What might, or might not have been

Forgrove Machinery Co, Leeds. Apprentice Intake 1957

Leeds College of Art Students 1952

Regardless for my flair for art, on leaving Secondary Modern school at the age of fifteen and coming from a family of engineers, going to art school was not an option. Instead, I was indentured to a six year apprenticeship in mechanical engineering. Each day between work and night school I passed the Leeds College of Art, where I wished I might have been.

The first photograph shows me (circled) and my fellow apprentices on our first day at work: a dejected bunch to say the least. The second photograph shows Leeds College of Art students of the same era, looking considerably more cheerful.

Over the years I've kept tabs on my fellow apprentices and they all did well. By my mid twenties I also was doing well and working in the drawing and design office of one of England's major machine tool manufactures. But then I decided it was now or never. I gave up my job and, with a wife and young daughter in tow, declared myself as an artist on the pavements of France. 

Since that day I have never looked back but I sometimes wonder how my envied Leeds College Art Students fared as artists. Moreover, I wonder....would I have fared any better as an artist had I been able to join their ranks.