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From Staple Hill
School to KGS
There were 4 of us who followed in Bob Meaker’s footsteps
(one year later in 1963) and went from Staple Hill Primary to
KGS. As I recall, they were Rosemary Hewlett, Margaret Massey,
Gordon Lack and me. In all honesty, I don’t remember a great
deal from the time as I was only there for one academic year,
my parents deciding to move to Bristol in July 1964. During the
last week of that summer term I ended up "commuting"
on the bus from Stockwood to the Tennis Court Inn and back, and
travelled from Old Market all that week with Miss Roseveare, who
took us for Maths.
Other teachers - our form mistress was a Miss Williams
(who became Mrs somebody during the year). It seems everybody
remembers Eric Hilton; I, perhaps uniquely, have some reasonably
pleasant memories! It was he who decided that my musical ability
was worth encouraging, although I ended up learning the violin
on Monday afternoons (much to the displeasure of the Latin teacher
who lost a student one week in three!) with another first year
pupil called Anne Atcheson - coincidentally, my second wife worked
with her at the DHSS in Lodge Causeway, before we met. The pair
of us were actually taught the violin by a fellow who, I believe,
only came in to take special lessons, and seemed to me at the
time to be as old as Methuselah - I suspect now that he was about
52 ……!
On one particular occasion we were given a piece to learn
at home and had to play it the next week - my fellow scholar was
shocked at my rendition (it was better than usual and she was
usually far better than me) but he knew what I was up to at once,
and told me to play it in a different key. He realised that I
would probably be better of "busking" rather than reading
music and, I suppose, part of my future career path was set!
Who else do I remember? Alan Hireson (we’ve been in
e-mail contact recently), Allan Roberts, Graham Flew, Phillip
Drew, Paul Gunter, Terry Scouse, Anthony Pattermore, Phillip Herhily,
Derek Warlock. On the female side (and not necessarily in order
of "tastiness" - do me a favour, I was only 11!! (but
learning !!) - Susan Dalton, Anne Wilton, two girls from Park
Estate who went missing for a week or so and started a major manhunt
(or should I say girlhunt?) and Katherine Fry - I only realised
she fancied me after she got fed up trying - ho hum …!
One other lad in my form was John Rossiter. Coincidentally,
his parents also moved to south Bristol (they bought a shop in
St Annes in early 1964) and we both ended up in Brislington School
for the remainder of our academic years. I last saw him while
we were both getting plastered in the Kings Arms in Brislington
at Christmas 1970 or 1971 - the last I heard he had moved to Devon
(but that information is nearly 30 years old!!). Talking of Brislington,
it turned out that my woodwork teachers at both schools were close
friends - one of them was called Williams, but I can’t remember
which school!
For those who didn’t have the dubious benefit of leaving
KGS before their education was completed, I suggest that you were
probably better off! I found my first two years at Brislington
remarkably boring - I spent both of them "re-learning"
my first year at KGS. Slow or what?? I finally got terminally
fed up with it at the end of the first year sixth, and went to
work for British Rail, whist working semi-professionally in entertainment,
in the early days in the folk clubs. I last saw Gordon Lack in
one of those, the Troubadour in Clifton and, as that club closed
in April 1971, once again it was a long time ago!
The 1970s were spent working for the railway, or the Midland
Electricity Board (2 years emptying slot meters!) whilst working
full or part time in entertainment. In the early days I was "Rob
Edwards," later "Bob Fox" and I also joined a couple
of cover bands, "Talisman (1977-78)" and "Silver
Fox" (1978-79) both working mainly within a 50 mile radius
of Bristol. The only real highlights from those days were a show
on HTV called "New Folk" which I did in 1972, and "New
Faces" in 1973 - Arthur Askey liked it (Micky Most didn’t
…) but it didn’t do the career a lot of long-term good,
although it was nice to get £80 for two days work in those
days! Victoria Wood was on the week before me and won the show
- at the time I was doing material that was remarkably similar
to hers - I often wonder if my path in entertainment would have
been different if I had been on the week before her!
The marriage to wife no.1 (an ex-pupil from Brislington)
lasted from 1973 to 1978 and produced 2 children (both boys, 1973
and 1976 models). She cleared off with my best friend in 1978
(but I didn’t know he was my best friend until she cleared
off with him …the old jokes are the best ), met wife no.2
and we have been together since 1979 - 3 more sons, in 1979, 1982
(that one suffered a cot death in February 1983) and 1984. Now,
the two elder boys are fathers themselves (5 grandchildren at
the last count) and have both followed in their mothers footsteps,
buggering off with somebody else!
The 1980s were spent doing much more in entertainment,
now once again working as a solo act, and also working for North
Wiltshire District Council in their Housing Department. Life went
quietly on into the 1990s but, by 1994, I had began to feel that
perhaps 25 years of entertaining was enough, and formally "retired"
in 1995. The Council "privatised" their housing stock
in 1995 and I left with it, going then to Westlea Housing Association.
There are no immediate plans for further change!!
If anybody knows the whereabouts of any of the people I mentioned
above, or of course know me but I’ve forgotten them, please
get in touch. EMAIL
Thanks.
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