Post by simmo123 on Jan 23, 2014 1:30:57 GMT
Hi FOLKS
Hi Ian, good subject mate, I guess we all have times when we reflect on a whole host of things not only in the music scene but on life in general & wonder if we had made this or that decision how would our lives have been affected or changed, hindsight is certainly an unknown factor. I suppose” Ole Simmo” ( and no doubt just a few of the forum members as well ) is getting to age when we all have a bit of time on our hands to do stuff that probably we were unable to do in the earlier years due to the normal day to day commitments ie, running two jobs to keep the bills paid etc. The Simmo’s life almost took another direction in around 1961 while we were newly married & living in Sussex, at the time I was running two jobs just to keep the bills paid, Patricia my wonderful wife was also working in the local drapery,between us we managed to save 200 pounds to put a deposit on a rundown middle of terrace house near Littlehampton. We managed to get by even though around that period there was the big freeze that hit the UK which meant that my job as a labourer on the road works virtually came to a stop, I can even remember when we applied for as it was known then National assistance ,the officer came around to see if we had any coal in the bin, if so it would reduce your expected payment. Hey “the good old days”. Ok next big idea from Ole Simmo was ,”Lets emigrate to Australia !!! ( having been there in the late fifties during my time as a deckhand in the British Merchant Navy ) it seemed like a good idea at the time. Ok full steam ahead apply get the forms & all of the other requirements needed & submit them to Australia house which in those days was less complicated than it is now. Within weeks we went through all of the processes, medical / interviews/ pay ten pounds each etc & hey presto we had our tickets, sailing date which was leaving from Southhampton on the migrant ship SS Fairsky destination Queensland within a reasonable t time frame. The Simmo’s were on the way to a big adventure.Ok.. this is where it gets interesting..during the waiting time for us to leave, Patricia due to having unfortunately losing our first born at 3 weeks old had a change of heart about leaving all of her family friends etc which was quite understandable at the time, so we decided to call our big move off, unfortunately with us not having a telephone we did not inform the Immigration authorities about our change of decision so we left it at that. Next chapter in the Simmo’s life involved making a move to Glastonbury in Somerset where we stayed with my sister until we could get a rental place, after a few years of working different jobs ( none requiring certificates etc ), then came the second urge to have another shot at emigrating to Aussie, so we went through all of the processes again form filling, medicals until it came time for us second time hopefuls to front up for an interview We were not sure what the reaction from the officials of our last non start effort to emigrate several years earlier would be or if it would be a black mark against this new application. When we brought up the subject with the interviewing officer he seemed unaware of the situation & upon making a few phone calls he came back with the news that the officials actually thought that we had left for Aussie in 1962 when we made the original application. We explained the circumstances at that time to him but he accepted it as being ok. in truth they were desperate for new immigrants in Western Australia because of all of the Iron Ore mining that was starting up at that time...you did not even need a trade just so long as you were prepared to work,hence started the Simmo’s new life..Now more than 46 years later we are in the autumn of our lives & just loving it.This is the part when music is playing a huge part of our lives what with a really busy gig schedule at heaps of the oldies venues add to that my recent foray into making a cd which incidently is still selling well,a couple of planned holidays mapped for this year which includes a big one to the UK ( a great chance to catch up with more of the forum members as we did around 5 years ago )..well folks Patricia is giving me the nod to get my act together as its 9.00am,no gigs but i’m sure that the little lady has got the day mapped out.
Best wishes to all at the forum....the Simmo’s Terry & Patricia