Page 3 - Sam Jelbert

Once when I was blackberrying , in my early teens and thought I had been bitten
by a snake. My mother sent me to Dr Hagenbach who said I had been stung by a
bee.

My elder sister Valerie passed her 11+ and went to Helston Grammar School – my
mother made all her clothes with Valerie’s help. Brian didn’t pass but went into
building. I passed the 11+ but the family couldn’t afford for me to go so I stayed
at the Village School. Suzanne passed but she didn’t want to go to the Grammar
School.
Every Thursday afternoon we had sports, football and rugby during the winter
months and cricket, athletics, hurdles, cliff climbing and most of all swimming.
We went to the Methodist Sunday School and twice a year local coaches took us to
St Ives for a treat. We locals all swam like fish and the holiday makers would give
us tips for diving off the harbour to pick up the coins they threw in the water.
There was always plenty of seasonal work for the boys picking potatoes, cutting
cabbage, going with the horse and cart to pick cauliflowers and carrots. The girls
worked in hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfast and baby sitting. We also ran
errands for the neighbours who would give us a few pence. There was a great
sense of community.

We formed our own life saving group at Praa Sands so during the summer season
the holiday makers came down and if people got into trouble with the undertow
we would swim after them, put a life-belt on them and bring them back. That is
now all done by the Council.

I left school at 15 and worked as a farm labourer in the winter and on the fishing
boats in the summer. A friend of mine at school, Bobby Jesson, decided to join
the Navy when he was l6. A year later he came back in his naval uniform and the
girls in the village were all over him. When I was l7 I took a day trip to Truro
without telling my mother. It was the first time I had been on a train. There was
a notice Royal Navy and Royal Marine Recruiting Office. I knocked on the Royal
Navy door but there was no reply. A colour sergeant came out of the Royal Marine
office and asked how tall I was. I told him I was 5’11” and he told me I was too
tall for the navy, I would hit my head on the bulkheads – so he persuaded me to
join the Royal Marines. I signed up for 21 years and in the main enjoyed it all.
I was brought up to be disciplined and able to look after myself in most situations,
I was also very fit which helped me a great deal in my life with the Royal Marine
commandos – the best of the best. There have been sad times but I look back and
remember the good times.

I go down every year to Porthleven but like many places in Cornwall it has changed
– jam packed in the summer, but dead in the winter.

th
28 February 2018