Video transcript
I'm not originally from the North East. I come
from Netherfield in the Midlands near
Nottingham. Nether means lower, everything
in the Midlands is fairly flat and low. When I
was a young boy at school, from 11 to 16
years old,I went to a grammar school called
Newark Magnus Grammar School. The
school was 20 miles from my home and I
travelled every day by train.
Everyone was so used to the trains, it was
just a normal event for us. Netherfield was
surrounded by railway lines on 3 sides. The
LNER (London North Eastern region), the
LMS (London Midlands Scottish line) and the
colliery line. It must have been noisy with the
main line at the end of the street, but it was a
noise I grew up with and don't remember
every really being bothered by it.
Getting on the train, we each knew which
compartment to use, the same one every day.
We knew which part of the platform to stand
on for when the train stops. In the
compartment there were boys from different
years, the oldest looking after the young
ones. When a sixth former told you what to
do, you did it!
When we got off the train we had about a 3
mile walk to school. We walked in crocodile, a
long snaking line of boys in pairs, following
the leader. The older boys were at the side to
keep us in order. Nowadays I guess it is
called a walking bus, but we didn't even have
lolly pop ladies back then.
At school the boys who had to get the train
were always well behaved. If you got
detention you would miss the train and be late
home. They never kept just the boy in trouble,
they would give the whole class detention.
The whole class would make sure everyone
behaved that way. If you did get detention
and was late home you would be late for your
jobs in house and be in trouble again with the
parents. My job was setting the coal fire.
These days I don't need to get the train, we
use our car. But I have lots of memories of
getting the train to school, and later getting
the train to travel around the country. Those
long journeys were always very tiring though.
