For many of us, our memories of School remain strong though they remain embedded deeply in the past. Margaret Moxon tells us a story of a memento that remains in her possession, a reminder of a very sad time and a dear friend.
This kangaroo skin riddled with bullet holes is not an item I ever expected to have as a memento of EGS but it ties me forever to a friendship which began at school. Many of you will remember Dave Perkins and his elder sister who emigrated to Adelaide in Australia with their family in late 1963/64 (? ), I think. I had a major crush on Dave and we corresponded occasionally for a year or two until we lost touch.
Imagine my astonishment when I answered a knock on the door in 1970/71 to find a grinning Dave delighting in my amazement. He and a group of friends had returned on an extended holiday based in London to explore the UK and Europe.
I was teaching then at St Pat's School near Peel Green so distance was a problem but we got together for a short period before that awful Sunday when I learned from the newspaper that Dave had died. He was with his friends following the Bull Run in Pamplona at the time so you can imagine the speculation. Dave, however, died from a previously unsuspected heart condition.
A short while after his funeral in Peel Green, Dave's mother contacted me and gave me the kangaroo skin in Dave's memory. I can never imagine Dave shooting anything but apparently he did and I can never imagine discarding this item which means so much.