Frome

When we had settled into our house in Nunney Road, Tim and Wendy went round the corner to the Oakfield Road Secondary School opposite the Police Station and I was sent to Milk Street Primary School which was down the hill and through a few back streets.

I am not entirely sure why but I never really settled in Frome.  I didn’t last long at Milk Street Primary and apparently I nicked my sisters dinner money.  Looking back, I think that the problems I was having settling were related to my insecurities.  I didn’t like change it seemed.  My life at home felt so insecure and hostile that to add to my insecurities with a new environment outside of the home, like a new school, was just too much for me to cope with.

I only have two real memories of this school; one is that instead of getting a free bottle of milk at break time as I did at my previous school, we got a free bottle of orange squash! 

My other memory was being embarrassed in class when the teacher asked me if I had brought any pumps.  I looked blankly at her - what on earth are pumps I thought to myself?  She shouted the question again at me.  I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled about not knowing. 

The class started laughing at me until someone said "plimsolls?"  Oh plimsolls - "yes miss I have some plimsolls".  The whole class was laughing at me as we trekked out to the playground for PE..

My only other memory of this school was the walk home.  At the bottom of Nunney Road is a big junction with a car park.  Each day when we came out of school there was a woman who was always sitting on the bench in the shelter at the back of the car park.    She was aged about 55, grossly overweight, dressed in dirty old-lady type dresses.  Apparently her name was Mavis and she was a prostitute.  Even at my age I knew what a prostitute was, and I also wondered why anybody would pay to have sex with someone like that.  The car park was her patch and she would be there until late at night plying her trade and all day Saturday.

Nan and Grandad Garland

Prior to moving to Frome Nan and Grandad Garland had not been anything special to me.  They were nice people we used to visit each week as they lived about 2 miles from us in Molesey.  They were my 'mum's' parents - I think my dad's family were in South Africa.

However, when we moved to Somerset, they moved with us and I became much closer to Grandad.  I think he could see how I was treated at home and tried to befriend me and make up it up to me.  At every opportunity I would walk the 4 miles or so through the country lanes to go and see grandad.  As well as after school I used to spend most Saturdays and Sundays there.  Dad just wanted me out of the house as much as possible.

When I was over at grandad's for whole days I used to go for walks along the quarry railway lines.  Walk up to the quarries and throw stones.  Put threepenny bits on the railway tracks and watch the trains squash them.  Alongside the railway line was a little river.  Me and Grandad or sometimes Timothy, used to go fishing for trout there too.  I really enjoyed my life away from home and in the countryside.

I used to enjoy helping grandad with his vegetable garden, digging it over, planting and picking.  I never got into his love for his aviary and cage birds though.  I never did manage to learn whether it was a finch or a canary - to me it was yellow, brown or whatever.  The best thing about the birds though was the special feed we used to give them on Saturdays.  Boiled eggs and digestive biscuits all mashed up and mixed together - it was delicious.

I used to admire and look up to my foster brother Tim a lot.  He is about 10 years older than me so I never really got involved in his life, but he got involved in mine and treated me like a real brother.  On occasions he came up to the quarries with me and we rode the quarry trains together. 

He used to have a James 125cc motorbike that he taught me to ride.  We used to ride through the woods, over the fields and have a good laugh together.  We even explored over the land at the top of the quarries.

Shortly after we moved to Frome Tim bought an old three wheel bubble car.  He was going to do it up and use it.  I have loved bubble cars ever since and wish I could afford to buy one. 

Wendy

I never really had much to do with Wendy.  She was about 8 years older than me and very pretty.  She was also very talented and artistic.

Patricia

'Tricia was a nice girl.  There was only a couple of years between us, she being the younger.  I think we used to play well together. 

Highlight of the Week

Highlight of my week used to be the shopping trip on Saturday mornings.  I used to love walking round the streets of Frome.  Dad used to drop us at the car park at the bottom of Nunney Road and the main supermarket was just across the road.  He used to come and do the main shopping there with us which we then took back to the car and he would take it home. 

We kids could then relax and start to enjoy ourselves and Mum would then take us down through the town.  Without 'him' around Mum was ok. I don’t think I ever remember her being 'fun', it wasn’t her way, but she was a kind woman and loved us.

We used to stroll down Catherine Street, Catherine Hill and Stony Street.  This is a steep hill with lots of little local shops of all descriptions.  I used to love all the little shops.  I was so pleased as I wandered down there recently to find it is largely unchanged. 

We used to turn right out of Stony Street into Bath Street and just a few shops along we used to pop into the Wimpy bar.  Mum always had a coffee.  I usually had coca cola or milk shake.  I don’t remember what Tim and Wendy had, I think it was cokes though.  Patricia usually had orange juice I think.  We then used to wander down Market Place to the river and back up the other side of the street strolling up Cheap Street with the stream running down the centre of it and down King Street. Dad then used to pick us up outside the cinema which was nearby.  Very occasionally we kids would then be allowed to go to the cinema.  This was where I first saw one of my favourite films of all time - Blackbeard's Ghost.

Unmanageable

My 'parents' decided when I was about eight years old that I was totally unmanageable and sent me to a children’s home called Woodrough.  It was set in a little village called Bramley near Guildford in Surrey.  I don’t remember too much about this period except that I was very unhappy and confused and kept on running away.

I was in this home for about nine months and was then sent to a boarding school at Marnhull near Sturminster Newton in Dorset.

to be continued...........