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| Brian Green - left 1975 | |
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Hi, my name is Brian Green; I was at Cedars from 1970 (or it may have been 1971… either way, it was a long time ago!!) and left in 1975. I've been asked to do a write up of my time at Cedars and some advice to students at Cedars now. When I started at Cedars, it was a Grammar School, and I started at the school by the River Ouzel, which is now a Middle School. I was there for either one or two years, (sorry, it was a long time ago!), then moved to the school on Mentmore Road for the rest of my school life. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing, and now I realize just how much I wasted the formative years of my life. Bearing in mind it was a Grammar School at the time, the education was of a higher standard, and looking back, I feel that I squandered it somewhat. From a very early age, and I believe it was when I was at the Forster Institute at playschool; I was only about three or four years old at the time, I was taken to the bridge that spans the railway at the railway station to watch the trains go by. Even now, I can remember watching a steam locomotive pass underneath, and even at that pre school age, I knew what I wanted to do for a career, and that was drive trains. I started on the footplate on my 16th birthday, and still do the job even now, over thirty years on, and still enjoy it. |
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But……what a waste of my life!!!! Yes, I enjoy the job, that cannot be denied, and that must be a good thing, but I have no paper qualifications to my name. In this day and age, and no doubt in a future day and age, (YOUR day and age), they mean something, even if the person holding it has no common sense or experience at all. What will happen if I decide I don't like the job anymore, what if I can't drive trains anymore because of (say) medical restrictions? What am I going to do? I have lots of regrets in life, but two of the major ones were that I was not more attentive in class, and respected the teachers, the vast majority of whom were superb, and the other was that I wish I'd stayed on, and maybe even went to university, got some qualifications, then joined the railway, if that is what I still wanted. Looking back one other thing, that is a lame excuse, and I would hope that no current Cedars pupil would ever use, is that I received no social assistance from my parents. But…who do I blame? My parents? No… not at all. I blame me, for not trying hard enough, for not going out and learning. Making a few mistakes on the way, yes, but it was my fault, no one else's. In this day and age, everything seems to be done for the youth of today. The discipline that teachers and parents could mete out has gone, and with that it appears that the youth of today has no idea of what lies out there in the REAL world. |
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I have been asked to give advice to present pupils, to prepare their selves for the future. So….here it is…from a former Cedars pupil, who has seen the error of his ways, who often wishes he could turn the clock back, and start again. Don't make my mistakes…take my advice….I've been there….listen to me…heed me…or in thirty years time when I'm probably dead and buried, you'll be remembering me, and saying 'if only I'd listened!' So... First thing is respect. Respect your teachers, respect your parents, respect the world, and all that is in it. (I have a few personal exceptions - but I will not make political capital here.) You only have one stab at the education you are privileged enough to have. As you get older, the brain becomes less able to take in and store the information given to it. Listen, learn, and if you don't understand something, ASK! Don't mess about in class; that is a sin. Not only are you disrupting your own education, but that of others as well. Secondly, stay on post 16. Oh how I wish I had stayed on at school, and got 'A' levels, and gone to university. Stay on. Stay on. Stay on. Get my drift? Don't be like me, and know what you want to do, and leave, you'll regret it. I guarantee it. I have over thirty years of railway experience to my credit. What does it count for? Nothing. I see people with degrees who are clueless coming in, and telling me what to do!!! So humiliating. Stay on, get some paper qualifications. Don't leave at 16 whatever you do. Thirdly, don't start a family until you are in your thirties ...and don't have daughters!!! (Sorry...only joking...or am I? (No I am not joking)). This is one piece of advice I can say I did listen to, the bit about waiting until I was in my thirties, but not the daughters bit! It gives you time to become established, to know if you really do want children or not, and you're still young enough to enjoy the children, and because you are established, you have some extra cash as well. If you ever want any advice on life, my mistakes, or anything to do with (Cedars) school, please, feel free to email me. I just hope that in thirty years time at least one of you can say… 'I'm glad I listened to his advice, he was right. I have learnt from his mistakes. Thanks Brian' Back to home |
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