91热爆

My sister, Hilda, who lived in Sheffield and had no family was directed back into teaching. She taught in a very poor area of Sheffield where classes were never less than fifty children. The mothers worked in the munitions factories. They worked in shifts and children arrived at school by six o鈥檆lock in the morning for breakfast and supervision. Breakfasts, dinners and teas were served everyday by ladies employed for this work.

My sister told me that the whole school was blacked out and windows boarded up. They worked all day by electric light. All the doors and windows over a large area had been blown out by a land mine.

About this time, train loads of children from London were billeted with families in the Hemsworth area for safety. I decided to take in a little girl about Audrey鈥檚 age. I thought that they would be company for one another. Also her sister was billeted with a family quite close so they were able to meet and talk to one another. Babrbara came from Willesden, NW 10. I tried my best to 鈥榤other鈥� her but she was shy and withdrawn. Unfortunately, her mother died while she was with us. I tried to comfort her but she never seemed to respond.

When I returned to teaching I was on supply which took me to several schools in the area. I taught for a few weeks at a school in South Yorkshire, in the infant dept. There were some very tough children from London鈥檚 East End. I remember one little Cockney toughie, LM, I will never forget. He was quite a chatterbox and he used to tell how he and his mates hid behind walls with a pile of stones which they threw at policemen as they passed. This was in the days when discipline was regarded as very good. (L was only an infant.)

From there I went into the junior dept. The headmistress was a very eccentric spinster. She was very large but flat chested and she wore men鈥檚 shoes. In contrast, she had a fringe of little curls on her forehead that fascinated me.

This headmistress was very mean with school stock. She gave it out very grudgingly. The permanent staff had got used to it and they put dates on everything including reels of cotton.

I had the youngest children in the juniors and one of my jobs was to teach them to turn and tack a hem. Although I had done needlework at college and in previous schools, the headmistress insisted on showing me how to turn and tack a hem. For material we used the special paper issued for draughting patterns. Each child was given a square of this paper, a sewing needle and about one foot of white cotton.

The children managed with great difficulty to turn and sew a hem. Their hot hands made the cotton and the paper very grubby. Imagine my surprise when I was told that the children must unpick their work and re-use both paper and cotton.

We had no supplies in our classrooms and all calls for materials went via a monitor to the Head. I asked for the required number of art sheets, ( the Head checked the number with the register). The sheets of paper were duly counted out and delivered. Again, I was shocked when the monitor brought the paper with the message, "In future, only the best childern will be given paper, the rest must bring their own". - Poor little beggars, where could they get art paper?

One day, I committed a cardinal sin. I made a blot on the register. The register was duly sent to the Head by a monitor. In due course, back came the monitor to say , "Miss.... says, how did this happen?", pointing to the blot. I said "Tell Miss .... it was an accident". Once more, back came the monitor with "Miss .... says it must not happen again". I was a very young teacher and I was glad to leave that place.

I went into other schools where supplies were short, but it was always share and share alike and just make the best of it but there was no pettiness.

In order to make full use of the daylight hours, double summer time was introduced. I found this bad in the winter months when I had to turn out in the blackout to catch the 8.00am bus to U---- another horrible experience in a junior school where the headmaster vented his temper on both children and staff.

I travelled with Doris, another teacher from Hemsworth, who was on supply at the same school. We were able to air our grievances as we travelled. When each day we finally arrived back in Hemsworth, we were so tired it was with great effort that we managed to get off the bus and walk home.

I had a sickening experience in my classroom. A little boy named Martin, seven years old, had been absent for a day or two. In came the Headmaster to question the boy. It went something like this-

Head. 鈥淲hy were you away from school?鈥�

Martin 鈥淚 was sick, Sir鈥�

Head. 鈥淲hat made you sick/鈥�

Martin 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, Sir鈥�

The Head slapped Martin on the back quite hard and said, 鈥� Now, what made you sick?鈥�

Martin, very frightened said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, Sir.鈥�

The Head, slapping the boy on the back again, was getting in a rage. He said, 鈥淵our mother would have said what made you sick鈥�. There was another slap.

Martin still said, 鈥� I don鈥檛 know, Sir鈥�. Whereupon the Head stamped out of the room very red in the face. After he was gone there was a deathly silence.

