Then and Now - TrustNews July 17
In the 60th anniversary of the Trust’s formation, Phil Yates uses this final article to compare the High Street in 1957 and 2017. And, as the school summer holidays are about to begin, he compares too the way children spend their holiday time today with his own memories of 75-plus years ago.
Family-run shops adorned the High Street in 1957 ranging from Whitwams music salon, Kingdon’s lronmongers, Dumper’s restaurant to Barlow‘s butchers and Churchill’s newsagents. Forward to 2017, only a few such family businesses exist, in a High Street dominated by national chain stores. One improvement, however, was introduced in the 1970s with the construction of a precinct between St Thomas Street and Market Street where previously there had always been traffic congestion. Another change was effected in the late 1950s with the demolition of the George Hotel on the corner of the High Street and Jewry Street and the construction of Barclays Bank in the widened area. From a shopping point of view l will leave you and a younger generation to judge which way we should go to improve the shopping experience in the future.
Moving on now to school summer holidays, how do your children and grandchildren spend the long break between July and the beginning of September? In my youth we spent a lot of time train-spotting, climbing St Catherine‘s Hill (see March issue) or rowing around in boats or canoes on the river at North Walls recreation park. Living close to the mainline station I just I, had to cross the road to watch the steam trains although we got more fun from watching the goods wagons shunting on the Chesil line! If the weather was poor we took ourselves off to ‘the pictures’ either at the Royal, Odeon or Ritz to see a cowboy film with John Wayne, a Laurel & Hardy comedy or a Walt Disney full-length cartoon. Then back to school in September to start a new year in a new class. This brings me to how our school experiences were affected by the war. In 1939 when the war broke out l was in my second year at Peter Symonds, then a boys’ Grammar School. Before long schools from cities targeted for bombing by the enemy – notably London, Bristol, Southampton and Portsmouth-were evacuated to safer inland towns. A boys’ grammar school in Portsmouth was evacuated to Peter Symonds and this meant that we attended classes in the mornings whilst the Portsmouth boys took over in the afternoons. This lasted till the evacuated school found alternative premises. Another disruption to our education was fire-watching through the night. Aged 14 to 16 we had to patrol the grounds of the school with a master from 10 pm to 7 am. This was done on a strict rota system and we were allowed to miss classes the following morning to catch up on sleep. So our education had an uneven course, leading one boy to remark later in life that we were ‘only half educated’. He got into trouble with that remark but I rather agree with him. Some of us, myself included, left school at 16 without any qualifications; others stayed on to obtain their ‘School Leaving Certificate’. The chances of getting a university place were slim, but still we made the best of it and did as well as we could through our lives.
Well that’s it. l have enjoyed my two-year stint writing articles for TrustNews about ‘the past’ and thank the editor for his patience. But as l enter my ninth decade it is time to take a back seat and relax - if that is possible in my case!