Early Years
25 years in (Royal) Navy Blue
I was the youngest of the four sons of Fred and Eunice, both Sussex people, born in Steyning and Amberley respectively, living in Ham Road, East Worthing. We all moved to our Grandmother's house in Lyndhurst Road shortly after. Dad, a postman all his life, including his spell in the Army in the Second World War, died when I was around five, and Mum worked very hard to bring us up. I have few memories of my father, but I remember him taking me and my next eldest brother, Bob, to London several times, by train. This would have been in the mid-50s and I certainly remember the huge gaps in the buildings where the wartime bombs had done their worst. Large expanses of London were just piles of bricks. Still not sure why we were taken - Dad would go off to a Radio Show or some kind of exhibition and Bob and I would spend a couple of hours in what were known (oddly) as 'News Theatres' - non-stop cartoons or silent films.
Mum worked at the Connaught Theatre, in Worthing, in the refreshments room, and
later at a little hotel, and then at a grocer's shop very close to
us. We certainly weren't well-off and I later discovered that some
'basics' of life - fridge, washing machine, television - which were
taken for granted by most families just weren't part of our home -
we used to go next door to watch television but even they had a
'scullery' with a coal/coke fired boiler for the washing!
I think we were, in turn, all keen to leave home - perhaps to
subconsciously relieve the burden on our Mum. My eldest brother, Rodney,
born 1937, joined the RAF for his National Service, and then the
next brother, Alan, born 1940, left for the Guildhall School of
Music and Drama in London - he had a good voice and was a star pupil
at our school (we all went to Lyndhurst Primary and then St. Andrew's
School in Worthing). Rodney came home from the RAF and a little
later started working on various Atlantic liners as a steward, while
Alan stayed for many years in London. The brother closest to me in
age, Robert, born 1948, did get away to London when young, but then
also tried a stint at sea as a steward and came
back home and eventually joined the local Fire Brigade.
While our Dad was a keen churchgoer, we enjoyed the various youth clubs that were run by the local church, and our Uncle pressed us into a 'Friendly Society' and with each of these we often went on visits by coach and train to far-off places like Chessington Zoo, or Bognor Regis. We also went to the Isle of Wight, and I was always captivated by the sight of the Royal Navy ships at Portsmouth as we boarded the ferry from the Harbour station.
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Lyndhurst Road Primary - 1963. Back Row L to R, Les Gibbs, Robin Barnett, Alan Collins, Ray(?) Fredericks, me, Stephen Coles, Jonathan Gauntlett; Front, Ray Henley, Tim Clayton, Martin Bishop, Roger Brown, Bob Walden. |
Considering that the family were hardly 'well-off', I had lots of fun with these trips and other activities. Worthing had lots going on for us. Between the English Channel and the South Downs, we had hours of swimming or messing about by the sea or rambling over the hills. One summer, Rodney brought home a huge inner-tube which we played around with on the sea. We needed to have the local garage inflate it for us, and off we'd go down the 400 yards or so to the beach, with the tube rolling along with us.
One day we lost control of the
tube and it made its own way across the busy Worthing to Brighton coast road,
while we hid behind a hedge. Nothing untoward happened, so we rescued the tube
where it had come to rest, on the shingle beach, in the middle of sunbathers
who had managed to get their sandwiches out of the way. The sea itself always
seemed to be 'up to our waists' for at least 400 yards, and we'd walk along in
the water for the full length of Worthing beach, about five miles. While very
young, Bob and I joined the local kids in a 'gang' and went on all kinds of
adventures - usually in dilapidated houses, or catching sticklebacks in the
local 'Teville Stream' or hunting newts in some of the many abandoned
greenhouses, which conveniently left their foundations intact and made great
places for newts, tadpoles, frogs etc. Being just about the smallest member of
the 'gang', I was the one that was pushed over a wall first when we were
'raiding' a garden for apples and also over the hospital wall to 'borrow'
leftover comics thrown out of the children's ward - climb over three people and
getting to the top of the wall and then jumping about 15 feet, picking up an
armful of comics and running straight for the main entrance. Just to put a rough
date on these activities, our 'leader' would have a ritual where we needed to
say which of the contemporary singers was our favourite or we'd not be allowed
to proceed somewhere.... the choice was usually between Elvis Presley or Tommy
Steele.
One winter, when I was about 12, my friends and I built a 'wind buggy' with its own steering wheel, a trailer and a sail! We started at the western end of the beach and were able to make the whole 5 mile journey eastward to Lancing in one go, carrying four boys, and overtaking the traffic on the adjacent road. My usual accomplice on most of my activities was Ray Henley, in the picture below, who spent around 35 years in the Navy. Every summer my brother Bob and I would spend some weeks on our Uncle's farm in Meopham, Kent, doing lots of fun things and enjoying the country and the animals as well as trying to help with farm chores. Our Uncle and Aunt (actually just childhood friends of Mum and Dad) had four boys - all much older than us - and two girls, Susan and Margaret. These were our holidays - we had no need for the Mediterranean, we had plenty to do on the farm. Of course, the sun always shone. And I can't remember uttering the words "There's nothing to do".
