Some memories from J. J. O’Sullivan (‘Sully’) – an old Primary School Friend
Some memories from J. J. O’Sullivan (‘Sully’) – an old Primary School and Carshalton AFC following friend of Rob Steel (written in August 2020)
A good few years before Rob attended…
In my final year at the Holy Family Junior School, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Rob as we prepared for our eleven-plus exams. We must have got on because I went round to his maisonette home in Reynolds Close and met his mother. His home was situated beside the River Wandle and we went fishing for sticklebacks with our nets. He also showed me his newts that he kept in a jam jar. I'd never seen newts before. Sometime later he'd moved to Acre Lane in Carshalton and I popped round for a game of chess (or draughts). Now, of course, I have a copy of Rob's book entitled "River Wandle Companion".
As well as myself and Rob we also had Paul Merton (Martin) in our playground, although he was a few years younger than us. Paul lived in Morden Hall Road on the St Helier Estate. The only other famous pupil we had at our junior school was former one-hit-wonder pop star Jimmy Justice. He lived in No 1 Sibton Road.
I don't remember Rob being sporty. We did do a project together on 'Meteorology'. (On leaving school I applied for a job at the London Weather Centre; got the interview but failed to get the necessary qualifications). I was very proud of our meteorology project but I never got to keep the finished article. I always meant to ask Rob what happened to it.
Rob passed his eleven plus. I didn't and we went our separate ways. I moved onto St Theresa's Secondary School which was based on three sites: Grand Drive, Morden, Montacute Road, Morden and Winchcombe Road, Carshalton. Our woodwork, metalwork, science, and technical drawing classes were based at Winchcombe Road. Our Form class and French lessons were held in Grand Drive. Maths. English and PE were based at Montacute Road. To get from one class to another we had to walk. At the end of the year, we hadn't learned a lot because of all the time taken walking from one class to another, but we were fit!
The next time I saw Rob was on the terraces at the Robins. In the meantime, he'd carved out a career in teaching. I was also aware that he took an interest in CAMRA, walking and was involved with the Green Party. I was pleased when you told me he'd got married. Several years ago, while visiting the London Open Squares and Gardens, myself and Olly (my wife) bumped into Rob and his bike at Dolphin Square, in Pimlico. We had a chat and slagged off the Carshalton Athletic owner. The last time I met Rob was at a midweek Newport v Robins match.