DURHAM

During the spring of 1974, whilst still at Spalding Grammar School, I began to look at various teacher training establishments around the country, and for some reason Bede College in Durham seemed to stand out from the others for its music department. I applied and was invited for an interview after which I received an acceptance offer - which was not, in fact, dependent on achieving any A Levels. At school I concentrated on achieving A Level music, and didn't bother so much with my other two subjects - maths and geography (both of which exams I subsequently failed.) At least I achieved 'A' level Music! Looking back, I am not convinced that the music department at Bede College was actually any more outstanding than anywhere else, but it served its purpose as I achieved my Teaching Certificate.

Mum and Dad took me to Bede College in their car in October 1974, with a trunk full of everything listed in the college handbook, plus whatever else would fit in the car. On arrival we were shown to reception which was inside the 'old' part of the college, and then we were told where to find our accommodation.

All freshers were housed in 'halls of residence' - although the reality of the accommodation was somewhat less inspiring than the rather grand title!

I was allocated a top floor room in a 3-storey terraced house on Gilesgate (Room 3, 195 Gilesgate I think), which I was to share with another new student called Peter, who was from Leicester.

My parents left me - once all my luggage was in my new room - and I felt quite nervous now, being in a city almost 200 miles away from home with absolutely no-one that I knew.

Several of the houses along that side of Gilesgate were all used for student accommodation. Our 'house' consisted of one room on each of the three floors, with a communal bathroom and small utility room / kitchen on the ground floor.

Each of the rooms had two single beds, two tables and a small sink in the corner, and a rather old-looking gas fire.

Freshers Week

Having lived in Spalding all of my life up until now, and being somewhat shy, I found the new experience of living in a city quite overwhelming.

Whilst I was used to frequenting the local pubs in Spalding, the freedom of being a student, the relatively cheap beer - together with a culture of drinking as much as possible in a very short time (rather like we see on Ibiza Weekender these days) - was something completely new to me.

The first night there was a party for freshers in a large hall in the college, and all I can remember of that was very loud music, beer in plastic pint glasses and worrying about whether I would find my way back home.

During the first week there were endless parties in different venues around Durham, and I remember being completely lost at times with the number of bridges around the city - all looking the same, particularly one night trying to find my way home after a night out at Dunelm - the student union bar!

One of the parties was held outside somewhere outside of the city - I can't remember where. I remember that we all went on a coach and the evening was spent holding various drinking games. I remember 'I heard it on the grapevine' being played at top volume - but I don't remember much else about that night.

Once lectures began the following week, more of a routine was established, and I gradually got to know a few more people who either lived nearby, or who were on the same courses. I don't remember much about the actual lectures - apart from sitting in a tiered lecture theatre writing copious notes in a ring binder folder - with lots of psychology theories related to the development of children.

Gilesgate was only a short walk from the college but involved crossing Leases Road - with four lanes of traffic. There was a pedestrian bridge across the road, but this took you quite a way from the direct route - so it was often quicker to risk crossing the busy road .. but a lot more dangerous.

In Room 2 (below Peter and me) lived two other students - Richard and Jim (I think his name was) and, living in the same block, we all became friends and would meet up in each others' rooms. Another friend called Stephen who was in the same music group, but living in a room within the college, also joined us most evenings.

On the ground floor of our building lived a rather strange student which we gave the nick-name Catweasel. He had long hair, and looked like what we imagined a 1960s hippy to be like. He played an electric guitar really late into the night, and kept everyone awake in the entire building. All the rooms had the same ring-main for all the sockets, and so we decided to attempt to trip the fuse by plugging in everything that we had. The idea worked, and the trip switch blew - silencing his music. The next morning we reset the trip and everything was back to normal. We had to do that several times - and thankfully he never realised what we were up to.

Meals

All meals were provided in the college canteen, and each of us had a meal card. After a few weeks we found that it was better to take home a few slices of bread, and use these for the following day's breakfast. Using a fork it was possible to toast this on the old-fashioned gas fire. That saved a journey into college early in the morning.

I remember seeing 'black pudding' on the menu - and wondering what that was. I never actually tried it after its ingredients were explained to me. The meals in the canteen were actually very good from what little I can remember, and there was always plenty of choice.