He was venomous to the staff too and tried to catch us out. One particularly bad day in winter, the buses stopped running and so Doris and I stayed at home. The following day, after assembly, the Head announced from the platform, 鈥淲ill all those people who did not attend school yesterday please stand out! 鈥� I don鈥檛 mean those who were poorly or who had no shoes 鈥� I mean those people who looked through the window and decided it was more comfortable by the fire鈥�. My friend and I never moved and so, in front of the whole school, he called us out by name. We explained that there were no U---- buses running. The Head said, 鈥� Well Miss Allen from Hemsworth walked over the fields when there was a bus strike!鈥� I said, 鈥淲ell, I don鈥檛 know my way over the fields so we could not have walked here, especially in the snow鈥�. The Head, by now very angry, said, 鈥淰ery well, I shall inform the Authority and you will both have a day鈥檚 pay stopped鈥�. In the event the pay came as usual, so the Authority must have thought our absence genuine.

These tirades went on from time to time and I felt sure he would collapse, have a heart attack or something drastic. I was really quite afraid of him.

One day, as I was returning home from school quite weary, I met Mr Duckett the Rector who asked me if I would like a job at the R H Gilbert School in Hemsworth where Miss Quayle was headmistress. I jumped at the job and the Rector said that I would be able to start at once. However, being on permanent supply, I felt sure I would have to work one month鈥檚 notice.

As it happened, the Authority would have released me at once but again, the Head at U---- said I should give a month鈥檚 notice. In fairness, I split the month and gave two weeks notice. I was glad to shake the dust of U---- off my feet but only because of the Head. I had some really nice children to deal with.

At last, I was settled at the R H Gilbert School on Holly Bank where, as a child, I had spent many happy hours. Now there was no more travelling by bus or walking in fogs for miles. We had a much more relaxed atmosphere at home too. I had no more early walks in the blackout to catch a bus.

All the staff, including the Headmistress (who also had a class) pulled their weight and we got on well together. I would say that it was one of the happiest staffs I ever had the privilege of working with. Very much later, I worked with another happy staff at Kilnhurst C E School near Rawmarsh.

All through the war years, we carried our gas masks everywhere. The children hung them on the backs of their chairs along with their coats. They were at hand in case of emergency. The air raid shelter was in farmer Jaques鈥檚 field, just over the school fence. We had regular air raid practices but we never heard the siren to warn us of an air raid during school hours. We used to impress the importance of carrying our gas masks at all times.

Classes were very big. The men had been called up and women who left the teaching profession to marry were ordered back into teaching. we had our quota of evacuees to cope with. We were allotted an evacuee teacher too. We were surprised at the way she dressed. One day, she arrived at the school in jodhpurs. We were also surprised at the way our normally well behaved children led her a dance. They got up to all sorts of tricks like breaking pencils or hiding them down their socks.

During this time, we got used to short supplies of materials. We painted, modelled and pasted with newspaper and flour paste. No one ever threw away a newspaper; it was a very useful commodity.

In time of crisis, nobody knew better than the British how to face up to difficulties and refuse to accept failure. We all rallied around and helped each other. We all became very good neighbours. The shortages brought out the best in us.

One of the busiest and most stressful mornings was Monday morning. Apart from daily registration, we took the Yorkshire Penny Bank money. We were all responsible for money collected in our own classrooms. This was sent to the Head for cashing up. We took milk money and kept a milk register. Milk was charged at a half pence per bottle. Some children paid a penny per day for a morning and afternoon bottle. This money was sent to a member of staff to cash up. We took dinner money for the week and this was sent to the Head. We sold National Savings stamps. There were six penny and halfcrown stamps which we stuck on savings cards. Each time a card had a total of fifteen shillings, I had to take it to the Post Office to exchange it for a certificate.

We had special weeks for National Savings when everyone tried to buy as many stamps and certificates as they could afford. One such week was 鈥榃ings For Victory鈥�. There was a competition between the schools in the area and we really sold lots of stamps. I think there was an announcement in front of the Library saying how much all the schools had collected during that week.

These special savings weeks gave us lots of ideas for art and craft. One week, all the windows would be decorated with battleships, another week, with submarines and aeroplanes. The children enjoyed these art lessons.

While all these different activities were going on, on Monday mornings, we still had to keep our classes busy. It was very frustrating when a child presented a ten shilling note to pay for bank, dinner, milk and savings. We had no till with a float of change.

One thing strikes me as I look back. In spite of the shortages in the schools and in the homes, and a lack of males etc., the children who grew up in the war years were very healthy. My daughter who grew up in the war years is now in her fifties. I鈥檓 afraid that although these children thrived on shortages, as parents they were determined to give their children everything they themselves had been deprived of and in the process, their children were spoilt.

Continued in 'Marion Carrington's Story Part 3: Letters 91热爆'.
See also the story 'Our Evacuee'

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.