FSVB's 200th POST By around May/June of 1982, The Sandringham Hotel Opened, it was a Great place to Work!
The Kitchen area was all Open Plan, this was a First, I never knew of any other Restaurant like that in our Area, It was hard to get used to, being on show all the time, me being a Person who likes to stay in the Background, found this Quite hard to start with, but after a short while, I and others soon got used to it!
You were always being watched by Customers and things that you would normally just do, became harder, because of that, I remember the Hygiene Aspect had to improve, no leaving Meat / Food lying around, I remember the Kitchen Porter's moaning as they had to improve most things they did!
I remember the Trade was Slow to start with, but Sunday Lunches always being Busy, all them Customers looking at the Chef's cutting their Sunday Roasts right in front of them, what a Pleasure that was!
Nowadays its common place watching a Chef cut your Meat for you, but back then it was a Novelty, and it Probably got the Hotel more trade , because of it!
Check out the Photo, this was taken around 1982, its Me, Susan, Nathan and Natalie, checkout the Settee and especially the Wallpaper, it was all the Rage back then, I can remember buying that Settee at a place called "Courts" in Town, we had that on the Never Never (as it was called years ago) we had to go in the Shop every month with our Little Book and pay the monthly rate!
I remember that Corner Unit Settee was in a Range that came with one better Model, than ours, and we tried our Best to get the Better one, but Courts would only let us have the Cheaper one, the Better one came with (wait for it) a Clock Radio built in where the shelves were.......That Was a Beauty! but it wasn't to be!
Around March of 1982, I got the Job, I had applied for, this was different from your normal Hotel work, as I said previously the Hotel and Restaurant was not going to open for about 3 Months.
So most days when we went into work we were getting the Kitchen ready and when we had done that, it was helping out in different parts of the Hotel, they were having a Complete Re-fit as I remember, new Carpets Windows, Bedroom Furniture, all new Reception Area Fittings, not to mention most things new in the Kitchen, the Chap who owned the Hotel, also had another Hotel about 1 mile away!
He was a Decent down-to-earth bloke, he drove a Rolls-Royce, so he must of had a bit of Money. I remember one day, after knocking off work, walking out through the Reception Area, (this was before the Hotel had opened) and he was outside unloading some stuff he had brought from the Cash and Carry, he shouted out "give me 5 minutes and I'll give you a lift home" at that time of my life, I had a Bike, so I don't know where that was that day, anyway I got a lift home in the Roller!
That was the first and last time, I have ever been in a Rolls-Royce! as I said he was a Decent Boss!
I remember one particular day, helping out the Hotel Handy Man, his name was I think "Dave" I knew him previously, as he was a "Ice Cream Van Salesman" anyway I had to help him doing something with one of the Bedroom Windows, he was hanging out of the Window on the Hotel Roof, doing something with the Roof Tiles, I had to make sure he didn't fall out!
One of the Main Reasons I went for this Job was (as I said I knew the Head Chef), I was Promised when we Finally Opened the Hotel in the Early Summer, I would be working the Early Shifts, which was fine with me! I had been Working in Butchery for a few years, so no late nights, so to work as a Chef and work no nights, would have been Great!
This never ended up like this and this was to cause trouble further down the line!
As for music around this Period, The Debut Album from "Richard "Dimples" Fields (Mr look So good) would be Released later that year, but one of the Singles off the Album was the Number One Soul Single in April of 82, it was called "If It Aint One Thing, its Another" this was to be his one of his Highest placed Singles!
The Summer of 1979, we were still living in the same place (one room really) we used to go out as much as possible, as I remember it was a decent Summer weather wise!
I was still working as a Trainee Chef in the same Hotel, I got on with most of the Chefs, but the difference was they were all single and I was Married with a Baby, so I didnt go out with any of them, they would be drinking at the Bar attached to the Hotel, during working hours & sometimes when they had time off!
Fournately that Summer, we had a new Chef came to work at the Hotel, he was about 26 years old, about 6 years older than me, but married with a couple of kids, so I had quite a bit in common with him, his name was Bob Gaunt & he only lived around the corner from us, so that Summer we see quite a bit of him & his family, although Susan says she cant ever remember going around anyones at that time!
I cant remember his Wifes or his Kids names though, must be old age!
