Norfolk School, Arbourthorne

[Guest wayneybabes]

even me and Stuart who went to the sweet shop with that grumpy old shopkeeper, - I've forgot his name now but the shop carried his name and we used to refer to it by his name.

That would be Pete Drury and his wife Marlene. She once refused to serve me with an eyeball bubblegum because she didnt like the look of them!. The shop was next to the chippy. Always remember they had an 'Arkwrights' cash till

[DaveH]

That would be Pete Drury and his wife Marlene. She once refused to serve me with an eyeball bubblegum because she didnt like the look of them!. The shop was next to the chippy. Always remember they had an 'Arkwrights' cash till

Thanks wayneybabes, the shop was indeed Drury's and you describe it perfectly.

There was an occasion when me and Stuart went in there with our "friend" Frithy who was quite a character even before his conviction for murder.

On this occasion Frithy had "aquired" a £5 note, quite a considerable sum of money for a 14 year old in 1969 and he went down to Drury's with it. I can't remember if he was going to buy £5 worth of penny chews or £5 worth of blackjacks or something else that were 4 for a penny.

Now remember that this was in the days of £-s-d pre decimal money and there were 240 pennies to a pound.

So he was asking for 1200 penny chews, or possibly a staggering 4800 blackjacks.

Even though this would have been Mr. Drury's biggest single sale of the day with quite a bit of profit on it he couldn't be bothered to count them all out and kicked us out of the shop, and every time after that when we went in, even without Frithy, he made some comment about us being "awkward customers" and "messing him about".

There was another occasion when Frithy went to one of the cafes in Castle Market armed with a 1965 Winston Churchill commemorative Crown, a special collectors coin which was technically legal tender (not that anyone would want to spend one, they are collectables) with a face value of one crown (5 old shillings, equivalent to 25p). He tried to buy himself a cup of tea and a sandwich with it but I can't remember what the outcome of this incident was as I wasn't personally present with him.

[Guest wapntake]

Never went to the chippy as I had 2 aunties who worked as cooks in the school canteen but it was legendary about the half loaf with the middle scooped out, most kids did it. We wern't supposed to leave school at lunchtime but most kids did, even me and Stuart who went to the sweet shop with that grumpy old shopkeeper, - I've forgot his name now but the shop carried his name and we used to refer to it by his name.

Wasn't the sweet shop called Hibberts, shelves full of jars full of every different type of sweet a kid could want. I used to have school meals most of the time (the chippy was on a Friday for some reason), i thought school meals were pretty good for that time and i don't remember them being particularly unhealthy, i think we only had chips once a week, i still remember my favourite "Cheese Pie" i loved that and Jelly and Blancmange (cant think how to spell it just remember it as being pink) that was my favourite sweet, If you got in first you got the choice of second first hence why everyone ran to the canteen at lunch, I think the dinnerladies held a lot of respect by the kids, they were at times hard but mostly very friendly and a good laugh as well at times, you had to behave in the queue or you got sent to the back and no chance of seconds (which happened to me on a couple of occasions). I bumped into a an old School friend (he was a year above me) about 20 years ago in the Yorkshireman pub and found out after all those years that his mum was a dinnerlady at the school and recognised her instantly when i met her one Saturday night on our way to the pub, and i still called her Mrs when i addressed her.

[DaveH]

Wasn't the sweet shop called Hibberts, shelves full of jars full of every different type of sweet a kid could want. I used to have school meals most of the time (the chippy was on a Friday for some reason), i thought school meals were pretty good for that time and i don't remember them being particularly unhealthy, i think we only had chips once a week, i still remember my favourite "Cheese Pie" i loved that and Jelly and Blancmange (cant think how to spell it just remember it as being pink) that was my favourite sweet, If you got in first you got the choice of second first hence why everyone ran to the canteen at lunch, I think the dinnerladies held a lot of respect by the kids, they were at times hard but mostly very friendly and a good laugh as well at times, you had to behave in the queue or you got sent to the back and no chance of seconds (which happened to me on a couple of occasions). I bumped into a an old School friend (he was a year above me) about 20 years ago in the Yorkshireman pub and found out after all those years that his mum was a dinnerlady at the school and recognised her instantly when i met her one Saturday night on our way to the pub, and i still called her Mrs when i addressed her.

He did have loads of those old sweet jars as you say Wapentake, but wayneybabes is right, the sweet shop I was thinking of was Drury's

However, elsewhere on this site there is a topic about hibberts, a chain of several shops as it turns out with some in the local vicinity

Take a look at this link

Hibberts

[Guest wapntake]

He did have loads of those old sweet jars as you say Wapentake, but wayneybabes is right, the sweet shop I was thinking of was Drury's

However, elsewhere on this site there is a topic about hibberts, a chain of several shops as it turns out with some in the local vicinity

Take a look at this link

Hibberts

Wayneybabes is correct, Hibberts was on the manor top where the Halifax is now, it's funny i have a very vivid memory of Freds Chippy but a really vague recollection of Drury's sweet shop for some reason. Did the Kentucky Fried Chicken take over one of these shops.

