Medley

Decisions: move on to the next posting, or do several separate postings, or just put a few pictures up for the record. 

I've chosen the latter, starting with Monday's Christmas party at Eagley Jazz Club, where The Dixie Beats put on a great show to a full house. Good food, good music, great value.

It's not every day that a message is received from someone you haven't seen or communicated with for 62 years. Mike Shakeshaft, sixth from the left on the photo below, is that person. This week he kindly provided the picture of the students and staff of Ward House, Adams Grammar School, in July 1961. I am sitting on his left. He discovered me as a result of my posting in June 2022, recalling my early days at a boarding school.
Hopefully we will meet up in the new Year.

Sue's retirement nearly 12 months ago gives her the opportunity of indulging in flights of fancy such as that shown below. I'm hoping she will progress to something useful. Xmas cards, perhaps!?

We recently popped in to the Little Heath Farm shop with Ernst and Bianca. They were admiring the trees, and now Ernst has managed to find one that is nearly as tall as he is. Well done. It'll be strange for them to be celebrating Chritmas in Altrincham, rather than in Cape Town's summer sunshine.

Next, I've been doing Wordle every day since I bought my latest (S23) phone. A few days ago the software did what it has done to many others - it ended my run without reason or explanation. Perhaps that's a blessing - I'll never manage such a long run and I no longer have to worry about doing it every day, or even getting it right.

Finally, when Sue isn't doing jigsaws, she can be found labouring over a cold stove. Here's a result, and the recipe is here and below.

Ingredients:

For the biscuit base:
125g softened butter
50g caster sugar
5tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg, beaten
200g digestive biscuits, blitzed to crumbs
100g dessicated coconut
50g chopped almonds

For the custard icing:
100g softened butter
4tbsp double cream
3tbsp custard powder
250g icing sugar

For the chocolate topping:
150g dark chocolate
50g butter

Method:

1. For the biscuit base, melt the butter, sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. Whisk in the egg for 2-3 mins until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and add the biscuit, coconut and almonds. Mix, then press into the base of a lined 20cm square tin. Chill for 10 mins.

2. For the custard icing, whisk together the butter, cream and custard powder until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar until it's fully incorporated. Spread over the bottom layer and chill until the custard layer is no longer soft.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave, then spread over the chilled bars and return to the fridge. Leave until the chocolate has fully set - at least 2 hours. Take out of the tin and cut into squares to serve.

13 September 1960 - Dear Mum

I'm pictured above, aged 11, at a similar stage in my education and running 'career' as my grandson Jacob, to whom this blog posting is dedicated. The picture of me in my boarding school uniform may have been taken outside Granny Banfield's bungalow in Albrighton. Competitive? Me? Really?

Aston Hall
Newport
Shropshire
13/9/60 

Dear Mum

                 My legs are still aching after a cross country run after school tonight. Six of us set off on the 1½ mile run (it was not a race). After a quarter of a mile Nicky and another boy started to walk. Then four of us kept in a tight bunch - they were a little boy called Shakeshaft, Jones, Shaw and myself. We kept together for most of the way, then with about a quarter of a mile to go Shaw started walking then Jones did the same and Shakeshaft and I just went side by side into the drive. My legs were nearly giving way but I managed to get round the back first, nearly half a minute before Shakeshaft. I completed the course in fourteen minutes dead. 

14/9/60

I have just come back from another cross country. Tonight five people started, three second form and two first form. A second form came first and I came third in 14½ minutes, beating two second formers. 

15/9/60

I have just come back from a cross country with my legs aching at the start. I started on my own and caught up with a second former who started three minutes ahead of me. Everyone was most surprised because I did it in 13 minutes - the best junior time this season. I still have to gain another minute to get into the junior cross country team.
I have heard at school that I need a bible for Religious Instruction and I also need a twelve inch ruler for geography. I like these cross country runs very much. 

