The Apprentice

June 1970

After visiting Collingwood – the dockyard apprentice training centre on Khyber Road – with the school on a snowy day months earlier, I never dreamt I’d be coming back as an electrical fitter apprentice. In summer sunshine, Collingwood didn’t look half as dismal and a sizeable Upbury contingent helped me settle quickly. How Brian Lack, Raymond Wright, Martyn Hooper and I came to be in the same building, learning the same trade, in the very same section was incredible. Apprentices from most trades went straight into the yard, but not us. In time we would, along with the engine fitter apprentices, but for the next two years we’d be based at Collingwood. And we weren’t the only ex-Upbury pupils there. Peter Rowswell and Bob Harding were on other sections, as were second year apprentices Chris Holmes and Harjinder Bahia.

After working a week in hand we got our first pay packet of four quid. Brian suggested we celebrate with a lunchtime pint. I wasn’t that enthusiastic but I tagged along anyway with Brian, Raymond, Martyn and couple of our new workmates. 

In the public bar of the Viscount Hardinge on the corner of the High Street and Marlborough Road, each of us ordered a pint, separately and individually. When it came to my turn I ordered a pint of brown ale, not through preference, but as a straight forward option in a world in which I was ignorant. I’d never drunk a pint in my life and though I gave the first sip the obligatory nod of approval, it tasted bloody awful. Having passed the big test of getting served in a pub I should have been happy, but I wasn’t. I was as jumpy as a bank robber, even before Brian looked across the bar and spotted a familiar face in the lounge.

‘Look! There’s Cyril!’

While I choked on my beer, Raymond leaned over the bar, anxious to get a glimpse of our old maths teacher. ‘It is too! Go on, have a look,’ he said, pushing me forward.

A quick glance over the bar was enough. Seeing Cyril sitting in the lounge did nothing for my nerves. So what if I wasn’t at school anymore, I was fifteen and underage, and Cyril was Cyril, and he still scared the living daylights out of me. It wouldn’t be the last lunchtime pint I had, but it was my last in the Viscount Hardinge.

July 1970

‘Let’s have the afternoon off!’ was another Brian Lack suggestion, when we heard Upbury Manor’s sports day was taking place that afternoon. He and Raymond were keen to attend, understandably so, as holders of school records. Me, I wasn’t so sure. 120 hours annual leave sounded a lot but really, it wasn’t. I was reluctant to chuck away half a day’s holiday, though I did like the idea of seeing the girls bounce their bits around the track.

Mister Charlesworth was quick to pounce when three youths wandered through the upper school gate. As two of them were wearing Fred Perry shirts, Levis and Doc Martens, and their lanky companion was wearing a jean jacket, jeans and hobnailed boots, he had every right to be concerned.

I let Brian and Raymond do the talking when Mister Charlesworth intercepted us near the bike sheds. He wasn’t exactly welcoming, though he had no objection to us staying for the sports. ‘Get some chairs and sit here,’ he said, indicating that nearest corner of the field. A tactful way of saying he didn’t want us coming any further, I sensed, but fair enough.

Within minutes we were joined by former classmate Richard Pascall. After ingratiating himself to Brian and Raymond, he plonked his chair beside me and made a wisecrack at my expense. In school uniform I’d have put up with it, only I wasn’t in school uniform anymore.

The emphasis of ‘F*** off Pascall!’ was greatly enhanced when a hobnailed boot narrowly missed his shin and took a chunk out of his chair leg.

Richard’s face was an absolute picture. Of course I’d purposely missed his shin. I just had to let him know that working men don’t tolerate that kind of nonsense from schoolboys. Out of school he might have pulverised me, but Richard was as good as gold after that. For the rest of an enjoyable afternoon the four of us watched the sports, had a laugh and ogled the girls. Though I kept it to myself, one girl in particular caught my eye and made an impression I wouldn’t forget.

Hmm