Truancy , Family ,in Portsmouth , Portsea.

Truancy ,Family , Hot Ice , in Portsmouth .

　

There used to be an antique shop in Queen street , in the doorway there was an Elephants foot , it was hollowed out and inside it there was walking sticks and odd nick knacks , and shining brightly,  a Japanese bayonet , it was about a foot and a bit long and with it came a scabbard , the scabbard had a round bit on the front end , the size of a marble , well I had to have it ,( it was there one minute and gone the next , I don’t think the owner of the shop ever knew it was missing!! )  . OK!. OK! , I may have gone mud larking for almost a week to earn 2/6 in old money to pay for it , it just sounded a bit better to said I filched it. ( I remember the 2" strap hitting my hands ) , it worked ,"thou shell not steal !! ".

　

　
　

This is some of my family , starting from the left , sister Shirley , Daisy , Peter , Richard up top ,our mother , Mrs, Beatrice May Blake , Nee , Cumner . me in front Ralph behind me, sister Sylvia , and brother Edward , my sisters, Iris , and Marion and Rita are not there ,I will try to had their photos later.

　

Some time the next day , playing hooky again , playing in a large field all overgrown with tall grass ,there was me in a prone position , the bayonet stuck on to the end of the scabbard , pretending the scabbard was a rifle , making shooting noises , you know ,BANG ! , BANG! , playing war , suddenly there beside me is a man in a suit , "why are you not at school ? " , he calls , I call back "What the f---- it got to do with you " , jump up and run off to be with my friends , flashing the Bayonet in his direction , " I am the Beetle " ( truant officer ) He Calls back , by then I was gone .

I did not have my beautiful bayonet for long ,the power to be (Mother ), decided it was to dangerous for me to play with took it back to the shop to get the money back , yes! , mother kept the money .

There was an old cinema not far from Portsmouth Guildhall , we used to call it the flea pit , I think because they used to show some dodgy films , my brother peter and I went there one day , we may have snuck in , we were sat there watching a film , and unknown to me a gentleman ( I use the term Gentleman lightly, ) had sat next to my brother , suddenly my brother jumped up grabbed my hand pulled me hurriedly to the exit , once outside I asked him what was wrong , he said the man had come in and sat beside him , laid his coat over the chair arm and it fell over my brothers knee , not thinking to much about it he carried on watching the film , the man had undone my brothers fly before he felt the mans hand grabbing his private parts , in shock my brother jumped up, grabbed my hand , and the rest you know , I do not think we ever went back to that Cinema again .

　

We used to get Hot Ice from somewhere , I forget where , brake it up into small bits place a small bit in a bottle put the cork in and stand well back , after a while the cork would shoot out of the bottle and fly up into the air , if you wanted a different reaction put moor ice in ,ram the cork in and run like hell , at a safe distance we would wait for the explosion , the bottle would explode, glass and water flying in all directions .

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME .

　

Oh yes! I must not forget one of my best friends , Norman Sprag , and his sister Mary , they lived in York Place , Portsea , we sometimes walked to school together , and played in the waste lands , cowboys and Indians , I hope they are still well and happy ,also Danny Warren , a friend to play with .

Here’s one for you.!?? Memory or dream ?

For years I have had this vision in my head ?  , to me it is very real , I am up in the flats just outside our front door , and there looking out over the veranda , way out over the other side of the H.M.S Victory and heading towards Fareham or Southpton is a Doddle Bug , flying through the sky , my question is this , did it happen?! , I was borne in 1946 , I was not alive then , and yet there it is, clear in my mind ,my sister said it did happen .

　

　

Moving on . and a bit about my Father



I left Portsea when I was about thirteen and a half , we moved to Paulsgrove just outside of Portsmouth , where I went to Paulsgrove Secondry Modern school , I do not think it was to long after I bumped my head in the swimming pool , because I do not remember leaving the flat at Portsea , or moving into our new house , and my later life memories has big holes in them.

I do not regret living my childhood the way I did , I was very well loved by my sisters , they look after us , my brother and I, to the best of their abilities , mother did her best , after having 11 children , she must have felt a bit tired , and decided it was time for her to have a bit of fun , who would blame her, I certainly did not.


This is mum playing darts at the Red Eagle, it
was one of her Favourite pubs ,I think it was on the corner of North street and King William street .






　

Charles Hickox Blake is my fathers full name, labourer in  ,H.M.Dockyard , My father left our home again just before I was
born , apparently he had this habit of disappearing throughout my mother marriage , I tend to think of him as being a bit of a Jack the Lad , At one time , apparently my mother and his other woman used to live in the same house together , she with her children and mum with hers , but not all the children were my fathers , when my father left home for this other woman , my mother found it hard to take care of all the children so my mother would have some of the girls put into a home , then when my father decided to come home again he would get the girls to come home as well , this went on and off for some time , so eventually my father ended up with , 11 children by my Mother, and 5 children by Mrs, G .



This is Mrs G , the other lady , but I do remember there was any ill feeling between us ,we often played with our half brothers , and went into their house often.






