I have finally found the time to put down a short account of my days
living in the Valley. More later perhaps if I think of some
interesting events, etc. (eg. life in the "Army Camp").
In 1946, my parents and my brother, Don (older by three years) and I
moved from Toowoomba, where Dad had been stationed in the army, to
Brisbane.
My Dad was eligible for Government housing, so we were allotted a flat
in one of the now vacant huts in the army barracks at Victoria Park,
on Gregory Terrace while we waited our turn for a house.
I remember Mum taking my brother, Don and me to see the headmaster at
Fortitude Valley State Primary School and enrolling us both at the
school. I don’t remember the headmaster’s name.
Don and I both remained at the school and finished our primary years
there, Don until 1948 and I until 1950.
I remember the classrooms I used in the old school until 1948 –and my
teachers. Mr Johns was my favourite because of his fairness and gentle
nature, closely followed by Mr Hunt because of his drawing ability and
his willingness to coach me in caricature.
Mr Hunt drew some caricatures in chalk on the blackboard one day (I
don’t remember what prompted that) and I copied them as best I could
in my exercise book (How I wish I still had that book). Mr Hunt saw my
drawings and was impressed. He suggested I do some drawings on the
blackboard at the upcoming school concert. His offer to coach me
before the concert allayed my fears of humiliation and I agreed. I
received one coaching session in drawing some politicians of the day
– Menzies and Chifley- and I felt confident enough after that to
practice on my own. The act was received OK by the boys and teachers
and it was witnessed by Mr Moxey, the visiting singing instructor. He
was impressed, too, and arranged for me to repeat the act at the next
combined Girls and Boys concert, to be staged in a large classroom
behind the brick Girls’ School. By the day of the concert act, my
private practice had loosened my style so that my drawings became
quite exaggerated beyond Mr Hunt’s renditions and the act was well
received. Mr Moxey that day offered to help me get an apprenticeship
in drafting with the Government when my school days were over. I never
took him up on his kind offer because I was more keen to further my
cartooning interest. Unfortunately there were many distractions before
my cartooning became a fulltime career- over 30 years, in fact. These
events were, however, a huge impression on a young boy and no doubt
helped lay a foundation for my lifelong interest in cartooning and
caricaturing.
During 1949, I moved with the rest of the boys to occupy the front of
the girls school, located just across the railway line. I don’t
remember it being a particularly eventful year, just the cuts from Mr
Best and being left out front of my class by him one day while he was
in another room, only to be almost caught out when he returned sooner
than expected. He heard the kids laughing when I drew a “Foo was here”
type sketch on the board and was curious. I barely had time to rub it
out before he was there. Disappointed, he said, “Aw, I wanted to see
what you’d drawn.” Just as well he didn't because I'd printed "Nudes"
instead of "Foo". Maybe there would have been more cuts.
Don and I were introduced to hockey as a student at FVSS. It was a
popular game and there were enough boys to form at least one team
which competed with other schools every Friday through winter. The
best team in just about all grades was Breakfast Creek SS. They wore
red shirts. We wore blue, the colour of the Valley Club teams which
played weekends. Most school team members also joined the Valley Club.
I kept a record in an exercise book of all my hockey games, club and
school, for the few years I played, right through High School and
maybe a year after. I eventually stopped playing after one season with
spectacles. By the following season, I had become involved in an
amateur animation studio which held promise of a career and I found
all my spare time occupied on that. Then when I eventually married, my
record book was left at the family home. It deteriorated with other
bits and pieces under the house and was eventually thrown out by my
Mum and Don before my sense of relative values returned (if it ever
was with me).
Don and I also played cricket there and when the hockey enthusiasts
(including Don) left school and there were not enough to form a school
team (we still played Club hockey) I remember playing AFL in my final
winter.
It must have been during my grade 6 year that the new school was first
occupied, because Miss Matches was my teacher both before and after
one Christmas holidays break. I was one of four boys invited by Miss
Matches to join her at Mooloolaba for two weeks before Christmas and
another two after Christmas. That new year experienced a wet January
and I remember Miss Matches being distressed that the flooding may
have prevented us from returning to Brisbane in time for the start of
school. The fears were unfounded. She had a stern presence in class
and in public (eg. While waiting for trams) but revealed a soft side
with her interest in individuals.
While we lived at Victoria Park, I spent many Saturdays at the several
Valley movie theatres. I would often go to two on the one day. The
early ones were all B & W but I remember when my senses were startled
one day by the advent of rich colour of “Sinbad the Sailor.” I loved
those old movies. I fell in love with Joan Collins. The serials and
the cartoons were great. Ross Cameron and I went to some of them
together. I also spent a lot of time at the Cameron home, pouring over
his outdoors and fishing magazines as well as his Champion and Hotspur
boys papers and generally being a pest underfoot, I think. We played
cricket on occasions in Anderson Street, outside his house. I had many
a ride in his Dad’s smooth ( Hudson?) sedan car.
We lived in the Valley until some time in 1949 when we finally
received a Housing Commission house at Stafford Heights. 1950 was my
Scholarship year and I was not agreeable to the idea of changing to
the Stafford school for my last Primary year, so my parents allowed me
to travel by tram into the valley to continue at Fortitude Valley SS.
So ended my association with the Valley and the FVSS – only five years
but possibly the most impressionable of my school days and a big part
of my childhood.
I waited for other replies, Ken, but looks like folks have gone
walkabout. Lots of happy memories there. Dunno why you quit hockey
with glasses. Frankie Watts, our dynamic centre-half at Valleys,
played with coke-bottle glasses all his career. We used to tease him
on rainy day matches about fitting windscreen wipers.
My Dad`s car was a 1935 Master Chev, which we used for years on the
Gold Coast as a work vehicle. It never wore out and when Dad
reluctantly sold it, gave more years of service through the sixties.
Think it finished up at the Gold Coast Wreckers. Sob.
The Champion and Hotspur (along with the Wizard?) were my fav Pommy
magazines, full of boy-type adventures. I wouldn`t have been able to
afford them except for the generosity of my second Mum, Mavis, who
lived in Alfred Street, and topped up my pocket-money of two shillings
a week. I repaid her by teaching her to drive her new Terraplane when
I was about twelve--she sitting on three cushions so she could see
over the dash, me sitting next to her with the manual open telling her
which control to move next.. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
My sister had Miss Matches at the old girls school.
