I completed high school in Derby (without notable achievement) in the summer of '65 and by that time had already been for an interview at the Grimsby College of Further Education as it was then known to qualify as a Radio Officer for the Merchant Navy. Sometime during August of that year Mum and Dad drove me up to Grimsby for the day to get my uniform (from Moss Bros) - we wore full uniform at least during the first year.
During the trip from Derby to Grimsby we would pass by several RAF airfields and, as the trip was on a weekday, they were likely to be operational. Sure enough, as we passed by RAF Syerston, Jet Provosts were conducting circuit training and I was at once captivated. I obviously made my enthusiasm for this spectacle known from the back seat of the car as I vividly recall my father turning around (whilst driving mind you), glaring at me and shouting "Do you want to go to College or not?" I was intimidated by Dad and neither wanting to suffer a confrontation nor disappoint him (he had always steered me towards a Merchant Navy radio career - his choice - and I had blithely accepted this despite my own desire to fly). "No", I said "it's OK". And with that I felt I had (under duress) chosen a particular path in life. I ruminated on this as I watched my desired path disappear through the car's rear window.
The remainder of the day passed without incident. I got fitted for my uniform, cap and all, we looked over the College from the outside and then drove around to Cleethorpes where we discovered Steele's Fish Restaurant - a quaint gabled establishment as I recall - which served portions of fish so large that they overhung the plate on both sides. Naturally, this became a regular place of pilgrimage during my time in Grimsby over the next 3 years.
The remainder of the summer passed in a relaxed way. We went for a week's holiday in North Wales and I vividly recall the day of the funeral of Winston Churchill. Eventually, September came around, I said my goodbyes to school friends, and made the first of many, many trips I would make between Derby & Grimsby over the coming years.
Accomodation for college students was mostly in "digs" with local families. I began by staying (along with another student from Leicester) with a family in New Waltham outside of Grimsby - I cannot recall their names now. I recall that the husband ran a huge Vauxhall Cresta - impressive car at the time. But my time in these particular digs was to be short lived - the husband was already diagnosed with terminal cancer and his condition deteriorated rapidly over the next months such that, come the end of the first term in December, we had to vacate and look elsewhere. Fortunately, the Marine College had purchased a large old house next door to the campus and converted this into live-in accomodation for first year students. So the remainder of the 1966-67 year was spent at the Hall of Residence. Here's a pic of the inmates for that time. . .
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| Hall of Residence 1967 The writer is second from right, middle row |
