Re - Started My Blog - 01 Where To Start
We moved from Edinburgh to Kilmarnock in 1962, Dad was a railway man and moved to Kilmarnock for a better job in the railway. In the black & white pic I was about 8-9 years old and was taken when we lived in Edinburgh. The pic with me and my brothers is much later and I’m probably about 19–20 in this pic.
It took me a few years to settle in Kilmarnock, I always had problems with pupils, because they thought I spoke with a posh accent, and I suppose compared to Kilmarnock it must have sounded posh to them. The primary and secondary school were only separated by a single corridor.
Secondary school only got worse. Eventually I did the exam called the Eleven-plus and, this was one of the last of this type of exam, before they introduced the comprehensive system which then became the standard for secondary schools across the UK. The results for the Eleven-plus fell into three categories. Excellent Good Fail. I failed because all the other students were all taught the same Information, It was like moving the goal post’s before you got started. The comprehensive system had another year before it arrived in Scotland. Discover more at https://ronaldsimone.co.uk/
The Flower Of Blantyre is from my back catalogue. I recorded the album with my mate Colin Douglas, he's a folk singer and was comfortable with that, It did well in Scotland & Canada. I've included it because it just gives you a little flavour of where I'm from in the UK; Bonnie Scotland.