I only met my Father once , I was about five years old ," this is your dad" my brother Richard said , my father said hello and asked me if I wanted a cup of Oxo , I said I would like that , and that was that , the only memory I have of him , he died in the home of Douglas , I think one of his son's who lived in Wimering , near Paulsgrove, he had emphysema and Cancer , my father did  live somewhere in Portsmouth , the rest of his families scattered over Portsmouth and surrounding areas , I new some of my half brothers , Brian , Douglas , Michael , were Mrs, G’s, and I think , Charles , Dennis, Robert , Collin , and Christopher , was my Fathers children , I envied them because they got to know my Father and I did not.

　

　

I am sorry to say I did not miss my father when he died , I do not think you can miss something you have never had , I was more sad when I heard of Collins death in Germany ,GOD BLESS HIM.

Well that is it , my Childhood up to the age of 15 years, my brother Peter features in my life a lot , but without him my life would have been very sad , we went everywhere together , did things together, slept together, cried together, now we are in this story together .

My name is Melvyn Blake , and I am very happy , Husband to my wife Shirley , Father to three girls , two boys , Grand Father to nine and a half grand children .

God bless you all .






 

1953 Coronation party in Portsea , Portsmouth.

                   Portsea Coronation party 1953



This photograph is for you,  the children of the 1953 Coronation party, this was taken in Portsea , Portsmouth ,in a hall , I think , some were near Cross street ,and North street .
CAN YOU NAME YOURSELF !! .

Bonfires, Busses, firewood, innocence,Guy Fox ,in Portsmouth ,Portsea

Bonfires, Busses, firewood, innocence, Guy Fox , in Portsmouth , Portsea





This is a photograph of ,yes you guessed it, me! ,
with a friend of the family Gloria Hawkins ,taken at my sisters Iris and Bill's wedding .







We used to have lovely bonfire in them days, by
the Marlborough Gate but behind old Mac’s Paper building , he used to get all the morning Papers ready , Bonfire Corner , on Cumberland street it was , all the red and I think green busses would line up along the road in anticipation of the Dockyard kicking out , all the men would burst forth like the cork from a Champagne Bottle , one minute nothing next hundreds of them , some on bicycles , scooting on one peddle until they got out of the gate , then on they would jump and ride off , but most headed for the busses that were waiting for them , on they would jump , the conductor taking their monies , turning the handle on his ticket machine and giving them their ticket, the end of the ticket roll he would put into the bin by the steps on the way in , often when the bus conductors was not there we would raid all the bin on the busses to get the end of the rolls , and take them home to play with .

We would go to the bombed out houses to get as much wood as possible for the bonfire , we would store it under the arches with all the paper and cardboard we collected from all the different flats , it was a good way for them to get rid of their rubbish , once when emptying the boxes onto the Bonfire we found some very nice plates and dishes from a dinner service , we took it back to the house that gave us the box , and in gratitude they gave us six pence each , it paid for our bangers ," Fireworks ".



One day we had put more wood and paper into the shed under the arches ,there was me my brother Peter and on this occasion 4 girls , just friends helping with the wood and paper ,there came a knock on the door , it was Mrs sprawls (that may be spelt wrong, ) she lived two verandas below us in the flats , she wanted something ! I have forgot what " why is the door closed" , she said " and why is your flies undone ", being an innocent I did not understand the implications , indignantly she ushered the girls out , and I was at a loss to know what I did wrong .( I do remember a kind of quirky knowing look on her face,) perhaps she though it was funny.

Later being older and wiser I can understand what being caught with your flies undone implies .

Of course my brother and I would go GUY FOXING , we would make up our own guy , and go begging ," penny for the guy mister", lay the guy in the doorway and wait for the sailors to come by , penny here , penny there , we did alright , until the playful sailors came along and would kick ten bales of s---t out of our guy , a shirt or jumper here a pair of trousers there , the paper bag face floating off into the wind , as children we would call them a few choice words , try to kick them in the shins , they would put their hand on our head and hold us off at arms length and just laugh at us , no point in going on then , start again next day.

PENNY FOR THE GUY MISTER.



As children we used to collect foreign coins , we would go to the Dockyard Gate , and wait for the Germans , American , French , and others to come out of the gate , run along side of them with our hands out stretched and ask if they had any foreign coins, we did all right, but we could not spend it , it was just something to do.

One of my happiest memories is playing British Bulldog , the whole of Private House , was formed in the shape of an "e", with the middle part of the "e" missing in the middle , (it is still there today ) , a very large roundabout , the children would all stand at one end of the roundabout and a volunteer would be waiting in the middle , at his command the children would run from one end to the other , on the way through the volunteer would grab or try to grab the nearest child , lifting the child they would call out , " British Bulldog 123 ", then that child would help in turn to get more children on the next run , and so on until all the children were caught , the last one being caught the winner , only one rule , once you start to run you can not turn around and run back . ( My sister told me that when she was a little girl , the roundabout was a large square green of lawn and that she and others used to played on it ) .

I learnt to ride a bicycle around that roundabout , a young girl lent me hers to use , I did very well , after about an hour I was ridding very well , I rode up the straight part towards the bend , when I got to the bend I found to my amazement I could not turn the handlebars to go around the bend , my arms were kind of locked , I just could not turn , there was only one vehicle on that roundabout , a Milk float , and I had to hit it , the girl was not very pleased , I had hurt my chin , making it bleed , but I had also buckled her wheel , she was very upset .

