An
eDiary of
Some of the
Key
Things in
Don's
Life
I regularly updated my eDiary websites until the creation of FaceBook's
2011
"eHistory" feature, whereupon I stopped…
Sadly, my account then crashed out while I was updating my profile in 2019 & I had to drill some of the "lost years" to get them back!
So, my eDiary is organized into six decade pages, each decade being sorted year-by-year with months from Jan to Dec; click on a section to visit that decade?
Main page |
2010’s |
2000’s |
80's-90's |
70's |
50's-60's (this page)…
You might also consider visiting my
profile
page that shares a little more info about me vs. this eDiary, or see a list of the
Global Places
I’ve visited?
For an "historical" view, you can start at the very
end
of my eDiary & scroll up to read backwards in time?
Also, embedded textual content reflects the time of the events vs. the current time—view the pages full-screen?
Have fun, regardless ;)
As the 70th year of my life arrived in late July, 2024, a new goal arrived: share the life events for my childhood/early-teenage years before they start to become no-longer-recallable!!
I then built this page to share many events & thoughts from 70+ years ago, grouped by years & places—each may be tweaked, clarified or expanded in the future!
This starts out with my birth & ends with my Dad’s late 70’s eviction (literally, a forced permanent departure) from my childhood home to the British Army and onwards…
With dozens of active/known threads from the late 50's to the end of the 60's (15.4 years, ~725 active weekends after I was a baby & a total of 5,642 days/nights for my life),
please take each event with a small dose of salt vs. a frown? Thoughts, comments, etc are welcome… Cheers!
The 1950's
-
Early on a Monday morning in July of 1955, I was born at the
Aston Greys Nursing Home
(the snap of the property shown is from 1927)
at 21-23-25 Knole Road(+)
on the north-west corner of Southcote Road in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England—the county was changed by the local government to Dorset in 1974
The nursing home was just a few minutes walk (~500+yards) from Mum (who was aged ~24½ at that time) & Dad’s (age ~32½) flat at 10 Carlton Road (scroll down the linked page for details?) where they were living in 1954. Mum would have visited the nursing home several times prior to my birth, with zero costs: the National Health Service started up in 1948.
Aston Greys was operated at that time by the owners, Misses Adams & Birkhead, Proprietors, with skilled nurses; today’s address for the nursing home is in Boscombe—the building has also been replaced by a block of flats (or a business) at #21 Knole Rd & at #23-25 by the Curtis Lodge retirement complex, built in 2007 with 66 flats.
An interesting web link also popped up in my research: an Aston Greys Facebook page!
I was advised (likely in the ’60s) that I had arrived at "5:05am" & that I was a tiny baby… with my reported low birth weight of 5 pounds/5 ounces(ish), my Dad said that when he held me as a baby, I was like "a ball of string with 5 pieces attached" for my head & those skinny arms & legs!
We lived in the flat at 10 Carlton Road (shared above) for a few months, moving (autumn ’55) to a 1920’s detached brick house at 70 Elmes Road(+) in Moordown that my Grandad (my Dad’s dad) had purchased (scroll down for details?)… I lived there my early ’71 eviction…
Here are some infant-age snaps (click for larger views?) that Mum’s camera caught in our back garden at 70 Elmes Road…
Me (aged about 2) playing with Dad
Wearing my new jumper with my Dad (around the spring ’57)
Me on my pedal car
Some early childhood memories (before 1960) are just too fuzzy to be precise on the dates…
I was caught peeing in the [back then] living-room fireplace at Dad’s house one early morning!
Playing "chase" with Dad around the clothes pole in the garden
Helping myself to "yummy" flour & syrup, standing on a chair in the pantry… what a mess!
Dad got me a tortoise that lived in the yard; it got stuck under a fence & died
Playing in the soot (with water!!) out back of the shed… had to take a bath ;)
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Many recalled events (shared below) are over my 10+years of school life… with around 175 school-days per year, a total of ~1,900 days for me were actually idle
(e.g. "not in school") making >1,000 days to sadly get into all kinds of trouble!!