The bathroom

The one small bathroom in our block was for all five of us to use, and the plumbing was very antiquated. In order to have a bath it was sometimes necessary to eliminate an air block in the hot water system, and a piece of old piping had to be used to suck the air out of the system. Most of us usually went across to the college to have a shower or bath rather than bother with all of that. Luckily each room had a sink in the corner, which had to come in for other uses when someone else was locked in the bathroom ...

The kitchen - if it could be called that - was a room with a two-ring hot plate, and an old fashioned washing machine. We only used the washing machine once - and never again. We had probably put far too much washing powder in the machine, and when we came back, the whole kitchen was flooded out with soap suds. In future we used the launderette in the college.

No-one did any cooking at all in that small kitchen - so the only 'cooking' that took place was toast on the gas fires.

Peter moves out

Peter, my original roommate, was not on the same courses as the rest of us, and probably found different friends that were on his own course. He decided after the first term or so to move from our room and move in with another group - which left my top room ideal for parties... We kept in touch with Peter, and one of his friends - Ken, who lived in a small road off Gilesgate called Ravensworth Terrace.

Jim, who shared the room below with Richard, also began to spend more of his time staying with his friends at a campus just outside the city - ( Nevilles Cross I think it was called) which was a campus for more for the sporty fraternity.

The first term

For most of the first term - up until Christmas 1974 - I think I worked reasonably hard, although I cannot remember much about the assignments we were given.

Richard used to go back home to North Shields each weekend, and Stephen and I would visit the old Swimming Pool (on the opposite side of the river). Stephen and I were both slightly overweight and decided it would be a good way of getting some form of exercise. Each Friday after college we would walk across the bridge to the 'Baths' and swim for an hour. Each week we attempted to swim more lengths, and eventually we achieved 25 lengths each time we went.

After the swimming sessions we would call and collect fish and chips ... I don't think that either of us actually lost any weight.

The Woodman Inn

I suppose, looking back, that The Woodman Inn was quite a big part of my three years living in Durham, and took up a lot of my time.

The pub was directly opposite our accommodation on Gilesgate, and it was only a short time before we ventured across the road to try out the local pub - 25 yards from our front door.

The Woodman Inn was a typical old-fashioned Northern Pub which had not moved with the times (picture the Rover's Return in Coronation Street in the 1960s with its brown varnished wood ..). The Woodman was owned by the brewery - Scottish and Newcastle - who had obviously not spent any money on the building for decades. The front room was the bar, with a small room on the right - separated by a varnished wood and glass partition - as a 'smoke' room. There was a separate room behind the bar, with just a small serving hatch on the right hand side of the till. The round varnished tables with their wrought iron legs were typical of that era, together with red 'leather-effect' seating in the bay window. Single round white glass globe-lights - on a pole from the ceiling - lit the bar.

Molly Caulfield - the Landlady

Molly Caulfield was the landlady of The Woodman Inn, and in 1974 she would have been about 66 years old. She was a slightly formidable looking lady - not quite as formidable looking as Ena Sharples - but along the same lines. However, Molly had an enormous amount of hair that she wrapped round and round into a high bun, and had a very jovial manner.

The first time a group of us went into her pub, she made us welcome - and that was the beginning of a friendship that would last for three years.

Molly had previously run a small hotel in Whitley Bay before becoming landlady of The Woodman Inn and certainly did not look her age.

Being immediately opposite our house, I would often go over the road, and over the coming months Molly asked me to help behind the bar when she was busy. She had one other member of staff - Ruby - who seemed to work part-time, but a lot of the times Molly had no-one to help her. When I helped behind the bar she would 'pay' me with free beer, and occasionally on a busy Saturday night she would give me some cash as well - but nothing on an official basis.

I was used to bar work, but found that Molly was very set in her ways, and some of her peculiarities were a bit difficult to comprehend at times. First of all the till dated from pre-decimalisation days, and was the old-fashioned type where you had to press several levers all at once. Most of the time she just used to press the 'No Sale' and put the money in the till. But on occasions she would insist that the correct amount was 'rung up' - something that was very difficult to do on a till that only had £s shillings and pence. Molly also resisted the introduction of optics - preferring instead to measure out the spirits using a small metal 'measure' - rather like a large thimble.

