My Life Story
Teenage Years
Part II
In my early childhood I was not really aware of world events, but in 1962 when I was still at primary school I remember that the world held its breath at the time of the Cuban crisis. I was aware that something serious was going on but I did not fully understand it. I was 11 and in my first term at secondary school when Kennedy was assassinated. I am sure that all my generation remember that event and where they were. I was at home and heard it on the radio. A lot went on when I was 13. For Winston Churchill’s state funeral we had a day off school, a poignant moment in our national history.
I had been going to Sunday School for most of my life and I became a teacher. I can’t remember exactly when. I had some lovely children in my classes and I continued until I was about 15.
I started Youth Club at 13 and had my first boyfriends. I had several mini-relationships before I was 15. I wish that I had been kinder to them, but I guess with hindsight that I was not really interested, although I enjoyed the dates. We usually went to the cinema or dance classes. As mentioned before, the cinema featured highly in those days and I had been going with friends since I was about 8. Sometimes I would go with my maternal Grandma and very occasionally with my parents. It was the norm then in my circles to start dating early and progress to early marriage. I think that there was a status in it but that is my perception.
Some of my boyfriends were older and earning money, although I met one at the school dance. He lived at the other side of the city and I went to his house a few times. His mum was a bit snooty. He was a nice enough person, but I was very involved with my friends at the church and he was a distraction, so I finished it. People told me later that he was very upset and I regret ignoring his letters.
I think my friends would agree that we “did the rounds” at the church, dating different people, but it was mostly very innocent and I think that we all gained a lot from our youthful liaisons, although they may have left some faint scars.
I also started my first job at 13. Again, as my mum had done, I worked for the firm where my dad worked. They needed a Saturday girl. In those days jobs were advertised separately for male and female. I don’t think that my job was advertised, as Dad became aware of the vacancy.
I got up early on a Saturday and caught the circular bus to start at 8.30. I was quite nervous but the two ladies I worked with were very kind. I had to take in dirty laundry and dry cleaning and when the items were returned clean a few days later they had to be folded and well presented for collection. My first earnings were 8 shillings (40p) for the morning.
Around this time my dad set up a bank account, into which he put a monthly sum, for me to manage my expenses, fares, entertainment, gifts and some purchases of clothes and personal items. I added to this from my earnings and I think that it helped me to manage money responsibly.
I gained a lot from that job. I remained quiet and listened to the customers chatting to the staff about very adult matters! They said that they forgot I was there but I knew that I did not want a relationship like some of these women had. Fortunately I had good male role models in my life and would measure other boys and men against these.
The job progressed to working in school holidays when I would be in sole charge of a shop. I was responsible for all the things described above, plus cashing up and taking the proceeds to the bank. If the money was short I had to make it up. I continued with this until I went to college, travelling to various parts of the city by bus, or occasionally Dad would take me in the car, by then a Hillman in which I learned to drive.
In the poorer areas the fishermen would bring in their suits to be cleaned, sometimes with vomit on, after they had been drinking. Unpleasant, but it was good for me as I had to interact with many different people. I was covering for holidays and one week I was in Gipsyville so I could go to Grandma’s for lunch. I enjoyed that. I was 18 and it was just before I went to college.
When I was 16, I had a brief spell working on various counters in Woolworths in the city centre. We had to pass a maths test to be appointed. I was always good at arithmetic and algebra but not geometry and trigonometry. I didn’t really enjoy Woolworths and there was a lot of pilfering. There were many separate counters, each with its own cash register. I worked on a different counter every week: sweets, hardware, haberdashery and toys. There was also a baby counter from where one of the full time employees, who found herself pregnant at 16, would pass goods to friends who came into the shop. I was aware, so I worried that I would be accused or implicated if this was discovered. Fortunately, all was well as I was put on a different counter the next week. For the tea breaks we had bread and dripping in the canteen. No wonder I put on weight! After a while I decided that I no longer wanted to work there, so I made a quick decision, unusual for me, and I gave in my notice.
In 1968 something extremely poignant happened to the Hull fishing community, which also affected the whole of Hull. The trawler, Ross Cleveland, was fishing during a severe Arctic storm. The ship eventually capsized and sank. All 19 crew members were lost, making it one of the worst fishing disasters in British history. The loss of Ross Cleveland was the first disaster in a devastating period for Hull’s fishing fleet: other trawlers were in trouble and I remember praying in assembly and also at church for those who were presumed missing, as contact had been lost. The Kingston Peridot sank on 26 January 1968 and the St Romanus sank shortly afterwards. Together, these three disasters claimed 58 lives in just a few weeks. The hymn “Eternal Father” seemed to be sung constantly in those weeks. Most people seemed to know someone or of someone in the fishing community who was affected. A group of fishermen’s wives began to campaign for improved safety standards. They were known as the “Headscarf Revolutionaries” and were led by “Big Lil”, Lillian Bilocca.
The campaign was very controversial and led to copious misogynistic comments as the wives’ role in it was certainly overstepping the socially accepted norms for women at that time. They were subject to abuse, denigration of their class and, if I remember correctly, were physically attacked. Sometimes other women were their harshest critics. Despite all these setbacks the women were extremely dedicated and determined. Their efforts eventually led to major reforms in fishing safety, reflected in better weather forecasting, radio communications and safety equipment.
