THE SEVEN AGES - The fourth Age.

 The Soldier

‘Seeking the bubble reputation’

30 to 40 (1980- 1990)

There is a Spotify playlist for this section here - 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ivVFdT94CqsH4G4a9zGfu?si=ocnqhAhqRMysEav_hyx8Mw

Springcroft was  an education - dealing with teachers who have more experience than you do. John Lloyd took a risk appointing me. He was the first Head of this newish school in the fashionable suburb of Blythe Bridge. Serving the whole area but dominated by a vast new estate. Latch key children, the place was a desert in the daytime, both parents working....high expectations of the new primary school, feeding into a high school with glowing credentials. 

Staff, hugely experienced and comfortable in their ways. I think the ‘Boss’ thought that his ten-year plan needed a flick or two of a ‘progressive’ feather-duster of educational philosophy, which is where I was coming from. 

No pressure then for a new, young Deputy Head.

I tried, and was tolerated, but it was not until staff changes tipped the balance towards teachers trained at the same time or later than me that the ‘Boss’ got the blend he wanted, and more importantly the ‘brand’ he wanted. Schools are funded, in part, by number of children attending, so it’s an important management skill to ‘out do’ the competition.

Primary education in the 60’s and 70’s was moving towards a more child-centred approach, a concentration on the developing individual. ( although good teachers from earlier eras would rightly claim they had always intuitively done this!). There was a redefining of the purpose of education away from the ‘World of Work’  and more towards realising the potential of each child. Given my history and training I found this comfortable.

And gradually, oh so gradually I became established, more than tolerated, had a fortnight when I actually ran the school.

I was settled, Gill was Head of the Maths Department and developing a reputation for directing  school musicals. She also ran an evening class, Blurton Theatre Workshop. When Alan and Barbara gave up the directing of their group the two were amalgamated as Nucleus Theatre Workshop. We shared duties with this group, who had the advantage of having a really strong youth component. I was encouraged to write ‘one-acts’ after success with  a rewrite of the college rag review in the local theatre festival. Gill was encouraged to direct ever more exciting musicals, including, ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ and ‘The Boyfriend’, the ‘dance’ component of these shows and those she did at school, and still does with the village theatre group (Denstone Players) just has to be seen to be believed. Spectacular they most assuredly are.

Oddly, towards the end of the nineties, we became increasingly frustrated with the world of ‘amateur dramatics’. Probably a combination of seeing too many professional productions (doing things we could never achieve), family commitments and school responsibilities. We withdrew from the fray. Gill only doing a couple of musicals for school, making fifteen in total.

But... when we retired, well - straight back in. 

“I’ll just go and be an ‘indian’ I don’t need all that responsibility.”

Lots of teachers in the ‘Denstone Players’ , Gill’s reputation was known. She now happily performs in, directs and writes for the group. She is on her sixth pantomime with them.

There’ supporting evidence both for our family and theatrical exploits here:-

https://www.youtube.com/user/windyarb

and here:-

https://youtube.com/channel/UCAmHg56wDYgrky-jNGYKuNg

Meanwhile…

 … back in 1978 we  were paying more for the car than the mortgage - so we had moved !

The House at Alton - Glen Drive. I guess we thought this is as good as it gets. Large, four bedroom, new build on a very small ‘estate’. Two car family, rising through the ranks, developing solid reputations, season ticket  for the Royal Ballet, frequent trips to the theatres in London and Stratford. Money to burn...time on our hands...and, after a thoroughly thorough check-up which identified the fact that my sperm count was missing a zero - hundreds not thousands !... a child-free, professional couple - the world was our oyster…

STOP!

We did!

- in our tracks - two boy children born within a couple of years of each other. The first, Tomas, born during one of the coldest winter’s on record and just a few months after we’d moved again, into a very old and challenging,  isolated farmhouse on the outskirts of a village called Denstone. We set this very adventurous ‘ move’ upon the back of the ‘no children on the horizon’ notion. 

Gill was three months pregnant when we took possession.

 

Windy Arbour- ultimately, our haven of peace, financial security and a family home. But, in the early days (and we’ve been here for over thirty years) something of a challenge in terms of our DIY skills, our finances when the mortgage rate soared (we had stretched ourselves to the limit ) and we needed expert help to- 

replace the rotting wooden windows,

make a smokey Aga work at the times we were in and awake.

create a garden,

everything else we did ourselves, from exposing ancient beams to sweeping chimneys - Peter, my brother, fell through a bedroom ceiling when we were trying to remove wind blown snow from the loft space.

We coped, we learned new skills, we exercised old ones, we worked together sometimes, long shattering hours. But, gradually house and garden. came good - our home. Probably a good place to die!

Certainly a super place to bring up children. It was safe to explore, it was huge, space for everyone to do their particular thing from pretending to be Michael Jackson to full blown ‘band’ rehearsals. 

The children thrived. We were extremely fortunate, we were guided towards a child minder in the next village, Alton, the wife of a local police-man, two children of her own and a heart of gold. She loved our children and they had a second ‘family’ where they were secure and comfortable. Minimum maternity leave and then straight back into the teaching world.  Long school holidays and weekends allowed us to follow our careers and do our parenting. It seemed to work. Tom and Sam followed the same path, village playgroup, nursery school in Blurton (near to Gill) and then both to the Primary School where I worked. They spent the Fridays of their pre-school life being spoiled by their Grandparents in their new bungalow in Stockton Brook. We picked them up at the end of the day and stayed on for a family meal and ‘catch-up’. Predictable, stable, ...we called it the family ‘bubble’.It ‘was’ and ‘is’ hugely important. Fridays were family days

We invested in camping gear and a trailer - most holidays found us on the Welsh coast, often with 0ur college friends, Steve and Jan, who also had two sons, just a year older than ours. We had good sites but also we found  others by accident. I never got the hang of reversing a car with a trailer (which had everything in it including a  cooker, ‘fridge, awnings, ‘vango’ tents for the boys, gas bottles....) so I would drive miles trying to avoid the dreaded three- point turn!

In winter, we would often walk the local byways while the boys buzzed around on tricycles, scooters, skateboards, mountain bikes or whatever the currently favoured mode of transport was. Footpaths and disused railway lines led to woods, lakes, hillsides .... a veritable fairyland. On one heart - stopping moment Tomas skipped out onto a frozen lake surface at  Dimmingsdale....I knew that the ice would not take my weight...with a smile he skipped back into waiting arms. Not understanding the reason for the strength of the hug he got. 

And we could get, and on occasions still do get snow to brag about. However as Windy Arbour is on a hill the snow usually drifts in the wind which leaves the leeward clear. We never failed to get to work due to weather...in fact we never failed to get to work.  

NOT TRUE.

I was once ‘doctor’s rested’ for three days when, ‘jogging’ around the frozen field edges I managed to stumble  and put out a disc in my back. Bored out of my skull, I put on an old coat and hat (It was cold out) and hanging onto door frames and window ledges made a slow circuit of the house. Our next-door-neighbour, half a mile away, was soon checking to see who the ‘tramp’ was on our property. True ‘good neighbours’.

All around us are working farms. Crops, stock and machines. The children played indoors with farm models, DUPLO, LEGO, fantasy models, moved on to table top wargaming and ultimately various on-line games . Besides all the outdoor games they could invent.

Mortgage rate soared.....during our first couple of years, but somehow we managed to cling on.