The pub had a lino floor, and the cellar had a sump to prevent flooding. As Molly became less able to descend the old wooden stairs, I sometimes had to change the barrels of beer, and keep her updated about the stock of beer remaining.

I am not sure how a pub like that was actually making any profit, as some evenings there would be almost no customers, although on rare occasions students would descend in droves and fill the place.

Memorable customers

One or two customers were 'regulars', and Molly treated them as friends - they would buy her a drink, then Molly would 'buy' the next. Molly drank brandy and peppermint (for medicinal purposes) she would say - and to start with she would measure them out correctly - but as the evening wore on she would guess - and pour brandy straight from the bottle.

Bella

One of her regulars was called Bella. She was an alcoholic who drank bottled Guinness, and during a lunchtime session she could drink her way through a whole crate. She sometimes drank so much that she couldn't find her way to the toilets around the back - and several times she had to be followed with a mop ....

Dave

Another great drinker - and a very overweight man - was Dave. Dave was Ruby's husband and had been a coal miner - often recounting his tales about the miners. Dave was a binge drinker, with quite long periods when he didn't drink at all. Ruby would say - 'He's off the drink at the moment' - and we wouldn't see him for several weeks. Then he would re-appear, and sit on a bar stool the left-hand side of the bar nearest the door and drink pints of Newcastle 'Scotch' beer. He spent a great deal of money buying drinks for himself - and everyone else - and he got extremely drunk. In modern times landlords would not be able to keep supplying more alcohol, but in the 1970s it was unheard of to tell someone they had drunk enough. He only stopped drinking when he was unable to sit upright on the stool, and would fall off onto the floor. On occasions Molly and Ruby closed the pub, and left Dave lying on the floor to 'sleep it off'.

The Juke Box

When we first visited the pub there was an AMI Juke Box in the rear room - quite an iconic machine with a curved glass dome showing the records playing. It looked much more battered and worn than the one in the picture below ...

Later Molly had a more modern replacement Juke Box - this time situated at the right-hand end of the bar. Whenever Molly had drunk quite a lot she would play Dorothy Squires singing 'My Way'.

The till

Molly lived upstairs in what was quite spacious accommodation. At the end of each evening Molly would remove the entire drawer from the till in order to take it upstairs to count the takings. On several occasions she dropped the lot outside the door, and coins were scattered around Gilesgate.

A New Look

Richard and Stephen decided that I should have a new-look haircut. Up until now my hair had been far too long, and had no style. They arranged for me to have it cut in Durham - and although I was unsure about this at the time, I was extremely pleased that they had suggested this move. I then bought a new pair of glasses to complete the new look ..

When it was time for Ruby and Dave's wedding anniversary, Molly sent me into Durham to fetch a bouquet of flowers for her to give to the couple. I stopped off at a photo booth to have photos taken of the flowers - with my new hair cut and new glasses ...

The Geordie accent and 'new words' for me ...

When I first began to meet the locals I found the Geordie accent quite difficult to understand - and some of them found my Lincolnshire accent quite amusing too.

A few new words and phrases that I had to learn included:-

• Bairn - child

• Tab - cigarette

• Nee - no

• Dee - do

• Gan - go

• Divvin' - don't

• Doon - down

• Owa - over

• Neet - night

• Us - me

• Howay man - an exclamation

• Wey aye - yes

• Canny like - good

There are lots of others as well of course ...

and, for example, when Molly would say phrases like:

'Divvent get is wrang pet,' in her strong Geordie accent - I had absolutely no idea what she was actually saying. It meant, 'Don't get me wrong' ...

Student bar

The student bar in the college was great if you wanted cheap beer, and our favourite was Stella Lager - served in plastic glasses at around 20 pence a pint .. The bar had no atmosphere, and although Stephen and I went occasionally for some cheap lager, gradually we stopped visiting the student bar.

The Gulbenkian Room

Many of our music lectures were held in the Gulbenkian Room at Bede College. Rather ironically I found this word almost impossible to pronounce, for some strange reason. (I still cannot say it correctly!)