It may have been the same girl that I saw have an accident on the same part of the roundabout , for some reason the girl fell of her bike , she went foreword across the handlebars and the stiff hand brake leaver went up into her armpit ,piercing the skin and going in about 5"inches , I know this to be true because I saw the break leaver slide all the way out of her arm pit , kind of in slow motion , the girl pushed herself up off the  road and it slid out , she ran off home crying for her mommy, I did feel sorry for her .

Peter My Brother had a bike of sorts , no tyres no seat and a fixed wheel , " let have a go of your bike Peter I said ", " NO" said Peter , there started the argument ," if you will not let me use it, then you can’t ," I said , pushing the bike over and stamping all over the spokes , turning them into a mangled mess , " now ride it " I shouted at him and as usual I ran off.

I THINK THERE IS A PATTERN HERE,!!

To earn a few pennies to spend my brother and I, (still good friends) used to get the old floorboards from the bombed out houses, bring them up to our balcony, saw them up into about 8 inches long , chop them up into fire wood , put the kindling into shopping bags and sale them six pence a bag , it used to pay for us to go to Saturday Cinema.

Saturday Morning Cinema , what fun that was , if we could not afford to get in , we would get a friend to open the back door , not far from the toilets and let us in, the films were usually cowboys , Flash Gordon, that sort of thing , we made lots of noise stood on the seats , stamped our feet , ate our sweets , if we had any , and generally made a mess of the films, we could not wait for the next week to sneak in again .

I do remember Verrechia ice cream , just under the Portsmouth and Southsea train station , not because we used to get some , but because we used to hang around there after school , once I went into the back to where they made the ice cream , there on some kind of stand , were lots of lollypop molds just waiting for the different fillings , I seam to remember it being cold with a wet floor , Verrechia was a well liked ice cream.

Charlotte street was a street well remembered , fruit stalls a plenty , packed out from one end to the other , busy people going on their way doing their shopping , my brother and I used to look for the discarded fruit , sometimes it would only have a little bruise on it , and sometimes it would be half rotten , then eat what you could , it would be the only fruit we were to get .

Watch out for maggots.

　

Old Sally port , Ferries ,Fire, and uncle Bill , in Portsmouth .

Old sally port , and ferries , terror in Portsmouth.

Peter my brother was either very daring or very stupid, depends how you look at it , I to this day think of it with horror and flash backs.

we went up to the top veranda of the middle flat at Private house, then Peter climbed up onto the roof apex of 4 story high block of flats , crawled along and around the apex for about 60 yards , ( He was crawling along the roof of our flat ! ) down the side of the roof to picked up a roll of duct tape , then crawled all the way back again, four stories below there was hard tarmac and death , in my mind I can see peter falling , its not very nice, why did he do it , I just stood there on the veranda and watched him go across and then back again , to scared to move or cry out .

This is a photograph of my sisters, Daisy, a friend and Sylvia taken at the hot walls at Sally port , don't get to hot under the collar !! they are in their 70 ,s now.


the other photograph is of my  sister Iris and her husband , Uncle Bill, he turns up later in this story


Peter and I used to go swimming at the Old Sally Port , right at the entrance of Portsmouth Harbour , and opposite Gosport , just there are the hot walls, I think they called the hot walls because it used to be a bit of a Sun trap, the walls used to soak up the heat from the sun, it was a good place to swim and sunbathe , there was no entrance way onto the beach back then , you had to wait until the tide was out before you could reach the small beach that is there, and if you left it to late you would have to time the crash of the tide against the wall to make your escape , as to the round tower and promenade that you can walk along today , well in them days the round tower was fenced off to the public , but we found a way through and onto the round tower , there when the tide was right , we would run and jump out into the mouth of the harbour , then swim onto the shore ,you had to be careful with the tide , when the tide went out of the harbour it would be dangerously fast , or we would swim in the warm waters of the bunny , to my knowledge the warm water coming out of the Bunny’s mouth was the water they used to cool the turbines of the Electricity generators housed in a very large two chimney building at the other side of the camber dock’s , sometimes when swimming in the Bunny you had to be careful because of the speed of the currant coming out of it , it could force you out into the rough sea , when the tide was in and lapping at the top of the bunny walls , my brother Peter and I use to fish with home made hand lines , we did not catch anything but we did not mind , it was great fun .

When we visited Old Portsmouth ,we used to go and watch the Isles of White car ferry at work ,we’d watch the cars going on and off the ferry , in the early part of my life  ,the ferry was connected to a chain that went from Old Portsmouth across to Gosport , it used to carry cars and pedestrians , the pedestrians were allowed to cross free of charge, when the H.M. Dockyard kicked the workers out , often they would use the chained ferry to save them selves a penny , after a while it changed into the Isle of white car ferry, we would watch People coming and going on holiday ,smiling faces ,we could not earn any penny’s there ,there was nothing we could do ,cars on cars off .

