CHAPTER 2
Early in December of 1945,
shortly after the war was over, I found myself on a train with my father. The
journey took some time and eventually we arrived at the Blackburn &
District Orphanage, Whalley Road, Wilpshire, Near Blackburn in Lancashire. This
was where my Father had been placed for a couple of years subsequent to his
Father having been killed towards
the end of the First World War in 1918. I was not to see my Mother & Father
again until 1953, Coronation year.
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The Orphanage consisted of
2 very large Victorian buildings, the first built in 1891, the second in 1904,
both specifically to be used as an Orphanage by James Dixon whose birthday was
always celebrated on the 11th of December, the day after my birthday. There
were about 75 boys in one building and 60 girls in the other. The boys building
has now been demolished, but the girls building is still used by Blackburn Care
Society for disadvantaged children. There were 5 or 6 members of staff to look
after the boys, of which one was the cook. The daily routine was to be woken at
6.30 am (7am at weekends) and after dressing and making the bed, to complete
one's allocated task. This could take anything from 15 minutes to an hour.
One of my morning tasks was
to peel the potatoes, not by hand but in a machine. The machine was kept in a
small wet room. One day the machine wouldn't start, so I took off the top of the
motor and looked at the connections, 2 wires had become disconnected, there was
no clamp holding the electric cable to the plug and it must have got pulled at
some time. However, I reconnected the wires to the connection that was nearest
to each of them, plugged in and nothing happened. Funny I thought, so I gave
the motor a knock with my hand in case it was stuck. When I recovered from
hitting the wall at the other side of the room, I realised that electricity was
quite dangerous stuff. I had leather shoes on with metal studs in on a wet
stone floor. I connected the wires correctly and all was well.
Another of the jobs that I
had that sticks in my mind was having to scrub the staff corridor each morning,
this was the part of the top floor where the staff had individual bedrooms.
When I say scrub, this was with a bucket of hot water a scrubbing brush and a
block of carbolic soap, on hands and knees. The thing that makes it quite
memorable for me was, one member of staff always seemed to want to go to his room
just as I was getting to the end of this 25ft long corridor, and he always
tripped over the bucket spilling the water. Mr Kurnock was the only member of
staff I remember being disliked, some time later after he had left (maybe
dismissed) we found out he had come to the Orphanage from a Borstal.
After one's work was
finished, it was to the 'Boot Room' to clean shoes ready for school. Washing
oneself stripped to the waist came next, usually done in a hurry so as to be
first in the queue for breakfast. However having washed, we had to locate a
member of the staff to be 'passed' before getting dressed again. This consisted
of standing in front of the staff member with arms outstretched in front and
rotating them first one way then the other, then turning ones head from side to
side for inspection, followed by kicking ones legs out in front of you and then
behind you (we wore short trousers then). This of course was quite inconclusive
as to whether you had washed or not and the more particular members of staff
just placed their hand round the back of your neck to see if it was smooth or
had been freshly washed.
The kitchen had a rota, 2
of the over 10 year olds were allocated to kitchen duties and 2 to Dining Room
Duties. First thing in the morning the kitchen duty was to cut the bread, spread
on the margarine, get out the crockery etc. needed, and pass them through the
hatch to the boys on Dining room duty. The hand bell would be rung to call
everyone to breakfast. There were 3 large tables in the dining room, each could
seat up to 20 children around them, they were scrubbed clean each day. The
breakfast things were laid out, mug, plate knife and spoon in each place.
Cornflakes (porridge in winter) bread and jam, tea and sometimes coffee at
weekends, was our breakfast. After meals, the kitchen duty was to wash and dry
everything used for that meal, this included all the cooking utensils as well.
Salesbury School was about
a mile and a half away and after breakfast we lined up and set off for school,
usually the eldest boy was in charge of the column as it wound it's way down
Somerset Avenue to Salesbury. I don't remember much about Salesbury School but
on one occasion one of the older boys who was 'a big lad' about to be caned by
Mr. Croft 'Beaky' the Headmaster, snatched the cane out of his hand and chased
him round the school. On another occasion an elderly spinster Miss Forest, who
was the maths teacher among other things, accused me of cheating in a maths
test. Even though I could explain exactly how I got the answer to the problem,
albeit an unusual way, I could not convince her she was wrong. I showed her
though later, as I was only one of three children of my year, and the only
orphanage boy to pass the 11-plus exam to go to a Grammar School.
