Education, Army & Working Years!

My First School - St John's Parochial hall 3-4

This was basically an infants school or crèche and I don't remember much about it except we did a lot of colouring in an putting plastic shapes into boxes with shaped holes in the top!

Wray Common First School 4-8

My first day of proper school! I remember this well and I was in front of the headmistress within an hour of being there! The bigger boys wouldn't let me inside to use the toilets and I was bursting! so I found a flowerbed and relieved myself, little did I know it was directly outside the window of the head's office!
I spent at least once a week visiting her as it turned out while I was there, for one thing or another.
It was here that I learnt to read and write and that I had a second name as well as a first name, My teachers name was Mrs Flannel, (we called her Mrs Camel though) it was she who forced me to write with my right hand, apparently writing left handed wasn't correct, this hampered my development over the years, as I can no longer write with my left hand and my writing is just readable with my right hand, I spent allot of time in remedial classes because of this as no-one is able to read my writing, even myself sometimes, and I also failed my "O" level physics exam for just that reason, the examiners couldn't read what I had written, after 4 years here it was on to middle school.

I Love My Music, Click Here to see my favourite download site!

Wray Common Middle School 8-12

This school is on the same premises as the first school, but next door to it, so not much change really, also I had regular visits the head's office here too, Mrs R M Budd, I later found out her full name it is Rose Mary, a lovely name which always makes me giggle a little because of the surname it has with it, she was a real character, one year approaching Christmas, I was in trouble as usual and sent to see her, and she offered me a deal, my dad wouldn't be told what I had done if I played Joseph in the nativity play, no-boy wanted to play the part because you had to wear a skirt for the part! I don't remember what I did to get into trouble now but I took up the offer, I actually enjoyed playing the part, but not wearing the skirt though! I made lots of friends here and was constantly up to mischief, there was a swimming pool here too which suited me fine, I love the water and had learnt to swim so long ago I don't remember when, I joined the athletics club too, my speciality was the high jump! hehehe Very apt! I broke the school record and was sent to compete in the south east area athletic championships representing our school, I came second after a boy called Andrew Osborne, I later went to the same school as him, Redstone secondary school.

My First Job (not including paper rounds)

While I was at school still, I worked evenings at a factory in the cleaning department, I was 14 yrs old at the time, the factory was down the road from my school, it was called Foxboro Yoxall, in Wiggy lane Redhill.
I started off cleaning the toilets, mopping the floors, emptying the bins etc, I put my best efforts into it and got £20 per week, paid in cash on a Friday (after which I went to MacDonald's and rewarded myself with 6 cheese burgers!)
After a while a position came up that paid £5 a week more, so I asked my boss (Rory) if I could have it, he said yes, so I started picking up all the refuse sacks left by the other cleaners and put them into a large wire cage on wheels, then took the cage out to the rear of the factory and put them into a crusher and crushed them, I enjoyed that lots! and made lots of friends with the factory staff and other cleaners, if David Donachie is reading this then do get in touch and catch up, he was a fellow cleaner about the same age as I was, I asked him once what he wanted to be when he was older, he said "an architect", me being me I replied "oh like Indiana Jones" he he he! Anyway after 2 yrs at Foxboro I had to leave as I had started college and the Y.T.S scheme and didn't have time for my job anymore.

Redstone/Warwick Secondary School 12-16

This is the first time I can remember that my brother (Gawain) was taller than me, he came here the year before, he's 51 weeks older than me.
The deputy head here was Mr Thompson, he had a great influence on my life, yes that's right, I spent a lot of time seeing him for something or another, the corridor outside his office became like a second home for me, me and mischief were still hand in hand!
One incident that sticks out in my mind was this; having been persuaded to go down the town, which was forbidden, we got into trouble on the way back into school, we had to walk past a rival school to get there, the kids in the rival school saw us walking past and began throwing stones an sticks at us over the fence, I picked up half a brick that was thrown at me which had missed, and threw it back, we left and went back into school, before we were late, that afternoon I was called to Mr Thompson's office along with about 10 of us (the usual suspects!) who had gone down the town, a boy in the other rival school had been hit on the head by half a brick, I hadn't aimed it on purpose and didn't know if it had hit anyone or not, we all put our hands up to going down the town and I admitted throwing the brick back, I wrote a letter to the boy and his parents explaining what had happened and apologised too, We all received 3 months of standing outside Mr Thompson's office at every break time, which was ok cos there were so many of us there.
About 2 weeks into the punishment I developed Glandular fever and was bed ridden for about 3 months, on my return to school, I had to continue my punishment but on my own this time as the others had done their time, after this I took up the trampoline and gymnastics in my lunchtimes, so I spent my lunchtimes bouncing around or in odd bodily positions! I loved physical exercise, climbing the ropes or jumping the vault horse, it took the hyperactivity out of me and I got into less trouble in general I really calmed down in that area, I had found an outlet for all my energy, I also joined a rugby club in Reigate called the Old Reigatians Rugby Football Club, this was on Sunday mornings, after the match we were allowed a packet of crisps and a drink which was included in with the submission fee's, I usually had a packet of pork scratching instead and a glass of coke.