Another ferry that we used to go to was Gosport Ferry , it had , has , this floating walkway that leads to the ferry ,as the tide comes in it get higher ,as it go’s out lower ,the pedestrians after paying for a ticket 1 penny they would go down the left hand side ,and the pedestrians coming off the ferry would come up the right hand side ,we used to go down to the floating pontoon ,that also would raise and fall with the tide , sometimes the ticket man would turn a blind eye , and we would go across on the ferry , and staying on come back again , the ticket man would wink and smile at us and usher us of the ferry , that small gesture would make our day , and it’s a memory I have to this day , THANK YOU ! Mr Ticket Man , by the side of that pontoon , on the Hard side there was a smaller pontoon just under the pedestrian bridge,there we used to go and do some fishing, the water was so clear you could see the bottom , we would watch shrimps scampering in and between the pontoon , crabs walking across the mud , big fish would sometime swim by , but we could never catch them with our hand lines .

　

There was a time when I nearly burnt my face off , we used to know the boy who live in the cross road cafe (its on the way to Queen street from Private House) , we sometimes washed up there , when we finished we would go out the back to play , (the same place that we used to make our lead weights, ) Ted Stallards , coal merchants was right by it , well anyway the boy had brought some lighter refill capsules with him , it was good fun , you pierced the end of the rubber tube with a pin , start to squeeze it , light it , then you had a long fiery flame , that’s fine! if you don’t aim it in anyone’s direction! , but when you aim it in my direction and it go’s all over the left side of my face , it gets a bit scary , flames were licking up the side of my face singing my hair , of course I panicked !, I was probably like a Fly with its wings pulled off , I lifted up my shirt tail and covered my face , the flames were out , the pain started to come , it was like a deep throbbing pain , my face was going all blotchy and some of the skin had started to peel off, the boy snuck in and fetched me a wet towel, I placed on my face to cool it down , luckily the burn was not to bad , we made up some excuse , and about thee weeks later my face was all right , It made me the good looking person I am today .

DO NOT PLAY WITH FIRE .

My uncle Bill used to visit with my sister, I’m about 6 years old , he lifts me up and holds me over the veranda , 4 stories up , I look down and see the tops of the washing poles and hard ground , I am squealing and he is laughing and chucking me up into the air and catching me again , time and again throwing me up and catching me again , I still wake up at knight thinking about it ,Flashbacks!!.

There were times when I was requested to go shopping for other people in the flats , and in return they would give three penny’s , with it I would buy , 5 sweet cigarettes with a elastic band wrapped around it and attached to it was a pink plastic ring ,( not a lot is it ! ) , but to me it was Treasure .

In the front of our flats there were Iron works , a storage place for different types of iron lengths , for use in the Dockyard , all out on" A" frames , they use a crane with a long reaching arm for movement and height , well I had to climb that arm , it was wide at the bottom going to narrow at the top , when I got to the top I kind of fell off , I hardly felt myself go , by the time I hit the ground , I was already sitting up , the ground was so soft I did not feel a thing ."I thank my Guardian angle .

I was playing in the Iron works one day ,I remember the ground being soft and dusty,sitting down and playing in the dirt ,I discovered some money just under the dirt ,picking up the coins I counted them ,3 , one penny 4 half pennies , I was a very happy child ,I went to bed that night thinking about the next day , when I woke the next morning I put my shorts on , put my hands in to my pockets to get the money ,it was gone , It had all been a dream , it had been so real , but my family assured me it was just a dream , but I remember the dusty dirt the small of it ,was it a dream?.

　
　
Peter and I were coming home one day , late in the year , near November , we had some "Banger’s", fireworks , on this particular bomb site that was known to us was an under ground wasp nest , it does not take to much imagination to know what we did next , Peter lobed two or three bangers into the nest . "Serves you right"!! I hear you say,those poor wasp’s.

We ran as fast as we could ,nothing would catch us , not me anyway , I herd a noise I turned round and peter was yelling and crying , there were wasp all over his head , without thinking I went to his aid , I picked up a lump of wood and started to hit him over his head with it , he yelled and cried even louder", there are to many of them", I shouted , hitting him even harder , he pushed me away and ran off home with me following , still holding that lump of wood.

Now when I think about it I can’t help but laugh .

　

I remember a large gobble stopper just laying in the dirt , we did not get sweets in them days so what was I to do , it was big and round all covered in dry dirt , I put it in my mouth and sucked on it for a while , spat the dirt out a couple of times , decided it was clean enough and went on to enjoy myself , every now and again it change colour . A gobble stopper , is a round sweet , it is about an inch round , it has lots of different colour layers , and as you suck it , it would change colour , you would suck it until your jaw ache , then save it for the next day .

I once had a beautiful white cat , its name was TIDY , (after the washing powder Tide ,you know whiter than white !!, ) it would meet me on the stairs on the way home from school , it would mussel up to me in greeting , I would pick it up and carry up to our flat , we would sit and play , and all was right with the world , then one day early in the morning mum sent me over to the shop to get a point of milk , then on the way back , there in the gutter was something white , it was my beautiful white cat , it was freezing cold that morning , so the cat was as stiff as a board , I started crying , picked it up , one hand under the front legs and one hand under the back legs , the cats body making a bridge from one hand to the other , crying in big sobs I carried it home to Mother ," look" I said "my cat is dead" , " not to worry" mother said " we will give it a nice burial" , she took the cat off of me and flushed it down the rubbish shoot , I had visions of that cat tumbling down from our four story high flat via the waste shoot , she took me in her arms held me close and we walked into the flat," well that is what should have happened" , but with a shove she said to go out and play .