It didn't take me long to
settle down at the Orphanage and within a couple of weeks it was Christmas. It
was always traditional that the Mayor of Blackburn turned up on Christmas Day.
The local poultry farmer supplied the Turkeys, enormous they were, one for the
girls and one for the boys, and the Blackburn Branch of the Rotary club
supplied the presents and Father Christmas. All the children would write
letters to Father Christmas at the beginning of December, sometimes for very
expensive gifts which of course they had no hope of getting. Father Christmas
came into the dormitories about 9pm on Christmas Eve to distribute the toys.
That first year I had arrived too late to send a letter, I really would have
liked to know who decided that a nine year old boy should get building blocks
for Christmas. A few years later when I was into ballroom dancing, my letter
requested a pair of dancing shoes. I actually received a pair of plimsolls.
On Sunday Mornings we would
go alternately to a service in Salesbury, Church of England, and the Methodist
Church in Wilpshire. Sometimes on a Sunday afternoon, Albert Marsh, a friend of
Mr. Street would visit him for the day, he would always offer to pay for 2
ounce of sweets of our choice for each of us boys and girls, normally we would
have to pay for them out of our pocket money which was sixpence a week. Sunday
Evenings we had a service in the 'School Room' at the Orphanage, led by Mr.
Street. Once a month on a Saturday evening we had a ballroom dancing session in
the 'School Room' for the older boys and girls, when I say older, this was
probably around 12yrs, but I can't remember exactly. This was the only time we
were permitted to mix with the girls. Sometimes a gentleman known as Brother
Worthington would visit, he was a member of the Independent Order of Rechabites
(someone who abstains from alcohol). He would give us a lecture on the dangers
of drinking.
Of course, boys will be
boys and there was a fair bit of mischief went on. Scrumping at harvest time,
that was stealing apples from some of the local big houses, nothing of any
deliberate intention to damage things. We would play bows and arrows with home
made kit. I can remember being in a group of boys having punishment for
something or other. We were summoned to the School Room and made to walk round
in a circle, with Mr. Street in the middle with a 'pump' as we called them in
his hand, (plimsoll) nowadays called trainers. As we went past him whack. I
think it was because we had been playing in the road outside, this was a bus
route, and out of bounds, after all we did have at least a couple of acres to
play in.
The Orphanage was well
known in Blackburn and the surrounding area, and from time to time the local people
would send their unwanted toys and things to us. In those days wind up cars,
engines and train sets were the most interesting of these playthings. It was my
interest too, but I liked to take them to pieces. I kept a bag full of cogs,
gears and other bits and pieces from broken toys. Consequently, when a toy
wouldn't work any more, the boys would bring them to me for mending, not that I
was able to fix all of them.
We had a three quarter
sized football pitch at the back of the Orphanage, well actually it was just a
field with goal posts at either end. It sloped from one side to the other. We
built a huge bonfire on the centre spot each November 5th, so as I say it was
just a field. However, there were lots of boy's clubs football teams around
Blackburn and we could just about manage to find eleven boys interested in
playing of the right age group. So we had quite a lot of games on Saturdays. I
can't ever remember winning a game, but I do remember being beaten 29-0 once.
In Summer we played cricket on the field but only between ourselves, although
our favourite was playing cricket with the wickets chalked on the building wall
and a tennis ball, this hurt less.
Behind the girls building
there was a kitchen garden where we practiced growing lettuce, cabbage,
carrots, potatoes and things, not very successful but it kept us busy when not
at school. We also had a wire enclosure with a hen house where we kept chickens
for their eggs. There weren't enough of them to supply all the children with
one each but they helped in other ways in the kitchen.
Every year around October,
we would be taken to Blackpool Illuminations, a couple of charabancs would take
us there and cruise slowly along the front, the 'Golden Mile'. On the way home
we would stop at a watering hole, and there we would be met by someone who
handed out a stick of Blackpool rock to each of us. We would also be invited to
theatres in Blackburn to see pantomimes and other entertainments. Foster Yates
& Thom a large local factory invited us each year to a Christmas party.
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