College Chapel

Bede College had its own chapel, complete with a small two-manual pipe organ. Stephen was one of the assistant organists, and I used to play when required.

One night Stephen and I were in the organ loft practicing when someone locked the doors to the chapel, and we ended up sleeping that night on the floor.

The fire escape

When we found ourselves locked in the chapel a second time we decided to try to leave by the emergency exit - which was an old metal fire escape. This time we had been drinking - earlier in the evening (not in the chapel) - and due to the amount we had drunk, I fell head first down the metal staircase - but very fortunately escaped with just a few bruises ...

Organ Lessons

Alan Thurlow gave Stephen and me organ lessons at various churches in Durham. On occasions he would allow us to play the Cathedral organ, and that was a great privilege. Looking back I could have become much more involved with music at the Cathedral, but in reality it was quite a trek from Gilesgate up to Palace Green and the Cathedral.

Trips to Newcastle and Sunderland

At weekends Stephen and I would make occasional trips to Newcastle and Sunderland by train. We had limited spending money, so these outings were limited - as the train fare was quite expensive. Sometimes we went during the day, but more often on a Friday evening to frequent some of the nightlife. I had never really experienced night life in a city - and although Newcastle seemed very exciting, it was also quite daunting. Pubs offered drink at ridiculously cheap prices from early in the evening - Any 3 drinks for £1 (or 3 for £1) as they were advertised. It seemed to be the normal to drink as much as possible from about 5pm, and then keep going throughout the evening. There is absolutely no doubt that I drank far too much - although looking at news reports of young people today, I don't think we were any worse!

It was in Newcastle that I discovered 'Newcastle Brown' with its iconic label. This was quite a strong bottled beer compared to the usual draught 'Scotch' that I had been used to in Durham - and also relatively expensive.

Our main concern with an evening out in Newcastle was making sure that we didn't miss the last train back from Newcastle. The pubs closed at 10.30pm, and the last train left Newcastle station at 11pm. On a couple of occasions we missed the train by about five minutes, and spent the night sleeping on the station platform at Newcastle waiting for the first train back to Durham at about 6am. Not the best way to spend the night!

The Train Home

Often the train home from Newcastle to Durham was packed with very rowdy - and sometimes quite aggressive football supporters - who had all drunk a lot more than we had. Looking back, these journeys were quite scary and I am pleased that my parents didn't know what we were up to - although I rarely went alone on the train.

The new stereo from Fenwick's

We decided that we wanted a new music system - partly to play 'records' for our music course - but mainly for entertainment. After a trip to Fenwick's in Newcastle, Stephen and I struggled back on the train with an all-in-on system with two separate speakers. This would play the radio, cassettes and records. Once installed, I don't think it was really ever used for classical music - only music for entertainment - and most often the local radio station.

Richard's Friends

Richard was from North Shields, and knew the local area of Newcastle, Sunderland and Whitley Bay - and had many friends and acquaintances.

He took us to Whitley Bay where we met a friend of his - Derek - who had a flat on the sea front. I remember playing a game of charades and being extremely embarrassed when it was my turn. I tried to mime 'House of the Year' but had mis-read the card which actually said 'Horse of the Year' ...

We had many several enjoyable visits to Whitley Bay, and Derek's flat, and also went further up the coast for occasional picnics.

Richard took us to stay at his house one weekend at North Shields, and I felt very honoured to meet his family. We walked along the coast one windy evening - and for once we didn't get drunk!

To start with we didn't venture to other places outside of Durham City, until one weekend when Stephen arranged for me to go with him to a night club in Sunderland.

Spalding was not known for its night life, and I had no idea really what to expect. I was slightly nervous - as I didn't really know how Richard might feel with us meeting up with some of his established friends - but I needn't have worried. He was pleased to see us (I think) and for the coming few months we had occasional nights out in Sunderland. I can't really remember how Stephen and I actually got back to Durham, as at that time the Metro had not yet been installed, and the train service was rather limited ...

Creme Eggs

Along Gilesgate was a small confectionery shop, and I remember that Stephen and I would call in and usually buy a Cadbury's creme egg whenever we were passing - which was normally every day. No wonder that we were both somewhat unfit.

