Skatey...The life of Les Skate
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Skatey...The life of Les Skate

Biography of Les Skate edited and prepared for publication by volunteer biographer Lorraine Blythe on behalf of Eastern Palliative Care October 2019 Biography of Les Skate edited and prepared for publication by volunteer biographer
Lorraine Blythe on behalf of Eastern Palliative Care October 2019

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29.10.2019 Views

Skatey The Life of Les Skate Well that was the end of it! I went and told the bloke…and he accused us of knocking over the wall! I said, ‘Right, we’re out of here.’ Of course, it was holiday time and the whole place was booked out. So, I ended up going to the Police Station. One of them organised a room in an old guest house for us. They were full but they made room for us. They saw the problems we had had. Tim was in hospital for the night. From then on it was alright and we enjoyed Victor Harbour after all. We did a bit there and had a good time. Another memorable trip I had was with the boys, when Rol was in the scouts. He would have been about ten or eleven. They had a trip away to Ayers Rock. There weren’t enough boys from one scout group for the coach so we made it out of three groups. Myself and another father were in charge of our lot. I knew the coach driver from the local bus company fairly well. So that worked well and we had a good drive up there. We climbed Ayers Rock and they all enjoyed it. My boys weren’t too bad but there were a couple of devils in the Croydon Scouts. (We were the West Croydon scouts.) One particular devil in the Croydon group went on to be a leading footballer for the Essendon Football Club. But back then, oh, he was a devil! He climbed everywhere where he shouldn’t have, and my blokes were following, and I was trying to get them back. Oh Gawd, that was an experience. But it was good. My boys weren’t too bad but there were a couple of devils in the Croydon Scouts. In those days there were no facilities. There were these sheds like old horse stalls, all open, with a few showers. You put two shillings in and you had to go like mad before the water ran out. We catered for ourselves because we had a good cook on board. Each night one group or the other had to help out. That worked out alright. 20

Skatey The Life of Les Skate Scouts; good times…and some more building! Originally Rol went down to Kent Ave, to the Croydon Scouts. But we wanted to form our own group. There was this little bit of land called Ainslie Park, just back behind us in Croydon. After a bit of wheeling and dealing with the council they finally gave us the land. I told them what I was going to do and they poo-hooed it. ‘No, we don’t want any halfbaked buildings left lying around …’ That really got me going! ‘No, we don’t want any halfbaked buildings left lying around…’ That really got me going! Anyway, I knew the bloke who was the Building Inspector down there pretty well. After a while, I think because he really knew that I did know what I was doing, we finally got the go-ahead. With another father who knew his way around a bit business-wise, we had a lot of companies help out. We scrounged up all the roofing material for nothing. It had been discarded for slight imperfections. That saved thousands of dollars. I got the steel frame for cost, less my discount, because I was doing steel buildings at the time. I bought the bricks through brick traveller. They were seconds and I got them for half price. There was nothing wrong with them! The flooring … it was beautiful, big thick flooring that came out of a big cool store at Wonga Park. It went back together beautifully. I sanded it up and it was great. So, we had a roof, a frame, bricked in, and the flooring. We did buy windows. So, we had our building. I was on the inaugural committee, and had a lot of help from other fathers in those days. This became the West Croydon Scout Group. We had bottle drives and collected bottles which we stacked along the fence at our place in Croydon, till the bottle’o came. We collected newspapers and they were all stored in our double garage in Croydon until they were collected. That was our main source of revenue. We had a few little family gatherings to fundraise but basically, that was it. So we had our building. The flooring…it was beautiful, big thick flooring that came out of a big cool store at Wonga Park. It went back together beautifully. I sanded it up and it was great. 21

<strong><strong>Skate</strong>y</strong><br />

<strong>The</strong> Life <strong>of</strong> <strong>Les</strong> <strong>Skate</strong><br />

Scouts; good times…and some more building!<br />

Originally Rol went down to Kent Ave, to the Croydon Scouts. But we wanted to form our<br />

own group. <strong>The</strong>re was this little bit <strong>of</strong> land called Ainslie Park, just back behind us in<br />

Croydon. After a bit <strong>of</strong> wheeling and dealing with the council they finally gave us the land. I<br />

told them what I was going to do and they poo-hooed it. ‘No, we don’t want any halfbaked<br />

buildings left lying around …’ That really got me going!<br />

‘No, we don’t want any halfbaked<br />

buildings left lying<br />

around…’ That really got me<br />

going!<br />

Anyway, I knew the bloke who was the Building<br />

Inspector down there pretty well. After a while, I think<br />

because he really knew that I did know what I was<br />

doing, we finally got the go-ahead. With another<br />

father who knew his way around a bit business-wise,<br />

we had a lot <strong>of</strong> companies help out. We scrounged up<br />

all the ro<strong>of</strong>ing material for nothing. It had been<br />

discarded for slight imperfections. That saved thousands <strong>of</strong> dollars. I got the steel frame for<br />

cost, less my discount, because I was doing steel buildings at the time. I bought the bricks<br />

through brick traveller. <strong>The</strong>y were seconds and I got them for half price. <strong>The</strong>re was nothing<br />

wrong with them! <strong>The</strong> flooring … it was beautiful, big thick flooring that came out <strong>of</strong> a big<br />

cool store at Wonga Park. It went back together beautifully. I sanded it up and it was great.<br />

So, we had a ro<strong>of</strong>, a frame, bricked in, and the<br />

flooring. We did buy windows. So, we had our<br />

building. I was on the inaugural committee, and had<br />

a lot <strong>of</strong> help from other fathers in those days. This<br />

became the West Croydon Scout Group. We had<br />

bottle drives and collected bottles which we stacked<br />

along the fence at our place in Croydon, till the<br />

bottle’o came. We collected newspapers and they<br />

were all stored in our double garage in Croydon until they were collected. That was our<br />

main source <strong>of</strong> revenue. We had a few little family gatherings to fundraise but basically,<br />

that was it.<br />

So we had our building.<br />

<strong>The</strong> flooring…it was<br />

beautiful, big thick flooring<br />

that came out <strong>of</strong> a big cool<br />

store at Wonga Park. It went<br />

back together beautifully. I<br />

sanded it up and it was great.<br />

21

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