The
week before Christmas, the school was going to close for the holiday. The
cleaners came in at 8am instead of 6am like all other holidays. It was a very light hearted atmosphere, all
things considered. I was logging all the new bookings and lettings into the diary. Then, on the 20th
December 1988, we got a phone call from the main office in Stratford to say the
piano tuner would be arriving around 1pm the next day, the 21st
December. He would be tuning the grand piano in the hall of the new building, two
upright pianos in the old building.
“Great,
thanks very much for letting me know.” I said.
“Bollocks”
I said slamming the receiver.
“What?”
John asked me, a surprised look on his face.
“The
Bleedin’ piano tuner is coming at three o’clock tomorrow.” I told him.
Thankfully,
John and I were due to go to the caretakers unofficial Christmas booze up at a
pub in Stratford called Mooro’s, which was owned by the West Ham United and 1966
World Cup winning England Captain Bobby Moore on Thursday, the day after. Even though this was only going to take an
hour or so for him to come and go it could have been worse and scheduled for that day!
The
next day at 2.45 John and I sat in the office looking at the clock.“
We
could let him in and leave him to it while we pop over the pub for a pie and
beans and a pint.” John had come up with a plan.
“One
of us at least has to be here with him to show him around.” I said, blowing
that idea out of the water. John nodded his head slowly. Ruminating on another idea. The distant look on his face told me it was
about to break free. John suddenly snapped his fingers at his own brainwave. “
“He
can park in the playground opposite the pub. That way, we will see him come out
and leave.”
“Park
in the playground?” I laughed. “The geezer’s blind!”
“How
does he tune a piano then?”
“He
uses his ears!” I told him. “He uses
tuning forks and other stuff. Most piano
tuners are blind. Some have a dog,
others don’t.”
Now
I believe it is done by sound waves on a machine but it was a variety of tuning
forks and harmonics in those ‘good old days’.
John
thought a moment, “So what does the dog do?” he asked.
“Well
if it knows what tune he’s playing it joins in on the chorus” I said, “What do
you think he does? He guides him, and
before you ask, he guides him around and warns him of any danger. He doesn’t help tune the piano.”
“No
life is it?” was Johns reply after a few moments of thought.
I
looked at the clock again.
“We
could have a séance while we are waiting.” I suggested for a joke.
He
opened his mouth to say something.
“Is
there anybody there?”
The
voice echoed around the front hall.
“Anyone
there?”
John’s
eyes stuck out on stalks. I stood up and
peered around the door of the office.
“Hello
mate, I take it you are the Piano Tuner?” I asked.
“Oh
yes, Clive Denham. It’s freezing out
there.” He seemed very relieved to be in the warmth of the school. I certainly
was. I heard John breath out very slowly’
“I
bet you are freezing,” I said looking out of the tall metal framed glass front
doors, at least it isn’t snowing! I’m
Dave”
“I’m
sorry I am late. I will be as quick as I can.
There are three pianos I believe:
A grand and two uprights? This is Bonzo”
I looked down at the very obedient Golden
retriever. It ignored me, looking at
Clive all the time.
“Do
you have a list for the locations because it sounds like one is missing.”
“I
was told the Hall grand piano new school, two uprights in two halls old
school.”
“There’s
another grand in the music teachers classroom.”
“Well,
I can call my office and get it added if you like? I can delay the other appointment this
afternoon, it’s nearby at Rokeby.”
I
went to Rokeby as a pupil. It was my secondary school in Pitchford Street less
than ten minutes away. The council
eventually moved the school entirely to The Barking Road in Canning Town in the
2000’s
“No,
just do what you are listed to do mate, that will be fine.” I didn’t want him
here any longer than need be and if he was going to finish sooner than I
thought then great. I doubted whether
anyone would notice.
“Hello,
I’m John, I work here with Dave.”
Clive
held his hand out and John shook it.
“Lovely
dog?” he said.
“Had
him 5 years. Couldn’t do without him.” Clive replied, then decided to move on.
“The
grand piano is…..?
“In
here,” I said, opening the doors to the hall.
The piano was ten feet away.
“Give me a shout and one of us will take you over to the old school when
you have finished here.”
He
reached the piano and sat down. He
started playing some classical piece and obviously had been playing for many
years. There was a sudden movement out
the corner of my eye and there, framed in the little glass window of the door
was John’s face.
