Training To Be A Bricklayer

A Memory of Intake.

During my chidhood I was to perform lots of different tasks that would make life for my mother a little easier. I did not know it at the time but she was actually training me for my working life. Not only did I run errands, help turn the handle of the mangle on wash day, chop sticks for the fire, fill the coal bucket and fetch and carry whatever was required, I also bred rabbits for the pot and these needed feeding and cleaning out. [I have never eaten rabbit in my life, possibly because I saw them as pets]. In October 1951, I became eligible for a paper round. In those days, a lad or girl had to be 12 years old to qualify. I duly attained a job with Shaws Newsagent on Cantley Bridge and was paid the princely sum of twelve shillings and sixpence a week [62 new pence]. My round consisted of all the streets on the Doncaster side of Cantley Bridge, Avenue Road, St. Augustines, The Oval, etc. At first I ran from my home in Devonshire Road to Cantley across the Racecourse, but after a few weeks my mam had saved up enough money to put a deposit down on a bike for me. It was a Phillips Kingfisher racing bike, bought from Barker and Wigfalls shop on High Street and the hire purchase payments were half a crown a week[12 and a half pence]. One of the "perks" of that paper round was that most gardens had fruit trees, apple, pear plum, etc. Many is the time that I made my way home munching on an apple, sometimes even taking one to school for my mid- morning break. In October 1953, I was old enough to be a butcher's boy and that was added to my curriculum [Saturday mornings only, unless it was school holidays and then we were employed on odd days during the week]. For this half day only, I was paid 10 shillings and I also got the opportunity to ride one of those big butcher's bikes with the huge wicker baskets on the front. It must go without saying that all of the money that I earned went to my mother who used it for the family's benefit, but I did get a bit of pocket money out of it so all was well. I was to keep both jobs until I left school although I did swap my paper round from Shaws to Gills Newsagent on Sandringham Road. On this round, I delivered papers to the Royal Navy, Army, Air Force block on Grandstand Road. [Can anyone remember that building?]. This fitness training was to stand me in good stead because I was to spend my 50 years' working career as a bricklayer.

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