Ralph Worthington's Story
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Ralph Worthington's Story |
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Hi Gerry, My name is Ralph Worthington and I live in Ellensburg, WA, in the glorious Pacific Northwest. I was born in Coventry and at the age of 14 was evacuated along with the rest of our school (BABLAKE) immediately after the November Blitz in 1940. We were evacuated to Lincoln, where were took over old, temporary school buildings. Most of us were billeted in private homes- I was in two over the next two years. For my third year, before we returned to Cov. In 1943, I had the fun of being a member of a school hostel. There were about 30 of us boys in a fantastic 300+ year old house almost next to the cathedral, and we had a great time. I tell you more about those years in the future, now I'd especially like to hear from any other Bablake old boys. I'm already in touch with one in Canada. My ICQ # is 8930679. I'm a one finger Typist so I prefer to Chat (talk) with people using Microsoft Netmeeting, The software is a free download from Microsoft.com and it works really well, I can talk with people in Australia and the UK, in fact, all over the world, for free! =========================================================================
I now live in Ellensburg, a small town of about 6,000 regular residents, but we are the home of Central Washington University, so the population expands to about 11,000+ in term time. Our home is on the southern edge of the city with a beautiful view across the Kittitas valley, which is the upper valley of the Yakima River. This is one of the major rivers flowing east from the Cascade mountains. A few miles south the river cuts through a ridge forming the Yakima Canyon, which we can see the entrance to from our home. From here the river again flows in an easterly direction to the Columbia River, which it joins at Richland. This of course is the major river flowing west from the Rockies and is the third largest in the US. The scenery here in the northwest is immensely varied, from the lush temperate rain forest on the Olympic peninsular through the Puget Sound region with Seattle, one of the two or three most livable cities in the US, as its capital. Eastwards up the Cascade foothills with their dense conifer forests to the snow capped Cascades themselves, with their half dozen dormant volcanos, all above 9000 feet high, with Mount Rainier, second highest peak in the 48 states at 14,400+ feet. The scenery and plant and animal life are wonderful. Still moving east the eastern Cascade foothills gradually lose their trees and become a dry desert by the time you reach the Columbia. Irrigation projects based on the Grand Coulee dam system has enabled this desert to become in part a rich agricultural plain. Further East still we star to reach the foothills of the Bitterroots and Rockies and trees once again cover the slopes. Then you're into Idaho, another wild wonderland. The people here are, generally, we find friendly and down to earth and still retain much of the frontier spirit. There are, of course, endless outdoor activities, boating, fishing sea and freshwater, skiing, walking, climbing - you name it we've got it! Seattle, a hour and a half's drive for us has Symphony, ballet, theater, football (the Seahawks), Baseball (the Mariners), Basketball (the Supersonics), Soccer (the Sounders), hockey, etc., etc. Why don't you all come and live here, half of California seems to be coming. ==================================================================
Yes I remember the pictures, especially the tuppenny rush on Saturday afternoons. That's where I was introduced to Tom Mix and Tony. He was my favorite cowboy for years. Never could come to terms with the singing ones. It seemed so out of place to me. One of the special things about those mega cinemas was the cinema organ, which used to appear from the bowels of the stage with the organist in full blast. The one at the Rialto cinema in Coundon was often on the wireless, the BBC Midland program I remember. This made him a person of great fame locally. Later in life, while at the University of Birmingham, I joined The Society for the Abolition of the Cinema Organ. We used to go to city cinemas and boo the organist. I'm not convinced it was because of our efforts, but organs soon disappeared for good. What a shame! > And yes Gerry, tastes changes with age. Our taste organs become less sensitive, sometimes in specific areas. I still love Rowntrees clear gums and pastilles and all three of my kids love them. I used to bring British candy back from business trips. They were always the most popular of gifts and I remember the kids used to hoard them, hide them from each other to make them last. Now I can get them and all sorts of British sweets, foods and all sorts of books, soaps, China, linen etc., etc. from a British shop in Seattle. Another shop in the famous Pike's Place Market keeps a wonderful selection of British foods, like Branston Pickle and especially cheeses from all over Britain. I still love English beer. It's brewed differently from US and Continental beers and loses much of its flavor when chilled. Lagers need to be cold and become strongly ester tasting when warm. However Guinness is now producing stout to be drunk SLIGHTLY chilled. Have you come across the new cans with an insert which produces a stable head, just like draught when poured? The US is now producing some creditable beers at micro breweries although the Buds, Coors and Millers are no better than ever It's advertising, not taste, which sells them. My favorite bottled beer produced by a major brewery over here is Moosehead, which is brewed in Canada and has a real full hoppy flavor. What are your preferences everyone?
