LATCH KEY KIDS
After the lodgers Mum decided to return to full time secretarial employment, which meant I was given a lot of responsibility. My brother remembers me taking him to a crèche in New Ferry on the bus : I have no recollection of this, but have a vivid memory of taking him to the Infants school when I was in the Junior school and him holding on to the railings, shouting and crying that he didn't want to go. Having tried to prise his hands from the railings, unsuccessfully, eventually a very motherly teacher by the name of Mrs Jackson pacified him, took him by the hand, shooed me away and took him into school. It was a very distressing experience for both of us. I felt as though I'd deserted him.
We walked to and from school, approximately one and a half miles each way, but occasionally were given money for the bus fare home. But even then we would walk home and spend the coppers at the local sweet shop or buy an apple for a penny at the greengrocers, on our way. Once home we would look after ourselves although, my brother being so young, there was an understanding between my mother and the mother of a boy of the same age as Graham that he should go to play with Alan until Mum came home: they lived just round the corner.
School holidays must have been a nightmare for Mum. We were left to our own devices until her return from work at 5.30. In fine weather we climbed the apple trees in the garden, made a swing, played with friends in the air raid shelter field at the bottom of the lane, where there was a broken farm trailer which would tip depending on the number and weight of children at each end. On one occasion I slid, on my stomach, from one end to the other, caught my leg on a rusty nail resulting in a visit to the nearby doctor who, whilst I was being held down on the couch, put three stitches in the wound – without anaesthetic. We also had our bikes. A large family lived in a big farm cottage next door: there were six children; Betty, Joyce, and Elsie who were older than me, Johnny, the same age as Graham, Isabel and Robert were younger. We didn't have much to do with them. Graham and Johnny used to play and fight together, but when their mother couldn't cope and the younger ones were neglected my Mum would put Johnny in our bath along with Graham.
Mum had a bike, I had a bike; when Graham was four years old Mum bought him a Raleigh tricycle so at weekends, after the chores had been completed which included the scrubbing of the red quarry tiled kitchen floor and application of red Cardinal polish, we would set forth, with a picnic, to cycle five miles to Gayton, a small beach on the western side of the Wirral, near Parkgate. The route was mainly on quiet country roads. There were very few cars in those days, but at times it could be a bit scary. Mum would lead, I would take up the rear, with Graham on his tricycle protected between us, his little legs going nineteen to the dozen. When we were older and Graham had a bicycle, the two of us would go together during the summer holidays, picnic at Gayton, leave our bikes there and walk along the sea wall to Parkgate for an ice-cream, before doing the return cycle ride.
There were a couple of memorable summer holiday adventures which ended in trouble. On occasions we didn't know what to do with ourselves we would rifle through Mum's coat pockets for odd coppers change she had left, and take ourselves off to New Brighton on the bus. A big mistake, as my brother was always bus sick; and bigger trouble – this was stealing! Then there was the time I took Graham for a trip on the ferry from Birkenhead to Liverpool. I seem to remember that either there was no charge for children on the ferry, or if you stayed on the boat without being seen by a member of the crew it was possible to make the return trip free of charge. Graham was wearing his Harris Tweed coat and school cap. It can be extremely breezy on the Mersey. Half way across on the return trip a sudden gust blew G's cap off and, unable to catch it, it landed in the river. Knowing that Mum would be furious and would worry about the cost of a new cap AND school badge, I dreaded going home.
There was never a holiday away from home : money was always very tight, even though Mum was working; she always budgeted very carefully - was never in debt and always managed to save a little for the necessities of life. When my brother was a young teenager and growing fast – almost six feet tall (he blames all the cycling for his long legs) – he needed an extra long bed. I think it was the first time Mum took out a hire purchase agreement to buy it, but she had already saved up the total cost so that if she couldn't keep up with the regular hire purchase repayments from her income she would be able to pay off the balance in full.