　

When we were children we used to enjoy Voting Days , we would all get together into the back of flatbed lories , tour the district singing our heads off ,"Vote, vote , vote, for Mr Hochkins , Who’s that Knocking at the door , If it old charley Brown , you can knock him to the ground , and he wont come Knocking any more" , or words to that affect you get the picture, but it was fun riding around for most of the day singing our heads off.

Do you remember when Television first came out , no , neither do I , we used to have a radio , we listened to Dan Dare Pilot of the future , and other stories , the first time I saw a television , I was stood on tip toe looking through some ones window , it was great , Cartoons , Daffy Duck , Wow!! , until they saw me watching through the window, the curtains were pulled across so I could not see , How rude of them!!.

The only real cartoons we could see was in the back of a lorry , we would have to get a bundle of rags , give them to the rag and bone man , we would get a sweet and the privilege of standing there to watch the cartoons on "T.V. until he pulled away , and moved to another location.

I was 13 years old before we got our own Television , it was about this time we had our first chicken for Christmas dinner , my mother and I travelled from Portsea to Wymering , Paulsgrove , to get it from , Mrs Hawkins , I think one of my mothers friends gave it to us, her daughter used to be a friend to me before she moved , that was the best ever chicken I had ever tasted .

My brother Peter and I would watch the sailors marching up Queen street , it was brilliant , we would march behind them all the way to the Dockyard Gate , puffing our chest out and swaggering , just like the sailors , sometimes the Royal Marine Band , would lead the way , white helmets , and smart uniforms , the music beating out the rhythm of the march.

Once in our old flat , my eldest brother Edward brought home a 303 rifle , he was in uniform then , I think he liked to brag , you know , flash it off a bit ,"Shoot it" we said , he pulls out this bullet from somewhere , slides it into the breach , "shoot it", we cry , he lean out of the window and BALM!! , the noise was deafening , we ran off covering our ears and hid under the blankets , it was some years be for we realised it was a blank that he fired .

more life in Portsmouth+Hospital+Toffee apples+Railwaylines

Go-carts. Hospital . Toffee apples,

　

This is a Photograph of my brother, Peter Ralph and me, it was taken just outside of the Iron work's just in front of our flats that we lived in , I spent many a day playing in there when I was young .

　

　

　

One day being kids we made a go-cart ,we found some old pram wheels , knocked the axles from the springs and was left with two set of wheels with axles ,we found a suitable plank and fixed one set of wheels to one end , using some rusty nails and half a brick to hammer them over the axle ,we placed a wooden box on the plank and fixed it with nails ( that we found at bonfire corner ), fixed the other set of wheels to a piece of wood (2"by 4") and using a metal bar , heated it up in a fire until it was red hot , and burnt a hole through the plank and the 2"by 4", then fixed it to the plank using a nut and bolt ,the box was positioned on the plank so there was enough room for the pusher to jump on when we gained enough speed .

It was my turn to push ,off we went ,me pushing my feet into the gravel to get up some speed , I was just about to jump on when my foot slipped on the gravel ,well I went down fast , laid flat out with my arms out stretched , the wind knocked out of me ,my knees grazed ,and a god awful pain in my right wrist and hand ,blood dripping every where ,I had neglected to remove two large nails sticking up at the edge of the plank , they had dug into my skin about half way up my forearm , cutting , jumping ,and slicing it’s way to my finger tips ,holding my wrist I ran home to mum ,then off to the hospital , I still have the scars to prove it .

Normally if I hurt myself ,grazed my knee , I would go and see Irene Mc Kenssy ,bottom flat left side ,she had a wall just outside her front door ,she was nice ,friendly , she had a dog, a long haired black thing , very friendly ,it would often lick the blood off my knee until the blood stopped bleeding , well the dog was either friendly or he just liked the taste of my blood .

It was a Mrs Mc kendrick, or Mrs Kendrick that used to make toffee Apples, one veranda down ,one flat along , the smell used to hit you first , one minute I was a happy and content child playing a game , the next I was a spoilt child ,"Mum can I have a toffee apple " "no " ,and then it started , I knew she did not have the money , but it was only 2p , she must have 2p , well she never did , so I never did ,pay for it that is ,I would sit on the stairs and cry ,the water work were always at full flow , and there coming round the corner was Mrs Mc --- Kendrick with a toffee apple in her hand ,she was a vision ! very pretty and again there in her hand a Beautiful Toffee Apple , the quiet was amazing .

Nora Monahan , she lived in the flat at the right hand side of the arch in the centre of Privatte house , she was more of a friend to my brother Ralph , but we Peter and I got to know her and used to go into her house ,we hope she is still alive and kicking .

More School and places you should not go .