[DaveH]

Wayneybabes is correct, Hibberts was on the manor top where the Halifax is now, it's funny i have a very vivid memory of Freds Chippy but a really vague recollection of Drury's sweet shop for some reason. Did the Kentucky Fried Chicken take over one of these shops.

I don't know about that but I am sure that wayneybabes will.

I suppose KFC must have had a normal shop on City Road front at some time but currently they have a modern, relatively recently built detatched drive through KFC takeawy between the City Road front branch of the Co-Op supermarket (if it still is) and the old petrol station, as was, now a car wash, just up the hill just below the 3 working mens clubs.

[Guest wayneybabes]

The chip shop, if i remember correctly turned into a chinese and then a kfc (though i may be wrong about the chinese, could have been kfc taking over from the chippy). The back yards of these shops were riddled with mice and there was a rumour that someone once bit into a piece of chicken that was actually a mouse!!

Mmmmmmmmm, nice

[DaveH]

The chip shop, if i remember correctly turned into a chinese and then a kfc (though i may be wrong about the chinese, could have been kfc taking over from the chippy). The back yards of these shops were riddled with mice and there was a rumour that someone once bit into a piece of chicken that was actually a mouse!!

Mmmmmmmmm, nice

So is it still a KFC or is it something else?

I would have thought that KFC would have closed their little shop when they built and opened the new place just up the road.

Or they could have rebranded their old shop as KFM, - Kentucky Fried Mouse! lol

[Guest wayneybabes]

:)

It is the pizza shop now that wapntake mentioned.

My dad used to get me two ounces of teddy bears and himself a quarter of midget gems from Drurys. I havent tasted teddy bears as nice since!. The closest nowadays are the haribo ones.

Wasnt it maxons sweets who used to supply Drurys?

[Guest wapntake]

Ther are a lot of old school photos on Friends Reunited of our school and teachers, this is one of a class trip from 1972/3, the teacher in the shot is Mrs White, This is my class and i'm in there as well, i hope the photo works as i've not uploaded one before, how fashions change

.

[Guest wayneybabes]

Ther are a lot of old school photos on Friends Reunited of our school and teachers, this is one of a class trip from 1972/3, the teacher in the shot is Mrs White, This is my class and i'm in there as well, i hope the photo works as i've not uploaded one before, how fashions change

.

i will take a guess that you are the one first or third on the left?

[Guest wapntake]

i will take a guess that you are the one first or third on the left?

Sorry that's not me, the lad first on the left was the brainbox of the class, i first saw this photo on Friends Reunited, i honestly can't remember the trip or the photo being taken for some reason but there i am and we didn't have that many trips back then, the person who posted it said it was a trip to Catterick Army Camp, i must have been 12 or 13 at the time which makes it the first or second year of the senior school. I never liked being in photos then, still don't like it now come to that, I'll give you a clue, i had quite long straggly blonde hair and glasses and was a bit overweight which i was constantly reminded on by certain members of the class, that's why i was no good at sports and hated doing it. i was always the last person to be picked when teams were picked at football, Cricket etc, the only thing i was any good at was swimming, i had all the certificates, self survival and life saving badges by the time i was 12, i swam for the school on a couple of occasions but never one anything though. They don't seem to do PE like we did today, i once went with my partner to pick her daughter up from school and when we arrived the kids were stood in 2 lines throwing a ball to each other, i wasa shocked to find out that was PE as they didin't do any running about in case they slipped and hurt themselves. i once went to school sports day what a farce, non competitive sports, how can that work it was an absolute joke. don't know if this was the same in other schools.

[DaveH]

It is the pizza shop now that wapntake mentioned.

My dad used to get me two ounces of teddy bears and himself a quarter of midget gems from Drurys. I havent tasted teddy bears as nice since!. The closest nowadays are the haribo ones.

Wasnt it maxons sweets who used to supply Drurys?

Maxons or Moxons sounds a familiar name, I reckon you could be right.

[DaveH]

Ther are a lot of old school photos on Friends Reunited of our school and teachers, this is one of a class trip from 1972/3, the teacher in the shot is Mrs White, This is my class and i'm in there as well, i hope the photo works as i've not uploaded one before, how fashions change

.

I think you are wrong about the date of this picture Wapentake.

The photo was originally posted to Friend Reunited in about 2002 by my brother PaulH. He has the original copy of the picture and he also appears in the picture.

It is Mrs Whites class and it was a trip to Catterick but the year is more than likely 1976-7.

It was his class too.

So perhaps you do know my brother then.

