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10. Glasgow Art School… Friday Autumn 1965. Glasgow Art School

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Glasgow School of Art

I was beginning to find my feet and feel some stirrings of a genuine interest in teaching but I was more interested in a planned trip to see Ian  and visit Glasgow Art School.

This Autumn I had my first secondary school teaching practice and not only liked it I felt wholly engaged. Eileen Mackinlay, my supervisor, crept into one of my classes …an English class based on the symbolism of the sun and gave me a glowing report. She asked me to repeat the same lesson with another class so that Geoffrey Summerfield, another tutor could see it. (He had just written ‘Voices’, a wonderful set of books for use in secondary schools.) My lesson went badly, a self-conscious and fumbling mess. But there were more important matters like a planned trip to Glasgow at half term with Sue (we did go and stayed with school friend Sheila in Manchester on the way). I had known all along that Ian was as good as engaged to another student but she was going away, he still wrote and , and …Sue and I hitched to Glasgow. A flat high up in a tenement just off Sauchiehall Street where everything had been tampered with… It was all wonderful…smoke seeped out of the kitchen hot water tap, the toilet flushed to the sound of bells, the Charles Rennie Mackintosh art college …

I was thrilled by everything. Arriving in Earl Shilton, breaking our return journey to  Bath, we slept for seventeen hours solid.

My Dear Joy,

I’m just back from work after another week o’ nights, and with an enjoyable chip supper tucked away we’ll get down to our weekly letter. I’ll have to hustle along this time since we are off to Ringwood tomorrow but I’ll try and not give a weakly show.

It’s turned sharply colder and with frost warnings and the rapidly drawing in of evenings I wouldn’t say ‘,No,’ to a stay at home.

The day began beautifully with your very welcome letter at the breakfast table. If you could see the pleasurable reactions your efforts bring I’m sure you’d feel a glow and this one was particularly bright. You seem to make them live and flow with effortless ease and certain it is they’ll get better and better.

If the deep mourning envelope is a token of the demise of the Scottish trip I’m afraid it didn’t find me reaching for the blinds. Actually there was a feeling of thankful relief, for my heart took a downward plunge when I read what you had contemplated. It would be a fearful assignment for a young man let alone girls, especially at this time of year coupled with the great attendant risks. It would be much, much too far and altogether unthinkable.

It was very heartening to read of your achievements in the classroom-‘Good old Joy,’ we said. It is surprising how unobtrusively confidence creeps in as one warms to its theme. Your status seems very elevated too with tributes from English and art masters. High praise to you, but we hope that you don’t overreach yourself with attempting too much with the mass of work you describe. The half-term break will brink a much needed respite and a time to relax and tone down. It will be grand having you and Sue with us again, although only a brief “Braeside “ roadhouse-(that was a good one) in the first instance. As you say, Manchester isn’t a far jaunt and it will be nice to link up with old friends and an experience for Sue.

Just now the house is redolent with the pungent odour of pickled onions. Mam has prepared and pickled two huge jars of them. Moreover she has cut up and bottled a barrow load of fallen apples from No 12. Together with a vast assembly of kidney beans and tomatoes our “Harvest Home” should see us well into the winter. We’ve got a wonderful lot of apples and potatoes stowed away. And now there only remains a rough digging and tidying up of the garden and allotment in readiness for another year.

I’ve still nothing in view to suit my retirement so I expect I’ll just coast along as I am until an opportunity shows.

To revert back to your letters. Items that amused me-The old mother’s query of the gramophone needle being stuck on the Bob Dylan record. I’d thought that myself but hadn’t better suggest !!!To perlease try and get you a job on the post-relative connections and various machinations and to press 2/6 into uncle Ron’s palm. Well, we hope that you are successful and to that we have done our best for you. And now for Ringwood. Best love and safe keeping ever. Dad

 

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All The Letters

  • From Earl Shilton… 1 , Friday August  2nd 1963 Black Sail Hostel

    From Earl Shilton… 1 , Friday August 2nd 1963 Black Sail Hostel

  • 2.  Sunday August 4h 1963 Eskdale Youth Hostel

    2. Sunday August 4h 1963 Eskdale Youth Hostel

  • 3 . Wednesday August 6th, 1963. Coniston, Coppermine Youth Hostel.

    3 . Wednesday August 6th, 1963. Coniston, Coppermine Youth Hostel.

  • 4. Borrow House, The Lake District…  Saturday August 9th 1963. Derwentwater.

    4. Borrow House, The Lake District… Saturday August 9th 1963. Derwentwater.

  • 5. Zion Hill …  Saturday Winter 1964. And finally college after a shambolic education.

    5. Zion Hill … Saturday Winter 1964. And finally college after a shambolic education.

  • 6. Bath … Saturday, Winter 1965. The Elms , Bath and the misery of unrequited love.

    6. Bath … Saturday, Winter 1965. The Elms , Bath and the misery of unrequited love.

  • 7. Newton Park… May 22nd 1965. Richard, a dull and joyless relationship but lots of postcards.

    7. Newton Park… May 22nd 1965. Richard, a dull and joyless relationship but lots of postcards.

  • 8. North Walsham… Saturday September 1965 Freedom…and North Walsham.