Re travelling by tram, I think Frank and Barry Watts also travelled by
tram from Hamilton Road, Chermside to the Valley for most of their
school time. Hamilton Road was the local dump west of the Prince
Charles roundabout, and Frank and I did some serious scrounging there
when we bought our first cars. Keep the memories coming. Ross
On 30 Sep, 01:28, Kendo <kend...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:
> I have finally found the time to put down a short account of my days
> living in the Valley. More later perhaps if I think of some
> interesting events, etc. (eg. life in the "Army Camp").
> In 1946, my parents and my brother, Don (older by three years) and I
> moved from Toowoomba, where Dad had been stationed in the army, to
> Brisbane.
> My Dad was eligible for Government housing, so we were allotted a flat
> in one of the now vacant huts in the army barracks at Victoria Park,
> on Gregory Terrace while we waited our turn for a house.
> I remember Mum taking my brother, Don and me to see the headmaster at
> Fortitude Valley State Primary School and enrolling us both at the
> school. I don’t remember the headmaster’s name.
> Don and I both remained at the school and finished our primary years
> there, Don until 1948 and I until 1950.
> I remember the classrooms I used in the old school until 1948 –and my
> teachers. Mr Johns was my favourite because of his fairness and gentle
> nature, closely followed by Mr Hunt because of his drawing ability and
> his willingness to coach me in caricature.
> Mr Hunt drew some caricatures in chalk on the blackboard one day (I
> don’t remember what prompted that) and I copied them as best I could
> in my exercise book (How I wish I still had that book). Mr Hunt saw my
> drawings and was impressed. He suggested I do some drawings on the
> blackboard at the upcoming school concert. His offer to coach me
> before the concert allayed my fears of humiliation and I agreed. I
> received one coaching session in drawing some politicians of the day
> – Menzies and Chifley- and I felt confident enough after that to
> practice on my own. The act was received OK by the boys and teachers
> and it was witnessed by Mr Moxey, the visiting singing instructor. He
> was impressed, too, and arranged for me to repeat the act at the next
> combined Girls and Boys concert, to be staged in a large classroom
> behind the brick Girls’ School. By the day of the concert act, my
> private practice had loosened my style so that my drawings became
> quite exaggerated beyond Mr Hunt’s renditions and the act was well
> received. Mr Moxey that day offered to help me get an apprenticeship
> in drafting with the Government when my school days were over. I never
> took him up on his kind offer because I was more keen to further my
> cartooning interest. Unfortunately there were many distractions before
> my cartooning became a fulltime career- over 30 years, in fact. These
> events were, however, a huge impression on a young boy and no doubt
> helped lay a foundation for my lifelong interest in cartooning and
> caricaturing.
> During 1949, I moved with the rest of the boys to occupy the front of
> the girls school, located just across the railway line. I don’t
> remember it being a particularly eventful year, just the cuts from Mr
> Best and being left out front of my class by him one day while he was
> in another room, only to be almost caught out when he returned sooner
> than expected. He heard the kids laughing when I drew a “Foo was here”
> type sketch on the board and was curious. I barely had time to rub it
> out before he was there. Disappointed, he said, “Aw, I wanted to see
> what you’d drawn.” Just as well he didn't because I'd printed "Nudes"
> instead of "Foo". Maybe there would have been more cuts.
> Don and I were introduced to hockey as a student at FVSS. It was a
> popular game and there were enough boys to form at least one team
> which competed with other schools every Friday through winter. The
> best team in just about all grades was Breakfast Creek SS. They wore
> red shirts. We wore blue, the colour of the Valley Club teams which
> played weekends. Most school team members also joined the Valley Club.
> I kept a record in an exercise book of all my hockey games, club and
> school, for the few years I played, right through High School and
> maybe a year after. I eventually stopped playing after one season with
> spectacles. By the following season, I had become involved in an
> amateur animation studio which held promise of a career and I found
> all my spare time occupied on that. Then when I eventually married, my
> record book was left at the family home. It deteriorated with other
> bits and pieces under the house and was eventually thrown out by my
> Mum and Don before my sense of relative values returned (if it ever
> was with me).
> Don and I also played cricket there and when the hockey enthusiasts
> (including Don) left school and there were not enough to form a school
> team (we still played Club hockey) I remember playing AFL in my final
> winter.
> It must have been during my grade 6 year that the new school was first
> occupied, because Miss Matches was my teacher both before and after
> one Christmas holidays break. I was one of four boys invited by Miss
> Matches to join her at Mooloolaba for two weeks before Christmas and
> another two after Christmas. That new year experienced a wet January
> and I remember Miss Matches being distressed that the flooding may
> have prevented us from returning to Brisbane in time for the start of
> school. The fears were unfounded. She had a stern presence in class
> and in public (eg. While waiting for trams) but revealed a soft side
> with her interest in individuals.
> While we lived at Victoria Park, I spent many Saturdays at the several
> Valley movie theatres. I would often go to two on the one day. The
> early ones were all B & W but I remember when my senses were startled
> one day by the advent of rich colour of “Sinbad the Sailor.” I loved
> those old movies. I fell in love with Joan Collins. The serials and
> the cartoons were great. Ross Cameron and I went to some of them
> together. I also spent a lot of time at the Cameron home, pouring over
> his outdoors and fishing magazines as well as his Champion and Hotspur
> boys papers and generally being a pest underfoot, I think. We played
> cricket on occasions in Anderson Street, outside his house. I had many
> a ride in his Dad’s smooth ( Hudson?) sedan car.
> We lived in the Valley until some time in 1949 when we finally
> received a Housing Commission house at Stafford Heights. 1950 was my
> Scholarship year and I was not agreeable to the idea of changing to
> the Stafford school for my last Primary year, so my parents allowed me
> to travel by tram into the valley to continue at Fortitude Valley SS.
> So ended my association with the Valley and the FVSS – only five years
> but possibly the most impressionable of my school days and a big part
> of my childhood.
Ross, maybe the glasses were an excuse. Main reason was my art calling.
Great to learn of those details. I managed to buy a copy of Hotspur, Champion and Wizard on eBay
a couple of years ago.
I did not know the Watts travelled from Chermside for all that time. Wow!
Kendo
----- Original Message ----- From: "roscoe" <finar...@gmail.com>
To: "Fortitude Valley State School PP" <fvsspp@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 12:55 PM
Subject: [fvss-past-pupils-web page message] Re: My Valley School Days
I waited for other replies, Ken, but looks like folks have gone
walkabout. Lots of happy memories there. Dunno why you quit hockey
with glasses. Frankie Watts, our dynamic centre-half at Valleys,
played with coke-bottle glasses all his career. We used to tease him
on rainy day matches about fitting windscreen wipers.