The Early 1960's
-
My
school
life started at the age of 5 after the summer in 1960
(around September 5th)
at the Infants' School for Boys on Coronation Avenue(+),
Moordown, Bournemouth, a short walk from home—Mum walked with me there & back every day for a while as there (most likely!) were tears…
The school changed in the late ’90s to the "Moordown Community Centre" (shows when you click the school location, above?),
replacing
the then-abandoned school from several years before
-
I spent 3 years at the Infants School from Sep-1960 to Jun-1963
(see the historical school data)—I clearly remember my teacher, "Mrs. Parsons"
(I have her face in my mind)
First few days [a week, maybe] where some kid wrecked my block castle in class
Vague playground recollections… the smelly toilets there (urinals), the fence with the Senior school, a future friend across the fence: Stuart Pierce, etc
Had my leg smacked [was wearing shorts] for a "bad mouth" comment
Forced to eat beetroot for lunch—lucky dinner-lady!!
Playing with the Meccano construction set in final [??] class
Accidentally filled my pants on one fine day in the 3rd year class (Mrs. Parsons / "who was that ??")
-
In addition to my early school memories, at some time (around ’61) I discovered that riding on a bus seated facing the back of the bus just wasn’t a great idea: I threw up! This was Mum & I, headed out to see something (not remembered) outside of Bournemouth…
As another active memory around this time (sadly, with no photo’s), Mum worked as a bartender in the Queen Victoria Hotel
(on Wimborne Road in Winton, which today has become the Parkstone and Heatherlands pub)
letting me play outside, where it was safe… this was in the walled garden, where there was a unique tiny chapel (dedicated to the airmen who had died in the second world war). The pub was originally opened there in 1860 as The Fitzharris Arms and was changed to the Queen Vic before October of 1915; it was owned at that time by W.H. O’Brian…
While I suspect that the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 wasn’t something that I knew much about back then, it almost brought the world to the very edge of being gone!
-
Some early non-school memories from the ’60s (thru perhaps ’64)
The making of the playing fields on Redhill common—used to be all gorse & scrub; was dug up & flattened for the green areas
Checking out a torch battery after reading about them (summer ’62) in a book—cut my left index-finger to the bone trying to open the outer case
(which was lead) with a sharp kitchen knife; still have a neat triangular scar with 3 stitches to remember it by!
Saturday morning movies at the Modern with my friend, the little black kid who lived in a flat upstairs somewhere behind the cinema
Sunday school picnic, crying on the bus as it left because I didn't know what time it would return & couldn't tell Mum; too shy/afraid to ask someone!
Drilling holes in my bedroom wall… pissed my Dad off endlessly!
A goldfish pond in the garden & my garden next to it
Mitch the cat. My very own
Stole a big pocket penknife from Terry the lodger; got found with it at school…
Cat on Wimborne Road, scratching me badly…
Arthur the Parkie, in his room, warming his hands with the stove
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The Mid-60's
-
In the summer of 1965
(at age 10, possibly for my birthday)
I brought my 1st pack of fags, 10
Players No.10’s
(with a box of matches) for a few bob over at the
newspaper shop (now gone, but near the bus stop);
I climbed the nearby tree & smoked one…
They
looked just like this only they were No.10
Also in '65, my Dad built a bike for me & painted it white—I managed to crash it one fine day as the brakes (I recall) were reversed! -
Back to my school memories, I spent 3 years (starting at age 8) in the
Junior School for Boys
right around the corner from our house (as shown in the image) on Oswald Road (Sep-1963 to Jun-1966);
that school is named today as the
"Winton Primary School"
and is for both Boys & Girls through age 11—consolidated from Coronation Ave and others
Sitting in the front of the class with Maria Swejian in the 2nd or 3rd year class
Leslie Baldrey, David Langdown, Colin Edwards, Simon Pittwood, etc
Violet Irving, Christine Green, etc
Steven Miel ["look—he bit me"… ]
Playing "Mr. Big" with a rolled-up newspaper on the playground; caught by the hag who was the playground monitor… "You disgusting boy!"
Playing "pirates" in the Gym
My French teacher (Ms. ?) who was "real nice"…
Fighting with LB in classroom (?3rd year)
Jimmy ? brought in some brow-painted Plaster-of-Paris "dogsmuck" one day
Fighting with ?? on the playground—hurt my eye pretty bad
Donald Duck… Christ, that was so f***ing bad
Late to school on a regular basis… told Miss ? one day that "all the clocks in our house were an hour fast" (instead of "slow"); she didn’t believe me!
Mum/Dad visited with Mr. Janda (headmaster) to discuss me; Dad was (reportedly) threatening & ready to do him in…
I was chuffed at the time, but it probably was NOT the best thing to do! -
My mid-60's non-school memories (64-67)
Dad’s electric train-set in the attic—used salt as "snow"… oops!