My First Teaching Practice

I think my first teaching practice was at a school in Chester-le-Street, although I can't be sure - and I can't now remember all that much about that fortnight in school. I do remember that a lot of time was spent preparing lessons for each day - far more than teachers could normally prepare in everyday life. I also remember that once I had been into the school for a day or two I began to actually enjoy the experience.

The Koltai House

For the second of our three years we all had to find our own accommodation. We found a house on the opposite side of the road about a 2 minute walk from our original Gilesgate rooms. The house was owned by the Koltai family, and they offered 3 rooms to students. Richard and Jim had planned to have the downstairs room, and I was to have a small room in the attic.

This arrangement was not all that satisfactory as Jim was part of the rugby team, and most of his mates were accommodated about 2 miles away at Nevilles Cross (I think). So in the end Richard and I shared the downstairs front room - which was just big enough for two single beds and two small tables and chairs. The two beds had dreadful nylon fitted sheets, and Richard arranged to have some replacement cotton sheets for both of us to use.

We found that living in someone else's home was much more restrictive than we had been accustomed to - we could no longer have friends to visit, and certainly no more parties!

We didn't really like the Koltai family, and I suspect they didn't like us much either - and to be honest we probably were not model tenants - for some of the following reasons ...

• The washing machine

One Saturday afternoon when the Koltai family were out we decided to use the washing machine in their kitchen. We were not supposed to use this - or go into their private accommodation. We needed to wash a shirt, and to save time going into college we used their washing machine. Stephen walked up and down Gilesgate to keep watch, and I set the machine going. I am not sure that we would have been able to get the shirt out of the machine if they had arrived back home, but in fact we got away with it, and the shirt was washed without their knowledge.

• The Phone

In the hallway was a telephone - which the Koltai family kept for their use only. The dial had a lock through to prevent it being turned - but we knew a way to make a call without using the dial. It was possible to tap the buttons under the receiver the correct number of times - so for 7224 you could tap 7 times then twice and so on. This worked to some extent, but was no use for long distance as it was almost impossible to tap the 0 (ten times) without making a mistake. We actually only used the phone in this way a couple of times.

• The Gas Meter

In our room there was a gas meter for the single gas fire. The meter took 10 pence pieces and Mrs Koltai removed the small padlock and emptied the meter every so often. When we left, she accused us of unlocking the meter and taking some of the money, saying that we had probably bought a key from Woolworths! This was not actually the case - in fact she had left it unlocked, so we put some of the coins through twice .... It probably amounted to less than £1, but she made a point of reporting this to the college!

The Flat

Richard and I began to consider whether we might find a flat, and Molly put us in touch with a rather eccentric gentleman called Mr Roberton. He owned quite a lot of rooms and flats in Durham, and showed us a flat near the lower end of Gilesgate - above a model shop in Claypath. Our address was now to be Flat 1, 90 Claypath.

The flat was quite spacious although extremely dilapidated - but we both thought it would be better that living with the Koltai family. So we agreed to rent it, and made arrangements to leave our current room. I think that it cost us £92 each month - as I seem to remember that we paid £46 each.

Leaving The Koltai house

Our 'tenancy' at number 10 was brought to an abrupt end one weekend in early 1976 when Stephen and I got drunk. Molly had asked me to clear up the cellar at the Woodman, and I came across some quite ancient crates - covered in cobwebs - full of old bottles. I brought them up and, quite surprisingly she told us to throw them away - as they were far too old to use. Instead, we took them back to the Koltai's house and found there was a selection of drinks - Babycham; Cherry B and Pony.

That night Stephen and I decided to drink quite a cocktail of these, and we got totally drunk and very noisy. When the Koltai's came to investigate, they found us being extremely silly, and I guess we were probably quite verbally aggressive. Richard and I moved out - and moved into the flat the following week, and Mr & Mrs Koltai informed the college that we had not been satisfactory students as far as they were concerned ...

Mr Robertson and the flat

When we first moved in to the flat on Claypath - I think it was probably about March 1976 - we had no furniture at all. Molly gave us two mattresses and some blankets (which were from the hotel in Whitley Bay that she had previously managed), and one of the tutors - Trevor Horton, I think was his name, - gave us a large oak sideboard. The first night in the flat we slept on the living-room floor on two mattresses, using blankets that Molly had given to us. I seem to remember that we were about to embark on teaching practice at the time - which was certainly not an ideal time to be living like this!

