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I started school in September 1928, at the time there was the infants school, the girls school and the boys school. Boys and Girls never mixed for lessons or sports. The Headmistress of the Infants, was Miss Workman.
The thing I remember, that first day, was sitting between Leslie Matthews and Ernie Prophett, everything else is blank.
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There were two sisters as teachers, Miss Gasgoine and Miss Connie Gasgoine, Miss Workman took us for needlework. I remember she showed us how to knit, but first of all we had to cast on stitches, instead of my stitches getting on to the needle, I ended up with a long chain. Another lesson was Music and Movement, in this we had to do different things to music, some moving, some standing.
In 1930 when I was 7 years old, we all went up to the Big Girls School, here were more classrooms and teachers, as more subjects were taught. The different teachers taught specific subjects, Miss Hope taught Geography, which I liked. Miss Wing taught music, in this lesson we were shown how to write the notes, I was not much good at this, but I did like singing.
One of the lessons I really liked was Anthology. We were given a poem to learn each week, then the next week some of us were picked to recite it. We all had to read other poems and prose. Miss Burnham would point to a pupil and you had to stand up and read until it was another’s turn, this taught us to speak well.
In those days we had exercises, which were done outside in good weather. Also we had games such as rounders and a court netball, as I grew older I looked forward to these lessons.
One of my lasting memories was the toilet block which was also outside. If one needed the toilet you had to cross the playground, and go round the back of the wall, to the toilets, then to the wash house to wash hands, the towels were always wet so hankies were very useful.
Unfortunately in 1932 I had a long time off from school. I spent very many weeks being taken to Bedford Hospital with terrible pains, but they were unable to diagnose anything. This later was found to be appendicitis, but was bordering on peritonitis. I was kept in hospital for ten days. I was in the female ward as the childrens ward was full up. I was quite pleased about this after the operation as my visitors could come into the ward, but over in the childrens ward, visitors could only look through the windows.
Back home I was very weak and still had to be taken out in a pushchair. The School inspector used to visit on a regular basis, to make sure I was still on the sick list. When I finally got back to school after about three months away I was not allowed to do P.E. or take part in any games. At the end of the school year we had exams, and although I was always in the top three, I could not do any good with the scholarships. My mind used to go blank, yet when I got home I could recall the questions and give most of the answers. I think the problem was the thought of the teacher watching, as she walked among the desks. This problem followed me to adult life, if someone was watching me, I could not do the work (mentally), alone I did it perfectly well.
Once a year the school had Sports day. Once I was allowed to join in after my illness, I loved it. I got quite athletic. One of my favourite races, as I got older was the show cycle race, this was great fun, I also liked hurdles.
We also were taught country dancing, and in June 1937, we jointly won the County trophy with Newport Pagnell School, holding the trophy for six months each. In May that year I was in Standard 7, the town put on a carnival for the coronation, the school entered a float, ‘the King, Queen and courtiers’ and we had to make all the costumes. The combined senior schools also put on a concert, which involved a lot of pupils.
In my school days we had a medical every year and we also had the nurse visit regularly. One of these visits was head inspection for fleas, hence she was called the ‘Nit Nurse’. As well as the nurse and doctor, we had regular visits with the dentist, the surgery was in a room overlooking the Boys School. To get to it you had to go up some stone steps between two walls, not very encouraging.
In those days the schools playgrounds and avenue were all kept clean and tidy, there was a live in caretaker and his helpers.
We were taught to swim at ‘the swimming place’ which was in the River. There was a corrugated iron hut that was divided in half for male and female, a wooden bench was round the walls, and it was here that you changed. You put your clothes in a neat pile before going outside. There was a set of steps going down into the water where it was sandy. Unfortunately our swimming lessons all came to an end, after a heavy flood and dead sheep came floating down the river.
I left school at the end of July 1937, and after a few weeks break, I started work in Wilkinson’s Grocery Shop and stayed there all through the 1939-1945 war.
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