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Frustrated Musician
On the third day of the new term in January 1948, I see from my new diary that we were weighed in the PT lesson. I was 5 stone 12 lbs - that was 6 lbs up since the start of last term.
On 23 January 1948 we got a letter from Dad at Leyhill Prison in Gloucestershire to say that his long ‘temporary’ duty was coming to an end and that he was being posted to Armley Prison in Leeds. The implication of this news did not properly register - I assumed that Dad would travel to Leeds every day from our home in Wakefield and I would remain at QEGS. Because Dad had always told me not to talk about his work in the Prison Service to anyone, I did not mention this impending posting to anyone at school.
On 30 January I wrote in my diary that Mr Gandhi had been assassinated - someone at school had told us the news. We had been following the daily news bulletins on the wireless telling of the progress of his fast to the death. I didn't really understand the politics of what was going on but I knew that India had recently obtained its independence from Britain. I had this vague, but incorrect, idea that this soft-spoken man dressed only in what I referred to in my diary as a sarong, was on the British side against the rest of the Indians and I felt very sad about his death. I don't recall any of the teachers at school ever referring to what was going on in India. We didn't do modern history or current affairs.
On 5 February Mr Renhard, the music teacher, stopped me in the corridor between lessons. He said that when I had sat in on a strings rehearsal last term he had not realised that my parents could not afford to give me violin lessons. He congratulated me on the fact that I had reached a reasonable standard completely by self study from a book. He said he would like to give me some free lessons after school. Naturally I agreed and I had my first lesson that afternoon after school had finished. My parents were not too pleased by this arrangement because they did not wish to accept charity. Looking back, I can understand where they were coming from. They were proud and did not wish folks to know that they could not afford to pay for violin lessons for me, especially as most of the boys at QEGS were fee-paying and I was a free scholarship boy. Nevertheless, I persuaded them to let me continue with Mr Renhard. They gave in because they knew what I did not: that in a few weeks I would have to leave QEGS and move to a school in Leeds.
Saturday 7 February was clearly an interesting day at school. I wrote in my diary, "I could write a lot about what happened at school this morning - lots of noise, running around the corridors, etc, but I had better not." Sadly, I didn't expand on that. According to the timetable it should have been Latin, English, French and Maths, just what 12 year old boys needed on a Saturday morning!
To read about my departure from Wakefield and QEGS click here
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He said he would like to give me some free lessons after school. Naturally I agreed and I had my first lesson that afternoon after school had finished