I had an email from former pupil, John Mackay, recently, with an assortment of memories. He has kept in touch and still meets some other pupils from his era, I'll let him explain in his own words.
His experience of the Isle of Bute in Wartime was certainly different to my holiday there in 1999.
Hello, Bob, thought you might like to know that we all left in 1949, that is 3 of us who have kept loosely in touch when the 3 of us cycled to Newquay, Wales. This was probably 1948. I slept in a phone box and Ron Evers and Roy Minshall ‘slept’ in a shop doorway as it was raining - 'any road up', we had a pub lunch together yesterday and discussed our latest news….On the way out I fell and ended up on my back under a table. Only drank a Coke, not had a beer for three years. Mind you, that was my 17th fall in the last year. Bob-"I think you should stick to water John!" .
Someone will probably remember that I won the Mile and Half mile in 1949. 5m 20s for the mile then. We all have an eventful history! EG. I joined WMGS in 1946 after being evacuated to Rothesay, Isle of Bute to stay with Grandmother, uncles and aunties all through the war. I watched the Bouncing Bombs, Midget Submarines and Chariots and Frogmen as they trained for the Tirpitz and D Day.
The Polish government and senior staff were detained on the Island through the war. Many damaged ships were brought in and generally anchored right in front of our house awaiting salvage. Tankers, shelled, “San Demetrio’ or torpedoed, broken in Half or without engines, Survivors being brought ashore, covered in oil or burnt.
At school, Rothesay Academy, I played full back for the school Rugby 15 when I was 12 and learned how to strip
and fire a 303 or a Bren Gun.
My uncle was a Major in the Island Home Guard…… the squad arsenal was under my bed! I kept ferrets and we always had
rabbits and fish, home made rafts and spears to catch very large Skate.
In 1949, I went back to the Royal School of Navigation in Glasgow and won a special prize for Astro Navigatio presented by
the Scottish Astronomical Society.
So I went to sea as an Apprentice.
A year later, I bought myself out and joined the Royal Air Force…. Then started another story…..!
John Mackay of Wombourne, Roy Minshall of Tettenhall and Ron Evers of Telford. We recruited Roger Wright of Wombourne and a few others joined from time to time.
Unusual happenings - my wife and I were staying in a B & B in Montague and met up with a couple after breakfast, they mentioned Wombourne but lived in Kent nowadays…I immediately thought ‘The Class of ’53’! They were both ex pupils of the Muni and on holiday in South Africa, as we were, but heading back to Cape Town and we were headed to Plettenburg. So we parted after a talk. Can’t remember the names but maybe Dutch sounding and that’s why they chose South Africa, my memory isn’t so good these days, but I am nearly 92.
At the old WMGS fps I photographed all the guests each year until we lost touch. Yes, you sent me a CD of copies of the photos from a couple of the events which went on the OPA site when it was running.
Hope you find us interesting….
John Mackay (1946-49)