My Dad`s car was a 1935 Master Chev, which we used for years on the
Gold Coast as a work vehicle. It never wore out and when Dad
reluctantly sold it, gave more years of service through the sixties.
Think it finished up at the Gold Coast Wreckers. Sob.
The Champion and Hotspur (along with the Wizard?) were my fav Pommy
magazines, full of boy-type adventures. I wouldn`t have been able to
afford them except for the generosity of my second Mum, Mavis, who
lived in Alfred Street, and topped up my pocket-money of two shillings
a week. I repaid her by teaching her to drive her new Terraplane when
I was about twelve--she sitting on three cushions so she could see
over the dash, me sitting next to her with the manual open telling her
which control to move next.. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
My sister had Miss Matches at the old girls school.
Re travelling by tram, I think Frank and Barry Watts also travelled by
tram from Hamilton Road, Chermside to the Valley for most of their
school time. Hamilton Road was the local dump west of the Prince
Charles roundabout, and Frank and I did some serious scrounging there
when we bought our first cars. Keep the memories coming. Ross
On 30 Sep, 01:28, Kendo <kend...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:
> I have finally found the time to put down a short account of my days
> living in the Valley. More later perhaps if I think of some
> interesting events, etc. (eg. life in the "Army Camp").
> In 1946, my parents and my brother, Don (older by three years) and I
> moved from Toowoomba, where Dad had been stationed in the army, to
> Brisbane.
> My Dad was eligible for Government housing, so we were allotted a flat
> in one of the now vacant huts in the army barracks at Victoria Park,
> on Gregory Terrace while we waited our turn for a house.
> I remember Mum taking my brother, Don and me to see the headmaster at
> Fortitude Valley State Primary School and enrolling us both at the
> school. I don’t remember the headmaster’s name.
> Don and I both remained at the school and finished our primary years
> there, Don until 1948 and I until 1950.
> I remember the classrooms I used in the old school until 1948 –and my
> teachers. Mr Johns was my favourite because of his fairness and gentle
> nature, closely followed by Mr Hunt because of his drawing ability and
> his willingness to coach me in caricature.
> Mr Hunt drew some caricatures in chalk on the blackboard one day (I
> don’t remember what prompted that) and I copied them as best I could
> in my exercise book (How I wish I still had that book). Mr Hunt saw my
> drawings and was impressed. He suggested I do some drawings on the
> blackboard at the upcoming school concert. His offer to coach me
> before the concert allayed my fears of humiliation and I agreed. I
> received one coaching session in drawing some politicians of the day
> – Menzies and Chifley- and I felt confident enough after that to
> practice on my own. The act was received OK by the boys and teachers
> and it was witnessed by Mr Moxey, the visiting singing instructor. He
> was impressed, too, and arranged for me to repeat the act at the next
> combined Girls and Boys concert, to be staged in a large classroom
> behind the brick Girls’ School. By the day of the concert act, my
> private practice had loosened my style so that my drawings became
> quite exaggerated beyond Mr Hunt’s renditions and the act was well
> received. Mr Moxey that day offered to help me get an apprenticeship
> in drafting with the Government when my school days were over. I never
> took him up on his kind offer because I was more keen to further my
> cartooning interest. Unfortunately there were many distractions before
> my cartooning became a fulltime career- over 30 years, in fact. These
> events were, however, a huge impression on a young boy and no doubt
> helped lay a foundation for my lifelong interest in cartooning and
> caricaturing.
> During 1949, I moved with the rest of the boys to occupy the front of
> the girls school, located just across the railway line. I don’t
> remember it being a particularly eventful year, just the cuts from Mr
> Best and being left out front of my class by him one day while he was
> in another room, only to be almost caught out when he returned sooner
> than expected. He heard the kids laughing when I drew a “Foo was here”
> type sketch on the board and was curious. I barely had time to rub it
> out before he was there. Disappointed, he said, “Aw, I wanted to see
> what you’d drawn.” Just as well he didn't because I'd printed "Nudes"
> instead of "Foo". Maybe there would have been more cuts.
> Don and I were introduced to hockey as a student at FVSS. It was a
> popular game and there were enough boys to form at least one team
> which competed with other schools every Friday through winter. The
> best team in just about all grades was Breakfast Creek SS. They wore
> red shirts. We wore blue, the colour of the Valley Club teams which
> played weekends. Most school team members also joined the Valley Club.
> I kept a record in an exercise book of all my hockey games, club and
> school, for the few years I played, right through High School and
> maybe a year after. I eventually stopped playing after one season with
> spectacles. By the following season, I had become involved in an
> amateur animation studio which held promise of a career and I found
> all my spare time occupied on that. Then when I eventually married, my
> record book was left at the family home. It deteriorated with other
> bits and pieces under the house and was eventually thrown out by my
> Mum and Don before my sense of relative values returned (if it ever
> was with me).
> Don and I also played cricket there and when the hockey enthusiasts
> (including Don) left school and there were not enough to form a school
> team (we still played Club hockey) I remember playing AFL in my final
> winter.
> It must have been during my grade 6 year that the new school was first
> occupied, because Miss Matches was my teacher both before and after
> one Christmas holidays break. I was one of four boys invited by Miss
> Matches to join her at Mooloolaba for two weeks before Christmas and
> another two after Christmas. That new year experienced a wet January
> and I remember Miss Matches being distressed that the flooding may
> have prevented us from returning to Brisbane in time for the start of
> school. The fears were unfounded. She had a stern presence in class
> and in public (eg. While waiting for trams) but revealed a soft side
> with her interest in individuals.
> While we lived at Victoria Park, I spent many Saturdays at the several
> Valley movie theatres. I would often go to two on the one day. The
> early ones were all B & W but I remember when my senses were startled
> one day by the advent of rich colour of “Sinbad the Sailor.” I loved
> those old movies. I fell in love with Joan Collins. The serials and
> the cartoons were great. Ross Cameron and I went to some of them
> together. I also spent a lot of time at the Cameron home, pouring over
> his outdoors and fishing magazines as well as his Champion and Hotspur
> boys papers and generally being a pest underfoot, I think. We played
> cricket on occasions in Anderson Street, outside his house. I had many
> a ride in his Dad’s smooth ( Hudson?) sedan car.
