Peter Ridley
A chance meeting with a family
from Dover on holiday last year led to a conversation about the PWSTS. They told
me they thought the building was being demolished so when we came home we drove
down from Stevenage where we live to see for ourselves, only to find it was in
the process of being made into luxury flats. I was there from August to December
1954 and, not surprisingly, Dover has changed beyond recognition. The mast was
gone from the school and all the old buildings around have been demolished.
I still have strong memories of my time at the school although the names of most
of the boys who where there have started to fade. Mostly I can only remember
surnames. Some names I can remember were the P.O. Boy, Michael Cobb from Potters
Bar, Mick Ryall from Jersey, Barry Gabb from Woolwich, Pat Cable, Steve Astall
from Brighton (?), a boy from Hull called whose surname was Herbert, Baker from
Shoreham and Jefferies from Bristol. I happened to find the website only after
our visit to Dover. I didn’t realise that the school was that ‘famous’.
My first ship after leaving was the Orsova which sailed two days after my
sixteenth birthday. Mick Ryall and Mick Cobb also joined the ship with me. Mick
Ryall and I shipped out together for a few years until he decided to call it a
day. We are still in regular contact with each other. After that my ships were:
Kenya Castle
Cottrell (Elder Dempster)
Esso Birmingham
Reaburn (Lamport and Holt)
Langton Grange
Beaverlake (two trips)
Jim M (Metcalfs)
Sugar Exporter
Romanic ( Bolton Steam)
Pampas
Athenic
Beavercove
Beaverlake (two more trips)
Kenya Castle
Durham Trader
Adroity (Everards)
Beaverlake (three trips)
Port Philip (Home trade)
Port Victor (Home trade)
Port Chalmers (Home trade)
Port Windham (Home trade)
Hygromia (Shell tanker)
Pilcomao
Winchester
Esso Columbia
Carnatic
The voyage on the Hygromia was from June 1961 to June 1962 after which I left
the sea and joined the Middlesex Fire Brigade. In 1966 we moved to Stevenage in
Hertfordshire where I have had various jobs and I retired in December 2003. I
still live in Stevenage with my wife, Jenny, our four children and 11
grandchildren.
I would really like to hear from anybody who was at the school or even at sea
with me between 1954 and 1962.