The 1960s In Walton Hard Times!

A Memory of Walton-On-The-Naze.

I moved to Walton in the 1960s after my dad died. We lived in a caravan at a park up the Naze as we were homeless. I went to school in Stanley Road when I was 14 and went for a month or so and never went back, nobody cared! Got a job as a labourer on Castle Estates at 14 and spent 10 hours a day carrying bricks up a ladder. Had a girlfriend who I still love who was a few years older than me. I was a total toe-rag, at 15/16 I was stealing, and ended up getting a girl into trouble and had to leave town for a bit, as her husband was going to murder me. I was good looking and I knew it and lived for girls, fags and beer in that order. I would work for a few weeks, get some money, get sacked and move on. But oh how I envied the blokes who had a stable life and then ... I joined the Army Catering Corps, the Judge at my trial said "It's either Jail or the Army for you my boy" and with a possible 2 year sentence in borstal/jail, joining the Army was a "no brainer". Then wallop, as soon as I walked into a kitchen for training, you could have knocked me down with a pin! I was a natural and took to cooking like a fish to water. Having spent my school years in the D stream Comprehensive, I had no education and could barely read, so having fallen in love with food and cooking, I decided to get myself educated and I did. 5 years later I was offered a commission but decided to opt for civvy street and a management trainee course with Grand Metropolitan. 14 years later, I was Managing Director of one of the world's largest catering and hotels group and today, I live in Suffolk and own my own catering/coffee shop business employing 2.000 people with outlets all over the UK. So readers, my memories of Walton and the hardships and missing my dad are still very much alive in my mind. I often take a drive round Walton and feel great affection for this wonderful town and some of the people who were kind to me in my toe-rag days, and at the time, I treated them badly and if any of them are reading this, sorry and I would love to hear from you...