> We lived in the Valley until some time in 1949 when we finally
> received a Housing Commission house at Stafford Heights. 1950 was my
> Scholarship year and I was not agreeable to the idea of changing to
> the Stafford school for my last Primary year, so my parents allowed me
> to travel by tram into the valley to continue at Fortitude Valley SS.
> So ended my association with the Valley and the FVSS – only five years
> but possibly the most impressionable of my school days and a big part
> of my childhood.
Remember our construction plans while delving through the old Hobbies
Illustrated and Hobbies Junior? Unfortunately, our finances just ran
to buying the mags, not the components. I have been building up a full
suite of the old HIs, but still a few to go. Pity the youth of
following generations never got exposed to these projects. Now they
just buy the completed models. Reading those science articles probably
kicked off my interest in gold prospecting.
P.S. Think the other boy`s book I used to get was the 'Adventure'?
On 13 Oct, 02:04, "Ken Dove" <kend...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:
> Ross, maybe the glasses were an excuse. Main reason was my art calling.
> Great to learn of those details. I managed to buy a copy of Hotspur,
> Champion and Wizard on eBay
> a couple of years ago.
> I did not know the Watts travelled from Chermside for all that time. Wow!
> Kendo
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "roscoe" <finar...@gmail.com>
> To: "Fortitude Valley State School PP" <fvsspp@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 12:55 PM
> Subject: [fvss-past-pupils-web page message] Re: My Valley School Days
> I waited for other replies, Ken, but looks like folks have gone
> walkabout. Lots of happy memories there. Dunno why you quit hockey
> with glasses. Frankie Watts, our dynamic centre-half at Valleys,
> played with coke-bottle glasses all his career. We used to tease him
> on rainy day matches about fitting windscreen wipers.
> My Dad`s car was a 1935 Master Chev, which we used for years on the
> Gold Coast as a work vehicle. It never wore out and when Dad
> reluctantly sold it, gave more years of service through the sixties.
> Think it finished up at the Gold Coast Wreckers. Sob.
> The Champion and Hotspur (along with the Wizard?) were my fav Pommy
> magazines, full of boy-type adventures. I wouldn`t have been able to
> afford them except for the generosity of my second Mum, Mavis, who
> lived in Alfred Street, and topped up my pocket-money of two shillings
> a week. I repaid her by teaching her to drive her new Terraplane when
> I was about twelve--she sitting on three cushions so she could see
> over the dash, me sitting next to her with the manual open telling her
> which control to move next.. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
> My sister had Miss Matches at the old girls school.
> Re travelling by tram, I think Frank and Barry Watts also travelled by
> tram from Hamilton Road, Chermside to the Valley for most of their
> school time. Hamilton Road was the local dump west of the Prince
> Charles roundabout, and Frank and I did some serious scrounging there
> when we bought our first cars. Keep the memories coming. Ross
> On 30 Sep, 01:28, Kendo <kend...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:
> > I have finally found the time to put down a short account of my days
> > living in the Valley. More later perhaps if I think of some
> > interesting events, etc. (eg. life in the "Army Camp").
> > In 1946, my parents and my brother, Don (older by three years) and I
> > moved from Toowoomba, where Dad had been stationed in the army, to
> > Brisbane.
> > My Dad was eligible for Government housing, so we were allotted a flat
> > in one of the now vacant huts in the army barracks at Victoria Park,
> > on Gregory Terrace while we waited our turn for a house.
> > I remember Mum taking my brother, Don and me to see the headmaster at
> > Fortitude Valley State Primary School and enrolling us both at the
> > school. I don’t remember the headmaster’s name.
> > Don and I both remained at the school and finished our primary years
> > there, Don until 1948 and I until 1950.
> > I remember the classrooms I used in the old school until 1948 –and my
> > teachers. Mr Johns was my favourite because of his fairness and gentle
> > nature, closely followed by Mr Hunt because of his drawing ability and
> > his willingness to coach me in caricature.
> > Mr Hunt drew some caricatures in chalk on the blackboard one day (I
> > don’t remember what prompted that) and I copied them as best I could
> > in my exercise book (How I wish I still had that book). Mr Hunt saw my
> > drawings and was impressed. He suggested I do some drawings on the
> > blackboard at the upcoming school concert. His offer to coach me
> > before the concert allayed my fears of humiliation and I agreed. I
> > received one coaching session in drawing some politicians of the day
> > – Menzies and Chifley- and I felt confident enough after that to
> > practice on my own. The act was received OK by the boys and teachers
> > and it was witnessed by Mr Moxey, the visiting singing instructor. He
> > was impressed, too, and arranged for me to repeat the act at the next
> > combined Girls and Boys concert, to be staged in a large classroom
> > behind the brick Girls’ School. By the day of the concert act, my
> > private practice had loosened my style so that my drawings became
> > quite exaggerated beyond Mr Hunt’s renditions and the act was well
> > received. Mr Moxey that day offered to help me get an apprenticeship
> > in drafting with the Government when my school days were over. I never
> > took him up on his kind offer because I was more keen to further my
> > cartooning interest. Unfortunately there were many distractions before
> > my cartooning became a fulltime career- over 30 years, in fact. These
> > events were, however, a huge impression on a young boy and no doubt
> > helped lay a foundation for my lifelong interest in cartooning and
> > caricaturing.
> > During 1949, I moved with the rest of the boys to occupy the front of
> > the girls school, located just across the railway line. I don’t
> > remember it being a particularly eventful year, just the cuts from Mr
> > Best and being left out front of my class by him one day while he was
> > in another room, only to be almost caught out when he returned sooner
> > than expected. He heard the kids laughing when I drew a “Foo was here”
> > type sketch on the board and was curious. I barely had time to rub it
> > out before he was there. Disappointed, he said, “Aw, I wanted to see
> > what you’d drawn.” Just as well he didn't because I'd printed "Nudes"
> > instead of "Foo". Maybe there would have been more cuts.
> > Don and I were introduced to hockey as a student at FVSS. It was a
> > popular game and there were enough boys to form at least one team
> > which competed with other schools every Friday through winter. The
> > best team in just about all grades was Breakfast Creek SS. They wore
> > red shirts. We wore blue, the colour of the Valley Club teams which
> > played weekends. Most school team members also joined the Valley Club.
