MAIN » ARTICLESAs Time Goes By (Jay's Version)
Latest update of The Online Net included an article by Jameson telling his school memories over the years as we come towards the end of our GCSEs, and at the end he urged others to add their own memories, as we come towards a new era in life and so on, so I am.
Like Jameson, the early years of life and education, love and experimentation, are all very hazy for me for many reasons. In case you didn’t know I haven’t lived in this agricultural town of Ipswich all my life, I started out in one of London’s southern boroughs and moved around a bit, I don’t even remember where, and ended up in Weston-Super-Mare, a small sea-side town on the south-west coast that has been featured on the Antiques Road show and Lovejoy to name two crap BBC programmes.
Milton Junior School is where the story begins, it’s where all my memories begin also… I cannot remember anything before this time strangely but it would’ve all been shit anyway. So…
There was always one group of friends I was in with during my time there, although there was no persons of ethnic minorities it was a fairly balanced group with different people in there with all one thing in common: love of football. It was the dream of the group, and all of us played it as if we were born to do so, same team and everything. There was me, Adam ‘Basher’ Parsons, Daniel Drake, Louise, Iain and Chris Heady. This was the ‘core’ group, who stayed together through the good and the bad, and then played football afterwards. We all played for Weston Crusaders JFC and we were pretty good. Myself, Adam and Dan were the star players and towards the end of my years there, in fact in the last year, us 3 were selected as the three best players to go for a trial at Bristol Rovers Junior team, unfortunately I had to move to good-old Ipswich then so I passed up on the opportunity, dammit.
Anyway we all played together, until something like under 10’s when new rules meant Louise was no longer allowed to play in the team, which was definitely a shame as she was one of the best players in the team. Dave King’s company Basis sponsored the team in my final years there, and as I write this I cast my eyes to the right to see the last team photo I was in, it brings back many memories of a past almost forgotten.
Then there was Jason who also played for the team, our story is a twisted one and unfortunately I cannay remember all of it. I do remember it started off with him as the school bully and me as the innocent good-looking victim. I don’t know why he picked on me, but he did, he was the strongest one in the bunch with a south-american look about him and he used to punch me. Looking back it couldn’t have been that hard, but he punched me. At this point I blank out and the next thing I remember is us being best of friends… something happened in the middle which changed things and I will never know what it was. We used to sit in the classroom during silent reading, both reading Point Horror books, something we had in common, and we’d talk about it; I wouldn’t understand the story and I’d ask him to explain but he’d explain his book and I would get even more confused. My first girlfriend was called Emma, she was great and we were together what was a long time in those days so it must have been at least a week, probably a couple of months. She had a best friend called Kelly and I kind of wanted a bit of both, even at such a young age but we broke up as I left, leaving many friends and memories behind me and moved house.
Next thing I knew I had missed 5 months of year 5… joy, and was in a new house, a bit smaller than the last one but on a nicer road with less cars, and less chance of dying.. Oh, and a bigger front garden as well, and the house was detached, not semi-detached. The earliest memory I have of moving here was snow, and we were driving down the road towards what I found out to be Bucklesham (home of the robe), when taking a car a bit sharply in the snow Mrs. King (my mother) lost control of the old Montego and skidded off the road into a ditch. We summoned some of the locals to dig us out whilst I sat in the car laughing at my mum and making women driver jokes.
Anyway, I went to Bucklesham Primary School for the remainder of year 5 and then all of year 6. I was the latest of a string of arrivals before me and no one new came during my time. So you could say I was the final piece in the puzzle. The ‘dirty dozen’ so to speak were as follows: Myself, Hendy, Rusty, Blair, Osborne, Bradford Jordan, Matthew Bridges, Tom White and Tom Mayes… yes, I know that is only 9. Then there was Harriet, Sally, Helena and some other girls… they’re unimportant anyway. At first the lads split into two main gangs, the first gang was the “old skool collection”, who had been there from the start: Hendy, Tom White and Tom Mayes. They then became threatened by the “New Generation” who had all moved to the school from somewhere else over the years: Myself, Bradford Jordan and Osborne. Not bias or anything but the new generation were the stronger group for we had myself and Osborne – first class, and the scientific comedy ingenuity of BJ. They had Mayes.
Into year 6 and the gangs stopped fighting in the playground with sticks, and merged into one snarling beast foaming at the mouth as it were. Rusty and Blair were around during these times but were model students and wouldn’t dream of joining in the chaos caused by the merger of the two most dangerous clans of the Bucklesham area.
Extra-clever Mathematics lessons with Karen Ball’s mum was in order for Myself, Hendy and Rusty, which made us feel clever and we followed through nicely with the lads getting some of the best SATS levels in the area, the school average only lowed by one small thing: females, ah… and Bridges (the school retard).
Anyway, the era ended, and we went onto Kesgrave High School, for me this just meant staying on the bus longer in the mornings and losing all the respect I had built up in my two years at Bucklesham – so not much changed. There was however, a big change in the friendship thing, which was to be expected really. Bridges went off to a catholic school to lower their average intelligence, Bradford was sent to Woodbridge private school because his dad was rich… I really don’t know why. Mayes went off to Orwell as he lived nearer there but everyone else slipped seamlessly into Kesgrave life however separated. Myself and Hendy ended up together, and as the two strongest members of the two earlier gangs we were laughing. Tom White and Osborne ended up apart somewhere else, Blair and Rusty stayed together and we were all spread out. New friends were made but the Bucklesham connection is one which can never be forgotten, the elite group of individuals who came from a tightly woven community, which benefited their lives tremendously.
Now new groups have formed in many different ways, Rawson, Jameson, Randy and so on, Ryan, Alan Edkins and the rest are on the scene, and the past may have gone but it will damn well never be forgotten.
