Going to Beaufort Street school in Toxteth was a real culture shock to me. I got there and first thing that happened was all the other boys crowded round and asked in the strange nasal way that they all spoke “ Ooo do ya support?” I was puzzled, I did not know what they meant, “ Come on La, oo do ya support, Liverpool or Everton?” then it clicked what they were all on about. It was football. I took all of two seconds to think about it. “Liverpool” I shouted, my arch enemy from Burscough Michael had supported Everton so it couldn’t be them. “Ee’s all right, ee’s a scouser not a toffee,” was the cry from the big lads and I was accepted straight away. I found out later that all the kids from the catholic school were Evertonians or toffees. Football in Liverpool is not a religion, it is more important than that.
I was introduced to many new things at school like dinner tickets. I had to pay for mine and was given green tickets, five a week, one for each day. All the kids that were on free school meals got pink ones. Which was quite a lot as most of the Dads were sailors and were only home from time to time. Their mums would be claiming from the social while they were away. It was an area with all sorts of races, there was the Dutch family next door but one down Harlow street. Their dad was an engineer on the oil boats, plenty of black kids were mates with me but I did not see colour, they were just my mates until one day I heard my grand dad ask Dad did he let me play with the black kids and there was such a row over that comment. One morning as we walked the half mile or so to school we passed Wilsons flour mill and a great big rat ran across the road in front of us and up a six inch drain pipe. The two girls we were with screamed and ran while us boys all got sticks and waited for it to come down but we waited in vain as we never saw it and were also late for school.
One really nice summers morning I walked to school and into the morning assembly, The headmistress was talking about what a nice morning it was and asked the whole school if they had noticed anything different about the day. I put my hand up and looked round expecting their to be loads of others but I was the only one. “ Stephen Hart stand up and tell us what did you notice?” I swallowed and in a shy voice I said “ the birds were singing miss”, “ say it again louder this time please” she asked me, “ THE BIRDS WERE SINGING MISS” I said as loudly as I could. “ Only a boy from the country would notice that, well done now sit down again.” I was so proud and she told everyone that the next hymm was All thing bright and beautiful to celebrate the wonderful morning.
One of the special memories I have is of being in the class room in Beaufort street which overlooked the gas works, the docks and the river across to Cammel Lairds ship yard in Birkenhead. I would spent many hours watching the men working the cranes putting the plates on the big ship that was being built. It was being built parallel to the river and not at right angles as was normal. The ship grew and grew until one day it was decked out in banners and flags and we knew they would launch it today. We all sat entranced as it started to moved sideways towards the river, slowly at first then quicker and quicker down the slipway. It hit the water and a great big wave started to come right across the river. The ship rolled and I thought it was going roll over but it settled in an upright position rocking slightly. The wave was gathering momentum and came right across the river to the dock wall where it sent torrents of river water up into the air. All the dockers that had been watching from this side had started to run but were not fast enough and got soaked.
The school had its own swimming pool and once a week we went swimming or we would have a swimming lesson. If we wanted to swim outside school hours there was the corporation baths down the road. We all called for each other and went with our towels rolled up with our cosy inside it under our arm. We had to make sure that we only had a sixpence each to get in as we had no pockets in our trunks for any more money. It was a Victorian building with red brick walls. Inside everywhere was covered in tiles and the ceiling were high and supported on cast iron pillars, everywhere echoed with noise of us kids shouting as we had fun. Half the pool was roped off for the older people that swam back and forth doing the breast stroke or the crawl, that was the boring half. There was no bombing allowed but we took no notice and did it anyway. It was great fun to run and jump into the water with your knees up to your chest so that when you hit the water it made the biggest splash ever. The old men would complain when they were going out we got all their street clothes wet. This got the lifeguard annoyed and he would blow his whistle and shout at us to stop messing about. The sign also said no petting but no one ever brought their pets in to the swimming pool.
One day one of the lads sat on the bottom of the pool and held his breath, he stretched out like an X and the life guard saw him. The guard was up on his tall chair and dived in without thinking, he was up to him in a flash and dragged him up to the surface, another life guard dragged him out of the water and was about to give him the kiss of life when he screamed he was alright. He was banned from the pool for a month for that. This was a heated swimming pool with private changing rooms around the pool.
There was also the bath house where if you did not have a bath at home you could come and have a hot private bath. Attached to this baths was the wash house where if you did not have any laundry facilities at home you could bring your clothes to wash them. Women would turn up with a pram full of washing and spend all morning washing them before taking them home, wrung out and ready for the line in their back yard.
I once had to go to a friend’s house with him one dinner time. He lived in the tenement flats down the bottom of Mill Street. There was music coming from the front room where his older sister was playing a record on the little Dansette record player. Her blonde hair was combed up in to a cone on the top of her head, it did not move at all as she danced to the music. She had a big frilly skirt and a tight little pink jumper. In her hand was a hair brush and she was singing along to the record in a high pitched nasal voice. I asked who it was on the record. She said it was a new local group called the Beatles and it was called “Love me do”, She had been to see them in the Cavern Club and bought the record the day before. I was struck by the song so much I have been a fan ever since.
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