> > I kept a record in an exercise book of all my hockey games, club and
> > school, for the few years I played, right through High School and
> > maybe a year after. I eventually stopped playing after one season with
> > spectacles. By the following season, I had become involved in an
> > amateur animation studio which held promise of a career and I found
> > all my spare time occupied on that. Then when I eventually married, my
> > record book was left at the family home. It deteriorated with other
> > bits and pieces under the house and was eventually thrown out by my
> > Mum and Don before my sense of relative values returned (if it ever
> > was with me).
> > Don and I also played cricket there and when the hockey enthusiasts
> > (including Don) left school and there were not enough to form a school
> > team (we still played Club hockey) I remember playing AFL in my final
> > winter.
> > It must have been during my grade 6 year that the new school was first
> > occupied, because Miss Matches was my teacher both before and after
> > one Christmas holidays break. I was one of four boys invited by Miss
> > Matches to join her at Mooloolaba for two weeks before Christmas and
> > another two after Christmas. That new year experienced a wet January
> > and I remember Miss Matches being distressed that the flooding may
> > have prevented us from returning to Brisbane in time for the start of
> > school. The fears were unfounded. She had a stern presence in class
> > and in public (eg. While waiting for trams) but revealed a soft side
> > with her interest in individuals.
> > While we lived at Victoria Park, I spent many Saturdays at the several
> > Valley movie theatres. I would often go to two on the one day. The
> > early ones were all B & W but I remember when my senses were startled
> > one day by the advent of rich colour of “Sinbad the Sailor.” I loved
> > those old movies. I fell in love with Joan Collins. The serials and
> > the cartoons were great. Ross Cameron and I went to some of them
> > together. I also spent a lot of time at the Cameron home, pouring over
> > his outdoors and fishing magazines as well as his Champion and Hotspur
> > boys papers and generally being a pest underfoot, I think. We played
> > cricket on occasions in Anderson Street, outside his house. I had many
> > a ride in his Dad’s smooth ( Hudson?) sedan car.
> > We lived in the Valley until some time in 1949 when we finally
> > received a Housing Commission house at Stafford Heights. 1950 was my
> > Scholarship year and I was not agreeable to the idea of changing to
> > the Stafford school for my last Primary year, so my parents allowed me
> > to travel by tram into the valley to continue at Fortitude Valley SS.
> > So ended my association with the Valley and the FVSS – only five years
> > but possibly the most impressionable of my school days and a big part
> > of my childhood.
> I waited for other replies, Ken, but looks like folks have gone
> walkabout. Lots of happy memories there. Dunno why you quit hockey
> with glasses. Frankie Watts, our dynamic centre-half at Valleys,
> played with coke-bottle glasses all his career. We used to tease him
> on rainy day matches about fitting windscreen wipers.
> My Dad`s car was a 1935 Master Chev, which we used for years on the
> Gold Coast as a work vehicle. It never wore out and when Dad
> reluctantly sold it, gave more years of service through the sixties.
> Think it finished up at the Gold Coast Wreckers. Sob.
> The Champion and Hotspur (along with the Wizard?) were my fav Pommy
> magazines, full of boy-type adventures. I wouldn`t have been able to
> afford them except for the generosity of my second Mum, Mavis, who
> lived in Alfred Street, and topped up my pocket-money of two shillings
> a week. I repaid her by teaching her to drive her new Terraplane when
> I was about twelve--she sitting on three cushions so she could see
> over the dash, me sitting next to her with the manual open telling her
> which control to move next.. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
> My sister had Miss Matches at the old girls school.
> Re travelling by tram, I think Frank and Barry Watts also travelled by
> tram from Hamilton Road, Chermside to the Valley for most of their
> school time. Hamilton Road was the local dump west of the Prince
> Charles roundabout, and Frank and I did some serious scrounging there
> when we bought our first cars. Keep the memories coming. Ross
> On 30 Sep, 01:28, Kendo <kend...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:
> > I have finally found the time to put down a short account of my days
> > living in the Valley. More later perhaps if I think of some
> > interesting events, etc. (eg. life in the "Army Camp").
> > In 1946, my parents and my brother, Don (older by three years) and I
> > moved from Toowoomba, where Dad had been stationed in the army, to
> > Brisbane.
> > My Dad was eligible for Government housing, so we were allotted a flat
> > in one of the now vacant huts in the army barracks at Victoria Park,
> > on Gregory Terrace while we waited our turn for a house.
> > I remember Mum taking my brother, Don and me to see the headmaster at
> > Fortitude Valley State Primary School and enrolling us both at the
> > school. I don’t remember the headmaster’s name.
> > Don and I both remained at the school and finished our primary years
> > there, Don until 1948 and I until 1950.
> > I remember the classrooms I used in the old school until 1948 –and my
> > teachers. Mr Johns was my favourite because of his fairness and gentle
> > nature, closely followed by Mr Hunt because of his drawing ability and
> > his willingness to coach me in caricature.
> > Mr Hunt drew some caricatures in chalk on the blackboard one day (I
> > don’t remember what prompted that) and I copied them as best I could
> > in my exercise book (How I wish I still had that book). Mr Hunt saw my
> > drawings and was impressed. He suggested I do some drawings on the
> > blackboard at the upcoming school concert. His offer to coach me
> > before the concert allayed my fears of humiliation and I agreed. I
> > received one coaching session in drawing some politicians of the day
> > – Menzies and Chifley- and I felt confident enough after that to
> > practice on my own. The act was received OK by the boys and teachers
> > and it was witnessed by Mr Moxey, the visiting singing instructor. He
> > was impressed, too, and arranged for me to repeat the act at the next
> > combined Girls and Boys concert, to be staged in a large classroom
> > behind the brick Girls’ School. By the day of the concert act, my
> > private practice had loosened my style so that my drawings became
> > quite exaggerated beyond Mr Hunt’s renditions and the act was well
> > received. Mr Moxey that day offered to help me get an apprenticeship
> > in drafting with the Government when my school days were over. I never
> > took him up on his kind offer because I was more keen to further my
> > cartooning interest. Unfortunately there were many distractions before
> > my cartooning became a fulltime career- over 30 years, in fact. These
> > events were, however, a huge impression on a young boy and no doubt
> > helped lay a foundation for my lifelong interest in cartooning and
> > caricaturing.