Article Written by Jay
j666.16814.k00@ntlworld.com
Like Jameson, the early years of life and education, love and experimentation, are all very hazy for me for many reasons. In case you didn’t know I haven’t lived in this agricultural town of Ipswich all my life, I started out in one of London’s southern boroughs and moved around a bit, I don’t even remember where, and ended up in Weston-Super-Mare, a small sea-side town on the south-west coast that has been featured on the Antiques Road show and Lovejoy to name two crap BBC programmes.
Milton Junior School is where the story begins, it’s where all my memories begin also… I cannot remember anything before this time strangely but it would’ve all been shit anyway. So…
There was always one group of friends I was in with during my time there, although there was no persons of ethnic minorities it was a fairly balanced group with different people in there with all one thing in common: love of football. It was the dream of the group, and all of us played it as if we were born to do so, same team and everything. There was me, Adam ‘Basher’ Parsons, Daniel Drake, Louise, Iain and Chris Heady. This was the ‘core’ group, who stayed together through the good and the bad, and then played football afterwards. We all played for Weston Crusaders JFC and we were pretty good. Myself, Adam and Dan were the star players and towards the end of my years there, in fact in the last year, us 3 were selected as the three best players to go for a trial at Bristol Rovers Junior team, unfortunately I had to move to good-old Ipswich then so I passed up on the opportunity, dammit.
Anyway we all played together, until something like under 10’s when new rules meant Louise was no longer allowed to play in the team, which was definitely a shame as she was one of the best players in the team. Dave King’s company Basis sponsored the team in my final years there, and as I write this I cast my eyes to the right to see the last team photo I was in, it brings back many memories of a past almost forgotten.
Then there was Jason who also played for the team, our story is a twisted one and unfortunately I cannay remember all of it. I do remember it started off with him as the school bully and me as the innocent good-looking victim. I don’t know why he picked on me, but he did, he was the strongest one in the bunch with a south-american look about him and he used to punch me. Looking back it couldn’t have been that hard, but he punched me. At this point I blank out and the next thing I remember is us being best of friends… something happened in the middle which changed things and I will never know what it was. We used to sit in the classroom during silent reading, both reading Point Horror books, something we had in common, and we’d talk about it; I wouldn’t understand the story and I’d ask him to explain but he’d explain his book and I would get even more confused. My first girlfriend was called Emma, she was great and we were together what was a long time in those days so it must have been at least a week, probably a couple of months. She had a best friend called Kelly and I kind of wanted a bit of both, even at such a young age but we broke up as I left, leaving many friends and memories behind me and moved house.
Next thing I knew I had missed 5 months of year 5… joy, and was in a new house, a bit smaller than the last one but on a nicer road with less cars, and less chance of dying.. Oh, and a bigger front garden as well, and the house was detached, not semi-detached. The earliest memory I have of moving here was snow, and we were driving down the road towards what I found out to be Bucklesham (home of the robe), when taking a car a bit sharply in the snow Mrs. King (my mother) lost control of the old Montego and skidded off the road into a ditch. We summoned some of the locals to dig us out whilst I sat in the car laughing at my mum and making women driver jokes.
Anyway, I went to Bucklesham Primary School for the remainder of year 5 and then all of year 6. I was the latest of a string of arrivals before me and no one new came during my time. So you could say I was the final piece in the puzzle. The ‘dirty dozen’ so to speak were as follows: Myself, Hendy, Rusty, Blair, Osborne, Bradford Jordan, Matthew Bridges, Tom White and Tom Mayes… yes, I know that is only 9. Then there was Harriet, Sally, Helena and some other girls… they’re unimportant anyway. At first the lads split into two main gangs, the first gang was the “old skool collection”, who had been there from the start: Hendy, Tom White and Tom Mayes. They then became threatened by the “New Generation” who had all moved to the school from somewhere else over the years: Myself, Bradford Jordan and Osborne. Not bias or anything but the new generation were the stronger group for we had myself and Osborne – first class, and the scientific comedy ingenuity of BJ. They had Mayes.
Into year 6 and the gangs stopped fighting in the playground with sticks, and merged into one snarling beast foaming at the mouth as it were. Rusty and Blair were around during these times but were model students and wouldn’t dream of joining in the chaos caused by the merger of the two most dangerous clans of the Bucklesham area.
Extra-clever Mathematics lessons with Karen Ball’s mum was in order for Myself, Hendy and Rusty, which made us feel clever and we followed through nicely with the lads getting some of the best SATS levels in the area, the school average only lowed by one small thing: females, ah… and Bridges (the school retard).
Anyway, the era ended, and we went onto Kesgrave High School, for me this just meant staying on the bus longer in the mornings and losing all the respect I had built up in my two years at Bucklesham – so not much changed. There was however, a big change in the friendship thing, which was to be expected really. Bridges went off to a catholic school to lower their average intelligence, Bradford was sent to Woodbridge private school because his dad was rich… I really don’t know why. Mayes went off to Orwell as he lived nearer there but everyone else slipped seamlessly into Kesgrave life however separated. Myself and Hendy ended up together, and as the two strongest members of the two earlier gangs we were laughing. Tom White and Osborne ended up apart somewhere else, Blair and Rusty stayed together and we were all spread out. New friends were made but the Bucklesham connection is one which can never be forgotten, the elite group of individuals who came from a tightly woven community, which benefited their lives tremendously.
Now new groups have formed in many different ways, Rawson, Jameson, Randy and so on, Ryan, Alan Edkins and the rest are on the scene, and the past may have gone but it will damn well never be forgotten.
Article Written by Jay
j666.16814.k00@ntlworld.com