My teens were a hectic time juggling studying, romance and trying to earn some money. Peter sometimes would come to meet me at school once he had finished his A levels. He had hoped to go to Southampton University but fate decided otherwise and he went to Hull instead. He lived at home for the first year until his parents moved. I was pleased that he was around and we widened our social life from the church and walks round East Park to events at the Students’ Union. He too had jobs: on the tugs, being a beater (which he hated) and gardening at the cemetery where lots of my family were buried.
A levels were a big thing and many people in Hull Iiked to study at the Central Library. It maintained self-discipline and the coffee and lunch breaks were social. In Hull there was a change of educational policy in 1968/69 when schools became comprehensive. As a result, we had a new Head and Deputy. The traditional study leave which had been given to sixth formers prior to A levels was stopped. We were incensed as we had been looking forward to it and we did not like the classroom given to us for study. We did not feel that we would work there as effectively as we would at home or elsewhere.
Although this was before schools were graded by league tables, individual results were published in the local paper under the school name. This was a big deal for all concerned and, for parents choosing schools, a big decision. A meeting was held with the Head who was adamant that study leave would not be given. It was a very heated meeting. Some of the girls were very aggressive and others were in tears. I felt that there was no hope of changing her mind, so I thought that we would have to make the best of it. However, for some reason I decided to contribute at the end. I said that one aspect we hadn’t considered were our parents who had kept us at school when most of our contemporaries had left and were earning money. I said that the way we studied could make the difference between a high grade and a low one or even a pass and a fail. I knew that I would do better in the library or at home and, in a few weeks, at college or university, we would have to study independently without the teachers. Most of us were 18 (I wasn’t) and should be treated as adults.
To my shock the Head thanked me for my diplomacy, said I had made good points and that we could have the study leave. I was extremely popular and the Head decided that I could be a prefect after all. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to accept after being rejected, but it would have been awkward not to!
My A levels over, Peter and I had some wonderful, memorable days at the coast and Pete, Paul and I went camping in Wales, a lovely holiday but very cold even though it was summer.
I also passed my driving test. Dad had been very encouraging and, from the age of 14, I occasionally had been taken driving on a disused airfield. I did not have access to my Dad’s car but Pete’s dad offered me his when he wasn’t using it - amazing! It was a Morris Minor but even then, although he couldn’t drive, Pete was giving me instructions! He then bought a tandem which we used for a while. I hated that as I wasn’t in control, but it was a means to an end and it enabled us to get about cheaply when he was living in a student house.
I had chosen to go to college in Lancaster to train as a teacher. I couldn’t wait to go, I was so excited, but, when I went in September 1970, I missed home dreadfully, particularly Pete. We wrote to each other nearly every day and phoned a couple of times a week. The phone system in Morecambe, where I lived in lodgings with 7 other girls, was antiquated compared with Hull. You had to lift the receiver and speak to the operator, giving the number you wanted to call. Calls to the lodgings had to be at a pre-arranged time.
I made some good friends at college. I am still in touch with Anne and Gill from the lodgings in Bare (lots of jokes about that) and Sally with whom I later shared a flat. I enjoyed the course, the social life and the early teaching practice. Pete visited, as did my parents and friends from church, but I missed home and would go whenever I could. It was four hours with a change of train at Leeds. When I saw the river Humber I would feel that I had arrived. Philip Larkin’s poems depict this perfectly and “The Whitsun Weddings” describes Paragon Station on a Saturday tea time just as I remember it. I remember going there to wave my cousin Frank and his wife Elaine off on their honeymoon in 1963. The station was always covered in confetti on a Saturday. It evokes powerful memories for me.
Long before I went to college, Peter and I had decided that we wanted to get married but we knew that we were too young, needed careers, money and to see more of the world. However, he still wanted to buy me a solitaire engagement ring which took nearly all of his savings. In later life he kept wanting to buy a more expensive one but I didn’t want one. He eventually persuaded me to have a zircon!
We didn’t tell anyone about the ring, but after only a couple of months we decided to go public when I went home for the weekend. Our parents were happy for us, but Pete’s mum said she was worried about his “prospects.” I said that I wasn’t worried. Later I used to joke that I should have listened! My college friends were delighted and we went out to celebrate. One of the blokes stole my Babysham glass from that evening and gave me it as a souvenir. I have only recently thrown it away.
In February 1971 Decimalisation took place. New coins were introduced and old ones such as the shilling, sixpence and three penny bit were withdrawn. Prices were displayed in both old and new money for a transition period and a major public education campaign helped people adjust. I can clearly remember using the new coins for the first time on the bus to college. The transition was a major challenge for some people.
Also in 1971 we had the miner’s strike and the three day week. We would often have to sit in the dark in the lodgings when the power was off. We had candles to enable us to do our work and we put plenty of warm clothes on. We worked hard and had a good social life, but I missed my boyfriend and wanted to get married. Living together was uncommon in those days so we discussed me transferring college for the last year. In hindsight it would have been ridiculous for a few months and, as things turned out, Peter went to work in Winchester after he graduated, rather than Grimsby, so it would not have been a good move.
Pete got top marks in his year and was delighted to secure a trainee librarian post. He sent me a telegram to say “Holidays in Winchester.” Our friend Stan from the church, with whom I had been out briefly and performed in concerts and am still in touch, took us in his car and we camped just outside the city to look for somewhere for Pete to live. This was difficult and we were running out of time, but eventually he was able to go and live with two men of his age, one of whom had a house bought for him by his parents.
We loved Winchester and had a good and memorable year travelling back and forth on the overnight bus once a month. I was doing my finals and we were planning our wedding.
© 2026 A L Blundred