> > During 1949, I moved with the rest of the boys to occupy the front of
> > the girls school, located just across the railway line. I don’t
> > remember it being a particularly eventful year, just the cuts from Mr
> > Best and being left out front of my class by him one day while he was
> > in another room, only to be almost caught out when he returned sooner
> > than expected. He heard the kids laughing when I drew a “Foo was here”
> > type sketch on the board and was curious. I barely had time to rub it
> > out before he was there. Disappointed, he said, “Aw, I wanted to see
> > what you’d drawn.” Just as well he didn't because I'd printed "Nudes"
> > instead of "Foo". Maybe there would have been more cuts.
> > Don and I were introduced to hockey as a student at FVSS. It was a
> > popular game and there were enough boys to form at least one team
> > which competed with other schools every Friday through winter. The
> > best team in just about all grades was Breakfast Creek SS. They wore
> > red shirts. We wore blue, the colour of the Valley Club teams which
> > played weekends. Most school team members also joined the Valley Club.
> > I kept a record in an exercise book of all my hockey games, club and
> > school, for the few years I played, right through High School and
> > maybe a year after. I eventually stopped playing after one season with
> > spectacles. By the following season, I had become involved in an
> > amateur animation studio which held promise of a career and I found
> > all my spare time occupied on that. Then when I eventually married, my
> > record book was left at the family home. It deteriorated with other
> > bits and pieces under the house and was eventually thrown out by my
> > Mum and Don before my sense of relative values returned (if it ever
> > was with me).
> > Don and I also played cricket there and when the hockey enthusiasts
> > (including Don) left school and there were not enough to form a school
> > team (we still played Club hockey) I remember playing AFL in my final
> > winter.
> > It must have been during my grade 6 year that the new school was first
> > occupied, because Miss Matches was my teacher both before and after
> > one Christmas holidays break. I was one of four boys invited by Miss
> > Matches to join her at Mooloolaba for two weeks before Christmas and
> > another two after Christmas. That new year experienced a wet January
> > and I remember Miss Matches being distressed that the flooding may
> > have prevented us from returning to Brisbane in time for the start of
> > school. The fears were unfounded. She had a stern presence in class
> > and in public (eg. While waiting for trams) but revealed a soft side
> > with her interest in individuals.
> > While we lived at Victoria Park, I spent many Saturdays at the several
> > Valley movie theatres. I would often go to two on the one day. The
> > early ones were all B & W but I remember when my senses were startled
> > one day by the advent of rich colour of “Sinbad the Sailor.” I loved
> > those old movies. I fell in love with Joan Collins. The serials and
> > the cartoons were great. Ross Cameron and I went to some of them
> > together. I also spent a lot of time at the Cameron home, pouring over
> > his outdoors and fishing magazines as well as his Champion and Hotspur
> > boys papers and generally being a pest underfoot, I think. We played
> > cricket on occasions in Anderson Street, outside his house. I had many
> > a ride in his Dad’s smooth ( Hudson?) sedan car.
> > We lived in the Valley until some time in 1949 when we finally
> > received a Housing Commission house at Stafford Heights. 1950 was my
> > Scholarship year and I was not agreeable to the idea of changing to
> > the Stafford school for my last Primary year, so my parents allowed me
> > to travel by tram into the valley to continue at Fortitude Valley SS.
> > So ended my association with the Valley and the FVSS – only five years
> > but possibly the most impressionable of my school days and a big part
> > of my childhood.
> > I waited for other replies, Ken, but looks like folks have gone
> > walkabout. Lots of happy memories there. Dunno why you quit hockey
> > with glasses. Frankie Watts, our dynamic centre-half at Valleys,
> > played with coke-bottle glasses all his career. We used to tease him
> > on rainy day matches about fitting windscreen wipers.
> > My Dad`s car was a 1935 Master Chev, which we used for years on the
> > Gold Coast as a work vehicle. It never wore out and when Dad
> > reluctantly sold it, gave more years of service through the sixties.
> > Think it finished up at the Gold Coast Wreckers. Sob.
> > The Champion and Hotspur (along with the Wizard?) were my fav Pommy
> > magazines, full of boy-type adventures. I wouldn`t have been able to
> > afford them except for the generosity of my second Mum, Mavis, who
> > lived in Alfred Street, and topped up my pocket-money of two shillings
> > a week. I repaid her by teaching her to drive her new Terraplane when
> > I was about twelve--she sitting on three cushions so she could see
> > over the dash, me sitting next to her with the manual open telling her
> > which control to move next.. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
> > My sister had Miss Matches at the old girls school.
> > Re travelling by tram, I think Frank and Barry Watts also travelled by
> > tram from Hamilton Road, Chermside to the Valley for most of their
> > school time. Hamilton Road was the local dump west of the Prince
> > Charles roundabout, and Frank and I did some serious scrounging there
> > when we bought our first cars. Keep the memories coming. Ross
> > On 30 Sep, 01:28, Kendo <kend...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:
> > > I have finally found the time to put down a short account of my days
> > > living in the Valley. More later perhaps if I think of some
> > > interesting events, etc. (eg. life in the "Army Camp").
> > > In 1946, my parents and my brother, Don (older by three years) and I
> > > moved from Toowoomba, where Dad had been stationed in the army, to
> > > Brisbane.
> > > My Dad was eligible for Government housing, so we were allotted a flat
> > > in one of the now vacant huts in the army barracks at Victoria Park,
> > > on Gregory Terrace while we waited our turn for a house.
> > > I remember Mum taking my brother, Don and me to see the headmaster at
> > > Fortitude Valley State Primary School and enrolling us both at the
> > > school. I don’t remember the headmaster’s name.
> > > Don and I both remained at the school and finished our primary years
> > > there, Don until 1948 and I until 1950.
> > > I remember the classrooms I used in the old school until 1948 –and my
> > > teachers. Mr Johns was my favourite because of his fairness and gentle
> > > nature, closely followed by Mr Hunt because of his drawing ability and
> > > his willingness to coach me in caricature.
