[jambutty]

People tend to look back with rose tinted glasses but the truth of the matter is that on balance and in spite of everything we are all better off in all sorts of ways today than we were in yesteryear.

There were apprenticeships for those who could get them and there was plenty of work for those who didn’t. But apprentices’ wages were minimal and many spent the first two years going to the stores for a ‘long stand’ or acting as a gopher for the skilled worker. Why? Because that is what happened to the skilled worker when he was an apprentice. So it was a ‘get your own back’ time. This attitude also prevailed in none apprentice jobs, except that it didn’t last all that long. The boss wasn’t going to pay someone for standing around as the butt of workers’ childish jokes.

As I recall, back in the early fifties, in order to secure an apprenticeship you had to leave school with at least a School Certificate above a certain standard and I’m pretty sure you had to be 16. An employer would not take on an apprentice if the person could not demonstrate an acceptable level of education. An apprentice would learn his trade by attending the local college for one day a week and then two, three or even four evenings a week in ‘night school’. The rest of the time he would get on the job training - eventually. However when an apprentice had served his time he came out as a fully skilled plumber, painter, electrician, engineer, tool maker or whatever who knew his job thoroughly and could slot into a job.
With the pressure of assisting in the family budget, a priority with many families especially those whose father had been killed in the war, many kids left school at 15 to get a job. So the majority had no option of further education even if they wanted it and no chance of an apprenticeship. Many really bright kids were consigned to the scrap heap purely because of family finances. A few lucky ones managed to get a scholarship to schools like St Mary’s College and QEGS in Blackburn and the Grammar School in Accrington (wasn’t there a Grammar School in Clitheroe?) but even then they had to find the money for expensive school uniforms, sports clothing, some text books plus a variety of writing implements, rulers set squares, compasses, protractors, slide rules and log tables etc. My brother who went to St Mary’s College got a free exercise book for each subject then thereafter had to buy a replacement when it became full.

The only good part of yesteryear was the integrity of the people, a decent police presence, no PC do gooders and justice was seen to be done. Public transport was more than adequate and families sat together at meal times. You could leave your money in an empty milk bottle on the doorstep confident that when the milkman delivered your milk the money would be waiting for him. You could go shopping or even to work and leave the house doors unlocked. No one would burgle you.

The post arrived at the crack of dawn or at least no later than around 8:00 am and there were a second delivery after noon.