He also kept rabbits for food; an open-based triangular cage for them, moved around to "mow the grass" & later living inside the shed
A damned wasp stung my elbow as I was leaning out of the window in my room
My new bunk beds in the larger bedroom
My chemistry set—boiling meths (!!!) to make a burner
Cyril Cox & fishing with Dad on the pier, where I was taken a couple times
Uncle Peter crashed his lorry & was in hospital
A day playing at the river with Paula Gunshon (with the gang) & some river mud
Neighbors Lorraine & Paul next door; Julie, across the street & Lynne Wraith
A day-trip to the roller-coaster park at Southend-on-Sea with Mum & Peter and later to Brownsea Island with Simon Pittwood & Mum; noisy peacocks!
Our Butlins holiday:
2 different camps (Swansea/Barry Island ==> Minehead) for some reason
Ice cream race & up-chucking consequences…
Dad's jobs…
Merchant navy (but I don't really remember him gone… )
Gardener; put his back out one year
Plumber/etc; fell off a ladder? with Peter T
Mechanic at the local bakery
Lodgers: Terrence, Alan, Steve [who I recall was a tough SOB]
Students: Giacomo (Italian) with some girl
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After my 8th birthday, my Dad’s visit to New York (he was a ships cook back then, in a merchant marine ship) had brought me a beautiful gift, that
Silk Jacket…
scroll down to the "Property/about 1963" event & click the links?
Just a few days later, I managed to take it off while playing over at Redhill Common (where it was a hot day, so I recall) & it was then taken from the bush (or on the ground) where I had dropped it :(
My 1st sister, Dawn arrived in August’63 sadly with a stillborn birth… about 4 months after this disaster, my Mum unexpectedly left home for a few weeks with my "Uncle Peter" / scroll down to the November, 1963 event?
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The Late '60s
-
In September of 1966, I moved up to the Winton & Moordown Secondary School for Boys
(view)
at age 11 where I stayed until September’70, details below
This was a return back to the main school buildings on Coronation Ave… I did have to walk back & forth to the Oswald Road Annex for metalwork, physics, TD, etc
Many, many memories of my 4+ years there…
Teachers:
The Headmaster—W. (William) H. Gould; his German language class using the "das/den-die/den-dem/des" vernacular & who also energetically caned (THWACK!!)
both my backside & my hands many, many times for my continuous recalcitrance!
The Deputy Headmaster—F. P. (Peter) Day on the left who also frequently punished me
English Lit—Reid
History—??
Math—Vic Loosemore
Art—Denham [who I know died summer ’84]
French—Pete Kingswell & my 4th year room leader
Religious Education—Mr. Mole
English & swimming lessons—Gus Popham
He seemed a little queer at the baths, looking over the changing-room door!!
Yelled at Nicholas Bishop in class one day—"Get out… no, NOT THROUGH THE WINDOW you stupid boy!!!
The PE guy—??
"You’re just yellow… " bastard… Tanned with a rope-end another time
Chemistry—??
Sugar conversion (using acid)
Physics—"Abbo" Reid
Caught playing with the gas-taps (WHAPPP!!)
Classes:
Stales from the bakery & the sweetshop, eating while walking over to the Annex for a class and back
Woodwork class, made a nice turned bowl
There was a Secondary School music class every week (with Simon Stone) it was played on the big old wooden record-player, managed by my Uncle Reg…
Graham Young was 1st to start going to the Drama school in Boscombe; Geoff Bown & I started to go with him
Art class
Built various pottery items
A sketch of a tree, many branches & leaves
A reflective tea-pot sketch
School trip to France/Belgium
Lost a shoe in the mud
In the "Atom"
LB had a flick-knife; Pete Kingswell it threw overboard on our way home
Field trip (2 nights) to the Leeson House in Swanage
Snow
Rugby songs with Cess
"Harry’s standing on his head… "
(THWWWAAAACK!!!—Uncle Gus… )
Metalwork class
Made a poker for the fire
Knuckle-dusters
Planishing something…
Kids:
Ray (Loopy) Loopine—whipped me once, leaving a bloody nose… he was a Decathlon sports jock too
Colin Whittaker—whipped him when he "insulted" Liz, my girlfriend -
More out-of-school memories of the late 60's/early 70's (68/69/70)
Ran off from home for a day… all the way to Meyrick Park; sure did piss Dad off though!
