School desk

Towards the end of January Dave, John and I decided it was a bit too cold to go walking so we took a train ride instead, to Saltaire, the model village founded by Sir Titus Salt and home of the 1853 Gallery.The gallery houses a collection of David Hockney's works and is a super place to spend an hour or three. One of the exhibits (not by Hockney) that caught my eye was this school desk. It is just like the one I sat at when I attended Cockburn High School, south Leeds, back in the fifties.Cockburn is more famous for the people who failed the entrance exam than it is for those who made it through. Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall didn't make it but Richard Hoggart (Author of "The Uses of Literacy" and father of Simon) did and is probably the school's principle alumnus. The old Edwardian building was demolished in the early seventies and I made a special trip to dance on the rubble. (Photo by DM)