At the end of my time at school it was the exams, no-one told me but I was meant to have attended an English exam, if I had known about it I would have taken it and turned up, so I now have no grade for English language! A month later the rest of the exams took place, I took Arts and crafts, Maths and Metalwork in GCSE and Physics in "O" level.
I did used to be in "O" level for all of my subjects except for Arts An Crafts with Mr Edwards, until the school amalgamated with Albury Manor school in Merstham, all the teachers that took over from the other school and took me for lessons put me down into GCSE from "O" Level, this made me not want to work so hard and so I got bad results in my exams.
I then went onto College Taking a course in General Engineering on the Y.T.S scheme. (Youth Training Scheme)

Y.T.S ( Youth Training Scheme)

After leaving school, my best friend Jan did me the biggest favour ever, she put my name down to join the Y.T.S, this meant taking a course and having an employer to sponsor me, I started working for a man called Richard O'flynn, his business was putting up stud partitions and suspended ceilings in offices and factories in the south east and London area's, we also later branched into building crates to transport pigs in aircraft and did some roofing work too. The course I took at college was in engineering, I spent one day a week at college and the rest of the week gaining work experience as a fixer, I made a few friends on the course and at work, Hi to Keith and Paul if your reading this, I also learnt a lot from my boss Richard, who didn't have to but paid me a bit extra than I got from the Y.T.S (Y.T.S paid £70 every 2 weeks) One of Richards sons, Simon, used to be in the year above me at school, one day while at work, Simon who was at Crawley college, was involved in an accident on his motorbike (GPZ750 Suzuki) and ended up with his brain swelling and brain damage, after a long time in hospital he came home, a fraction of what he used to be like, it was very upsetting for all his family and myself, as I felt like one of the family. Anyway, I completed my course at college and passed my exams with credits. (see C.V page) with no more college to go to, I stayed working with Richard O'flynn, but the work dried up a bit and I wasn't earning much to live on, I had been offered to do further college and a 3rd year, but not on the Y.T.S as I was now too old for the scheme, this meant paying for the course myself (£120) and with no proper income I couldn't afford it, so I left to join the British Army. 

After the army, I took a month off and stayed in a hotel, one of two my best friend Jan was running in Paignton, Devon, Doing kitchen portering and bar work, which was fun! In my spare time I spent my wages playing arcade games in the town, after my month off I went home to Redhill and after 2 days found a job with Securicor.

East Surrey College Y.T.S

By this time I had got myself a scooter, a Vespa 50 special it was red with black side panels, I bought it off my brother and went to college on it, I made some more friends here, Hi Mark if your reading this, and excelled in my studies, I also had a work placement with Richard O'flynn, (see work Years Link) on Y.T.S, he worked from Smallfield, a little village about 7 miles from where I lived, so my scooter came in handy again, I went to college once a week on Thursdays as I recall, time went by and it was exam time again, I took my City & Guilds Exams in, General Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Fabrication and Welding and Electromechanical Engineering, I passed all of them and 2 of those with credits!
After 1 year on the engineering course I had to pick another to stay on the Y.T.S and complete it, so I chose to take a course in Carpentry, I didn't know at the time but it was a 2 years course, this I found out when I finished the Y.T.S scheme which only ran for 2 years, I was then told that to complete the carpentry course I would have to submit the course fee of £120, with only £70 every 2 weeks as a wage from the Y.T.S there wasn't enough to live on let alone save money for college courses so I couldn't complete the carpentry course, I had done really well at it too!
So After a lot of thinking, I decided to join the British Army

British Army

Qualifications

 

While here, I took courses, upgrading my pay scale with a course from a B3 driver to a B2 driver, an advanced drivers course they ran, I also took a course to become a UBRE/TTF Operator, which is a fuel tanker operators course, I also received a GNVQ (General National Vocational Qualification) in soldiering, as part of the UBRE/TTF course I got my HAZMAT licence (Hazardous Material) More info of my time in the army is on the army page link.