“Give
me a shout when you are ready Clive. I
will put some water in a bowl outside for Bonzo.” I said.
“Thank
you. This is well out of tune; I will be about an hour.”
“OK,
see you in a while.” I grimaced. An
Hour? I left him to it and went back to
the office.
45
minutes later, having read the newspaper, and getting nowhere with a cursory
look at the crossword, I folded the Times and slid it into my leather bag. John was sitting in the other armchair
staring at the window at the top of the wall, waiting, like I was, for the
noise that had been going nearly the whole time to stop.
“Plink,
plink, plink, plink, plink,….. pause……….plonk, plonk, plonk,
plonk,…….pause…..donk,donk,donk,pause, donk,donk,…..pause…..pause…….Pause…silence”
John
and I looked at each other, both leaning forward to stand….
Plonk…plonk…donk!
Then a short excerpt from some classical
piece, we sat back in our chairs….then the keyboard cover being closed.
One
down two to go.
We
got up and walked over to the hall door.
Clive was there about to bang on the door with his stick.
“OK
Clive?” I asked .
“That
one is all done. Clive smiled, “Nothing majorly wrong with it but it kept
slipping out quite considerably.”
We
waited while Bonzo attacked the bowl of water.
“Erm,
Clive, the two uprights are next to the entry doors of the ground floor hall
and the first floor hall. John will take
you over to the ground floor and he can wait for you and lead you up to the
first floor or…”
John
was shocked and started to mouth the word ‘Nooooo’ and waving his hands
“That’s
ok Dave, if you can show me to the first piano I can make my own way up the
stairs to the first floor. I know the
layout well as I have been here a few times. Just remind me how many flights of
stairs to the first hall and how many stairs to each flight are there?”
“Four
flights and eight steps on each and the hall door is directly in from of the
top of the fourth flight, just to your right.”
“I
will show you Clive, come with me, but I have to get back and carry on
painting.” John said taking his arm. I
was wondering what painting John was doing?
Even Bonzo gave him a double take.
Clive
pulled away laughing.
“No
need for that, thank you. I was born
blind. I am used to it by now, don’t
worry.”
Off
they walked together down the corridor to the linkway corridor that would take
them to the ground floor of the old school.
“What
kind of paint are you using? I can’t
smell anything.” Clive asked, I could not hear what rubbish John gave as a
reason
John
told me when he got back that Clive was tuning the piano in the ground floor
hall first and would make his way up the eight flights of stairs to the first
floor and tune that one, then make his way down the stairs and tap his stick on
the floor at the bottom of the stairs for us to hear that he was ready to be
brought back over here.”
“Well
let’s hope he gets a move on.” I said as I nodded. “Oh, Where’s his dog?”
“Very
funny”.John smiled.
Two
cups of tea and a couple of phone calls later it was just over 75minutes after
taking Clive over to the old school we
heard him banging his cane on the floor or the door of the linkway.
“I
can hear the dog yapping. John suddenly said
“I
hope that’s not the door frame he’s tapping, we are not getting the painters
back here again.” I said to John who laughed and then thought better of it.
“Whats
the matter with the dog, he’s going mental.”
“Maybe
the bloke is upside down at the bottom of the stairs for all we know!” John
replied.
“Don’t
say that for christ’s sake!” We both laughed and hurried towards the banging
and John shouted out, “Coming Clive!”.
The banging stopped as we got to the corridor
and started walking down it. I thought
Clive was talking to himself or Bonzo but he was nodding and smiling then
turned to his left facing the staircase and said,
“They’re
here now, thank you very much.” Bonzo was
standing in front of Clive, ben down on his front legs as if about to pounce
and growling at what I could only describe as a shadow, jet black, taller than
6ft, It was standing at the bottom of the first flight that I had stood at when
I heard the sound of someone was coming down the stairs two at a time.
“Are
you alright Clive?” I shouted
The
shadow figure turned left to face us full on then turned left again and
disappeared very quickly from view up the first flight of stairs.
“Yes,
thank you, one of your people helped me down the stairs but couldn’t walk me
through to the front. They said they are
not allowed.”
“Who
was it, Clive?” I asked.
“Quiet
Bonzo, Settle down.” Clive laughed, “Sorry Dave , he didn’t seem to like him.