> > > Mr Hunt drew some caricatures in chalk on the blackboard one day (I
> > > don’t remember what prompted that) and I copied them as best I could
> > > in my exercise book (How I wish I still had that book). Mr Hunt saw my
> > > drawings and was impressed. He suggested I do some drawings on the
> > > blackboard at the upcoming school concert. His offer to coach me
> > > before the concert allayed my fears of humiliation and I agreed. I
> > > received one coaching session in drawing some politicians of the day
> > > – Menzies and Chifley- and I felt confident enough after that to
> > > practice on my own. The act was received OK by the boys and teachers
> > > and it was witnessed by Mr Moxey, the visiting singing instructor. He
> > > was impressed, too, and arranged for me to repeat the act at the next
> > > combined Girls and Boys concert, to be staged in a large classroom
> > > behind the brick Girls’ School. By the day of the concert act, my
> > > private practice had loosened my style so that my drawings became
> > > quite exaggerated beyond Mr Hunt’s renditions and the act was well
> > > received. Mr Moxey that day offered to help me get an apprenticeship
> > > in drafting with the Government when my school days were over. I never
> > > took him up on his kind offer because I was more keen to further my
> > > cartooning interest. Unfortunately there were many distractions before
> > > my cartooning became a fulltime career- over 30 years, in fact. These
> > > events were, however, a huge impression on a young boy and no doubt
> > > helped lay a foundation for my lifelong interest in cartooning and
> > > caricaturing.
> > > During 1949, I moved with the rest of the boys to occupy the front of
> > > the girls school, located just across the railway line. I don’t
> > > remember it being a particularly eventful year, just the cuts from Mr
> > > Best and being left out front of my class by him one day while he was
> > > in another room, only to be almost caught out when he returned sooner
> > > than expected. He heard the kids laughing when I drew a “Foo was here”
> > > type sketch on the board and was curious. I barely had time to rub it
> > > out before he was there. Disappointed, he said, “Aw, I wanted to see
> > > what you’d drawn.” Just as well he didn't because I'd printed "Nudes"
> > > instead of "Foo". Maybe there would have been more cuts.
> > > Don and I were introduced to hockey as a student at FVSS. It was a
> > > popular game and there were enough boys to form at least one team
> > > which competed with other schools every Friday through winter. The
> > > best team in just about all grades was Breakfast Creek SS. They wore
> > > red shirts. We wore blue, the colour of the Valley Club teams which
> > > played weekends. Most school team members also joined the Valley Club.
> > > I kept a record in an exercise book of all my hockey games, club and
> > > school, for the few years I played, right through High School and
> > > maybe a year after. I eventually stopped playing after one season with
> > > spectacles. By the following season, I had become involved in an
> > > amateur animation studio which held promise of a career and I found
> > > all my spare time occupied on that. Then when I eventually married, my
> > > record book was left at the family home. It deteriorated with other
> > > bits and pieces under the house and was eventually thrown out by my
> > > Mum and Don before my sense of relative values returned (if it ever
> > > was with me).
> > > Don and I also played cricket there and when the hockey enthusiasts
> > > (including Don) left school and there were not enough to form a school
> > > team (we still played Club hockey) I remember playing AFL in my final
> > > winter.
> > > It must have been during my grade 6 year that the new school was first
> > > occupied, because Miss Matches was my teacher both before and after
> > > one Christmas holidays break. I was one of four boys invited by Miss
> > > Matches to join her at Mooloolaba for two weeks before Christmas and
> > > another two after Christmas. That new year experienced a wet January
> > > and I remember Miss Matches being distressed that the flooding may
> > > have prevented us from returning to Brisbane in time for the start of
> > > school. The fears were unfounded. She had a stern presence in class
> > > and in public (eg. While waiting for trams) but revealed a soft side
> > > with her interest in individuals.
> > > While we lived at Victoria Park, I spent many Saturdays at the several
> > > Valley movie theatres. I would often go to two on the one day. The
> > > early ones were all B & W but I remember when my senses were startled
> > > one day by the advent of rich colour of “Sinbad the Sailor.” I loved
> > > those old movies. I fell in love with Joan Collins. The serials and
> > > the cartoons were great. Ross Cameron and I went to some of them
> > > together. I also spent a lot of time at the Cameron home, pouring over
> > > his outdoors and fishing magazines as well as his Champion and Hotspur
> > > boys papers and generally being a pest underfoot, I think. We played
> > > cricket on occasions in Anderson Street, outside his house. I had many
> > > a ride in his Dad’s smooth ( Hudson?) sedan car.
> > > We lived in the Valley until some time in 1949 when we finally
> > > received a Housing Commission house at Stafford Heights. 1950 was my
> > > Scholarship year and I was not agreeable to the idea of changing to
> > > the Stafford school for my last Primary year, so my parents allowed me
> > > to travel by tram into the valley to continue at Fortitude Valley SS.
> > > So ended my association with the Valley and the FVSS – only five years
> > > but possibly the most impressionable of my school days and a big part
> > > of my childhood.
Now you are taxing the grey matter! I have acquired one year's Hobbies
Illustrated but I'd forgotten about the Hobbies Junior.
The "Adventure" featured outdoors stuff- fishing, etc.- didn't it?
----- Original Message ----- From: "roscoe" <finar...@gmail.com>
To: "Fortitude Valley State School PP" <fvsspp@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 11:28 AM
Subject: [fvss-past-pupils-web page message] Re: My Valley School Days
Remember our construction plans while delving through the old Hobbies
Illustrated and Hobbies Junior? Unfortunately, our finances just ran
to buying the mags, not the components. I have been building up a full
suite of the old HIs, but still a few to go. Pity the youth of
following generations never got exposed to these projects. Now they
just buy the completed models. Reading those science articles probably
kicked off my interest in gold prospecting.
P.S. Think the other boy`s book I used to get was the 'Adventure'?
On 13 Oct, 02:04, "Ken Dove" <kend...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:
> Ross, maybe the glasses were an excuse. Main reason was my art calling.
> Great to learn of those details. I managed to buy a copy of Hotspur,
> Champion and Wizard on eBay
> a couple of years ago.
> I did not know the Watts travelled from Chermside for all that time. Wow!
> Kendo
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "roscoe" <finar...@gmail.com>
> To: "Fortitude Valley State School PP" <fvsspp@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 12:55 PM
> Subject: [fvss-past-pupils-web page message] Re: My Valley School Days
> I waited for other replies, Ken, but looks like folks have gone
> walkabout. Lots of happy memories there. Dunno why you quit hockey
> with glasses. Frankie Watts, our dynamic centre-half at Valleys,
> played with coke-bottle glasses all his career. We used to tease him
> on rainy day matches about fitting windscreen wipers.
> My Dad`s car was a 1935 Master Chev, which we used for years on the
> Gold Coast as a work vehicle. It never wore out and when Dad
> reluctantly sold it, gave more years of service through the sixties.
> Think it finished up at the Gold Coast Wreckers. Sob.