Well that about sums up my educational years, although everything in life is an education I have found!

Recruit Training

I had so many good times and fun here that I had to devote a whole page just for this one job!
I joined up at 18 into the British Army, I had gone for selection in Birmingham new street and started recruit training in January 1988 at Buller Barracks.
In Aldershot, we were known as 9 week wonders, 9 weeks of intensive training, physical fitness and skill at arms (weapons)
All through this period, I just told myself they cant kill you, and what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger!
How true this is, thank you to the staff there, Sgt Lindsay, Cpl Bully and the rest for making our lives pure hell!
After Recruit training I was sent up to a place called Leconsfield to do trade training, Driving trucks, which has turned out to be my main source of income during my life so far, Thanx to the civilian Driving Instructor there Tony Doyle. After trade training it was back to Buller barracks to await posting to my first post.
I got B.A.O.R this usually means British Army On the Rhine (Germany) But for me it was British Army Over the Road!
27th Regiment R.C.T (Royal Corps of Transport) The H.Q is over the road from buller barracks, I was posted to 66 Squadron R.C.T in Tidworth, Hampshire

 

My First Posting

66 Squadron R.C.T, Tidworth Garrison, Hampshire, we were picked up in a T.M Bedford truck from buller barracks, me an my mate's Trevor Hall, and Gurney we all got the same post, we arrived and I got shown my bed space and welcomed into the squadron by Sgt O'Reagan on the evening parade, then back to my bed space to settle in, that night the rest of C Troop, my troop welcomed me too with an initiation ceremony, Trevor had already been initiated, he was hanging upside down naked from the balcony covered in black boot polish!
I was told to strip naked and start running from one end of the barracks to the other, I did so, I saw no point in arguing and just wanted to get it over with, after that I was told to face outwards from the building on the balcony, then I got punched several times from behind in the kidneys, I took the blows an stood where I was, then there was a noise from behind and I was told to go to my bed space and not get up no matter what I heard, what I heard was a lot of NO's and screams, I didn't get up and went to sleep in this strange place.
I woke in the morning and went into the ablutions, there was blood and teeth on the floor, I showered then helped clean up the mess on the floor and walls.
On morning parade, the guy who had been punching me from behind, John Oldfield, was short of a few teeth and his face looked like a cabbage, all swollen and bruised, Sgt O'Reagan asked him what happened to his face, he said he slipped and fell down the stairs, the sarge then gave a sermon to the rest of us that it wasn't acceptable behaviour and if it happened again, guts for garters was mentioned and all the stuff Sgt's say.
I didn't know it at the time but John Oldfield wasn't a popular person with the rest of the troop, if I had I would have defended myself instead of taking the blows.
After a month or so we went on exercise, 10 weeks on Salisbury plain, digging lots of holes to stand in for the night, getting wet, running about, shooting blanks and eating rations, I loved the rations!
About 1 week before endex (end of exercise) I was called to see Troopy (the troop commander) O.I.C. C Troop (officer in command) Lt Hooey, an ex army air corp. helicopter pilot, he came to us after landing his bird on top of another helicopter! (installs confidence in you when you have someone like that leading you he he he!)
He broke some sad news to me, my nan had died, my mums mum, I was taken off exercise and given a weeks compassionate leave to attend the funeral, I requested to take my no 2 uniform to wear to the funeral and my request was denied, it was needed to be kept clean for doing the honour guard for the queen at earls court, I took it with me anyway and wore it with pride to my nans cremation, after the service my grandpa came up to me and told me he was very proud of me and that my nan had been too, they had both met each other in service.
I returned to Tidworth and spent a week in the guardhouse for disobeying the order not to wear my no2 dress uniform, it was worth it!
The next few weeks were spent drilling in Aldershot in preparation for the honour guard at earls court.
The time came for the honour guard, we got inspected by H.M Queen and marched out of the arena, packed our gear up and left for Tidworth, all that preparation for 10 mins, that's the Army for you!
Next was operation Bold Grouse, an engineers exercise, 2 months in Denmark followed by 2 months in northern Germany, a town called Shlesvig Holstein, well a field near to the town! we showed off our bridging equipment to the other N.A.T.O forces that came to it, the U.S.M.C were also there, (United States Marine Corps)
Each contingent showed off a different piece of equipment to the others, and showed what it could do etc, the Germans had a truck that laid a metal rolling road in front of it to combat muddy places, we had our bridging equipment, and the yanks, had a missile that fired off the back of a tank pulling a TNT charge cable behind it, to clear a path through mine fields, it would have been impressive if it had worked, so the officer in charge had to describe to us what should have happened instead!
After returning to Tidworth once again, I got sent on a detail for the engineers by myself, it was to lay mines in a field, well concrete simulated mines!  After laying the mines, the officer in charge told me to go over to a nearby copse an scrim up (camouflage) and wait to be called back, so this I did. After 2 days my rations had run out and no sign of no-one, until a squadron of A.P.C's turned up (armoured personnel carrier's) to share my copse with me and repair a broken track on one of them, I offered a hand to them due to boredom an to scrounge some rations off them! They also let me have a cabbie (drive) of the A.P.C I had helped them with.
2 more days passed and not a soul, so again I had run out of rations, I decided to take a stroll down to where I last saw the engineers officer in the mine field, I saluted him and asked what my orders were to be, he said "ah, I forgot we had you with us, get your truck over and we'll clear them mines" God alone knows what they had been doing for 4 days, I had been sleeping as much as I could with my time! I got the truck over they put all the concrete, I mean mines, back onto the truck and we went back to base again.