John
had his hands on his head slicking his hair back looking at the ceiling like he
wanted to scream.
“He
said he was the Boiler man. He was on the landing of the first floor. I didn’t hear him, Bonzo started growling at
something. He asked me who I was. He seemed to know I was blind but he nearly tripped
me down the stairs, I thought he tried to steady me but he almost pushed me
down further. Then I couldn’t move my
leg.. My fault probably, I lost my
footing and held on to the rail. He must
have stood there just watching me. Bonzo
was panicking and barking. I thought it was one of you two! He just said ‘come on then’.
We
walked back to the new school and our office.
The dog seemed to be in a hurry.
His paws tapping on the stone painted floor of the new school corridor..
“How
old would you say I am?” Clive randomly asked me when we were near the front
doors.
My
mind was still all over the place with the revelation from Clive who, quite
frankly, knew no better or different and I was not going to make tell him
otherwise.
Clive
looked about 50, with a very white pallor, his skin made you think he never
went out into the open air but he obviously did.
“40?”
I ventured.
“37”
said Clive. “Not bad!”
I
thought ‘Thirty seven?!’
“You
look good on it” I said out loud.
“You’re
not just saying that are you?
“No”
I lied.
“The
reason I ask is…well, that man asked me if I had been here during the war. I thought he was joking but he wasn’t.”
“Probably
meant the Falklands?”
“No,
in the 40s.” I just laughed it off. You meet all sorts. Better go.
Happy Christmas!” and he started a slow walk to the bus stop in the
Romford road on his way to my old secondary school..
“Thanks,”
I shouted, “You too!”
I
locked the doors and walked over to the office wondering if I should have asked
the poor sod if he wanted a lift but saw a note on the desk. It was from John:
‘I
am in the pub, I have ordered you a pint.’
I
locked the office door and opened the front doors. Stepping out onto the entrance platform at
the top of the 6 steps that led up to the entrance, I resisted the urge to look
back inside the giant glass doors, walked down the steps and padlocked the
chain around the front gates. I walked
left to the end of the street, turned left on water lane and made for the pub
on the next corner to the school, the Manbey Arms. As I wa;led down the road past the school I
stopped and looked up at the Victorian building. I looked at the staircase that went deom the
ground floor to the top. I became aware
of a dark shadow standing on the top landing.
No features, just a shape of a man.
I assumed it was a reflection from something unknown opposite the school
but it moved and was gone.
John
was sitting at a table with one and a half pints of bitter in front of him.
“You
OK?” I asked him, after I had bought another pint. He looked like he needed both of the ones on
the table.
“No,
I’m fxxxxxg not!” he replied. “I can’t
go back. I’m thinking of not coming back
at all. Sorry Dave.”
I
was startled. He had given no indication
of this. He was always scared, but
seemed to persevere with the whole thing, like I did. Taking each day and its
events as it came.
“No
need to apologise to me mate.” I took a sip of beer. “You have to do what you
think best. If I were you I would come
to the party tomorrow, it’s all paid for by the council. Then think about it
over Christmas before making a decision.
You should find another job before you chuck this one in. Come back on the 4th January. The kids are not back until the 9th
but the teachers creep in before then.
There will be more people there and you can decide then. I am meeting
the vicar there before then.”
John
got very agitated, to such an extent he put his pint down.
“Don’t
do it. Don’t get the Vicar there. It will make things worse, I know it will.”
“It
might help” I replied “And we need all the professional help we can get.” I
said, as if I knew what I was talking about.
I hoped I was right.
We
sat there in silence for a while, listening to the Christmas songs on the juke
box, and they didn’t make the atmosphere any happier. Mariah Carey kept repeating ‘All I want for
Christmas is you!”.
All
I wanted was an end to this nightmare.
I
had nothing to do that night so John and I had a pub meal and met up with my
mates in the pub later that evening. We
told my friends what had happened in the school earlier and they were already
aware of what had been going on over the previous years but they wanted to go
over and take a look in the dark!
Slowly,
we became more and more aware of the pub falling silent as people moved over to
the TV which was above the bar near the saloon bar. The music had stopped on the Juke Box, or had
been turned off, and we could hear the news that Pan Am Flight 103 had exploded
above a town called Lockerbie in Scotland.