___________________________________



We were coming home from school one day , ST, Luke's , School , the other side of The Guildhall , were we used to sit on the Lions , we had come through the tunnel into Victoria Park , we could hear other children playing , we went to investigate , near the railway line , through the fence , other kids were playing and looking for conkers so we joined them , looking for conkers slowly working up the bank , one of the boys got to close to the line , we shouted at him to come away from the line because it was electrified , to late he fell , we all cried out in fright , he was laying across the railway line , hands out stretched to stop his fall , he was screaming , he stood up , his face and arms were black his eyes were wide and staring , he walk away from the line , sort of stiff , like a robot , making these scary noises from his throat , We RAN!! , out through the hole in the wire fence , across the park and all the way home , it was some time later that we realised , that the electrified line was the one in the middle of the twin rows of railway track .

STAY WELL CLEAR OF RAILWAY LINES!!

Its funny what we remember , I remember my brother Edward standing on a chair with his thumb in the light bulb socket saying "BOMBS AWAY", and pushing the terminals ! , I think we were playing Bombers , luckily the light was switched off’.

KEEP YOUR FINGERS OUT OF LIGHT SOCKETS .

Sometimes there were very bad lightning storms , my sister Rita my youngest sister , would hide under the table, whimpering , I would stand up in the window and wait for the lightning, when it flashed I would hold on to my chest , wait for the bang , pretend to get struck and fall down to the floor, I had no fear of lighting it was all a game to me , I just laughed and did it all over again .

Peter my brother , introduced me to a new game of darts , you stand opposite each other and throw the dart either to the right or to the left , about 4 inches from your feet , taking turns until one of you can’t stretch any more , all went well until peter threw the dart into my shinbone, it was just sticking there ," Gotcha" he said and ran off laughing , it funny ? ,there was no pain ,there it was just the dart sticking out of my shin bone and me with an amazed look on my face,so I just pulled it out , no blood just a hole where the dart went in , and more importantly no pain .

I STILL LOVE MY BROTHER.

Ralph one of my older brothers was chasing peter and myself from the bedroom through the living room into the hall landing and out to the front door , we had to escape from our brothers grasp , now I’m in a headlong rush towards the door and I think to myself , if I grab hold of the doorknob , after peter has followed me through , I will slam it behind us , stopping my older brother from getting us , I SLAMMED the door !! , from behind me there came a mighty whale , Peter had run right in the doorknob , I HAD CLOSED THE DOOR TO QUICK.!! there were some words spoken to me that day that I can not print.

Now in those days the door handles used to big and round and of solid wood,Peters eye was black and blue for about two week, I do not think Peter liked me to much, after that we argued a lot.

On another occasion my dear brother Peter and I were arguing again about nothing , he started chasing me , putting his fist up , on the way past the table I picked up a plate and looking over my shoulder threw it in his direction , yes I know , I should not have done it , luckily the plate only smashed into his shin , just a little bit of blood .

My Brother , Ralph was told by our mother, to walk Peter and myself to school in the morning , he would walk behind us all the way to school to make sure we did not play truant , he never used to say anything , he would just follow us until we went into the gateway of ST Luke's school , once we were out of sight he would go on his way , and once he was out of our sight we would go on our way , we would hide behind a corner of the school building until he left , then so would we , we would go out of the School gate and then on down the road and play hooky for the rest of the day.

On the way home from school one day , we came through Victoria Park , Peter and I were doing our usual arguing , only this time it got a bit more heated , by the time we reached the navy barracks in queen street ,( H.M.S. Nelson , I think ? ,) it got bad , Peter threw this punch at my face , I can still see it coming , the walls there were made of rough stone , if you are not careful you can hurt yourself very much , I had my coat in my hands , seeing that fist coming I flung my coat over his head and dodged to one side , how awful the sound his fist made when it hit the wall , I saw the pain on his face the blood and the state of his knuckles , his intention was murderous , I laugh at him and took off running like the wind , I lost that coat , I told mum it was taken from school.

Just behind the Guildhall there used to be a swimming pool , my brother and I used to go there when we could afford to , one day I was being cheeky and started chasing a girl around the pool , whoops I slipped up and bumped my head, ( "serves you right I hear you say",) I just laughed at the girl and dive in after her , I woke up the next morning ready for school ," your not going to school today " my sister Shirley said , "you have been acting funny and asking the time of day since you came home yesterday",I do not even remember to this day what happened after I dived in.

DO NOT RUN IN THE SWIMMING POOL.
more to follow .

more memories of life in Portsmouth ,chocolate,coal ,the Queen, Truancy.

                                          More memories of life in Portsmouth .

                                         Chocolate. Coal. The Queen. Truancy

                         

Of course as life goes on , it can change for the better as , it did for us , my sister Iris , would visit us on a Friday , she would cook us a roast dinner , that was one meal we never missed , Thank you Iris.

It was on the way to the salvation army in Queen Street , that I got run over by a bicycle . I remember I had just came out of an arched way, I was very lucky because behind the bicycle was a big red bus , if the bike had not have got me the bus would have , scratched and bruised , I hobbled across Queen street and had my breakfast .

