New Street

I didn’t have long to wait for a new position as Les, a former student pal, quickly got me a job at Birminghams’ New Street Station, working as one of four second chefs in their very busy Taurus Restaurant & Bar. Hours were of the shift type, 7am-2.30pm and 2.30pm-10pm, and during that winter, the weather often meant train cancellations and there were times when I would have to try to catch some shut-eye in the staff room or on one of the seats in the bar, it just wasn’t worth trying to get home when you had to be out of bed at 5am, to get back for your early shift. All the years of training and my City and Guilds certificates were of little use here, as the only fresh food on the menu were the salads, eggs and bread. Everything else was either frozen or dried and there was no room, or time come to that, to be adventurous. I’d tried fresh ideas for the menu at the Talbot Hotel, but had admitted defeat, the Talbot’s customers weren’t venturesome and liked their food simple, it was meat and two veg or steak & kidney pie followed by apple crumble and custard. I worked at New Street for around ten months, until one day I received a call from Carol at The Talbot Hotel asking if I would be interested in the position of second chef, as Jim had moved on and four weeks later I was back in Stourbridge. The staff hadn’t changed, the head chef David, had married Carol, Flora was still downing the Guinness and a new waitress, Betty, would join the band when she was hired as waitress for the ‘Candlelight Room’ the name chosen for the grill room. Ted and Dawn Basham were the new managers, the wages had improved with the better position, so for the next five/six years, or so I lived and worked, in what was a wonderful family atmosphere. I purchased a standard 8mm cine camera and put a few rolls of film through, but I never really got the hang of loading the film and to be honest I didn’t really enjoy the filming process, it was also around this time that I upgraded my projector to a dual gauge Eumig Sound machine. My small collection of sound films were being purchased at Hawkswoods, a shop in Stourbridge, I had sent for some rental catalogues, but due to the ‘hotel’ address not being permanent, I’d been refused any hire services. Dave, yes a second Dave, the new commis-chef, arrived and was always ready to watch a movie or ‘star’ in my few futile attempts at using my cine camera. Dave was a keen still photographer and we would develop and print his black and white photos using his equipment, while listening to the latest Moody Blues or Chicago album, they were great times. The Talbot was not only a busy hotel and pub, it also had a Masonic Temple, this of course generated a lot of evening dinners as the various lodges met or visited the area, it also was the home of the Rotarians, who met every Wednesday for their weekly lunch…it was a very busy concern, and this was on top of the Saturday Wedding receptions and the like. After a few years, commis-chef Dave left, taking a Talbot receptionist, his girlfriend Stevie with him, having decided to marry and better their careers, he was never replaced, another saving for Banks’ brewery. Blue Peter made their annual Christmas appeal at some point in the 70’s, that year it was for second hand paperbacks/paper, I gave them 85% of my paperback collection, some 300/350 books all told! Mom was pleased, as she could now clean my bedroom at home. I had already made myself known to both of the local cinemas and by now was a familiar face to the staff, film was always on the ‘Menu’ and its fare included Charley, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Corruption, The Valley of Gwangi, Tales from the Crypt, King Kong Escapes, The Vampire Lovers and the awful Moon Zero Two.