He at that time was a good colleague & friend to us but I cant remember what happened to him, whether he left the Hotel, although later that year, I left the Hotel & Catering Trade for a few years!
Perhaps one day he will read this Blog!
Another Trainee Chef I got on really well was a lad by the name of Mark Davidson, he was only about 18 & from Sheffield, I wander what happened to him also!
1979 was the Year of change for us, Nathan finally came out of Hospital for good! but this did'nt happen until April, so we still had around 4 months of Hospital visits etc still to come!
This was a very testing time for us, we were both still only 20 years old and what with Nathan still not right and we were still living in a 1 room place! and not too much help off anybody!
One thing me and Susan can say is, we have never treated our Children , liked how we were ! even to this Day we treat our Kids, how we would have liked to have been treated ourselves!
I was still working at the same Hotel and going to College every week, but my 4 year Course was coming to an end, so I had to make my mind up what I wanted to do, work wise, do I stay as a Chef, working long and un-socialable hours or do I go into something different!
One funny event of early 1979 I remember was, My Father had a Volkswagon Van like the one in the picture above, and as we had sold my Car, the previous Year, any chance to Drive the Van was a welcome change!
So one Day we went to the local Town Centre and parked on the main Town Car Park, right in front of a Butchers Shop ( a few years later, I worked in this Shop) now I dont remember if we did this before we went round the Shops or after the Shops!
Anyway I remember I drove into a parking space next to another Car, and had to reverse back and forth to straighten the Van up, well on about the third movement I jammed the van into the Car next to us, the Volkswagon had these big door hinges on the side of it and we could'nt move forward or backward, and as I said we were in full view of the Butcher's Shop and the people inside the shop!
Anyway to cut a long story short , the only way out of this spot, was to drive forward very quickly, but there were quite high concrete edgings to this Car Park, about 6inch high at least!
So we drive back as far as we could, scraping along side this parked car, then I stuck my toe has hard as I could!
We came out of the car park, like Starsky & Hutch, bumped up & down the car park edgings at about 30 mile an hour and off the car park, we were laughing so much, we forgot about the people watching in the Shop!
Luckily for us, the Old Mans Van was'nt damaged that much and he thought he had done the damage anyway, and nobody ever reported the incident the the Police either!
The old Launderette we used to use and it's still going strong!
We finally moved into our new place around last week in September 1978, things at that time were fairly hectic as I recall, I was also back at College, one day per week and still working at the same Hotel, It was hard for us with a Baby living in just one room most of the time!
But we did have one particular friend in the House we shared with about 9 other families, her name was Shirley (she was the person who seemed to keep things going along in the house), she I remember helped me and Susan out several times during our stay!
One thing I do remember was having some sort of bother with the Washing of Clothes, I remember there was only one machine for all the families, so being a bit particular where we washed our clothes! it was my job to go to the local Launderette, which was about 5 minutes away, so every couple of Days we were over the Launderette, washing ans drying our clothes.
We used to use Nathan's pushchair to take to laundry backwards and forwards, it was a bright Orange colour! ................. Married life was Bliss!
Another thing I remember about this period in time, I didn't have my Music Center with us, because of space etc, it was left at my Mother's House, but I still brought the odd Vinyl Record to play at a later date!
One Record I remember buying was the Rose Royce Single, "Love dont live here anymore" this was a Number 2 in U.K in September of 1978! I still have the Single to this day in our loft!
Things were about to change again for us, with Nathan still not right after his operation!
As I said in earlier Post, things were going to change this Year! Susan was working in her Father's Shop during the Holiday Season, but by around August time Susan and her Family moved House, to an area about 5 miles away from our Town, I still had my Car so that was no problem!
While working as a Trainee Chef, by now it was for nearly 3 Years, I was going to Catering College on Day Release from Work, I had about 4 Months earlier Passed my First 2 Years Exams and was thinking of Changing Hotels before College resumed in the coming September!
So I was having several Interviews at Hotels in our Town and the next Town, about 5 miles away! I ended up going to the Biggest Hotel in our Town, it was on the opposite end of the Seafront where I had been working, and were my previous employers biggest rivals!
As it turned out my new Hotel wasn't a patch on my previous Hotel, but the work was easier, and the Money was better! and what I was about to find out in about 3 Months time, I would need all the money I could get!
