School memories

With autumn signalling the back-to-school season, those living with us share memories from both sides of the desk

Mary, 94, Emmaus House, Whitehaven

“I always wanted to be a teacher. When I left school, I went to study at Whitelands College in Putney. It was very expensive and just before I was about to go my father came in and said he’d been talking to my mother and his sister they’d said, “Why are you wasting money on education when she’s going to get married?” So I had a sort of bout of hysterics and went upstairs and eventually they agreed that I could go.

“It was quite an experience going to London as a northern girl. The speech lady was horrified by my accent. She tried to get me to get rid of my flat e sound, but I couldn’t do it. I said, ‘It’s just so natural for me.’

“They were very forward thinking at the college. There was a vice principal who encouraged us to go out to all the theatres and films and museums and lectures. He wanted us to have a rounded experience, and I had a tremendous time.

“After I finished my teacher training, I got married. My husband and I moved to Birmingham and then Bristol where I had my first child. After that, we moved back to Cumbria to be near my family and I taught at Montreal Church of England Primary School at Cleator Moor and then at Valley Primary School in Mirehouse, Whitehaven.

“At the Valley, the class sizes were huge, with 45 in a class. It was an experience. I remember this one little boy, Tom D, who was very tiny. He used to look at me and say, ‘If you think I’m stuck here with you, I’m not!’ Then he’d go to the door and fly off down a very long corridor. I used to have to chase him down. Eventually, I had to barricade the door. One day the head teacher came along said I couldn’t do that because it was a fire risk. I said, ‘You either have the fire risk or we lose Tom D because I can’t keep up with him.’ I’ve no idea what became of him eventually.”

Jean, 93, Finborough Court, Great Finborough

“My mum was an infant teacher and my older sister was an infant teacher, so I grew up thinking there wasn’t any other job you could do. My sister was 18 years older than me and I used to go and watch her teaching, then I did just what she did.

“As an infant teacher, I taught the three Rs as well as music and dance, and I used to write little plays for the children to put on. I was in the local operatic society and every time I was in a show I used to dress up as my character and come in to show the children.

“Things were definitely different back then. On one occasion, there was a little boy who didn’t get picked up at the end of the school day, so I ended up taking him home with me and he helped me with the cleaning!

“My husband Bob was a primary school head teacher and was the first head teacher of the brand-new primary school that was built at Bildeston. The school as built just in time as, just as they changed over, the original school chimney fell in, which could have been a catastrophe.

“My husband never caned anyone, but if any of the boys misbehaved – stealing from the post office or other such antics – he would lay his cane on the top of his desk and give them a talking to. That seemed to do the trick.

 

“I was an infant teacher at the primary school at Battisford until it closed and then I went to teach music at Bob’s school. Benjamin Britten liked to visit one of the schools I taught in, and he asked my pupils to sing in one of his concerts. I think it was probably a performance of Noye's Fludde (Noah’s Flood)."

Sylvia, 92, Bethany House, Preston

“I went to a convent grammar school. Lots of teachers were nuns but there were several lay people too. I did the School Certificate and got a distinction in French and Latin. I always liked languages. I left school at 16 and later in life I wished I’d stayed on but at the time I wanted to leave. I did admin work during my working life. When I was about 50, I saw this job advertised for a secretary in the Italian department at Lancaster University and applied. My husband didn’t think I would get the job because of my age, but I did. As part of the job, I got free Italian lessons, so I started learning. Having done French and Latin at school really helped. I then enjoyed going on holiday to Italy and speaking the language – well, I did my best.”

Jean, 93, Bethany House, Preston

“I grew up in Ribchester, a little village in the Ribble Valley. There were two cotton mills in Ribchester and that’s where nearly everyone worked, including my parents. After school, I used to go to my grandmother’s and at half past five you could hear the clogs as everyone came out of the mills. I could be at one side of the village and hear the clogs coming two or three streets away and think, ‘it must be half past five now, Mum and Dad are coming home.’

“I didn’t pass the 11 Plus but when I was 13 I passed an exam to go to the technical college in Preston. My main subjects were shorthand, typewriting and bookkeeping, all the commercial subjects. I then got a job as a medical secretary with the NHS. I worked for the NHS from the day it started on 5th July 1948 for the next 67 years. I was supposed to finish school in the middle of July but they let me leave a week early so I could start my job.”

Minnie, 95, Bethany House, Preston

“I grew up in Portmahomack, a small village in the Scottish Highlands. My mum was over 40 when she had me and my siblings were much older so I had no-one to play with at home. It was like I was an only child. I loved it when I started at the village school because then I was around children my own age. I loved my teachers, my friends, everything!

“I also went to Sunday School. To take us to church, my father rode his motorbike with my brother sitting behind. My mother sat in the sidecar with me on her knee and my sister sat behind her in the boot. At Sunday School, I remember the minister’s son used to deliberately sit behind me and pull my long red hair. One day, the minister noticed me with tears running down my cheeks. He took his son to the side and then had him sitting right down the front, so he didn’t bother me again.”


This feature first appeared in the Autumn 2026 edition of The Pilgrims’ Magazine. See here.