Page 6 - Martin Holmes - Old Derbeian Article

Derby School & WWII
to Clay Cross by bus and the Non-conformists to the local chapel. I loved my Sunday mornings with the camp to myself!
Saturday and Sunday afternoons we were free to roam the countryside provided we signed out (in at least pairs) at the masters’ common room and said where we were going.
It was also the time when parents could visit though this was not frequent as few had cars or the petrol to run them on such a journey. Something like once a half-term there would be a bus hired for a parents outing. Such weekends were when Mrs Young did a roaring business at her cottage “café” halfway between the camp and the village. The “café” was just some rough hewn tables and benches put in the grassed front garden of her cottage with tea and homemade scones/cakes served from her kitchen.
Mother and Deborah took the other option of cycling out to Amber Valley once or twice until the occasion when Mother came off her bike looking over her shoulder while going downhill. To add to such problems, as the war progressed so did her rheumatoid arthritis and by its end she was wearing surgical boots and using a walking stick.
Roaming the countryside was all done by foot; no-one was allowed a bicycle at school. Roam we did and there was much to see and enjoy from the footpaths over the hills and through the woods; along the light railway line (we were not supposed to use it but we all did); down by the river and through the winding country lanes linking the little settlements scattered around.
During five years of all-season living in this countryside of Derbyshire I found an abiding love of the rolling hills and grassy slopes of this hinterland to the upland moors.
I saw foals and calves born; rats mercilessly killed at thrashing time; I found owl droppings in the woods complete with mouse skulls, birds eggs in their nests; I saw bats sweeping the evening air clean of gnats; I watched in awe as swallows and swifts swooped with incredible grace and speed over the river valley; I found snails of wondrous hues and fossils of ancient creatures all among the grey stone walls of the countryside; I feasted on blackberries, walnuts and farmers’ apples; I got stung by nettles and soothed by dock leaves; I saw the stars in bright sunshine looking up an old disused factory chimney; I climbed trees; I lay in the long grass of summer and heard the buzzing of a million insects while watching white clouds drift across a pale blue sky; I saw the valley fill with mist and climbed the hill to sunshine to see this river-on-a- river fill the valley floor; I saw rough green fields turn to pristine glistening white smooth sheets with the first snowfall of winter; I saw them turn to slush and mud as they thawed; I saw the Bottom Wood become a carpet of twinkling blue that first spring as the bluebells flowered (they didn’t survive a horde of