morganacademyfp

Following on from your suggestion Ron and staying with the Defence of the Realm I joined the University of St Andrews Air Squadron for the first 3 years at University and learned to fly Chipmonks. Don't think I would have been much help if yere had been a war in the Sixties but it was fun flying from Leuchars and sharing the officers' mess with the lightning pilots at that time. Our instructors were ex-Battle of Britain fighter and bomber pilots so there was always lots of fun and games at the annual Ball and Xmas parties.Unfortunately could not afford to continue flying after I left so have not done so since. Had some hair-raising experiences learning aerobatics.
Your turn now... lets see how many exploits we can cover

I'm sure you have done a lot more than that Jester. Come on. You are not usually short for words

Ian's right, Jester - so what if you have stayed in Dundee all your life, it's what you have done with your life that matters. And judging by your posts over the years on the Forum, you put many of the rest of us to shame with all your interests and activities.

Got engaged (while still at school - shock, horror!!)
Went to teacher training college - got married and moved to Stirling
Taught for four years and left "for family reasons"
Stayed at home for eight years with two bairns and then returned to work just outside Stirling.
Still teaching in Stirling; bairns long since gone their own ways and now giving me grand bairns.
Live alone (apart from the cat!) in Stirling in the house we bought way back then.
Life is good.

Was asked to repeat 4th year or leave school as a result of failing O Grades. Left school, worked for 3 years as a dispenser in a Chemist, Backness Road. Took a year out at Commercial College to try to obtain Highers. Waste of time. Year as an Assistant Housematron - St Katherine's School, St Andrews, followed by 3 years at Leith Hospital, Edinburgh, again as a Dispensing technician.
Met my future husband there. Married 1973, Perth for 6 months, Edinburgh 6 months, back to Perth until 1976 when we came to Carnoustie with a 6 week old baby. Baby No 2 arrived 1978. Traditional GPs wife for many years. Went to University 1985 as a MATURE student - 1989 , just after my 40th birthday graduated MA Hons(English) - so much for Flossie Pullar's prediction that I would never get my Higher English! Taught English at CraigieHigh School for 13 years. Took voluntary unemployment, aged 55 in 2004. Guide Dog puppy walker since 2005 - now on GD pup No7. 4 qualified, 1 in training, 1 in the early stages of puppy walking and beloved Thomas, aka Sheepy, somewhere in Fife, living the life of Reilly.

Proves the point, never too late.

[quote="Jester"][color=#000080]. . .
My goodness, Ian and Kate, you ARE nosey! We've jest had a 'survey' delivered by TNT containing 186, yes 186 intrusive questions, such as our household income. What impertinence! Of course, all the answers will be protected under the Data Protection Act, ha ha ... BUT the form has to be left on our doorstep tomorrow morning. So what's to prevent any old Tom, Dick or Mary from picking it up and learning all about my private life? The 'carrot' is the promise of a wee bag of Thornton's chocolate. What are you two offering?

Okay, joking aside ... potted history. School, started a business before leaving, college, continued with business, school teacher for jest under 10 years then escaped before the men in white coats arrived, to continue my business full time. Premises were in South Tay Street (11.5 years), Magdalen Yard Road (5.5 years), King Street Broughty Ferry (exactly 2 miserable years), West Bell Street (20 years followed by 2 years squatting). Two disasters when not the sole partner... first with a Morgan FP then with a 'successful' businessman who turned out to be less than honest. Three 'home' cinemas at three of those places -- the Bijou Kinema, The Britannia, and The New Electric Junction Picture Palace. All this info is non-confidential as it has already been published in print.

I have always taken pride in my work -- pointless to do anything in life if you don't at least attempt to be perfect. Plenty involuntary voluntary work, ie, keeping the price as low as possible and never ripping people off, not even 'broad backs', thus earning a reputation for honesty but ending up with very little. Still, I've enjoyed my working life although financially it seems to have had more 'downs' then 'ups'. Only minor health problems over the years, which is a BIG Bonus!! quote]


Jester’s ‘potted history’ really struck a chord with me – his/her (I have no idea who Jester is) entrepreneurship, initiative, daring (to give up a ‘secure’ job for his/her own business), ethics, and experiences with partners. Most of my working life my salary came out of the public treasury (I worked for the British Council, ODA, the university system in various countries and some crown corporations) and I did not have to justify in any formal way what I had done to actually earn it. My salary was simply paid into my bank account every month without fail. When I ‘retired’ I started a grape production/fine wine business with a partner in Mendoza, Argentina and found that I was learning how money was actually made for the first time. Since then (2002) I have developed (through some bitter – and some good -- experiences) an enormous admiration for those who start or run businesses. Congratulations Jester!

Why, thank you Ronald. If my smilies were working properly there would be 'blush' 'blush' here!