All 243 passengers and 16 crew members had died on the plane and 11
residents of Lockerbie were killed when the wreckage of the plane landed on the
town. It had happened at 7pm but with no
internet or social media, or no rolling news to boast of it only hit the TV at
around 9pm. The mood had changed in the
pub and the evening was over. People say
they remember where they were when Kennedy was assassinated. I don’t, I was 3. But I know exactly where I was when I heard
about Lockerbie.
Life
seemed to resume to normal in the School over the following few weeks. Even though we had to lock all the doors and
make sure all windows were closed and lights were off each late afternoon we
managed to do this without any incidents, and, to be honest, we did as much as
we could before it started to think about getting dark. That was until we took a booking for a Tai
Chi class to be held from 6pm each Thursday evening. I had tried to get them to use the hall in
the new school but as they all arrived in cars it was logistically impossible
so the ground floor hall in the old school it had to be, as the playground was
outside the old school on both sides and was used as the car park for teachers
and visitors.
A
Tai Chi class were due to arrive on the Thursday evening and I was setting out
the required 20 chairs in a semi-circle for everyone to sit in prior to doing
whatever Tai Chi groups do. I think of Tai Chi as that slow moving kind of
mobile yoga people do in Parks but this was different. This was one of the elite versions of Combat/
Defence Tai Chi. It formed part of Kung
Fu and Karate (so I was told) and involves punching blocking and unbalancing
your opponent. The way Gerry, the instructor, described it when he booked it I
wondered if we needed an ambulance on standby.
There
was a classroom unlocked to allow the female members to get changed in privacy. It was decided to use the art room, a little
away from where the men were changing in the hall as the bottom half of all of
the windows were covered with drawings and A3 size paintings and posters which
prevented anyone looking into the room from outside in the car park in the
playground.
Any new ‘lettings’ like these always required the Caretaker to do the first one. This was to establish rules and permissions.It could then be delegated, if need be.
A few months later I discovered that this practice of
using the art room had continued with a twist. For £5, someone could stand in
the playground and look in the window through a strategically bent corner of
one of the posters, or through a whole cut in one of the posters at the girls
getting changed!. It was the ‘Bird watching’ Club on Thursday evenings from the
local pub, organised by John. A nice little sideline!!!!
The
men in the Tai-Chi group would just get changed in the corner of the hall. Having set everything up I unlocked the door
that we used as an entry point in the mornings at the bottom of the staircase
in the opposite diagonal corner to the ‘Haunted stairs’, as it had become
known. I had put 6 chairs out and
checked my watch. Almost kick off time. I
went outside to the playground and unlocked the rear gates facing the pub to
allow the cars in. I then went back in
to the hall to put more chairs out and to wait for the first arrivals.
There
was still some semblance of light and I
retraced my steps into the hall feeling a chill in the air for the first
time. As I reached the art room to get
the other ten chairs to put with the ten I had already done I almost jumped out
of my skin!
There
was a crashing noise behind me as the hall door opened and the leader of the
Tai Chi group stepped into the hall with another younger man. I recognised him
as he had come to the school to hire the hall instead of going to the council
office and I dealt with the booking for him. He hurried over and held out his
hand.
“Dave,
good to see you again”.
Reintroductions
were made and timings agreed and I showed Gerry the classroom for the ladies to
change in was quite safe, (at the moment!!) and as it was an art room I pointed
out the paintings were over the exterior windows and the glass panels in the
door to avert prying eyes. Gerry was very pleased and I said that he would come back at 10pm to
lock up as I would be nearby. Gerry
winked, “I saw the pub, don’t blame you!” he smiled as three people arrived. ‘This
room is perfect for them to change in. We had some issues at a previous
venue. I am sure the ladies will be
appreciative.”
We
stepped out of the classroom, “as you can the posters are also covering the
glass in and around the door.”
“Marvellous,
thank you.” Gerry nodded.
“I’ll
leave you to it Gerry,” I made my way to the exit door and was about to step
out when the Gerry said,
‘Oh
by the way Dave…shall we take the chairs out of that same classroom?’
I
turned around.
‘Sorry,
I’ll put some more chairs out, I was doing that when you arri….…….”
I
stopped mid-sentence, amazed at what I was looking at.
Apart
from us and the Tai Chi people arriving, the hall was empty!
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