One of the other big things in my life started when I was ten - following my local 'big' football club, Brighton and Hove Albion. I can vaguely remember being taken over to a game in a motorcycle sidecar with Rodney and my Mum when I was perhaps four or five, but then Ray's Dad used to treat us and we started going regularly in about 1961. So many times since then, with all Brighton's ups and downs, I've felt, "this is where I came in", but it looks like this year, 2011, is going to be the biggest move forward, with a new ground. Wherever I've been in the world since those early days, I've always kept up with the news and now in the internet age it's easy, even from Canada.
I was also a keen 'Cub' and 'Scout', and enjoyed camping - we
went to the New Forest one summer, and to Luxembourg on
two occasions (after many Jumble Sales and hectic 'Bob a Job'
weeks). Here we are on the left, doing something important in Luxembourg. I'm second from
the right, looking distracted by a worm or something.
When I was 14, and doing 'Bob a Job' for the last time, in
preparation for the Luxembourg trip, Ray Henley and I broke all
known records by doing a real 'Ground Force' job on the rose garden
of an apartment block and earning around £80 - big money in
1966!
Just before I turned 12, I started working Saturday mornings for the local butcher
- a 7.30 start, with one of those delivery bikes with a small front wheel -
to allow a big basket at the front. I had four 'rounds' - the first being
the biggest and then three smaller ones, plus odd jobs around the shop. The
very first morning, the butcher's assistant had packed my basket for me and
I was off, wobbling down the road and finding it difficult to steer because
of the weight on the front wheel. I parked at the first house I was to
deliver at, put the order on a tray and opened the gate to the house - and
my bike suddenly decided to do a forward somersault - spilling the entire
contents of the basket onto the pavement. It turned out I was the only thing
counter-balancing the weight of the basket! After re-filling the basket I
wheeled the bike back to the shop and the butcher did all he could to clean
anything that needed it (most of it was well wrapped). I started off again
and wedged the bike under a branch of bush or something. Nearly three hours
later I was still on that round, with just a few houses to go, when the
butcher came out searching for me in his van..... they thought I'd got lost
or been in an accident. That 'Saturday morning job' took me nearly six hours
on the first day but after several more weeks, that first round of the day
took me less than one and a half hours and all four rounds took me about
three hours. I did have one more bike incident after that, when the bike
just fell over while parked - but the lady I was delivering to took
everything in and gave it all a good wash! A lot of the customers would pay
at the door and I had to 'cash up' with the lady cashier in the shop before
I could collect my 'wages' - all 15 shillings of it (plus a few one-shilling
tips).
Still,
I did this job every Saturday for a little over three years......
and it paid enough to get myself a train ticket and entry to the big
games at Brighton!
From about the age of ten, possibly from the initial views of the ships in Portsmouth on those 'outings' to the Isle of Wight, I had wanted to join the Royal Navy. I'd been to "Navy Days" at Portsmouth Dockyard on a couple of occasions, visited some ships and submarines, admired the uniforms and even sniffed approvingly at the food. Throw in the prospect of travelling to the likes of the Far East and the Mediterranean and I was 'sold'.
Meanwhile, school carried on, though some of the teachers knew my plans and when it came to choices of subjects, I always ended up with my least favourite subjects - doing Religious Knowledge and French instead of History and Geography. Everybody can remember one good teacher, though, and Mr. Terry Ayres joined the school in my 3rd year and at least inspired me to be more expressive with my English, (and my speeling improoved) as well as introducing the school to hockey. He also decided to call me 'Herbert' - a name which stuck with me, as 'Herb', for many years in my home town. Sod! (I understand he still 'teaches' English for fun at School Reunions - one day I will be there and we can discuss this!)
By the time I was 14, I'd filled in the forms and passed some tests and had a 'joining up' date of 17th April 1967. So, at 15 years and 4 months, I set off to the Recruiting Office in Brighton, Sussex, to board a train for Ipswich and Shotley Gate, Suffolk. I was joining HMS Ganges, the Navy's boys training establishment. This was the navy's New Entry Establishment for the youngest of the recruits - 'Raleigh' at Torpoint, Cornwall, and 'St. Vincent' in Gosport were for those a few months older. I was a Junior Seaman - soon to be a young Radio Operator. The world was my lobster. My great school friend Ray Henley (left) and another class mate, Nigel Lohman, joined the Navy at Ganges during the same summer. Brilliant to still be in touch with them. (And, of course, they're still Brighton fans!)
On the following pages, I'd like to give you a taste of what I got up to in the subsequent 25 years.
1967 - 1970 | 1971 - 1977 | 1977 - 1987 | 1987 - 1991
A mere schoolboy
at 14...