Scrap

Paul Bradley

I was thirteen in 1977 and in the third year of secondary school. David Morley was one of the least noticeable kids in our year. He didn’t seem to excel or fail at anything. His exam results were average and he was in the middle stream for most subjects. He was regularly excused from PE but held his own in cross-country during the winter under the watchful eye of tough Mr. Ratcliffe. Neither small nor big, he seemed to have no real friends and, seemingly, no enemies either. He was just there whilst the rest of us fought, kissed, smoked, bunked, got caned, swapped records, copied homework and dodged prefects. There was a rumour that he had epilepsy and would roll around and froth at the mouth when he had a fit. Some said that this meant he was mad and best avoided. He didn’t have any problems with it in school though as far as I know. The only other thing that he is remembered for is that in that third year he had a big fight in the playground with the fourth hardest lad in the fifth year.

This lad was Smithy, a tough, nasty scouser whose family had been moved temporarily from Liverpool to the same council estate as David in Manchester. It was never clear why they had been moved but it was rumoured that it had something to do with being witnesses and the police. Smithy had joined the school at the beginning of the school year in September and set about establishing himself as a hard kid quickly. He threatened prefects from the first week and laid into the captain of the school rugby team after the half term school disco for which he was nearly expelled. With his reputation established he became an obvious person to be avoided. His limbs were long and lean and he was spotty with a ginger skinhead. He wore high Doctor Marten boots made visible by slightly short school trousers. Punk was all the rage then and his Adidas school bag was covered with the names of bands – The Adverts, The Buzzcocks, Sham 69, Sex Pistols, Cockney Rejects. Everyone had a grudging respect for Smithy and there were only a few tough kids in the entire school capable of standing up to him. His reputation was enhanced by his claim to have a criminal record and to have spent six months in borstal for G.B.H. This last bit was doubtful due to his age but he seemed to be heading there anyway.