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Harold Taylor was born in 1926 in Arundel and a couple of years later moved with his family of 3 half-siblings and 2 brothers to Alexandra Road in Chichester. Harold reveals how he managed to earn some extra pocket money around the time of the mid 1930's.
We did not have a lot of money, only getting 1d per week pocket money, most of which was spent on sweets. I envied my friend Tony, who lived two doors up the road, as his grandfather took him to the cinema every Friday night.
This was a funny family set up, for the mother lived with her father and illegitimate daughter, who had her own illegitimate daughter, with whom I played a lot. There was another daughter and two sons, the younger of whom I went to school with. The husband lived with his mother in a different part of town, the only time he came to the house being on a Sunday, when he would take his wife out in his car.
With the grandfather and the illegitimate daughter earning, and no doubt an income of some sort from the husband, they were well off. The eldest daughter also started work soon after we moved there.
My treats came from scrounging. Down the bottom of the road was Simmonds, the rag and bone merchant, where you could take a rabbit skin and get 6d, or a bundle of rags or woollens and get paid per pound. You could also take un-seamed jam jars and get a farthing each. I remember my great disappointment one day when, having amassed all my jam jars, I finished up with only 3 pence 3 farthings, and when I went along to the cinema they would not let me in. I had either dropped a farthing or been given one short.
Otherwise, the only money I had to spend came from birthdays or when someone better off visited.
To gather sufficient money to buy fireworks on the 5th November was a great struggle, and to have more than a shilling's worth was to be in heaven. There used to be two good bonfires to attend - one in the recreation ground, between Alexandra Terrace, and the present cricket pavilion, and the other at The Broadway at Summersdale, behind the present post office, on a plot of land in Highlands Avenue.
Another way I had managed to earn money was to act as ball boy to tennis players. In the Jubilee Park there was a grass tennis court, where people played most evenings. I found that if I hung about and retrieved balls that had gone into the road, or farther afield, after play I might have earned myself sixpence.
When it came to Christmas time my funds only ran to 6d per person, and usually finished up as soap or creams for the girls and Mum, razor blades and cigarettes for Dad, and sweets for the boys. Life was hard.
I was never a lover of school. I would feign illness or prolong recovery as long as possible, although I never actually played truant. The school attendance officer, Mr Barnard, frequently attended the house.
When being 'off school', one of my greatest pleasures was to go to the cattle market as this was often denied me during holiday times, for they would try to keep children out. I enjoyed attending the sale ring and helping with the animals, getting them into or out of vehicles, or moving them from pen to pen. At the end of the day one would often get the job of herding them to the station yard, or leading a blindfolded bull. A perk for some was to milk the cows of the cattle that would not be cleared from the market by their milking time.
In 1935/6 there was the George V Silver Jubilee, and George VI Coronation. On both occasions the town put on a gala celebration with parades, amusements and dancing. Having circulated about the town, the decorated lorries would come into the rec. to disperse. On year, one started gyrating about all over the place. When it eventually came to a stop it was discovered that the driver had become asphyxiated with the exhaust fumes that had been trapped under the heavy decoration.
There were programmes published and we kids could go along to Smith's the newsagent and collect bundles to sell. They were 6d each and I think we were paid 3d per dozen. I remember for one of these occasions I got paid 8/4d.
Another bit of fun was with regard to the training of police horses. Every year the police did a parade in Priory Park. About this time the police superintendent and a group of horsemen would come around New Park Road, and collect all us kids together with tins, drums, bugles or anything else to make a noise. We would create hell whilst the horses were ridden up and down and around the park, to get them used to a lot of noise.
Afterwards we would all be marched down to Woolworth's, where bags of toffees were bought. These were then thrown out in 'scramble' fashion for the lucky to get as many as they could. I believe all this training probably had something to do with the Goodwood race meetings.
From the earliest that I can remember, Sunday morning in the recreation ground was something special. I have often heard people say they wished they had seen, or experienced it. I suppose overlooking the place from our bedroom window, it was a spectacle that you could not miss. It was only a game of football, but all and sundry took part.
The game would start slowly at around 10 a.m. Coats and jackets made up the goal posts, and people would just turn up, ask if they could play then join in. How they knew who was on which side was a mystery, but in time there would be a game going with as many as twenty a side.
Around 11 a.m. there would have been an influx of the Catholics as they came from church to join in. At around 12 o'clock, there would be a gradual drift away, when the pubs opened. You would be sure to see several of the well-known local football families, such as the Janeces, Mazzones, the Kewells and the Stares, from teams like the Corinthians and Portfield.
Fog was another game that I never knew to be played anywhere else other than the rec., although more recently I have come across another reference to it. I would like to consider it as a predecessor of cricket, who knows? I tried to get a response with a request in the local paper on this subject, but my only response was from a person wishing to know about the game. Later, however I picked up an old magazine, in which a person from Epsom was wishing to know more about 'catty conjure', that he last played in 1933, having learned it at school during the late 1920s.
When I got older, and perhaps I was home from school for some sickness, I remember the houses in our road having one of their periodic servicings. The squad of workmen descended on the street and everything was done thoroughly, including the windows being removed and eased before painting was begun.
Probably being more of a nuisance than a help, I attached myself to one of the carpenters, Darkie Price, when he had finished with our house. He gave me 1d for each day I had helped him, saying that it was the wage he earned when he was learning. He kindly gave me some tools of his, some of which I still have after all these years.
When I was about 11 years, I started going up to Goodwood Golf Club to act as caddy, and earn myself a bit of money, although it took some time to be noticed and get taken on. I suppose I went there for a couple of weekends before I got my first job. Once I was given a ticket by the caddy master, Healey, which I cashed in at the end of the day. For a man the fee was 2/-, but for a boy it was only 1/6d, although the player also gave a tip, which was normally equal to the cost of the ticket.
Being a tall lad I often got a man's ticket after I was better known. This meant that on a good day I could earn 8/- if I got in two rounds. In the summer sometimes you were lucky and got in three. You were well in if you managed to get a job on a tournament day. Saturdays and Sundays were usually the best days, although in the holidays one might go as often as possible. Quite a number of the people waiting for jobs there were on the dole.
This led on to other things. The Duke of Richmond had his own private airfield just outside the main gates to the park. It was noted for having good mushrooms, and one local man was often caught and prosecuted for picking them, but then he used to go early mornings with a view to selling them. It was a handy stopping place to pick a cap full, and even worth a trip out some evenings. The Duke did encourage people, by displaying a large sign 'Keep Out, Cultivated Mushrooms'.
As a child I would muse in my bedroom and draw vehicles of the future, perhaps influenced by American movies. I drew fleets of heavy lorries with sleeping accommodation for their drivers, which were both pantechnicon types and articulated. The name I drew on the sides was my surname backwards, 'Rolyat'. Later when I started work I found that my name had already been stolen, for there was a Yorkshire firm that made copper goods using the name.
I also dreamed of a children's camp in Kingley Vale, built I suppose along the lines of the Treasure Island type of stockade, and the American, wooden, Indian forts.
Another of my inventions was the invasion buggy. This was drawn as a trek type vehicle in case we had to flee our homes, as the French had done. It was a box-like contraption, mounted on cycle wheels, for us to take our belongings and food. Built with the intention to sleep under it, there was an involved, hinged cover so that when folded down, it provided complete protection from the weather. I suppose on reflection, the wheels would have collapsed under the weight, and we would have needed a traction engine to pull it.
A child's imagination is such a wonderful thing. I wonder if many children today amuse themselves in such a simple way - I doubt it, what with today's technologically advanced toys, computer games and television.
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