John Bennett recalls his early childhood days living in Balby and how his beloved Commando Bike helped him in his lunch breaks go train-spotting. School life under two different headteachers at Oswin Avenue school is recounted including some riotous metalwork lessons. A career after school sees John selling insurance to former member of staff Derrick Holmes.
The early days of future England footballer and Manager Kevin Keegan cleaning his car in the street whilst at Scunthorpe United is a little insight into how this football journey began.
Roll forward the years and a chance encounter in France with ‘Ossie through the Ages’ Project Manager Tony Armstrong sees two former Oswin Avenue pupils reminiscing about their love of the school, football and the Balby area.
Why my name is John Bennett I went to osun Aven School 1957 to 1961 I was brought up in Balby Westfield Road um uh there was just myself and my younger brother three years younger than than me uh we went to um King Edward Road junior infon junior School uh
Before going to Oswin Avenue um we lived in the family house uh from me being born to leaving home at age 24 my dad was a co-op shop manager um um my mother didn’t work uh although during the war she worked at pegas um the brass
Foundry loved our life in in BBY uh overlooking West H Park yes and then from the age of uh 11 um I graduated up to uh Oswin Avenue used to uh cycle to school I uh bought myself a a bike uh but it wasn’t just
Any bike it was an X army Commando bike that um had Wing nuts um that you could fold it into two because used to throw them out of aircraft um on the parachute for the parach hoers to see over enemy over Enemy Lines and uh I used to uh
Ride this bike to school no one ever tampered with it or took it because everyone knew it was mine um well I’m I’m going to big school as we call it then um was uh rumors boys was worried about initiation ceremonies and where they they’re going to end up
Head down the toilet or uh um deaged in front of the girls so that was a bit of a worry but uh on the on enrolling at Osman Avenue um I realized it wasn’t that L at all it was quite a pleasant experience on arriving at Oswin um we
Were put into different streams um the points of the compass nor North Southeast and West and uh I found myself in uh in South One South which uh which was a good experience plenty of nice kids old old boys you know it wasn’t a mix School in those days it was fun you
Know soort of I got involved with the uh with the sports with the football um and um had a happy happy childhood yeah um when I um when I arrived at hosn Avenue the school was boys one side of the school and girls the other and Ne Ne the TW Twain sh meet
Course all the boys were sort of looking around the corners of the uh the corridors hoping to uh um spot a spot a girl you know that might uh might show a bit of interest in them but uh um that that came later yeah we didn’t have our own sports
Ground at Oswin so um we used to play uh Sports Sports periods we used to be at Sanford Road and uh look forward to that the school team played at Sanford road on the Saturday morning and I was remember that after after football we’d go to marti’s uh humbur Factory which
Was uh up some outer steps on on a building uh and then you you went inside and the the sweet smell of humbugs um was uh overwhelming and boys used to queue up there to buy a bag of by pum bugs and save them to sell on um
At uh donter overs on a Saturday afternoon uh if if you could get a few a dozen bags of sweets to sell you could probably make a couple of Shillings um which you could spend on whatever you wanted yeah my football in hero um was Alec
Jeffrey um he was uh highly talented um he played for for rers uh he played for young England um he broke his leg badly when he was 17 years old playing for England on the 23s I used to go there at least an hour before kickoff with my autograph book
And uh wait for the players to turn up that all have the little suitcases carrying the boots um and used used to come on the bus that that was uh all my spare time was um playing football was over the out back wall Westfield Park I could uh look
Over the wall if I saw a couple of boys there with the ball uh that got the coats down for um the goal post that that’s that was my childhood as I got older uh I graduated to uh more to train spotting um I used to uh when I first
Started at Oswin I used to get them the uh the Commando bike and I’d ride to BBY bridge and watched wait for the 12:15 Pullman uh to go going up to edur from Kings Cross and then Dash home for me lunch and then get back on my bike so I
Could be back in school for 2 o00 for the afternoon session I remember doing um metal work at school Mr Bedlington he was a metal work teacher he used to pop out sometimes for quite a time as part of the lesson we wonder where he’d gone
So boys being boys we used to fool about and uh we we got a hold of the bunson burner turned the tap on which made a hissing sound so um we played a game as all were we were playing flamethrowers anyway um Mr Bedlington um came back in without us
Realizing that we were there and uh I was singled out don’t know why but I was singled out and told to stand outside the headmaster’s door which I did quaking in my boots waiting for uh uh to be seen by the head Master but uh break down the communication the head Master
Didn’t turn up and so I just went on to the next lesson and got away with it and uh thought that was a close shave there was two head Masters while I was at Oswin RV Taylor uh and David wisman commonly known as walus because
He had a huge mustache and they took it in turns along with other members of Staff of uh doing the morning assembly before the uh before the first lesson I recall winning the form prize once out their achievements um chose a book which was um which has still have to this day
Which is an Ian Allen uh Railway spotters uh guide uh with photographs of engines and history of the Railway around around Doncaster area yeah I I left school in 1961 didn’t know what to do for occupation I had a word with my dad and uh he was in the
Grocery trade and so I started uh with the local co-op and uh worked 5 years um in in retail um before moving on to uh insurance and I had my own patch which was BBY um it was uh off wavely Bull Ring um my main area on the on a Friday morning
That was uh I used to uh collect my insurance money around round the ball ring and um I knew Kevin Keegan not well just uh casually because he used to train with skunthorp United his football team at the time by the time I got to where he lived he was home from training
And he used to uh wash his car he had a Ford Escort the purple Ford Escort with vinyl root not being the tallest of boys he used to have a stool he used to have to stand on the stool so he could wash the car and not miss any of it as an
Insurance work I came across quite a few different uh different people from from the past and it was nice to catch up with uh teachers and ex pupils um Derek Holmes is one that uh used to teach Sports um PE and I bumped into him and
Uh invited me around to ensure his house which uh I was quite chuffed about yeah I moved on in in the the insurance business um widened my Visions did uh got into mortgages um pensions anything to do with finances um um so and I was in that
Line of business for for the next 30 Years yes football was my uh my passion I was associated with the Balby Vine Bal Vine Rangers um for best of 30 years met some good friends never never the best of players but uh I enjoyed the game
Which is uh which all that matter to be really we used to have a meeting on the Wednesday at the vine um Elsie TOS who was a land lady for many years we’re very patient with us because we we could be rather rockus and loud uh we had our
Own room uh off the uh off the main bar it I still see some of the the the players um from from those old days not all of them are still alive but most of them are I met a um one guy that uh that I bumped into in France um was Tony
Armstrong he he was sat outside the bar um with his wife and his two dogs and uh I’d got my dog so we we sat down and got chatting and it turned out that uh it was a Bobby lad not only that he actually played for the vine it was
Quite a quite a coincidence and we we still meet up with Tony and his wife um all these years years later two head Masters while I was at Oswin um RV Taylor um and David walrus no if you would like to know more about the Aussie Through the Ages project then
Please email me at Tony Armstrong 1959 outlook.com thank you