We gradually acquired enough furniture to get by, and Richard brought an electric fire from his home - as the old gas fire was unusable (no gas safety checks in those days). He also brought a second-hand television for the flat, and as we were classed as students we didn't need to purchase a TV licence.

The Bathroom

The bathroom was at the front of the property - a section that had been partitioned off from the original living room. Looking from the front, the bathroom was on the right, partly over the passageway, with the living room on the left. (The partition was a thin stud-wall between the two sash windows.) The bathroom had a very old bath along the front wall and window - with a very slow-running electric shower. Other than the shower, there was no hot water at all in the flat. It was still preferable on occasions to go into college to have a proper hot shower ...

The Kitchen

The large, square kitchen was to the rear, and had a very saggy ceiling with patches of damp showing through. One weekend there was a terrific storm in Durham, with torrential rain. The roof in the flat must have leaked quite a bit, because the kitchen ceiling began to bow with the weight of water from above. When we left for college that morning we placed pots and pans around the kitchen to collect the water.

When we arrived back from college we discovered the entire ceiling had collapsed, and everything in the kitchen was wrecked. Mr Robertson must have arranged for this to be repaired quite swiftly, as I don't remember being without a kitchen for very long.

Halfway up the stairs was the toilet, and then on the upper floor were the two bedrooms. Looking at the front of the house, I had the right-hand room, and Richard had the left.

Other tenants

The rear of the flat was like a rabbit-warren, with corridors and small rooms leading to three other flats. One flat was to the rear of our flat - overlooking Leases Road and was occupied by one of the college tutors. The other occupied flat was to the left of our flat - over the next door shop to the left of number 90 (looking from the front). This was occupied by a man we knew as Dennis. He was a strange character, and we knew nothing much about him. He had a collection of eccentric looking ties - very wide, and brightly coloured - not the kind of tie that students of our age would have even considered wearing. On one occasion he knocked on our door and accused us of stealing some of his ties, which of course we hadn't. I couldn't even begin to imagine why anyone would have wanted any of those ...

A third flat (to the rear of Dennis) had no roof, - open to the elements and was full of pigeons ...

Electricity Meter

When we first moved into the flat we asked Mr Robertson if we could have our own electricity meter instead of the old coin operated arrangement - and in return I would install a new consumer unit. The wiring in the entire building was very antiquated, and looking back - probably quite dangerous. At least with a new consumer unit and trip switch there would be some degree of protection.

Mr Robertson agreed, and Northern Power installed a new meter in the shop below - to supply our flat.

We didn't know this at the time, but later we found that one of the sockets in our living room was actually connected to the next door flat (occupied by Dennis), and so anything we plugged in to that socket was not connected to our meter ..

When we reported this, the electricity board came to check the wiring and amazingly stated that it was all correct - so we left it as it was!

Our next door neighbour, Dennis, had a habit of loudly playing his 1960s music late at night - but once again we had the upper hand - because we could trip out his electricity supply that was connected to our socket by overloading the circuit. The only problem with this was that we then had to bother the shop owner the next day, so that we could fix the blown fuse - as his fusebox was located in the shop below, underneath the window display!

The sound of breaking glass

In our 'new' flat the stereo system was used almost all of the time - with all the hits of the 70s playing on the local radio station. No-one ever complained about the noise, but I am sure that it must have been somewhat annoying to the shop owner below our flat.

Right outside the flat was a bus stop - and Richard brought in a cassette recording of the sound of smashing glass ( I have no idea why ...) It seemed a good idea at the time to put the two speakers near the open window, and play this cassette when the bus stopped - right outside the window. Several times the bus driver actually got out to find out what had happened - thinking that something had crashed into the bus ...

Mum and Dad visit

Mum and Dad came to Durham to stay one weekend. They were not over impressed with the state of the accommodation, and Mum was particularly concerned that there were gaps in the bathroom floor where you could see down into the passageway below .. I assured her that it was perfectly safe, and that the flat was much better than lots of the student accommodation. They enjoyed their visit to Durham, but Mum often remarked for years afterwards about the state of that flat ...

