-year team until being selected for the school team at the age of fourteen. Matches against other schools always took place on a Saturday morning. This was fine for me, as in the afternoon I delivered fish and greengrocery, on a trade-bike, from our shops, earning valuable pocket money. However, one bittery-cold Saturday morning while cycling to an away school match I skidded on the ice and snow and fell off my bike. Determined to get to the match, I did the best I could to stop the bleeding from the cuts and scratches on my legs, remounted and slowly rode the painful four or five miles, to where the match was being played. I arrived there ten minutes before the game started, ample time in which to change into football kit. I explained to the teacher in charge of the team what had happened, showing him my torn and bloodied trousers. He told that I was being dropped, not because of my injuries which could have affected my performance, but because I had not arrived at least fifteen minutes before the kick-off time. I did not appreciate this after all the effort that I had made, as the easy option would have been to have given up and returned home. I do not remember if I made any comments. However, I instantly decided that I would no longer play for the school and subsequently joined the YMCA and try-out for their team. I played in the Under 18's league from the age of 14 until I joined the Army, a few months before I was 18 and always felt that I was appreciated there. In fact, my dedication to the sports of football and table-tennis helped to get out of some of the situations caused by my dedication to the sport of teenage girls!
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