Exclusive Feature Serial on www.thisisUll.com Hull - A Personal History Part Two By Bryan Holgate

Part One.    Part Three.

The one thing none of us apprentices really expected was to have to go back to school. Well, this was mandatory, as one of our teachers said at Queens Gardens "there is more to life than a screwdriver and a lathe". How true, there was beer. We went to the pub for lunch and a game of darts; unfortunately as with most youngsters we knew not when to quit.

On one occasion, we arrived back at "the tech" very late in the afternoon and were in the lift when a person of authority, more than likely another teacher came running across the hallway shouting at us and demanding to know were we had been, I can still hear my buddy Bill screaming at the lift controls, "beam us up Scotty, now would be a good time". Star Trek had just started and Bill's comment was quite funny to a bunch of drunks. We made it to the classroom with rent a cop on our tail, our instructor covered for us and said we had been there for about an hour.

We bought him a mickey and we were told never to pull a stunt like that again. We didn't. If we failed a course the company would not pay us for the time spent in school. We used to have to go to Park Street two nights a week and Queens Gardens one full day and night. If we had to work all night on a motor it was usually from one of the trawlers like the Arctic Corsair, or the ill-fated St Finnbar (after she went down Broady's did some testing on the types of electrical cable used). Even worse was a motor from the fertilizer plant 'Wildies' near Beverley or God forbid, 'Capper Pass', talk about corrosion.

On the pub theme; "Pops" or the West Dock Hotel was just across from the electrical shop at Broady's. The first part of the night was sometimes spent at Pop's. Quite the pub, very much like all of the waterfront bars at that time, and Hull itself to a degree; none of them for the faint of heart. There was nothing a guy could not buy at Pops, or so I was told. I am not referring to drugs, the word was never mentioned, and it's funny as drugs are always in the news now, not then. I do remember David Whitfield singing in Pop's; he did not need a mike, that's for sure.

We have an old pinball machine at home, one day my son commented on my success at playing. I pointed out I learned in Pop's on Saturday afternoons, if you lost you bought the beer, so you had to play to win.

When I reached the age of 16 yrs I bought a Francis Barnett motorbike from one of the tradesmen, and took my first lesson riding between the lathes in the machine shop. I thought I was the king of the road, until an East Yorkshire bus passed me on the way to work, this happened more than once.

After the 1966 Christmas party (in Pop's) I attempted to ride my motorbike home to Hornsea. I am sure one of the guys would have stopped me if he knew I was pissed. The bike broke down on Holderness Road. I called my dad who towed me all the way back to Hornsea, behind his car using a rope. I do remember some of the journey - quite exciting. How I managed to stay on, who knows. I do know my mother was not the least bit impressed as I stumbled in the door and passed out in front of the fire. Way too many shandies I guess.

Continued on www.thisisull.com...... Hull A Personal History Part Three.

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