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I always enjoyed going to the Coventry market as a kid. It was part covered and part outdoor, behind the main shopping street with the entrance through an arcade beside Woolworths. I'll bet Jim remembers it. I always enjoyed the food stalls best. They exuded such gorgeous smells. At the time we could rarely afford such delights, but ahh, the aromas. A year or two before the war, Dad got a job and we were able to partake of such delights as pork pies (why, oh why, can't you get one in the US? Even if we go to Canada and buy one in Marks and Sparks, the customs, or rather the Dept. of Ag. won't let you bring it onto the sacred soil.) and roast pork buns with sage and onion stuffing. Even better, on the way through the arcade you had to pass Elizabeth's bakery and Mum would get me my very favorite cream puff bun, made of choux pastry and FILLED with real whipped cream. My mouth waters now at the thought. They were so much bigger than any I've seen since, or it just my aging memory playing tricks? Not a market as such was the annual Crock Fair, held on either Stoke Green or Hearsall common. I loved to go with my parents and sister after dark with all the oil and acetylene lamps lit. So much more exciting than electric lights! I especially loved the patter of the stall holders, once they had gathered a large crowd. The would offer a huge selection of crockery starting at say, five pounds and gradually keep adding more and dropping the price till they would offer the lot for say, seven and six. Then a feeding frenzy would start in the crowd, so that even the many assistants were overwhelmed with buyers. I've often wondered since how much the crocks were really worth. Still, the fair returned every year and traveled throughout the Midlands and North, so folks must have been satisfied. As the same faces showed up every time. I don't believe that this was a Southern, or London, phenomenon, I guess you had all those markets. By the way I'm trying to leave a record for my kids, so far 30+ pages and I'm only at age eight or nine. As I only type with one finger, it's a real time consuming labor of love. Keep the tales flowing. Ralph. ===================================================================
Hello All, I was evacuated with my school, along with Jim Elks, to Lincoln. At first, for about a year I was billeted, along with another boy called Peter Worthington, who was no relation, to the home of a signal man on the LNER and his wife. They were, or any way seemed to us, very old and had never had any children of their own. They were very good to us, in their own way, but had very old fashioned ideas of children's place in the world. It soon became clear that they were happiest when we were out of the house playing with the local kids. In many ways those kid's parents understood us much more and were really very good to us, treating us like their own. Being city kids we had never eaten so well in our lives. Old Mr. Brown was a genuine Lincolnshire poacher, and we thrived on hare, pheasant, partridge, wild duck, rabbit and pigeon. In addition, Mr. B operated the signal box at the railway crossing on the main street in Lincoln. He was adept at rapidly closing the gates, which in those days were manually operated from the box, in such a manner as to clip a passing RAF lorry. The driver would come up to the box and beg him not to report the incident to the RAF. In return for this favor Mr. B would receive some small token, such as a beef joint or a box of tinned fruit or even a warm woolen RAF sweater or jacket; whatever was on the lorry. These gifts all augmented our meals at a time when most people were struggling on rations. After about a year the Browns decided that we were too much of a handful and so we were moved to other digs. Here again the people couldn't really be bothered with me, I think they just wanted the extra money which they were paid for billeting me. They were a family of a mother and father and their daughter and son-in-law. They spent the whole time it seemed screaming at each other. They disagreed about everything, but especially politics, the old man was a staunch Tory and the son-in-law a rabid left wing Socialist. Trying to do homework in the (small) house with them screaming was little short of impossible. I would often go across the street to a family opposite, whose kids I played with to get a little peace. This infuriated the folks I lived with. They thought my friends were snobs because their father was a lawyer's clerk, while they drove a lorry and delivered coal. When I got home they would transfer their shouting to me. After some months the situation became impossible, and the school billeting officer moved me to a hostel run by one of the masters. That's where Jim and I lived with about 30 other boys for a year or so. It's only in the last year that we've reconnected through the net. I'm looking forward to some of your tales, good or bad. Cheerio for now, Ralph. =====================================================================================
Hi Stan, You couldn't have described my feelings about food better. I'm on a diabetic diet but still crave just the sort of things you describe. Let me add a couple--- real fish and chips, they were never the same after the war , and real Melton Mowbray black puddings. The ones in Lancashire and Yorkshire never touched them. The lovely pieces of pork fat nestling in among the blood and barley. Only the best German blutwursts come any where close. I don't suppose all you Londoners remember these. It's great to be able to dream! Like you I'm convinced that deprivation enhances the appetite and the fond memories. So perhaps it's one of the good things we got out of W.W.II. Ralph.
