Wednesday, November 6, 2024

From My Autobiography : Grade 1

From My Autobiography : Grade 1

SEPTEMBER
I enter Grade 1 at Wellesley Public School.
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 It’s interesting some of the things you remember from your childhood while you totally forget other experiences. I can recall getting the ½-pint cardboard cartons of milk to drink in school, but virtually nothing else currently comes to mind.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Wellesley Public School was later demolished and replaced by the Sutton Place Hotel.

WINTER
I become ill with a temperature of 104°. A doctor makes a house call and gives me a needle in my bum—an antibiotic for scarlet fever. It takes me almost a week to fully recover.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My sister with a clown at the Canadian National Exhibition
 







Mum, me, and my sister
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dad and me

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

His Name Is Love

His Name Is Love


His Name Is Love- Original lyrics and music by Michael Woodhead (1969). 

One of the songs from my Crucified With Christ lyrics and lead sheet music book available on Amazon.

[This is the music-only version until I get an opportunity to add the vocals]

 

Monday, November 4, 2024

From My Autobiography - Early Life in Toronto

Early Life in Toronto

After we’ve lived in the boarding house for awhile, I notice the woman in the apartment next to ours seems to have a different male visitor almost every night...

One day, I’m throwing darts at a board hanging on the back of the apartment door. My sister suddenly walks in, and I barely miss hitting her in the face with a dart...

From what I remember, I believe dad and mum slept on a pull-out sofa bed while Margaret and I each had a folding cot. Mine was opposite/behind the door to the apartment.

Unable to find a job as a painter and decorator because he is apparently 'overqualified’ and no one wants to pay him what they think he's worth, Dad eventually finds work at Sunnybrook Hospital as a male nurse.

Mum also finds part-time work at the hospital.

SUMMER
Mum finds a part-time job at a United Church summer camp for underprivileged children. She's allowed to take Margaret and me along so we can join in the fun and activities with the other kids.

During the camp:

    ■ I win first prize for shooting a bull's-eye in an archery contest.

Although I was never really into sports when I was growing up [I broke my glasses twice trying to catch the ball while playing outfield in baseball when I was in high school], I did enjoy archery later when I was able to do it at a gun and archery range during my teen years in France.

    ■ I get a small part [as a servant?] in a play about Damon and Pythias.

This second incident began a continued interest in theatre productions, several in which I would perform over the coming years.

    ■ My teenaged cabin counsellor invites me into his bed one night and molests me.

This latter incident had a profound and lasting effect on my life: it ignited a curiosity about, and fascination with, sexuality. Whereas most people who are victims of molestation seem to have negative effects following the experience, I became intensely interested in sex. Whether one deems that ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ is, of course, a matter for debate, and one with which I wrestled for many years.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My sister and me in the Fall

 

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Adele

 Adele


Adele- Original lyrics and music arranged and performed by Michael Woodhead. 

One of the songs from my EarthGirls lyrics and lead sheet music book available on Amazon.

 

Saturday, November 2, 2024

From My Autobiography : Moving to Canada

Moving To Canada

 

MARCH
For a short while, we stay with my aunt [Mum’s sister] and uncle until it’s time for us to leave for Canada.

Residence:
Cypress Street
Haslingdon,  Lancashire, England


31 MARCH
Tuesday
Dad receives an ‘Emigrant to Canada Special Allowance’ of £20  from the Midland Bank in Rawtenstall. A short time later, he sails to Canada by himself to find us a place to live.


28 MAY
Thursday
Mum receives an ‘Emigrant to Canada Special Allowance’.


1 - 12 JUNE
Monday – Friday
Mum, my sister, and I sail from Southampton to Quebec aboard the Cunard Lines' R.M.S. Scythia.


5 JUNE
Friday
We attend a celebration dinner on board the ship in honor of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the sumptuous meal they offered, the only parts of this dinner I remember are the fresh, hot, soft dinner rolls, and the curlicues of shaved butter nestled in bowls of crushed ice.


12 JUNE
Friday
We dock at Quebec, and they give us Canadian immigration identification cards.

We take a train to Toronto, Ontario, and go to a place that dad was able to find—a main floor apartment in a boarding house.

After living for a short time on one side of Dundonald Street, we move across the road into another one-bedroom apartment in a boarding house.

Residence:
Dundonald Street
Toronto, Ontario

This house, amongst others, was subsequently demolished and there are now apartments and/or office buildings in this spot.

Friday, November 1, 2024

He's The Lord

 He's The Lord

He's The Lord- Original lyrics and music by Michael Woodhead. 

One of the songs from my Crucified With Christ lyrics and lead sheet music book available on Amazon.

[This is the music-only version until I get an opportunity to add the vocals]


Thursday, October 31, 2024

From My Autobiography - Where Is Canada?

 Where Is Canada?

 DECEMBER
    My sister and I learn that we’re all going to be moving to a place called Canada sometime in the New Year.
    Canada, I think. Where is Canada? And why do we even have to move?
    I shiver with trepidation.
    I’d just spent the last couple of months getting used to school, and befriending schoolmates who wanted to get to know me. And now, I’d have to leave them and travel to this unknown place called Canada.
 
The decision to move was a strange one, also, since dad had a well-paying job as an interior painter and decorator at J Fielding.

From later talks I had with him, he seemed to infer that the decision was mum’s idea, but that she never really gave a clear and definite reason for the need to move.
    She just wanted to go.
    As soon as possible.
 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 My sister and me