Working for my Uncle Reg at their shop in downtown Bournemouth on Saturdays
Cafe near the Modern (now a bingo hall)
Fair on Columbia road
A girl called "Finger" (whose name eludes me) & Liz Willis (’68)
YOBrothers—Jonathan Thorneycroft, Geoffrey Bown & myself; we thought it was the neatest thing since sliced bread… I remember the old fart who ran the TD class
at the annex once sneeringly criticizing my green pocket dictionary book that was scrawled all over with "YOBrothers"…
I just quietly hated him & said "Yes, sir"
"Careful with that Axe, Eugene" (Pink Floyd, UmmaGumma) with Thorny at Geoff's house…
Geoff asking if Jimi Hendrix was saying "Kiss the sky" or "Kiss this guy"… we know today!
"Little Muscles"… Beverly Hebditch hanging w/Thorny after school (down by the park)
The Dustbin Men's strike (?68) & the huge pile of rubbish dumped onto the common that I danced on & subsequently fell into… such a laugh
Peter Vigg, down Throop Lane? & Haggis, some kind of Haig (Michael?)
I had 2 loudspeakers in my bedroom, used for "phones"
Drawing "Wheels of Fire" on wall
Car burned-out on Boundary Rd, up by Talbot Woods; shorted out cigarette lighter with screwdriver & made it red hot
That barn ½-way up Slade's Lane, always full of hay, good fun to climb in/on/roll around in… burned up one year
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My school life ended abruptly and unexpectedly in my 2nd or 3rd week of the 5G class on the 16th of September, 1970,
where I was evicted (age 15+) for my totally stupid
recalcitrance…
Jules Stravinsky was hit just before me (as the 1st kid, me as the 2nd)
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The Places
-
The Drama School over at Boscombe;
this got started with Simon Stone doing our "drama" classes in the Gym at the Winton & Moordown Senior School
People
Simon Stone [& his wife Lucy, later] who was Best Man at my '75 marriage
Geoff Bown
Graham Young [floating]
Kay ["we can still be friends, bit no kissing or anything… "]
Janice ["your conscience will be the end of me"]… some spectacularly stupid sharing of my Hicky with Mum who was fussing downstairs
Things
Chasing a bus on my bike (for Kay)
Honky-tonk Woman & dancing
Yelling at girls out of car [green mini-van] w/Simon Stone
Trip to Chesil bank/beach (?) on the beach to collect stones
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My brother Alan was born in 1968; he was a youngster when I went off to the Army a couple years later
-
Various other schools that I’ve attended… these are all outside of my childhood years, but they *are* additional schools!!
1st is my time at the Army Apprentices College, Harrogate (click to view details?)
Jan-1971
I leave my childhood home at 70 Elmes, evicted by my Dad—pretty much for ever & ever (amen)
Apr-1973
Graduated with high honors… off to Germany (via Catterick)
Then in the Control Data Institute, London
Oct-1977
Started after my Army Discharge
Apr-1978
Graduated with honors… off to work at Burroughs
Many years later, in Montgomery College, near Germantown, MD
May-1984
Took a class or 2 there
Then on to Carroll College, Waukesha, WI
May-1988
Signed up to take a class or 2
With a break at the Kennedy Western, Idaho
May-1991
Started this as I’d become a GE manager… fully funded with GE tuition
Dec-1996
Actually started up the 75-page graduation document which sadly was never finished
Jul-2007
Several years later, I contacted KW for a restart / found that they would not… what a waste!
Also at the WCTC, Pewaukee & UW-W, Waukesha, WI
Jun-2009
Took a class 2 there to save a buck
Graduated at the Carroll University, Waukesha, WI
May-2009
Started back up to get my degree
Dec-2011
Graduated, completing my BS-CS, IS Focus
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Places that I recall
Close to my childhood home
Redhill common, rec & paddling pool
Sandy Way
Moors across Wimborne rd, @ end of Sandy way
Malvern rec
Talbot woods
Kinson
Moors across road behind Talbot woods
River—2 or 3 places; also out by Haggis’ house (some kind of Haig?)