Next on my rollercoaster of life was a tour in Cyprus with the United Nations, 6 months of sun, fun, sweeping up, and more driving of course! This time it was buses and coaches, I went swimming everyday I could in the pool there at Nicosia airport, one day towards the end of the tour the Sgt major came in for a matey chat with the lads, always a warning sign, but this time it seemed harmless enough, he seemed genuinely interested in what the lads thought of the tour here an having to leave in a few months, I mentioned that I liked it here, some of the other said they missed not seeing their wives, then he left, nice guy after all, the next day standing orders came out and guess what, on it was a list of all the "volunteers" that were to stay on for another 6 month's tour supplying the shortfall in manpower of 8 squadron who were to take over from us, never trust a Sgt major when he's being nice!
So I ended up with another 6 months out there and also my 21st birthday! this was great, I finished work and went to the bar, the whole squadron had bought me a drink about 160 Malibu and cokes (aprox) sat on the bar awaiting my arrival, I tried my best to finish them off but passed out unconscious before I could, My new mate and roomy, Richy carried me back to my bed space as I couldn't walk, over his shoulder I was slung, so I was told.
My room mate's Richard and Colin, used to explore the island, north an south of the buffer zone, in our spare time and at weekends, I used to get other time off too, another mate Pete was the C.O's driver (commanding Officer) and when he got given time off, he had the CO's permission to relieve a mate to keep him company on his time off, guess who got out of a few duties this way? woo hoo! we had the use of the C.O's car too, we usually went skiing in the Trudos mountains.
After Cyprus it was back to drizzily old Tidworth, and with the end of my term of service coming up, I was on orders to appear before the O.C (officer commanding) the Sgt major Marched me in, I then requested to stay in the army on open engagement as we were preparing for the gulf war and Op Granby an I didn't want to miss all the fun, I had been training for it since I joined after all and was partly why I joined up in the first place, request granted!

Gulf War

31st December 1990, we set off for Saudi Arabia just before midnight from RAF Brize Norton, not a drop of alcohol and it was new years eve! We landed at Rhyad in the morning, picked up our gear and was transported to where our vehicles were, we were now a fuel tanker Squadron, so we then drove to the oil refinery there and filled up the tankers, then had a 12 hrs drive to B.F.I 1(bulk fuel installation) on the frontline, along M.S.R Dodge (Main Supply Route) slept for a few hours then headed back to the oil refinery to fill up again then it was off to our base of operations, where we filled up all the vehicles on their way to the frontline, a kind of fuel service station, this was in a place called Al Jabal, there's not much more I can disclose about the war as I signed the official secrets act  and I'm not sure what's meant to be kept secret and what isn't, after returning to Blighty (England) I received, along with quite a few others, a notice that read "services no longer required" so I had to leave all the fun behind and re-join civvy street, I took a month off to sort out my head a bit, I  had bad memory problems and an odd rash in places, the memory loss was like driving in heavy fog, you know that the road is out there but you just cant see it, but it's a memory or a conversation you just had 1 min beforehand, I still get this happen to me but not as often as It used to though, I also had a skin disorder called psoriasis develop, it is caused by stress I'm told so I intend to have as stress free a life as I possibly can!

