Friends
Peter and Brita Green
Eric Hawkins had a major impact on how our lives developed. In August 1959, we arrived in West Kirby in the Wirral from Lund in Sweden, where Peter had lived for the past three years, and Brita from birth. Peter was about to begin the autumn term as an assistant master of German and French at Calday Grange Grammar School, where Eric Hawkins was headmaster. Eric offering him this job had helped us decide which country to settle in ultimately.
We drove to West Kirby and found Devonshire Road. A container soon arrived with our bits of furniture: we had had a modern purpose-built flat in Lund, and now had to try and squeeze our belongings into a furnished flat on the top floor of a large semi-detached house in West Kirby, owned by Eric Hawkins' mother. Mrs Hawkins was the most carefree and accommodating landlady one could wish for. The flat had three rooms and we piled all the furniture we didn't need - mostly hers - into one room and furnished the rest with our own things. She never bothered us, but when we stopped for a chat, we were entertained with some good tales. One amazing fact we learnt was that during the whole Second World War, when Eric and Ellen had been separated in different countries, Ellen had lived in a flat at Sct Kjeldsgade 14 in Copenhagen. When we heard that address, we were astounded: it was one we had been sending Christmas cards to for years: Brita's parents had one Danish couple as close friends, the Thomsens, and they lived in the same building as Ellen - of all the possible buildings in Copenhagen!
Working with Eric was inspiring. As always, he impressed with his ability to be totally focused on the person he was with. Brita, as a new staff wife, remembers how he seemed genuinely interested and welcoming when she was first introduced to him. Calday Grange had a happy staff room, and life was busy. It was thanks to Eric's contacts with German headmasters that we came to accompany a group of Calday boys visiting the Schillergymnasium in Hamelin in the spring of 1960. Peter sometimes had to act as interpreter, and his German was put to the test when, at the farewell dinner with the Bürgermeister and other dignitaries present, Eric began his speech, "Glancing down the table at the glazed eyes of my colleagues..."
During the visit we were put up by Käthe and Ewald Hofer. We got on extremely well with them, and in 1962-63 we did a 6-month teacher exchange, swapping jobs, houses and friends, and not only Käthe and Ewald but three other families connected with the Schillergymnasium became lifelong friends.
We remember one little incident from the return train journey. Sleepers had not been booked so we all slept sitting up in the ordinary compartment. One of the smaller boys had found a comfortable bed for the night on the luggage rack above the seats. We were all woken up in the middle of the night by a mighty roar, let out by Eric when the lad fell off the rack and ended up on top of his headmaster!
In January 1965, Eric moved to his new job at the University of York. Later that year, Peter applied for, and was lucky enough to get, a post as an assistant lecturer in the new Language Teaching Centre Eric was setting up, and that was the beginning of a 14-year period of fruitful team work and cooperation. The golden years of the LTC were a very happy time. Eric always flattered his audience by saying things like, "You'll remember Chomsky said..." The PGCE students took him off in some hilarious revues. "There's a book about that which I would like you to read... By Thursday... It's in Norwegian..." We also remember jolly evenings with students and colleagues singing and making music in Eric and Ellen's home in Shipton-by-Beningborough, singsongs at the LTC with students and school pupils, country walks with students, staff and families.
The Hawkins family visited us in Sweden a couple of times. On one occasion Eric surprised us with yet another of his talents: he showed that he could not only elegantly swing a tray, with a bottle and glass on it, under his arm, but also balance a large pole on his chin for several minutes.
We did not lose touch after Eric's retirement and their move to Hull. We saw him and Ellen regularly, initially at home, then in a pub in the little village of Lund in the Wolds, which was halfway between York and Hull and also served good food. And finally we visited him in the care home, where in May we said an emotional farewell to him before going off to Sweden for the summer. We were planning another visit this autumn, but sadly did not manage to arrange it in time.
Over the years we have also become friendly with other members of the Hawkins family, and we were very saddened to learn that Eric's sister Ness died just a fortnight after him.
Our friendship with Eric lasted half a century, and he was an important influence in our life. We owe him such a lot, and we are very grateful to him and his family, not least Anne, for all they have done for us over the years. Eric and Ellen leave a big gap.
"The Grand Old Duke of York, he ran the LTC,
he marched them over the Yorkshire Moors, and back in time for tea ..."
Hole of Horcum, 1985, the day after a party to celebrate Eric's 70th birthday and the LTC's 20th anniversary, at which all but one of the twenty student cohorts were represented.