　

When we got a little bit older , my brother Peter and I would go to Old Portsmouth to the Camber Dock’s , there we watch the cargo boats come in , they would be very busy unloading all sorts of goods , Bananas , Oranges , and our favourite , Chocolate , we would wait , with others , until it all went quiet , then sneak into the store ,( whilst going equipped ), you know , something to cut the sack with , and something to put the Chocolate in , most of it went into my pocket , by the time we got home it was all gone , I think it was raw Chocolate , because it did not taste quite the same as it does today .

Mrs Rene , she lived on the next veranda down , up near the end stairs , she would ask me to go get her a bag of coal ,about 28lb ,I had to go from the Private house flats to the other side of Queen street ,down an ally way to a coal merchant,there he would give me a dirty old sack full of coal dust with the required amount of coal, off I went , for the first 100 yards all was ok ,then the weight would start to get to me, one minute I was carrying it ,the next I was dragging it , then it was all I could do to drag it ,eventually I made it back to the flats , it was so heavy ,you know the song -- "one day at a time sweet Jesus " well in my case it was -- " one step at a time sweet Jesus ,all the way up to Mrs Rene’s flat , I gave the coal to her and she gave me three pennies ,well I started of on that journey looking like a scruffy urchin I came back looking like a chimney sweep .

At the back of Private flats ,there used to be a long row of sheds ,above the sheds there was a long attic ,if you wanted to you could get into any of the sheds , but even as children we had respect for other peoples property, we would only go into the empty shed to get up into the attic, there we would meet and talk about what we will do today ,and play games that boys do , see who could spit the furthest ,play five stones ,and tell stories .

Below is a photograph of my sister Shirley ,with me and my brother Ralph, my sister played a big part in bring us boys up ,she would often come down stairs and look for us ,of course being boys we did not go indoors to easily ,more often then not she use to chase us around the washing lines that was at the back of Private flats ,round and round in and out of the washing lines ,if you grab the washing pole when you run past ,it would fling you into a fast loop ,while my sister was running one way I was running the other ,that worked quite often ,until she got wise ,she would grab hold of my hand when it was on the washing pole , not being able to let go of the pole ,I would run around in circles ,to late I was caught! , up to bed we would go ,she is a great sister ,she always took all in good fun .

　

　

　

　

　

I saw the Queen when she come to Portsmouth Dockyard , she come along the road from the H.M.S. Vernon , she sat in the coach and waved her hand at me , (Well it could of been me ! , ) I was standing on the bottom part of a lamp post , about a meter off the ground , I had a clear view of a very beautiful lady , I don`t think I understood who she really was , there was people on both sides of the road , crowds of them , they were all cheering and waving , so I just copied them .


I was not very good at going to school , often I would play truant with my brother , we would go to a secret place near to Queen street, right behind some large poster boards , there we would dig out a large trench about 10 foot long and about 4 foot wide , we lay sheets of tin across the top and then cover it again with dirt , leaving room at one end for a chimney that vented the oven ,we would often have a fire going , we find mats and other oddments to make ourselves at home ,inside the dugout we made a ledge on one side, lined it with old carpets ,and that was our bench to sit on , back then there was a lot of bombed out buildings so it was easy to find things for our den , even during the summer holidays we spent a lot of our time there.

Just outside the dugout area ,just over a wall was a very large pear tree ,way up in the top branches was this beautiful extra large pear ,it looked all yellow and ripe ,well we had to have it ,I did volunteer to go for it but peter said he would go , so up he went , he made it look easy ,he went from one branch to the other ,up ,and up , and up ,finally he reached it , f--- , bug-- it ,and other explosive words ,coming back down ,he said ,(shouted )! "you can have it !" and trussed it into my hands ,how kind of him I thought , the pear had been pecked by the blackbirds all down the side that faced away from us , the prize had dulled to sadness ,frustrated we went back to the dugout ,we sat there and stared at the pear for a little while wondering what to do with it , finally we stood it on a wall and through stones at it .

After we had been absent for about six weeks , Mum had word from the school that we had not attended , She was very upset , there was talk of six of the best on stage in front of the whole school , well we were not having that , we decided to run away , we set of on two old bikes to go to Peterfield , and live in a haystack., We got as far as Havant , a few miles outside of Portsmouth , It was freezing , my fingers and toes were about to drop off , luckily one of our sisters had a house at Havant , we made our way there , found out she was not in , climbed in through the bathroom window and made ourselves at home , we slept down stairs in front of the gas fire tuck up all warm and comfortable .

Unknown to us the police were informed of our escape and were looking for us , early next morning we decided to head back into Portsmouth , we got as far as the Camber Docks , before we were nabbed by a Bobby ( Policeman , ) on a bicycle , our adventure was over .

We did go back to school on condition that there were to be no caning . When I next got genuinely sick , mum would give me a letter for the teacher to say :- Melvyn has not been to school because he has been very poorly , well I was only sick for a day , but that note was worth at lest to weeks more hooky time to me , I did that on more times than I could count.