So, you have no idea who I am? Join the club... neither do I at times... but I am definitely a 'he'. I know, because I checked. (Eccles, circa 1956)
When I was obliged to 'do a moonlight' from Broughty I was deeply depressed and had no desire to continue working. My aunt and my solicitor (who was also a long-term friend) encouraged me to start up again on my own. At the same time, the warden of Kirkton Community Centre, Peter Gregor, took me on part-time and on a temporary basis as the council's unofficial printer. Two days a week (I went in a lot more than that with no extra pay) for 10 weeks. There was a reason for this apart from helping me -- Tayside Regional Council had been my biggest customer and it was that time of year when all the community centres needed their annual programmes designed and printed. For my two days a week I was being paid more than a 60-hour week at the Ferry!

The camaraderie with the Kirkton staff and young folk raised my spirits immensely and I was then in fine fettle to start my 'new' venture properly.

Ian, you suggested ... let’s see how many exploits we can cover
Since leaving the Morgan, I’ve often wondered what would have happened if I’d stayed in or around Dundee – and have envied those who have enjoyed the apparently seamless continuity of their lives and friendships. I left Morgan after 6th year, in 1960. Inadequate maths (that little cricketer math teacher -- I conveniently forget his name -- told me I was a hopeless case in maths) coupled with a poor reference from Rector Peter Robinson prevented me from being admitted into the BSc agriculture program in Aberdeen University. So I ‘took off’ for a couple of years and worked in the Canary Islands on inshore fishing boats and in the banana plantations (mostly closed now) and came back speaking fluent Spanish. Since then I’ve lived and /or worked in most Spanish speaking parts of the world in either education (my initial training) or in the evaluation of (mainly agricultural) development programs (my ‘second’ career).

Having started this topic I should really continue with my own story which could take all year but I will give you it in small doses.
Ater I left Morgan in 1960 i went to Queens College, which was of course part of St Andrews University at that time, to study Medicine. My cousin Douglas Henderson, who was also in 6th year with us at Morgan, also studied medicine at Queen's . Ernie McAree did dentistry. Student life was really quite fantastic and just like the old films. We had six years of great fun and even managed to learn some medicine. Of couse drinking was a major part of our training and the Student's union was our second home.Beer was 9d a pint (old pence) but cider was only 6d so we started with that.The hop on a saturday at the Union was a major event every week and at that time jazz was the main music. Andy Lothian's son had a band that played regularly (rock and roll was in its infancy and the Beatles were still stuck in Hamburg I think). Socialising was a major part of medical training,we claimed, which was our excuse for drinking,singing and dancing, and of course meeting up with the local nurses from DRI was an essential part of the curriculum. There were only 70 of us in our year so we all knew each other and still are good friends. Half of our final year did the first 3 years in St Andrews then joined the rest of us at Queens for the final 3 clinical years in Dundee. We graduated in 1966 and formed a Year Club. The 66 Club meets in St Andrews every 5 years and the last meeting in 2006( 40th anniversary) was attended by 50 of us from all over the globe. Some still recognisable, others took a while to recognise , but within a few hours was just like being back at the Union on a Saturday night.Next meeting 2011.
After graduation I moved on to my house jobs in DRI, so did Douglas. But that's the next episode

Fascinating, Ian. And congratulations. I'd no idea that Douglas Henderson was your cousin. Ernie McAree was a very good friend of mine and I knew his father and mother and brother well. Ernie and I did a lot of cycling and youth hostelling together while we were at the Morgan. Once we even hitch-hiked to London during one Easter holiday after my bike had been destroyed in an accident with a lorry. Then he found a girlfriend at the High School and developed other interests. I believe that he went to practise as a dentist in Pitlochry. Good that you keep up with your 66 Club. Your account of your training makes me think of the Doctor in the House and Carry On Dr films with Dirk Bogarde and James Robertson Justice.

That comes in the next episode,Ron, about my house jobs at DRI!! You mentioned cycling and youth hostelling which I used to do too when i was at Morgan. I once went cycling and camping with Jim Urquhart, whose father had a tailor shop in Albert street. We cycled to Oban in two days and camped there. We had such a good time that we realised on sunday morning we had to be back at school on Monday so we cycled the whole way in one day 132 miles. did not get back until midnight absolutely knackered. Jim got so worn out with what was known as "the Knock" a sort of cramp ,outside Erroll that he threw his bike over a hedge. Then we had to go and find it to get home. Ah , those days.
Another time I went cycling and hostelling with Ian McGregor and a friend from Harris called Ken MacGregor. We cycled over to Braemar over the Devi's Elbow (I think ih has been straightened out now,so is no longer there) We stayed at Loch Tummel Hostel and the weather was glorious. I cycled home with no shirt on and when I got back my back was so sunburned that I got heat stroke and the skin peeled off. I could hardly walk and had to get excused from PT. Tom Hermiston made me strip off and displayed me to the whole class to show how stupid it was to overexpose yourself to the sun- You might remember that day!