I loved music and dancing as I have said and I blame my mum or I should say I thank my mum for that, God bless her cotton socks. Although really I think it is in my genes because my dad sang on the radio according to my elder siblings, I don’t recall ever hearing him sing, apparently he was very good, so with Irish and Welsh in my blood how could I go wrong?
My mum would have me sing on our summer holidays, and in front of her friends, she was an expert at embarrassing me, her friends would ruffle my hair and say how cute I was, I had curly hair which drove me mad because I could not grow it long because it would just bush out at the sides, I had tried everything to get it straight but to no avail, however women loved it, my sister even said she would love to have my hair, trust me if I could have given it her I would have and so I would get embarrassed but mother just didn’t get it, I was her baby no matter how old I was and having all these women fussing with me, what the hell was I complaining about?
I expressed a lot with song, and I still do, I find you have to read between the lines and so if I don’t have the words to say there is a song that will say it for you.
I frequented most of the clubs in town I use to go to the Antelope Club and the Tam O' Shanter, and the West End, I even got a job as a doorman at the Top Spot where there was a hatch in the door which we would open in order to speak to those wishing to gain entrance, it was discovered that I was underage and so the boss politely let me go.
What I loved the best was the Locarno otherwise known as the rock house, before becoming Tiffany’s.
There would be three events a day on Saturday which I helped out with for a short while, the first one was in the morning which was for kids, we would oversee them and make sure they were safe, some of them kids could really lay it down on the dance floor, mainly they had fun and got some exercise while mum did her shopping, it was fulfilling plus there mum and dad had free time.
In the afternoon it was the teens turn, I was shown where to evict them to if any needed escorting out it was down the back stairs out the fire exit, because as you can imagine things can get out of hand with teenagers although I’m pleased to say that I never had to evict anyone.
Saturday night was my night it was over 21s, this is when I was free to enjoy myself, I was under 21 in fact I was a teenager but I fitted in well and after the event at 2am we would go up to Bobs Café on the A45 where we drank coffee and played the pinball machines.
Coventry was hot with dances in my day; I can’t list the names of events and the youth clubs, we were a booming City.
I was spontaneous as I have said and so when asked by friends about a weekend down Skegness I was gone. Three of us set off with no pre- planning we slept in the car and made fire on the beach, and went clubbing where I met a girl and we shared the back of the car the next day when on the beach the girls wanted to go play in the sea I had no swimwear and so I went in in my jeans, no skinny dipping this was daylight, at night when the police would come around we would douse the fire, it was illegal to have a fire on the beach, the next day when heading home we went to visit my girl at work she was a waitress at a café, then we headed back to good old Cov.
After being expelled from college I worked for Mr G who had four Wimpy bars, three in Coventry and one in Nuneaton, I was general assistant/maintenance, this involved maintaining and supplying the Wimpy bars, I use to service Fairfax Street, Trinity Street and Ironmonger Row, I also visited Nuneaton, I would keep things running such as the gas for drinks machines the ice-cream machines, I would pull stock up on a cart from Fairfax St via the cobblestone steep hill to Trinity and Ironmonger.
I would also help out serving customer and even flipping burgers, and helping in the kitchen, I was surprised that the chips were in powder form called chip mix which you put it in a container pull the leaver and it squeezed out the thin chips.
I was subject to female domination due to being the only male the manageress’s would tell me what was needed and where they were short I was fulfilling the needs and requirements of them and the waitress’s, I am not complaining, I enjoyed it.
I had friends who had rented a house in Bedford Street and they were hungry things were not good frankly they were above there means so while I stocktaking I also took food to feed my friends, what could I do? I know you would say it was there problem and it was no excuse for me to steal and you would be right, there is no justification.
I did leave the Wimpy Bars and started a decorating job with a one man firm we were decorating a new build estate and I was upstairs when I looked out the window overlooking a field where two girls were sitting, they just happened to be looking my way and so I waved and they waved back and so I waved them over I was showing them around the house when my boss returned, he was gobsmacked, but was also amused, he couldn’t wait to tell his wife.
I did go to his house a few times and got to know his wife who was a lovely fun lady, she was also amused when he told her that he had found me with two girls.
He was a great guy to work with; I did glazing on a school, the exterior of flats on Earlsdon Avenue, a good variety of work, I learnt a lot from him and I was trusted to work alone for which I was very grateful, however it was time for me to move on and so with no reason I quit.
Back up in the concrete jungle the dad of Will my brother in law who was married to Kate my sister living South Africa came up for a visit, he got on well with my mum, they had both been to visit South Africa, he was a great guy and I loved him to bits, I was his drinking buddy when he came to Coventry, he was very unsteady on his feet and had a walking stick, he was of a good age and I showed him a good time even in concrete land there was life.
He was a cockney through and through and he loved a good old sing- a-long to the old cockney songs and so I took him up to the Mount Pleasant Pub at Walsgrave where they still had a piano, I had never learned to play but there was someone there who did and I had a word with him and he agreed to play the sing-a-long and so I announced we had a cockney visitor, and off we went, he was the attention of the pub and he loved it, and I can’t thank the Mount Pleasant pub enough for giving him a good time and for making him welcome, Coventry has some fine people.
The other good thing about Walsgrave in them days was the Red Lion Pub which was my local and was also frequented by the nurses from the hospital they also had music it was fun and friendly and so not all was lost, being in the boonies had its frills and thrills.
There was a change coming in my life. I had been helping a woman nine years older than me called Ethel with two children in Wood End and we got into a relationship, I became what was known then as a Toy Boy.
It all started in innocents she was a divorcee twice married who I would visit and help her out with the kids and her elderly mum because when her dad died she gave up her house so she could be with her mum and look after her.
I would babysit and look after her mum because she had a part time evening waitressing job, I even cooked a Sunday dinner one day and I knew something was missing I just couldn’t figure out what it was, her mum eat everything without a murmur, however when Ethel came in I got her dinner out the oven and the first thing she said was where’s the gravy? Shit I knew something was missing, her mum was too polite to say anything, but she whispered to Ethel “dinner was lovely but there was no gravy” she eat it dry poor thing.
Her mum was welsh still with her accent and you know I’m putty to a welsh woman; Ethel was plain English though so she had no chance or though I thought, she was very hot and certainly drew attention.
We would have a drink in the house and play some music not to loud because kids and mum were upstairs in bed, yes this is the classic case of alcohol consumption and just like the Graduate I was seduced by the older woman.
I felt that I was in the wrong because I should have resisted, it was not right for many reasons, namely she was married but going through her divorce, she was a very hot sexy chick but I still had no intention of anything happening it just happened without warning or planning at least on my part, however she knew what she was doing and made all the plays, I just followed.
I felt guilty the next day, I was keeping it secrete but she would call me on the phone and I would walk over from Walsgrave, me and the kids got on great, I was getting attached.
My mum knew I was visiting and was aware of the phone calls, she would tell me a little rhyme, “step into my parlour said the spider to the fly, it’s the prettiest little parlour you ever did spy” my mum was very wise, the affair became known which did not go down well with my mum and family and rightly so. I had upset my mum, and was now hardly home and so I decided to enlist in the military which was something I had been considering before any of this took place, this made my mum both happy and proud.