> The Champion and Hotspur (along with the Wizard?) were my fav Pommy
> magazines, full of boy-type adventures. I wouldn`t have been able to
> afford them except for the generosity of my second Mum, Mavis, who
> lived in Alfred Street, and topped up my pocket-money of two shillings
> a week. I repaid her by teaching her to drive her new Terraplane when
> I was about twelve--she sitting on three cushions so she could see
> over the dash, me sitting next to her with the manual open telling her
> which control to move next.. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
> My sister had Miss Matches at the old girls school.
> Re travelling by tram, I think Frank and Barry Watts also travelled by
> tram from Hamilton Road, Chermside to the Valley for most of their
> school time. Hamilton Road was the local dump west of the Prince
> Charles roundabout, and Frank and I did some serious scrounging there
> when we bought our first cars. Keep the memories coming. Ross
> On 30 Sep, 01:28, Kendo <kend...@iprimus.com.au> wrote:
> > I have finally found the time to put down a short account of my days
> > living in the Valley. More later perhaps if I think of some
> > interesting events, etc. (eg. life in the "Army Camp").
> > In 1946, my parents and my brother, Don (older by three years) and I
> > moved from Toowoomba, where Dad had been stationed in the army, to
> > Brisbane.
> > My Dad was eligible for Government housing, so we were allotted a flat
> > in one of the now vacant huts in the army barracks at Victoria Park,
> > on Gregory Terrace while we waited our turn for a house.
> > I remember Mum taking my brother, Don and me to see the headmaster at
> > Fortitude Valley State Primary School and enrolling us both at the
> > school. I don’t remember the headmaster’s name.
> > Don and I both remained at the school and finished our primary years
> > there, Don until 1948 and I until 1950.
> > I remember the classrooms I used in the old school until 1948 –and my
> > teachers. Mr Johns was my favourite because of his fairness and gentle
> > nature, closely followed by Mr Hunt because of his drawing ability and
> > his willingness to coach me in caricature.
> > Mr Hunt drew some caricatures in chalk on the blackboard one day (I
> > don’t remember what prompted that) and I copied them as best I could
> > in my exercise book (How I wish I still had that book). Mr Hunt saw my
> > drawings and was impressed. He suggested I do some drawings on the
> > blackboard at the upcoming school concert. His offer to coach me
> > before the concert allayed my fears of humiliation and I agreed. I
> > received one coaching session in drawing some politicians of the day
> > – Menzies and Chifley- and I felt confident enough after that to
> > practice on my own. The act was received OK by the boys and teachers
> > and it was witnessed by Mr Moxey, the visiting singing instructor. He
> > was impressed, too, and arranged for me to repeat the act at the next
> > combined Girls and Boys concert, to be staged in a large classroom
> > behind the brick Girls’ School. By the day of the concert act, my
> > private practice had loosened my style so that my drawings became
> > quite exaggerated beyond Mr Hunt’s renditions and the act was well
> > received. Mr Moxey that day offered to help me get an apprenticeship
> > in drafting with the Government when my school days were over. I never
> > took him up on his kind offer because I was more keen to further my
> > cartooning interest. Unfortunately there were many distractions before
> > my cartooning became a fulltime career- over 30 years, in fact. These
> > events were, however, a huge impression on a young boy and no doubt
> > helped lay a foundation for my lifelong interest in cartooning and
> > caricaturing.
> > During 1949, I moved with the rest of the boys to occupy the front of
> > the girls school, located just across the railway line. I don’t
> > remember it being a particularly eventful year, just the cuts from Mr
> > Best and being left out front of my class by him one day while he was
> > in another room, only to be almost caught out when he returned sooner
> > than expected. He heard the kids laughing when I drew a “Foo was here”
> > type sketch on the board and was curious. I barely had time to rub it
> > out before he was there. Disappointed, he said, “Aw, I wanted to see
> > what you’d drawn.” Just as well he didn't because I'd printed "Nudes"
> > instead of "Foo". Maybe there would have been more cuts.
> > Don and I were introduced to hockey as a student at FVSS. It was a
> > popular game and there were enough boys to form at least one team
> > which competed with other schools every Friday through winter. The
> > best team in just about all grades was Breakfast Creek SS. They wore
> > red shirts. We wore blue, the colour of the Valley Club teams which
> > played weekends. Most school team members also joined the Valley Club.
> > I kept a record in an exercise book of all my hockey games, club and
> > school, for the few years I played, right through High School and
> > maybe a year after. I eventually stopped playing after one season with
> > spectacles. By the following season, I had become involved in an
> > amateur animation studio which held promise of a career and I found
> > all my spare time occupied on that. Then when I eventually married, my
> > record book was left at the family home. It deteriorated with other
> > bits and pieces under the house and was eventually thrown out by my
> > Mum and Don before my sense of relative values returned (if it ever
> > was with me).
> > Don and I also played cricket there and when the hockey enthusiasts
> > (including Don) left school and there were not enough to form a school
> > team (we still played Club hockey) I remember playing AFL in my final
> > winter.
> > It must have been during my grade 6 year that the new school was first
> > occupied, because Miss Matches was my teacher both before and after
> > one Christmas holidays break. I was one of four boys invited by Miss
> > Matches to join her at Mooloolaba for two weeks before Christmas and
> > another two after Christmas. That new year experienced a wet January
> > and I remember Miss Matches being distressed that the flooding may
> > have prevented us from returning to Brisbane in time for the start of
> > school. The fears were unfounded. She had a stern presence in class
> > and in public (eg. While waiting for trams) but revealed a soft side
> > with her interest in individuals.
> > While we lived at Victoria Park, I spent many Saturdays at the several
> > Valley movie theatres. I would often go to two on the one day. The
> > early ones were all B & W but I remember when my senses were startled
> > one day by the advent of rich colour of “Sinbad the Sailor.” I loved
> > those old movies. I fell in love with Joan Collins. The serials and
> > the cartoons were great. Ross Cameron and I went to some of them
> > together. I also spent a lot of time at the Cameron home, pouring over
> > his outdoors and fishing magazines as well as his Champion and Hotspur
> > boys papers and generally being a pest underfoot, I think. We played
> > cricket on occasions in Anderson Street, outside his house. I had many
> > a ride in his Dad’s smooth ( Hudson?) sedan car.
> > We lived in the Valley until some time in 1949 when we finally
> > received a Housing Commission house at Stafford Heights. 1950 was my
> > Scholarship year and I was not agreeable to the idea of changing to
> > the Stafford school for my last Primary year, so my parents allowed me
> > to travel
|