Beer Brewing

We had a phase of brewing lager in a cupboard on the staircase of our flat. We bought all the necessary ingredients, and acquired containers and bottles - and waited. The brew was just about drinkable, but after a few attempts, we decided that it was not worth all the bother

Cooking

We didn't actually do any cooking in the flat during the week - instead we went into the college canteen where we could pay for the food we wanted. Someone gave us a 'slow cooker' and so we decided to set it up one night so that porridge would be ready in the morning. That idea was a total disaster as the porridge turned out like cement. I don't think we ever used the slow cooker again.

Richard always went home to stay with his parents in North Shields at weekends, so usually Stephen would spend most of his time at the flat. He was slightly more ambitious with cooking, and we would go into town on a Saturday morning, and he would buy shopping and sometimes attempt to cook. This was rarely successful, and we usually ended up back at the canteen.

One of our friends was a chef in Durham City, and he was quite shocked at how little food we kept in our kitchen. He had offered to cook us a meal - only to find the fridge and cupboards almost bare (apart from some mice that occasionally frequented the kitchen cupboards).

Whenever he visited us at the flat he would bring some food - and cook it for us as well, which was a great bonus for all of us. Looking back now, we were very fortunate to have had such a generous friend!

Survey at Washington New Town

One day we were assigned to carry out a survey at Washington New Town. We were taken on a coach and asked to knock on doors asking residents questions about the area, where they shopped, leisure facilities and other random information. Most residents were not interested in taking part, and in the end we made up most of the data ourselves - and spent the rest of the afternoon in a pub. I'm not sure what this exercise had to do with teaching, but at least we had carried out the task that the tutor had asked us to do (in a fashion).

Lord Lawson, Birtley

For my second teaching practice I was assigned to Lord Lawson Comprehensive school in Birtley.

From the moment we arrived on the coach I knew that I was not going to enjoy this experience. To start with there was such a turnover of staff that they didn't even know one another.

One of the music lessons that I had to teach was a recorder lesson to some Year 3 (now Y9) children. The experienced teacher who was my tutor did warn me that this would not be an easy ride - and she was right.

The pupils came into the room chewing gum, and chatting away, and then during the lesson one of the girls got hold of her recorder and snapped it over her knee - saying in unrepeatable language that she wasn't going to play that ******* thing. How do you deal with that? ...

When I observed an experienced teacher taking a similar lesson I was somewhat relieved to discover that she did not achieve much more than I had done - and the pupils behaved just as badly.

I don't remember all that much else about my time there - other than I survived the experience (just). It made me decide there and then that I wanted to teach primary aged children!

Music Composition

Part of our music course was to produce various compositions - and that was something completely new to me. I managed to produce a few simple items for organ, but found it much more difficult when it came to orchestral instruments.

My attempt at composing for piano, 2 flutes and a clarinet was a disaster. Having written out the parts, the four instruments performed the piece during one of our music lessons. The piece sounded appalling - and then I discovered that I had transposed the part for the Clarinet in B flat one tone in the wrong direction.. putting the Clarinet part in entirely the wrong key. That error rectified, and everyone having had a good laugh about the sound, the piece sounded a lot better!

The Pub Crawl at the end of Teaching Practice

The last day of our teaching practice was marked with a pub crawl. Richard had gone home to North Shields - and Stephen and I were almost drunk before we even went out. I cannot remember how many pubs we visited on the pub crawl, but neither of us could recall much of that night. Somehow we got back to the flat, and I remember waking up and thinking that the light coming through the window looked rather strange compared to normal. I later found out that it was actually 5pm when we had woken up!

The broken bottle

One weekend in the flat Stephen and I once again had plenty to drink, and the sash window was wide open. An empty bottle of wine was perched on the window sill and the bottle was unfortunately somehow knocked off, out into the street, where it smashed on the pavement. Looking out of the window, just at that precise moment we saw that a policeman was walking by. He shouted up to us to come down, so we obeyed, and he told us to get a dustpan and brush and clear it up. Thankfully once the glass had been swept up, no further action was taken.

The pubs that we frequented

There were two other pubs along Gilesgate that we would visit on occasions.