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I remember going to the "Tuppenny Crush " for kids on Saturday at the local Rialto. Those were the days of Tom Mix and his horse, Tony, still, I think, the best of the cowboy serials. I remember things used to get really rowdy, with orange peel and other unpleasant objects thrown down from the front rows of the circle onto the unfortunates below. Eventually, the management frisked us all before we were allowed into the auditorium. All catapults, peashooters and gum had to be handed over and oranges had to be peeled on the spot. The confiscated objects were returned, hopefully to the right owner, at the end of the show. It only took about three weeks to sort things out and return to normal. I remember too that we all used to sing along with the cinema organ at the interval. The cinema was bombed during the blitz, but the attached dance hall survived and at the end of the war I learned to dance there, taught by my younger sister. Nobody seems to dance properly anymore. Even the old ballroom dances have degenerated into almost motionless shuffles. Perhaps they were always like that in the USA! I know we used to really move about on the dance floor. Regarding pocket money, before the war I got tuppence, later threepence, a week. After the school was evacuated this went up to eight pence, and later a shilling. The school did not encourage large sums. Cheers, Ralph
======================================================================================= I loved the cathedral in Lincoln. For a few coppers in the maintenance box I could climb to the top of the main tower. As the cathedral sits atop a steep escarpment, the view was incredible, especially to the south. My main delight, along with other boys was to take rubber powered model aircraft, or gliders, to the tower top, concealed under coats etc., and to fly them from there. The elevation and the thermals rising from the lead roof of the cathedral resulted in magnificently long flights. Sometimes you could set the rudder to keep them circling over the roof for long periods of time and if you were lucky they would eventually come down in an accessible spot. Often, though they would soar away "into the wild blue yonder" and after it went out of view the flight was timed "OOS"(out of sight) in the jargon of model flyers. Some of our flights were so long they could have classified as international records, had they not been artificially assisted by the elevation and thermal source. We were never caught up there, and no-one ever complained that we knew of. Lincoln was a real fun place if you knew where to go, but more of that some other time. Ralph =====================================================================================
I well remember the trams on the Bristol road in Birmingham. They ran right out to the city limits at Rugely, a distance of well over ten miles. One year, 1945 I think, during the Rag Week, when students collected money for the hospital ending with a big Carnival parade on Saturday, a group of students, who shall remain unidentified, hijacked a tram on Saturday morning. They threw off, very gently, the driver and conductor and ran the tram all the way to the terminus and back, stopping at all the stops and collecting fares as normal. When we got back to the hijack point we handed over the tram to the driver, with thanks. All the fare money went to the hospital fund. The powers that be were very understanding and, as no damage had been done, the event went unpunished. Trams still run along the promenade in Blackpool, single and double deckers, which are all decorated with colored lights during the Illuminations Week. There is a tradition dating back longer than my lifetime and still worth seeing once anyway.
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