The World is our Tortoise
The Crookes Family in
Sheffield
September 10th
1945.
by
Eric Crookes
I was born at 75 Hoole Street on September 10th 1945
the third child of Ivy and Leonard Crookes. What were my earliest
recollections? I can't really say but I
remember brown varnished doors, talk of a cat called Molly and the chickens in
the garden. I can also remember a
colouring book with a boy and girl on the back walking in the sunlight. Signs of a romantic mind in the making I
guess. My Mam always said this was the
best home she ever had, probably because it was the first real home she had.
My first school was Arbourthorne Infants where I
probably went from the age of 3 until my parents moved to 35 Spinkhill Road. I
remember nothing of those days. But I do
remember the early days at Spinkhill Road especially the bare walls and
pictures out of story books that Pat stuck up.
I seem to have a picture of walking along a shale pathway on the first
day we moved into the house with Aunty Edna who, at that time, lived on
Motehall Road. At this time, 1950, my sister Pat was 11 years old, Leonard was
7 and Tony 4. I went to Woodthorpe
Infants and Junior Schools and struggled against the usual poverty adversities. There was clear evidence that I was fairly
bright though I failed the 11-plus exam at 11 years old notwithstanding the
fact that kids around me with seemingly less potential managed to pass. In
hindsight I believe that was the first example of the class system working
against me for whatever reason and in whatever manner!! My old Dad went back
into the Navy in 1952 for the Korean emergency and my Mam had to raise the four
of us on her service pay. That must have
been a struggle though I remember little of it except for the unpleasant
processes at school such as free dinners and no clothes to our backs. Even then I recollect being given three pence
for doing well in tests in arithmetic and English.
I left Woodthorpe School to go to Brook Secondary on
Richmond Road. I went to the wrong school on the first day and got it right on
the second. This school was alright for
the period though again in hindsight they taught little of any real value other
than the 3-Rs. What more could a working class lad wish for? I wonder!!
I did well in relative terms, played football for the school, trained
with Sheffield Boys, but ought to have done better.
I left school at 15 years and 3 months to start
working life at Brown Bayley Steels at Attercliffe. Here I met John Blackhurst who for years I
thought was the most intelligent man on earth now I know better, Cliff Mills,
Gary Wilkinson and Barry Peacock. I went
to day school studying some basic classes in sciences but failed them and so I
left to go as an Apprentice Chemical Plant Operator at United Coke and Chemicals. I played football for Dore F.C. and watched
Sheffield Wednesday relentlessly. After
leaving this company at the age of 21 I went into Production Control at Firth
Vickers on Shepcote Lane. Although I did not know it at the time this was the
gateway to my eventual career. I met
Grace and eventually we were married in 1968. Then I worked for a few months at
Jessop-Saville and then for Cravens Machines before going to Sheffield Twist
Drill where I really began to learn about Production Control. Strange, though
perhaps not, how all this is about work and little else. Perhaps I will come back to all that later
and develop how I really felt about my life and how it was going.
We went to South Africa in 1970 until 1972 and met
many people who influenced my life especially Geof Wheeler who later killed
himself. I worked for Perforation Conidure, Standard Telephones and Cables and
Boart Hard Metals. The period in South
Africa opened up my life to some extent especially giving me a greater sense of
purpose and a self knowledge that I could achieve in something or other. I don't think I wanted to come back though I
supported very strongly Grace's need to return.
What would have been my outcome I wonder had we stayed there? I met people, young people like myself at the
time, who had travelled the world and I envied them then but somehow I daren't
comment on them or express my true feelings to my wife.
Steven was on the way when we returned to England in
October 1972 to dark nights and power cuts.
Steven was born in January 1973 and I worked as a Planner at various
places, in particular Spear and Jackson tools.
I took on various study courses that stimulated my mind without
developing anything in particular although some of the things still stay with
me throughout my life. The philosophy
class opened up avenues that were unexpected at the time but were portents of
things to come.
The most productive and adventurous decade of my
life was 1975 to 1985. I travelled a
lot, met lots of people, created a few waves along the way and studied
hard. I went to New York, the UN
buildings and the Empire State building, as well as Italy and Sweden. They were all business trips. Trianco Redfyre was, whilst it lasted, a good
period for me. At the same time I took
on the massive task of studying for the B.A. in Humanities which included
European Literature, European History and Political Thought. What an enlightenment that was for me and set
me running through all sorts of different avenues and areas?
Wendy came on the scene in September 1987 and
changed my life completely. We had a
torrid love relationship before I was finally found out and we left home for
each other. Grenoside was a complete
failure in every respect. It did not
bring us any where near parting but it did not help our circumstances. It was so cold and forbidding but we made the
most of it. How on earth did we manage
to maintain the momentum into the early hours of the morning I really don't
know!! There were horses in the field
and an old lady called Mrs Clover who was about 92 years old. It should have been idyllic and to some
extent it was though it almost drove us mad.
Then we left there to find this place in Penistone. Wendy hates it though it is home to me and I
have grown attached to it to some extent.
Isabel lived next door and I did her shopping for her sometimes and she
had my key.
The Master of Philosophy was completed in 1992 after
a six year slog but what an achievement.
I learned so much about so many things and I learned how to put it all
together. It looks good on a business
card and on my C.V. but it's of little relevance to anything else.
By then the M.B.A. was also behind me and that
started to pay off after I had gone self-employed some years later.
Wendy and I were married on June 22nd of that year
and we planned it down to the minute almost. We planned our own ceremony with
poems that meant something to us and music that we had built our relationship
on. The reception was at a restaurant in
Stockport and we spent a noisy night at Bredbury Hall. All the guests had a wonderful day and so did
we. Cyprus was also a tremendous experience the highlight of which was the trip
to Egypt to see the pyramids. That was
awe inspiring. The whole holiday was marred only by the awful antics at Lee
Steel Strip which, at this point in time December 9 1996, have drifted into
history soon to be overtaken by other events.
Time moves on inevitably and inexorably and things
have changed. Not necessarily for the
better. After we were married we lived
separately for about a year until we bought the house in Huddersfield at 1
Potter Street, Salendine Nook. We moved
in on the day Diana Spencer was killed in her tragic car crash in Paris on the
night of August 31st 1997. We chose this place so that we were equal
distance from each other's work (should that have been the criteria??). The house was fine it had three bedrooms a
nice little dining room and lounge and good kitchen and a massive spread of
lawned gardens. It was costing us a
fortune each month until the house in Penistone was rented and finally sold
later on that year.
There were strains there, strains we did not
expect. There was all the travelling of
course and that took a toll but there were other underlying problems that did
not come to the surface.
The job at Lee Steel Strip came to an abrupt end for
me after the management team was restructured bringing in a new Managing
Director, Ken Lydall and Work Director David Sparks. Under those two people I
became a victim of ageism at 54 years old when they made my position
redundant. The company was sold out
eighteen months later and I hope their arrogance brought them their just
desserts.
I decided to go self-employed from that moment on
vowing that I would never go back into an employed status again and though it
was difficult to begin with in the fullness of time things worked out.
Related Links:
The Crookes Family History http://www.september10th1945.com/crookes.htm
The Leary Family History
http://www.september10th1945.com/leary.htm
Brook School… http://www.september10th1945.com/brookschool.htm
A.History.of.my.father.Leonard.Crookes www.september10th1945.com/leonardcrookes.htm
Wendrick Management Services : http://www.september10th1945.com/wendrick.htm