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When former Bevin Boy Jack Hill first went to study for five years at Liverpool in 1948 he had to find somewhere to live and was given a few addresses by the University:
Initially I assumed that I would be living in the Hall of Residence but it seemed that preference was being given to young school leavers so I would have to make my own way. I found a house in Aigburth Road with a Mrs Hurley that was not too good but I made do. I shared with a chap from Garstang whose father was a builder and joiner, he was rather disgruntled about the whole business of studying and in fact withdrew after third year.
In second year I decided to find somewhere else, and located the Williams family near to the Dingle and had a large front upstairs room so bought myself a slow burning coke stove to have heat all day long. Thus I could work at my drawing board in comfort {the school studios were so large and impersonal that no-one used them except when forced to do so for a one day exercise], and was able to go downstairs for drinks when needed.
Eve the landlady was a bright spark, her husband drove a tanker for Shell Chemicals and they had a son called Mervyn. They used the Welsh language when together but reverted to English when the other two student lodgers and I were around.
I felt very much inferior to these two guys who were studying English Lit and Philosophy and had funds of topics for discussion at the dinner table. I could only sit quietly and listen without understanding most of the discussion. They were also able to understand and complete the Guardian crossword whilst I never even got round to reading the Guardian, even for news.
During the year, the Williams decided to up stakes and go to Bromborough, and I went with them for one term but found that the cycle ride into Birkenhead was too much coupled with ferry trip and the uphill haul up to the school, so I left them and found a place in Birkenhead for one term.
Another chap, whose name I can't remember, shared the digs and he introduced me to golf. We played on a small 9-hole course run by the council and had quite a good time on Saturday mornings. Once or twice I even hired a set of clubs at an 18-hole council-owned course outside Birkenhead. The problem there was that the first tee was just beside a public path and so teeing off was highly embarrassing to a novice like me.
In third year we had to take office experience for the first term of the year and I worked in the City Architects offices in Leicester. The office to which I was allocated was an annexe in a Methodist chapel and we were in the upper vestry. Sometimes we chaps ran a small riot, which involved throwing bits of rubbers and apple cores and so on. I was retreating to the door one day and so was discovered by the Chief Architect when about to throw an apple core back to its sender. Gulp.
One day I bought the record called John & Marsha which is quite suggestive with the dialogue only of John & Marsha but said in all sorts of erotic ways. The first time of playing was on the church's record player. Wonder if the disc is still available?
Nothing of any note happened during the stay in Leicester and so in the second term I returned to Liverpool to find some new digs. I was on a ferryboat going over to Birkenhead with my bike and I happened to see Denis Greenwood, Wally and another student and they asked where I was going. When I explained my quest they suggested that as Donald Seth had decided to back out of their project they were looking for another person to join their atelier in Sefton Park.
I jumped at the chance and went back with them to see the house. Consider that ferries used to run every fifteen minutes so the odds of meeting them was immense.
There were to be eight members: Denis, Wally, Walmsley, Thaxton, Toy, Rostron, Russell and me. I was allotted a half of the rear room with Brian Thaxton and the first job was to buy a bed frame and mattress. Everyone had provided items of furniture and so it was agreed that I could build a wardrobe and also some cupboards in the kitchen.
So began a complete new way of life, far more social than anything I had previously known and there were lots of girls visiting to make life more interesting.
The feed problem was solved by everyone putting money into a kitty for breakfast and snacks All other meals were taken at Derby Hall. Thus I not only had a social life with the partners but I also found out about life in the Hall.
John Russell was going steady with Mirabell Hawkins from the P.E. school nearby and so frequent visits by her friends livened the scene. One girl was very much taken with Denis Greenwood who played rugby at county level and for Waterloo, and she often came to visit in case he would notice her.
He had his own lady who also went to a P.E. school but at Lady Margaret College somewhere in Yorkshire so he kept her at reasonable arms length. She and I struck up a friendship, which became quite intimate after a short time and we went steady until she decided to hitch her wagon to a group of vets.
Her name was Carol and her parents lived in Aylesbury. She had a sister named Janet and a brother with Downs Syndrome called Barry. They had hailed from the East end of London so Carol and I went visiting the area during one summer vacation. When she broke off the relationship, I was devastated, but was eventually consoled by a friendship with a girl called Margaret, which was strictly platonic.
However, as a result I did learn how to dance and so went to all the Saturday hops and formal do's. I could never get the hang of the fox trot but Maggie Lew and I did quite well with tangos and sambas, quick steps and suchlike.
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