on a dark winters afternoon and it was bitterly cold. And he drew on his cigarette deep in thought as he viewed this puny lad in front of him. I stood and waited as he thought, taking long drags on his cigarette and then he called out to his assistant a man called Mr Office and mumbled something about cycles and I got the job at 6 shillings a week. There were three cycles that had tyres that needed pumping and I was started off getting them inflated which soon warmed me up. Mr Deredder never smiled but was always courteous and after six months gave me a raise of 3 pence a week. On the other hand each week he would give me a big parcel of meat to take home . The worst job was when we three lads had to go to the railway siding to load mutton carcasses. The other boys were large and well built whilst I was small and to start with my legs would buckle from the weight, but I did it and survived. Later on that year I met Rose who had been at the same Catholic school that I had originally been sent to. The teacher would ask us on a Monday morning which child had missed Mass. When one morning I said that I had, she first tried to whack my hand but I pulled it away. So she then picked up a cane and swiped me viciously across the bare legs under my shorts leaving an ugly weal. When I got home Gran asked me how I got that mark and I told her. She marched down to the school, saw our much feared Headmaster Mr Lorriman, who was now a trembling wreck in her presence, as he was warned in no uncertain terms that if there was ever a repetition of such a punishment she personally would thrash the teacher with her own cane! I was later moved to the Protestant School. Anyway my love for my Irish Rose grew and we would cycle into the lush countryside without ever seeing a car and we promised each other we would never be parted. As we lay on the grass looking up at the blue sky with the clouds floating by we would just lie there in pure bliss telling of our dreams to each other . One day when making a delivery a woman asked me how much I earned and then offered me a job at 10 shillings a week with her husbands grocers store which I enjoyed, and then after a few months I went to work for a builder at the outbreak of War in 1939. Whilst there, I worked with a man who had been third officer and his tales of life at sea captivated me and I decided to apply for a post aboard a vessel but always met with a refusal which was so disheartening for a young boy. Gran and Granpa Barker too were most adamant that I should never work on a ship, but I was adamant and most determined to do so. Then one day on the 5th May 1940 I was with my pal Harry as we walked up a steep hill coming from the port. There was an elderly woman struggling with a large case, “ Go on Roondie” my pal said “ Give her a hand and she may give you a packet of fags”. So I helped her and she thanked me profusely and asked me what I was doing there and I replied that I was returning from the shipping office trying to sign on, again without any luck. She then asked me if I really wanted to go to sea and I replied most emphatically “yes”. “Well then come to my house at 7 o’clock this evening and my son Tom may be able to help you. He is the ships carpenter. That evening I was there on time at her doorstep and knocked. A voice shouted: “Aye come up” Mrs Cranston was smiling as she introduced me to her son, who then took over and asked : “Have you ever been to sea” “No “ I replied. He was a pleasant faced man with piercing dark eyes that looked right through me summing me up in a swift glance.

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