The Old Brass Lantern
By Robert Crook
I then went to the Harvey
Grammar School. All went well at first, but then I ran into great
difficulties. We were expected to do quite a lot of homework. This I found
so difficult, having over thirty visitors in our house all the summer, and
never having my own room. My room was my mother’s kitchen, which I so often
had to share with others. This room was also a bathroom. We had a big zinc
bath covered with a large table top, which had to be removed when we had a
bath. The bath had an outlet to the drain, but we had to fill it with a
short hose and buckets of hot water. Running a bath was quite a lengthy job.
Having nowhere to study was perhaps the reason that my favourite subjects
were metalwork, woodwork and art, which required little or no homework. I
must confess, because of this I was never happy at the school.
I passed in eight subjects
in the matriculation examinations, including art, metalwork and woodwork,
but failed in a compulsory subject, French. This meant taking all the
subjects again the following year. The thought of this worried me, and I
because quite ill. I had a series of boils on my neck, and finally had a
carbuncle that nearly cost me my life. The district nurse visited me twice
each day. My doctor game me a letter for the school to say that I was
unfit.
One bit of joy for me was
that, in order to rejuvenate me, Nurse Peel, the district nurse, persuaded
the family to let me have a dog. Nurse Peel had a lovely Airedale dog called
‘Veka’ (VE for her friend, Vera and KA for her own name, Kathleen). Veka was
very obedient, following her everywhere without a lead. Of course, there was
not so much traffic on the roads in those days. The nurse knew a breeder of
thoroughbred Airedales, and at the time he had one puppy for sale. It was
the last of the little, and unfortunately had an operation for in growing
eyelids; this left a small scar above each eye. Because of this, the dog
could not enter competitions, although very soon the scars were covered with
hair. We named him ‘Tony’, but I cannot remember why.
In the first week, he ate
all the brass buttons off my school blazer, and had a lovely chew at my
Bible. Not a very good start, but he soon calmed down when we have him an
old slipper to chew. Veka was very obedient, and was of great help in
training Tony. With a short leather strap attached to Veka’s collar at one
end and Tony’s collar at the other, they used to be taken out. Veka would
never go into the road, so Tony was complete safe, and soon learned that the
road was out of bounds.
I soon felt very much
better after having so many long walks. I never had to use a lead, as he
always walked to heel. Often, when walking with Tony but ignoring him, he
would gently bite your hand – I suppose to let you know that he was still
there. If you stopped to talk to someone, or look into a shop window, he had
the habit of putting his paw onto your foot – perhaps knowing he could relax
in the knowledge that he would soon know if you moved!
We could never train him to
accept the dustman, for as soon as they arrived he was on his guard and
would bark. I am sure that he had been frightened by one of the dustmen in
the early days.
My mother or I would
regularly give him a bath – the thing he hated most in the entire world. At
the sound of water going into the bath, he could never be found. Often we
would find him upstairs under a bed. Ever the word ‘walkies’ would not get
him out – so a little force had to be used. Once in the bath, although
shaking, all was ok. We could never understand this fear, as he loved
swimming in the sea.
I was then about seventeen,
and was selected to go to college to study to become a teacher of my three
favourite subjects. After an interview at Maidstone I obtained the necessary
grant, but in only a matter of weeks the Government cancelled it. At that
time, many grants were cut, and all teachers had salary cuts. I was very
disappointed, and decided to leave school and find a job. My mother could
not afford for me to go to college. At the age of eighteen I saw an
advertisement in the local paper for a rating officer’s assistant with the
Sandgate Urban District Council at a salary of £1 per week.
I collected three
testimonials and applied. There were four on the short list, and we had to
appear before a committee of about ten councillors. It was quite an ordeal,
but I received a letter the next day to say I had been selected, and to
commence duties on 13th May 1933.
| Article donated to the
website March 08 |