journey home”. A lot of them didn’t believe me, until the Captain came on the tannoy system and said “The Empress of Scotland “ had sent a message and he repeated what I had said, I was made up I had managed to read it.
I can’t remember how long we were in the Red Sea, but during that time an RAF lad had gone missing. They announced over the tannoy for him to report to the Prov Marshal (head of military police) but to no avail. We came to the conclusion, he had thrown himself overboard, for what reason, was anybody’s guess.
The Suez was the next stretch of water we were in and it is 100 miles long, being a canal people were waving to us and the kids enjoyed themselves throwing things in the water. The Nottingham lad, (whose name I’ve forgotten) and I were starving, so we went to the galley and asked the cooks for something to eat. He said “There’s nothing left, all we’ve got are carrots”, they never tasted better, we were that hungry.
Quite a few of lads were sleeping up on deck, including myself and my mate, it was lovely to wake up in the morning to glorious sunshine. We were coming into the Med now, a little stop at Port Said in Egypt for maybe supplies and then on our way. The Med was different this time we were going home and there were no convoy ships, it was enjoyable. I mentioned earlier, we were sleeping on the deck and we woke up one morning to the site of “Gibraltar” it was a beautiful sight with the sunlight on it.
The “Bay of Biscay” had a reputation for rough seas, but this time it was ok and the whales were putting on a show for us, porpoises were very graceful creatures and followed the ship for miles.
We were on the last stage of our journey home and were getting excited, eventually we came to Liverpool Bay, after going up the coast seeing Cornwall, South Wales and Anglesey. We slept the last night away, before we went up on top and the sight of the Liver Building was a great feeling.
We eventually landed at the Pier Head and the disembarking took some time, when we got on dry land I seen my dad and Grandad (Bob), they were made up to see me again. We had to go up to York to be demobbed and the train journey wasn’t that bad, after being in those Indian Trains. The green of the grass was noticeable after the dry look in India. They did their best in York to encourage us to stay in the Army, you know, flowers and tablecloths on the dinner tables. The dinners were roasties, like a Sunday dinner, I don’t think many were hooked by it all.
I wad demobbed on my 22nd Birthday on the 19/8/47. After getting my demob suit, I made my journey home and my dad met me at Exchange Station in Tithbarn St. I hadn’t smoked for 6 months, but I went to a pub at the top of Moorfields and my dad offered me a cigarette and I took it. It was nice getting home and seeing my family again.
My demob suit didn’t fit to my liking so, unlike these days, I asked my dad if I could borrow his suit, we were all going for a drink to celebrate my homecoming. I met Marie for the first time, she called down to go for a drink with us, and she looked very nice. Bob and Nin came with us, it was a pub on the corner of Kirkstall St. near the police station. The next day we went by coach with my mum and dad to Southport for a day out. I don’t remember much about what went on that day, except that we both were on the beach and I carried Marie over a large pool of water. The same week we both went to New Brighton for a day out. Somewhere in our house there’s a snap taken by a street photographer, we don’t look as though we are enjoying ourselves.
About 2 or 3 weeks after me, Harry Cummins came home, I’d already met his family his dad was blind, Mr Cummins, Harrys sister Hetty and myself went down to see him coming home. As I was watching the troops coming ashore, I saw Harry but also spotted Billy Culkin who I saw playing football in Fort William. If you remember I went to school with him, years later, I was to see him often on Goodison Road, at the match with his son.
Marie was going to Burtons for ballroom dancing with her friends, so I started to there and enjoyed it, of course we’d had a drink before going there. My mother and dad used to drink in The Kendal Castle, known as the “Grapes” on the corner of Fountains Road and Westminster Road.By this time Bobby Skelton and Bobby Hoyland had been demobbed, Bob Skello and Harry got on quite well, but Harry couldn’t take to Hoyland, I’ve mention before Hoyland was hard to get to know. Another friend was Joe Doran, he was in the Merchant Navy and he was out as well. We were doing a lot of drinking about this time and being on 2 months leave there seemed to be plenty of time. Marie and I danced a lot in Burtons and went to the local cinema, now and then. I was introduced to her friends who she grew up with, Jean and Doreen who were sisters, Marie Mackie and one or two other. My sister Ethel was one of the crowd of girls at “Burtons” and she was regular there. It was a nice atmosphere , I remember going there before I went away and felt out of my depth, they all seemed too old probably up to 25yrs, when you’re 17 or 18 yrs. that’s old.