The Travellers' Rest was halfway along Gilesgate on the same side at the Woodman Inn, and we occasionally went in there

The other pub was a few doors away from our flat on Claypath - possibly the Castle Inn - though I can't really remember its name. We used to go in there last thing at night for a cheap half pint of lager - which at that time I think was 9 pence.

Also included on our pub crawls would be a visit to the Three Tuns

and sometimes a visit to the slightly up-market Royal County.

A few times I went into a pub near the railway viaduct called the Colpitts - where there was an old piano, and could be persuaded to play a few old-time songs for which I was paid with beer ... The Colpitts pub was another typical old-fashioned Northern pub.

Another pub that we used to visit in the Market Place was The Market Tavern, although I don't remember much about that particular pub!

Party Night

Wednesday nights became a party night at the flat, and some of Richard's friends would visit us in Durham, and after we had been into the town we would all come back to the flat. Thankfully by evening time the model shop downstairs was closed, so the noise didn't actually affect anyone else!

Glandular Fever

In June 1976 I felt really ill - rather like severe flu, and having struggled into college for lectures, I eventually had to see a doctor who diagnosed glandular fever. I went home to Spalding for the remainder of that academic year to recover during the hot summer of 1976. It took me a long time to get over that! When I returned to Durham, Stephen said that I had lost so much weight that he wasn't sure it was really me to begin with ...

My Third and Final Teaching Practice

I only have very vague memories of my final teaching practice, which I think was at a small primary in or near Chester le Street. I enjoyed this fortnight much more than the previous experience at Birtley, and had a very helpful tutor.

Organ Exam

For part of our final exams Stephen and I had to have organ exams. Our examiner put us both in mind of Margaret Rutherford - a rather fussy 'granny' type of lady. We must have both impressed her, as we both received good marks!

Flute Exam

All students on the music course had to play two instruments, so in addition to the Organ, I also started to learn to play the flute. I was not all that interested in learning to play this instrument, but I had to achieve a Grade 5 standard. When it came time for the exam, I encountered a D# in the Sight Reading section that I didn't know how to play!

When I got to that place I played a D and blew a bit harder in the hope that it might go slightly sharp. The examiner didn't seem to notice, and I passed the exam ...

A tour of Chester

One weekend Stephen invited me to stay with him at his home in Chester, and he gave me a very informative tour of Chester - with its famous Roman Walls, and we also visited Manchester and Liverpool on the train.

My visit to Scotland

One of our friends, Phillip, invited me to go to Scotland for the weekend. I had never been to Scotland before, and so I accepted the invitation - travelling by train from Newcastle to Edinburgh. We stayed with some friends of Philip - one of whom had featured in a TV advert (I think it was for toothpaste, but I can't actually remember the details). Whilst we were in Scotland he took me to see the Forth Bridge, as well as having a very brief look around Edinburgh. That is the only time I have visited Scotland.

Liverpool Cathedral

Stephen had connections with Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and in 1978 Stephen invited me to the official opening of the Cathedral which was attended by the Queen - and we actually sat quite close to her in the Cathedral.

Staying in Durham or leaving?

I had been applying for various teaching jobs around the country during the spring of 1977, all to no avail - as teaching posts were becoming quite rare at that time. I did attend an interview at a school in Bromley in Kent, but I didn't actually like the school - and I wasn't offered the job anyway.

In June 1977 it became time to make a decision as to whether I wanted to stay living in Durham or return home to Spalding. When Richard went home to North Shields, and Stephen returned to Chester I didn't really want to stay in Durham, and I couldn't really afford to keep the flat in Durham on my own, so I made the decision to move back to Spalding.

In July 1977 I was invited for an interview, and was appointed to the post of music teacher at Spalding Parish Church Day School to commence in September 1977.

More about my time teaching can be found in Chapter 4

After moving back to Spalding in 1977 I gradually lost touch with most people that I had known whilst in Durham, and was very sad to hear that Stephen had died in 1990, aged just 35.

Molly Caulfield moved into accommodation along Gilesgate - near the Woodman Inn - on her retirement, and died in 1995, aged 87.

Thank you to my flatmate, Richard, who has helped to jog my memory - and remind me of various names and places in Durham.