War and the forces

GROWING UP - PART ONE

It was after the war now and the playing fields behind BHASVIC were open like a park.

It was double summer time and it kept light until 11.00pm. From here you could see the most beautiful sunsets.

In the war Canadian soldiers were billeted in BHASVIC, which was then the Grammar School. To get there you had to pass exams at 11 years old.

As I said before, the soldiers were very friendly. I remember they had a contraption to escape from the window in case of fire, a webbing belt was attached to a rope, which went into a cylindrical container, which was bolted to the wall.

You put the belt around your chest, under your arms, and jumped from the window. The rope was restrained by some type of spring and you landed gently on the ground. Great fun.

The path that ran behind the College and the playing fields is said to be a ley line. Ley lines get their significance from the fact that they are straight lines formed by the presence of former religious sites on most of which modern places of worship now stand.

At the end of this path in the Dyke Road you can see the presence of some such former building.

by Derek Hobbs-Ainley

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