Securicor Ltd

To start with I had to go on a security course for a couple of days in a hotel in Coventry, I loved the food while I was there, then back to Coulsdon to start work, depending on who you worked with, you could drive all day, half the day or the same with the couriering, we used to pick up and deliver money, mainly from shops and to banks, then log  the bags numbers and put them into the vehicle safe, then when all the customers had been serviced, back to the main vault at the branch, then log all the bags in there too, I'm not going to go into the details for obvious reasons, but I enjoyed this job, I liked to do the couriering best, because I got to run when we did particular clients, and it helped me to keep fit. It used to get really cold in the winter inside the vans, and like an oven in the summer, most of the time the air conditioning didn't work, so it was a bit of a sweatbox!
After 3 years with them I found another job that paid better and was less hours, Priory Conservatories in Reigate

Priory Conservatories

Another Truck to drive! Do you think there's a pattern emerging? he he he!
This is a factory that makes wooden conservatories by hand, my job was sweeping and bagging up the wood shavings. When there was lots of bags, and they were huge, I'd load them onto the truck with a forklift and deliver them to a local farm for the farmer to use as bedding for his animals, also I'd load the truck with the conservatories and deliver them to the builder on site, then help the builder dig out the footings, get materials from the builders merchants and lots of other fun stuff, I enjoyed this job also, hard work but rewarding, I was only there for 8 months, as I moved to Bognor Regis and before moving I got a job with 3P Paper there. (Hi robbie, If your reading this too)

3p Paper LTD

I had my interview for here on my birthday, a week later I had moved to Bognor and was working there, delivering paper to printers in, you've guessed it, a truck!
Starting at 7am, we spent half an hour loading up then went out and delivered the goods, after returning, we got the orders ready for the next day on palettes, then shrink wrapped them, which made you dizzy! then went home at 15.30pm, nice hours, worked hard again and enjoyed it, until the warehouse manager, who enjoyed his bit of power, started making things difficult, he used to pick on someone for a month at a time, it was my turn, but not wanting stress in my life after the gulf war I left and joined a promotion company called Promotall.

Promotall Business Generation

I only stayed here for 2 months and earn't on commission, sum total of £180, we had to try to get people to sign up to have their milk delivered by the milkman, It was an excellent break for me, I started at 10am and worked round till 17.00pm but there wasn't any money in it for me as I'm not very good as a doorstep sales person and the product was dying a slow death due to the prices in the supermarkets, I then moved back to driving trucks for a driving agency called S.M.S

Specialised Manpower Services

This place was in a little village called Botley near Southampton, it was organised over the phone though so I didn't have to go there often, I worked for various company's through them, and was a highly sought after worker in a short time, I could choose which company I fancied working for each day, pretty good huh? hard work does pay!
One place I liked working for most was called Cleanway Ltd, based in Portsmouth, it was a dustcart company, when after 2 years with S.M.S i decided to leave to get a full time job, I mentioned this to the manager at Cleanaway and he offered me a position working full time for them, so I took it!

Cleanaway Ltd

This was a job I'd done with S.M.S for almost a year, so it was easy to start here, I already knew all the workers well and enjoyed every day there, I'd start at 5am, nice and quiet on the roads, the uniform was like "international rescue" out of thunderbirds! all we needed was a side cap and a yellow sash! I stayed here for a further 3 years. After a personal injury accident on 12th January 2000 changed all that, the court case is still ongoing so I cant say much more about it for now. In October 2000 I moved to Brighton and took 2 months off, then in early December I applied to work for Brighton & Hove Bus & Coach Company.

Brighton & Hove Bus & Coach Company

This company impressed me, it was go getting and had principles that I believed in. Their customer care policy is excellent and the majority of the work staff are enthusiastic, the pay is poor though, the enthusiasm stems from the top, the Managing director, Roger French. He meets every employee during their training and gives a talk, he is an impressive person to work for, there are 3 garages in the city and the fares are fair! £1 to go the full route or for just 1 of the stops, also buy a £2.40 saver ticket an you can travel all day on any route as much as you like on their buses. I left them on 6th March 2003 and now concentrate my time on my online businesses, and running this website and the newsletter shortly to be produced.