As I stood in Palawan watching all the happy students gather in their gowns ( they call them Toga here) I remembered back to 1981, 42 years ago, when I stood and had my photograph taken in my gown . I dug out the photo and took a photo of it so you could all see it. I wore a suit , shirt and tie and black socks with black socks!
In Puerto I saw the different students ( different colours for different subjects) mingling, chatting, laughing and , this being the Philippines, taking photos of eachother! Hold onto those memories and back them up somewhere in case you lose your phone . I only have 5 photos left. One is with one of the few students I am still in touch with from those days, Alison Hunt. She came to visit my parents house in Brighton and I visited hers in Pinner ( near London) and also became friends with her sisters and visited one of them at University.
Alison and I in a rare moment of sunshine in Huddersfield.
She got a job in America and I twice visited her in New York, and we met up in London several times when she returned to the UK. Neither of us ended up in the Hotel Industry - she is a Psychiatrist in Harley street and I am retired in the Philippines!
One of the things about being on a "catering " course is people ask you to run bars and in my first year I was Bar Chairman at Trinity Hall. We did not get paid but back then I used to smoke and drink a lot and was very popular ( as I had the keys to the bar!!)
TBK- Bar Chairman Trinity Hall, Huddersfield.
One of the good things was I got to see many "Bands of the day" like Paul Young and Street band, Jona Lewi, and a reggae Band, Aswad, when they performed at what was then " The Poly" and I helped out on their bar ( run by the Slubbers arms) and with "Poly Ents" . For my first two years I worked hard on bars, outside catering and in two nightclubs- One called Johnny's and the other was run by a guy called Arthur Lacy.
When I arrived in Bahrain and met John Jaworski ( who was from Huddersfield - small world) he suggested I run the Awali Swimming club bar which I did for a short time.
In my third year I was an Intern /OJT / Industrial release student in London at the Cumberland hotel and then I travelled around Europe with Annie who I met in London and we worked in Greece for a short while. In our final year we had a dinner at a hotel and I found a photo of myself with another friend of mine from Huddersfield, Jane Corder, and Alison's then boyfriend , Steve ( Alison took the photo) and we sat with Head of Department , Paul Slattery and his wife Libby.
Libby, me , Jane Steve and Paul at our final dinner
A few days later I called into the Hotel department to say goodbye to Paul when his phone rang. He told me a former student, Bridget Yates, needed someone to work as an Assistant Hall of Residence Manager in London for the summer. I called her and packed my bags , hired a car and drove to London and worked all summer!
Whilst there I met a guy called Mark Johns ( and his wife Caroline) who was my Training Manager in Thf hotels where I started in the September as a Graduate Trainee. He told me I would start in Stoke on Trent at the North Stafford hotel and gave me all the details.
My final photo memory of my graduation was of me walking across the stage to get my degree - a very happy moment. I got a BA with commendation ( In fact I had the highest marks on the course and Alison was second) in Hotel and Catering Administration. Its not on my wall but filed away safely!
A very proud moment in 1981 when I received my degree
I could tell many other stories about Huddersfield and my many friends there- I already have two blogs centred around the sadly departed David Green and his lovely family, who are still in touch every Christmas:
https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2021/10/tbk-travels-greens-of-huddersfield-west.html
https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2022/01/remember-me-man-who-ate-all-sandwiches.html
Thanks to them for keeping me in sandwiches and helping me speak like a Northerner!
This is TBK signing out from Palawan remembering his happy days in Huddersfield.
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
No comments:
Post a Comment