Bomb shelter—2 places
Fairly close
St. Catharine’s hill
Throop mill & area
Hurn airport
Meyrick Park
Brownsea Island
Horseshoe common—lake with dragonflies
Beaches
Bmth & Boscombe piers
Alum chine
Boscombe Cliffs
Shell bay (ferry—swimming)
Driving (Sunday trips) to…
Durdle Door
Worborough Bay
Corfe Castle
St. Alban’s head
… Mounds
Winchester Miniature town
Granddads grave
Hengistbury Head
Brownsea Island
… Gardens (worked at a hotel near here)
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My memories of things around the "Old Common" (my terminology for the 1st set of my memories there), a place near my home (’66 to ’68)
Guys:
Alan Walker
Stuart Pierce
Bobby Hayes
bells
he broke my [white] bike
stole his shilling & got my ass kicked
ghosts in the woods
Girls:
2 girls (blonde, brunette)
Lynne Davies
Rosemary Venn & an anonymous [age 13] female who stripped for us in Sandy Way
1967
Playing darts
1968
Arthur the Parkie
[little] twins
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The "New Common" (2nd set of memories) was in more recent years (’68-’70)
Youth club
Church
Cafe
Fish & Chips (Pea fritters)
A big party near the river; little bottles of barley wine & lotsa cider!!
Kids
Quackers (& brother Dave??)
Paul—his Dad was a vet & a friend of cousin Gary
Johnnie & Paul Barton
Geoff Bown & Kim Gunshon
Thorny & Beverly Hebditch
Steve "Cess" Esses ??
Steve Usher
Michael
Geoff (Swimmer)
Haggis
Some kind of Mike Haig, perhaps?
Ray "Brad" [Bradbury??]—wrecked his car showing us "how good he drives"
Maggie… dear girl; I wish I had known her better & I really wish I still had her photograph…
Maria Swejian (long wet kisses, died of flu [in 1968]; learned about at church)
Linda ?? [Fire station house] (Spin the bottle party)
I can actively recall that I had an early tendency towards being homosexual (apparently not that unusual, & I will share that it *vanished* when I was at Harrogate!!) with some boys,
Alan Hampshire, David House & Nigel Nelson, whom I had squirted in the eye (with washing-up liquid) through a hole in the back door where the doorbell wires used to be…
Cigarettes:
St. Moritz
Gold Leaf—my regulars
Piccadilly
Turkish [coloured]
Diplomat
Players no 10
1968
Off to Wheeley for the weekend—a pop concert
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The Kinson people, each of whom became my close friends in ’68
That Swanage trip
Gary rolled his Mini
Cutting beer lines
Burning a chair!!
Things
Fight in the Bournemouth gardens; retaliated at the club—Dino & David Grey
Embassy club
The Pie’n’Chick Inn place to eat
Guys:
Johnnie Early
Dino (Paul Dean)
Gary (with the car)
John Willis & his brother Bob; drunk at club, laying down… something with lightbulbs
Dave Ellis, wanking in the headlights
Vick, pounding dear Dave for me
Pug-face ["so you’re in the Army… "]
Girls:
Jane Fearn—long, blonde hair & blue-blue eyes, horse-back riding
Cheryl "Shagroll"
Sandra Beauchamp, bluest darling eyes… w/John Willis at the Embo once
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Things around Christchurch in the late 60’s
Kids/etc:
Dave Worthy
Bill [Tall, curly hair, hippie]
Short, chunky [fat—be honest!!] girl
AJS 350—riding up & down St. Catharine’s Hill with [? I think ?] Loopy Loopine… also doing the ton (for sure with Loopy) on the Christchurch bypass!
Met David House at a bar in Christchurch (I was with Dino & Dave Worthy, I think & a couple of girls); he was in the Navy by then & obviously hadn’t outgrown
his early teen queer phase—he had heavy eye-shadow & rouge on, with perfume of some kind & looked like he was out for a killing! I was really
amused to see him, but he wasn’t real happy to see me…
Walked w/Dino along beach from Bournemouth Pier to Christchurch one Saturday; met up with a couple of dog birds in a bar that night & caught a bus home later
Dino’s girlfriend (?) who really wanted to get to know me better…
Setting fires on St. Catharine’s hill (with a cop out jogging…)
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The End of My Childhood & Teenage eDiary Threads…
Well, that's pretty much the end of my early life events! Visit the more recent decades here?
You could also go to my
Bio summary page, the
profile page that I created a few years ago, my family tree
profile or visit me on
FaceBook where you can scroll down to view my events year-by-year.
As I expect that parts of my eDiary will improve and/or change as I tag more year-by-year info or clarify some of the threads… watch this space!
Please also visit my
privacy page
to be aware of some legal stuff?
As a final thought, view some snaps of me & my family in my
older album? Enjoy!! ;)