    8. North Walsham… Saturday September 1965 Freedom…and North Walsham.

  • 9. The Royal Crescent…Sunday September 1965. The Royal Crescent

    9. The Royal Crescent…Sunday September 1965. The Royal Crescent

  • 10. Glasgow Art School… Friday Autumn 1965. Glasgow Art School

    10. Glasgow Art School… Friday Autumn 1965. Glasgow Art School

  • 11. The Royal Crescent … Sarurday, Autumn 1965 . The Royal Crescent

    11. The Royal Crescent … Sarurday, Autumn 1965 . The Royal Crescent

  • 12. From Earl Shilton… Saturday, Late November 1965 Church Street.

    12. From Earl Shilton… Saturday, Late November 1965 Church Street.

  • 13. All Night Party…Friday, December 3rd 1965. All Night Party.

    13. All Night Party…Friday, December 3rd 1965. All Night Party.

  • 14. From Earl Shilton… December 1965. Christmas Post …The Prefabs.

    14. From Earl Shilton… December 1965. Christmas Post …The Prefabs.

  • 15. From Earl Shilton…Friday March 1966 . Beatnik? Hippy? Lost?

    15. From Earl Shilton…Friday March 1966 . Beatnik? Hippy? Lost?

  • 16. From Earl Shilton… Late March 1966. Works Bonfire…Terror in Church Street

    16. From Earl Shilton… Late March 1966. Works Bonfire…Terror in Church Street

  • 17. North Walsham…Saturday, The Early Autumn 1966 . Alex…six three, long hair and a gold earring!

    17. North Walsham…Saturday, The Early Autumn 1966 . Alex…six three, long hair and a gold earring!

  • 18.Bath in 1967… Marriage-pregnancy- miscarriage- becoming a qualified teacher- hitch hiking -cheerful destitution and then Liverpool.

    18.Bath in 1967… Marriage-pregnancy- miscarriage- becoming a qualified teacher- hitch hiking -cheerful destitution and then Liverpool.

  • 19. Arthur Brown’s Marmalde…1968. Granby Street, Paddington Comprehensive  and Dave , the poet.

    19. Arthur Brown’s Marmalde…1968. Granby Street, Paddington Comprehensive and Dave , the poet.

  • 20 .Liverpool…1969 . Trouble brewing … The end of Dave the poet, John, Henry  and the Odd Spot.

    20 .Liverpool…1969 . Trouble brewing … The end of Dave the poet, John, Henry and the Odd Spot.

  • 21. Liverpool…1970 …Approaching the bottom of a downward spiral.

    21. Liverpool…1970 …Approaching the bottom of a downward spiral.

  • 22… Autumn 1971. Rock bottom or  almost drowning then learning how to swim.

    22… Autumn 1971. Rock bottom or almost drowning then learning how to swim.

  • 23.Liverpool…1972  The Monte Carlo chip shop, love, The Oriental Club and Venice in half a day.

    23.Liverpool…1972 The Monte Carlo chip shop, love, The Oriental Club and Venice in half a day.

  • 24. January 1973… Neuralgia, worse than childbirth or a slipped disc.

    24. January 1973… Neuralgia, worse than childbirth or a slipped disc.

  • 25. Summer 1973… An allotment plot and back to The Oriental Club.

    25. Summer 1973… An allotment plot and back to The Oriental Club.

  • 26.  August/ September 1973 . Camping chiefly next to picturesque Irish castles but …

    26. August/ September 1973 . Camping chiefly next to picturesque Irish castles but …

  • 27. Autumn 1973 An abortion.

    27. Autumn 1973 An abortion.

  • 28. Early November 1973… Still very sad but write home cheerfully.

    28. Early November 1973… Still very sad but write home cheerfully.

  • 29. November 18th  1973… Too old to plant a tree! Dad’s seventy-third birthday.

    29. November 18th 1973… Too old to plant a tree! Dad’s seventy-third birthday.

  • 30. Late November 1973… Bean Stew.

    30. Late November 1973… Bean Stew.

  • 31. Late November 1973… Gardening and common ground.

    31. Late November 1973… Gardening and common ground.

  • 32. Early December 1973… Chris visits Liverpool and muck spreading.

    32. Early December 1973… Chris visits Liverpool and muck spreading.

  • 33. Early/Mid December 1973… Piss Quick and Shit Quick.

    33. Early/Mid December 1973… Piss Quick and Shit Quick.

  • 34, Mid December 1973… A monstrous pile of cardboard flung all over the place in the biting wind.

    34, Mid December 1973… A monstrous pile of cardboard flung all over the place in the biting wind.

  • 35. March 3rd 1974… Rosemary for memory.

    35. March 3rd 1974… Rosemary for memory.

  • 36. March 1974… Sweeping the chimney and exploding lumps of coal.

    36. March 1974… Sweeping the chimney and exploding lumps of coal.

  • 37.March 1974… Panic! A wet and miserable time and I have just found out that I am pregnant again.

    37.March 1974… Panic! A wet and miserable time and I have just found out that I am pregnant again.

  • 38.March 1974…The reality has begun to sink in. Despite the sickness I was glad to be pregnant.

    38.March 1974…The reality has begun to sink in. Despite the sickness I was glad to be pregnant.

  • 39. April 21st…The pregnancy is now an accepted fact.

    39. April 21st…The pregnancy is now an accepted fact.

  • 40. April /May 1974… Cup final, the flood and a pub crawl!

    40. April /May 1974… Cup final, the flood and a pub crawl!

Bonny Braeside
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