I remember saying to someone that I would like to carry on radio operating possibly at the Post Office, but it was getting to the stage where I couldn’t be bothered and was looking forward to starting Tyson’s again.
About now, Marie’s brother John who’d been stationed Malts for a while was coming home, she brought him up to Burtons and I went over to introduce myself. He wasn’t very friendly, Marie and I had split up, and I don’t think he liked me, full stop. Before we decided to split up I had met Marie’s family, her mother was a lovely lady who did some nice fry ups for suppers. Her sister Lily and her husband Jim, they lived in the front room in Clare Road. Marie’s father was causing trouble in one way and another, the first time I went to meet them Marie said “My father will be there, but don’t talk to him”. I found that hard to do, when someone speaks to you, you have got to answer them. He asked me, did I know anything about bikes and took me to the yard, I had a look and it only needed a minor adjustment. But from what I seen and was told he was a pest.
I’d started back for Tyson’s and was on the bench doing various jobs , it felt quite strange being back and it was an interrupted apprenticeship and I had a lot to learn. Harry Morris the foreman, was still there and Jack Smith the Manager.
Bob Skello and me were still going to the “Grapes” for a drink at night, and going to Goodison on Saturday afternoons. Going back to when I first came home, the following day was the first game of the season. I remember my dad saying “You haven’t seen Nobby Fielding have you “ I said I hadn’t, my dad said you’re in for a treat. He wasn’t wrong, Nobby was a brilliant scheming inside forward and you never got tired of watching him and Eddie Wainwright his partner alongside of Tommy Lawton. Everton had won the old First Division in 1939 and Portsmouth beat Wolves for the cup, Wolves were strong favourites to win this game because they were being run by a man called Major Buckley, he used what was called monkey gland to boost their energies. They were a brilliant young team, the oldest being Stan Cullis at 21 yrs., but someone had done their homework and they were beaten 4-1 by Portsmouth. So Everton have a record that will never be broken, the leagues were disbanded when the war started and didn’t start again till 1946 season, so we were Champions for 7yrs.
I used to say to Skello after the match “I’ll see you by the valley at 7.30 tonight” and I was 99% certain, I’d still be there after 8 o’clock, he always fell asleep after his tea.
By this time I was out of the shop, the first job was like a punishment for being late. Mr Smith decided to send me to a Girls school in Helsby, the job was ok, it was just getting here, the 6.30 am train from Lime St. got you there for 7.45am. Me and a lad called Charlie McCabe worked together on this job. It was a derby match at Anfield this night and we both wanted to go, so we were on the train as soon as possible and we got to Lime St. probably about 6.15pm and had to try for a bus up to Anfield. The buses were loaded and we had no chance, so we started to run, we got to London Road to Shaw St., around now, we were able to jump a bus but it only went 2 stops before we realised it wasn’t going our way. So it was running again, I don’t like running at the best of times, but I
wanted to see this match so we run and run. Eventually, we made it and Anfield Road was teeming with people, we were sweating like hell, because it was an effort. We got in the ground but were separated, he went one way and I went the other. Was it worth it, Everton lost 4-0 after all that.
After Helsby there were various other jobs I was on but one in particular was at United Molasses in Allerton. They had huge vats of molasses set up on a wooden floor, made up of lengths of 4 x 4 s into the ducts below, they wanted a concrete floor putting in and Tyson’s were asked to do the job. The job was duly done, but it was time to strip the shuttering out, they asked Joe Doran and me to do it, it was one of the worst jobs I’ve ever done. We had to crawl into the ducts to knock out the standards to release the shuttering, we were covered in molasses which had attracted spiders. We had them all over us while we were working and they weren’t small, it’s a good job we had boiler suits on as well.
Ethel was a good source of information regarding anything that was going on in Burtons. Marie had met a chap from Rugby and there was talk about her going home with him, I
The Last Chapter Page 14