Here is my timetable:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
1	Woodwork	Science	History	Art	Geography
2	"	PT	Maths	"	"
3	French	Latin	Latin	Maths	Maths
4	History	Maths	Science	PT	English
5	Maths	RI	"	Geography	French
6	"	History	French	English	Science
7	Games	French	Music	French	English
8	"	English	English	Latin	Music
	Preparation
1	Maths	English	Maths	English	Maths
2	History	French	Science	French	Geography
3		Latin			Latin

Each day is divided into eight forty minute lessons. Assembly starts the day at ten to nine and we start lessons at nine-o-clock. After three lessons we have a break until a quarter past eleven, then we have two more lessons until dinner time at twenty five to one. The dinners are especially nice on Fridays when we have fish fingers, chips and peas for dinner. After dinner we have three more lessons until a quarter to four. To get to school you can go across the fields or along the road. 

16/9/60

Tonight I have just come back from yet another cross country and my legs are not even aching. I went off with Jones and kept slowly gaining on him all the time. I did not go as fast as I could but I did another time of thirteen minutes. Actually you only have to go on a cross country twice a week. 

17/9/60

Today I will finish the letter and post it this afternoon. First form have just finished a rugger practice, we practiced passing and tackling. Someone at school has pinched my ink so I will have to buy some more with my pocket money. Now to answer your question. We can go to the pictures every Saturday night but I have joined the film society at school. We see a film every fortnight. Tonight the film is the 'Dam Busters'. I will probably go to the pictures every other week.

Thank you very much for sending my garters, purse and watch. I have found that the geometry things are better than most people's. We are not allowed to ride our bikes yet but there will be a proviecencey (wrong) test for us to take.

Give my love to the boys. 

Love

Martin 

PS I need a belt for my jeans please.
PPS I have found that I do not need my cake. I hope that it will keep.

Notes:
1. This was perhaps my first letter home after starting secondary school at Adams Grammar School, Newport. I went as a boarder as no day school was easily accessible from where we lived in Ryton, near Albrighton. First and second years were accommodated in Aston Hall, a short walk from the school in Newport town centre. I think there's a housing estate there now.
2. 1½ miles is 2.4km - across muddy fields with stiles if my memory serves me.
3. I remember Shakeshaft, but not the others.
4. PT = gymnastics etc.
5. The reference to cake reminds me of the tuck box that is in our loft - every half term it was filled with goodies to supplement the boarding school meals. The contents soon ran out, my appetite must have become greater - I recall being hungry at times.
6. I've found another letter, extracts from which are included below:

Roddam House
High Street
Newport
Shropshire
(September 1962?) 

Dear Mum and Dad

(Extracts from a letter)
                              I think that the CC I did last Saturday was the best I have ever done because 16 min 40 secs is a very good time. I hope I do as well in the Inter House CC at the end of term. At the beginning the back of my pump was trodden (at the first stile) so I had to take my pump off and tie it on again so that put me in last place and lost me 15-20 secs. The person in the lead went at a rare pace and going past Aston Hall he was 100 yds in the lead from Shakeshaft whom I was about 5 yds behind, but I decided to go as fast as I could up the remaining ¼ mile of the hill and managed to shoot past Shakeshaft and gain about 10 yds on him. But when I had turned off onto a very steep cart track at the top of the hill and was at the top of it, Shakeshaft had got to 5 yds behind me. We went on at a good pace for the next mile, but still making no impression on the leader, and although I went as fast as I could across a ploughed field I could still not shake Shakeshaft off. But this must have been too much for him because at the next stile he stopped and had a rest. Because he did this I decided to try to catch up the leader who was now about 70 yds ahead and if I did get stitch or something badly I could probably beat Shakeshaft anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference.

However I really made the most successful burst I have ever made on a CC and caught up with the leader who was amazed and stopped for a few seconds. With 1/3 of a mile to go we were together but I just managed to shake him off and win by 20 secs. 

Notes:
1. This must have been a longer cross country course.
2. We ran in the 'pumps' that we used in the gym - not new ones because of the mud, so we had two pairs of pumps, one for the gym and one for cross country running.
3. This was my last term at Newport, before moving to Eston (Middlesbrough).
4. Around this time I hurt my wrist and had blisters, and was being picked up by my dad at the time of the Inter House CC, so didn't take part.
5. There are many more stories from this phase of my life. I wonder, for example, how many readers were taught by cane wielding men suffering from shell shock?