I was sat in the classroom one day , the sun was shining , and I was asking myself, what am I doing here , I decided it was time to go , but how was I going to get out of school ? , I could pretend to cry and say I had a head ache , well I can’t pretend , so I lifted the lid of the desk and made it fall on to the top of my head , well that hurt enough to make me cry , the teacher asked what the matter was , so I told him ,"Sir I got a very bad head ache and I feel unwell ", Blake" , he said to my brother Peter ,(who was in the same class as me ), take your brother home and explain it to your mum ", once outside we ran off laughing and went off for the rest of the day playing , making sure we got home at the normal time

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NEEDLESS to say when I eventually left school at 15, I WAS AS THICK AS TWO PLANKS , Knowing what I know now , I would willingly go back to school . Well really , in a sense , I did go back to school, at 15, my sister taught me how to read with DANDY and BENO, comics , then on to the Army ,then knight school, then Collage.    (   more to follow   )

　

　

More memories and making money at Portsmouth harbour station and school

More memories and making money at Portsmouth harbour station.

And of course School .



this is me Melvyn ,and my brother Peter we are about 4 years old


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On other occasions to earn some pennies we used to get a big wooden box, and a set of pram wheels
to make a cart with handles .  Then go to the coach station and carry suit cases to the train station , the price was usually sixpence more often then not the cases would have big scratch marks left on one side of them," always place the case so that they could not see the scratches" , take the sixpence and run , we had forgot to take the nails out of the crate.

We used to go under the Portsmouth station to hunt for crabs, before we went to the station, we would go to a building site and look for Iron reinforcement rods, sharpen the end of the rod on the edge of the pavement.  Often we would stab the crabs with the Iron rods. (not very nice, thinking back).

I do remember walking out along an old railway line that arched across the harbour, then stopped just before it reached the dockyard itself , when you looked down through the slats when walking, it gave you a funny vertigo feeling , when we reached the end we fished with home made lines and hooks.

We learnt to make our own weights on a bit of waste land, just behind the cafe that used to be by the cross roads near Brickwoods brewery, we would light a fire, get a piece of wood use a red hot metal rod, and make holes in it , not to deep , depends what weight you wanted, get some lead from the broken down houses, melt the lead in an old tin and pour it into the holes, put a "u "shaped staple into the top of the melted lead and just wait  for it to cool ,then knock them out ,

In the hard , on the left side of the wharf , (" Fisherman's wharf ") I think it was called, there used to be a row floating pontoons anchored to some pylons sticking out of the mud , attached to these were large tree trunks all joined together in a long line , they had been in the water for so long they were waterlogged , you could jump from one to the other quite easy , so often we would play tag with the other kids , chasing and jumping from one tree trunk to the other , not staying on one trunk to long otherwise it would sink , and you with it , but only when the tide was in, the best way to get into the water was to stand on the end of the trunk and wait for it to go under water, then just swim away .

　

I first went to Beneficial school at the age of 5, on my first day, they sat me on a rubber mat, I was crying, with the want of my mommy, when my mum left and went out of the door, I wet myself, I remember it quite well, and the smell.

At another school, a building somewhere near Brickwoods Brewery, maybe It was part of ST, Georges ? that day, before I went to school , I took , STOLE! two , one shilling , bits off the mantle piece, put them into my pockets, one either side of my shorts, and went to class, some time later my mother came to school to search me, I had my hands in my pockets", take your hands out of your pockets", mum said, with a shilling in each hand I lifted my hands above my head, finding nothing in my pockets she told me to open my hands, whoops! How did they get there? she did not say another word ,  she just pushed me back into class , (You think I got away with it ! ) When I got home from school, she was waiting for me, a 2" inch wide strap in her hand, she held onto my left wrist and strapped me so hard my hand went numb, then she did the same to my right hand, I was in so much pain, I cried for a long time in my bedroom , I had trouble with my hands for years.

If she had asked me why I took the two shillings I would have told her it was just to get her attention. Well I got that all right.
　

　

On a lighter note , M.B was a neighbour, who lived along our balcony we always walked home from school together , often on the way home from school we would play in an old air raid shelter, we did the things that children liked to do when they played, innocent childlike games, we always had fun.

she was a pretty girl, when she grew up she did not want to know me, I expect I had pimples.

I do remember the hardship that was all around me , the poor family in the middle bottom flat , they were Evicted , all of their furniture pulled out of the flat and just dumped outside the front door , looking over the veranda I remember the sadness I felt for that family , it still haunts me to this day.

Living in a large town like Portsmouth , food was not readily put onto the table , tea time for us might be a slice of bread with dripping , if there was any , turn the bowl upside down , turn the dripping out and scrape the dark dripping off then put it on your bread , a pinch of salt if you had any , and off you ate, yum , yum, Or bread and margarine with a sprinkle of sugar if available , lovely .

Breakfast of course was never on the cards , unless like on some occasions mother would give us a Farthing (in old money) and a corner of a paper bag with a spoonful of sugar in it , we then took that with us to the Salvation army in Queens street ,where we would get a bowl of porridge and large mug of hot chocolate , it was up to us where we put the sugar , on the porridge or in the hot chocolate , mine always went on the porridge . I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the Salvation Army, for helping me through the early part of my life , keeping my belly topped up got me through .

　
looks like I put this photo on a second time by mistake " I didn't".