[DaveH]

Sorry that's not me, the lad first on the left was the brainbox of the class, i first saw this photo on Friends Reunited, i honestly can't remember the trip or the photo being taken for some reason but there i am and we didn't have that many trips back then, the person who posted it said it was a trip to Catterick Army Camp, i must have been 12 or 13 at the time which makes it the first or second year of the senior school. I never liked being in photos then, still don't like it now come to that, I'll give you a clue, i had quite long straggly blonde hair and glasses and was a bit overweight which i was constantly reminded on by certain members of the class, that's why i was no good at sports and hated doing it. i was always the last person to be picked when teams were picked at football, Cricket etc, the only thing i was any good at was swimming, i had all the certificates, self survival and life saving badges by the time i was 12, i swam for the school on a couple of occasions but never one anything though. They don't seem to do PE like we did today, i once went with my partner to pick her daughter up from school and when we arrived the kids were stood in 2 lines throwing a ball to each other, i wasa shocked to find out that was PE as they didin't do any running about in case they slipped and hurt themselves. i once went to school sports day what a farce, non competitive sports, how can that work it was an absolute joke. don't know if this was the same in other schools.

OK, I do know the lad on the extreme left but his name evades me at the moment. (My brother will know, he was a friend of his)

My brother Paul is the left hand one of the 2 really tall kids at the centre of the back row.

The kid 3 in from the left with long hair but turned sideways and his face hidden is Dave McKendry

The kid towards the right between the 2 women with his arm around one of them is Nigel Morris.

I am sure my brother will know most of the others if I was to ask.

[DaveH]

OK, I do know the lad on the extreme left but his name evades me at the moment. (My brother will know, he was a friend of his)

My brother Paul is the left hand one of the 2 really tall kids at the centre of the back row.

The kid 3 in from the left with long hair but turned sideways and his face hidden is Dave McKendry

The kid towards the right between the 2 women with his arm around one of them is Nigel Morris.

I am sure my brother will know most of the others if I was to ask.

The people I have named in the previous post are the stars of some of my 8mm film home movies which have been posted on this site here for anyone to watch

DaveH home movies

My brother Paul and Dave McKendry star in "Dr. Dave & Mr. Big", Dave McKendry plays the monster.

The other kid in it was someone my brother called "wigger", It wasn't you was it?

In my brothers own film made a few years later, "Joy Rider" his other friend Nigel Morris plays the part of the incompetent motorbike thief.

Their girlfriends play the other biker roles.

My brother filmed it and only appeared to ride the motorbike (his bike) made up to look like a female biker as one of the girls.

If you were in their form, and given the age of these films (1976 and 1981) you should recognise them.

Enjoy!

[Guest wapntake]

I think you are wrong about the date of this picture Wapentake.

The photo was originally posted to Friend Reunited in about 2002 by my brother PaulH. He has the original copy of the picture and he also appears in the picture.

It is Mrs Whites class and it was a trip to Catterick but the year is more than likely 1976-7.

It was his class too.

So perhaps you do know my brother then.

Yes i do know your brother, we knocked about together for a number of years with Dave McHendry, The lad on the left is Andrew Fletcher who married a woman who he worked with in the library who was about 30 years older that him, I did meet you once i think when i came to your house to call for Paul, i don't think i have seen him since we left school, I knocked about with Dave up to about 16 years ago, as it happens i have just been tagged by Paul in the very same photo on Friends Reunited, If you see Paul tell him Gary says Hello, I am the kid with blonde hair on the right of the photo. as i said i can't remember the trip or the photo being taken, I never sent any e-mails to anyone on that site as you had to pay membership to do so. Sharing all these memories has brought back a lot of emotions for me, i began to wonder about some of my old friends from school, If Paul would like to get in touch let me know,

[DaveH]

Yes i do know your brother, we knocked about together for a number of years with Dave McHendry, The lad on the left is Andrew Fletcher who married a woman who he worked with in the library who was about 30 years older that him, I did meet you once i think when i came to your house to call for Paul, i don't think i have seen him since we left school, I knocked about with Dave up to about 16 years ago, as it happens i have just been tagged by Paul in the very same photo on Friends Reunited, If you see Paul tell him Gary says Hello, I am the kid with blonde hair on the right of the photo. as i said i can't remember the trip or the photo being taken, I never sent any e-mails to anyone on that site as you had to pay membership to do so. Sharing all these memories has brought back a lot of emotions for me, i began to wonder about some of my old friends from school, If Paul would like to get in touch let me know,

Yes that lad was Andrew Fletcher, he learnt to drive soon after leaving school and drove around in an old, large VW car.

Nigel Morris went to live in Kent at Ashford where he trained to be a long distance lorry driver and I have not heard much about him since.

We also lost touch with Dave Mac until about 10 years ago until Paul contacted him via the Internet and they did a sort of "reunion" of their school days. They set up their own, short lived, website called MacPiggy, a name which at school they gave to their output of characture cartoon artwork. They did loads of cartoons and could characature all the teachers and most of the kids they knew and so did cartoon of them putting them in outrageous situations and settings, with word balloons of their personal mannerisms (e.g. Man Everatt calling someone a "cocky 'Erbert!). It didn't get much response from other ex Norfolk kids in their year and was "reclaimed" by the ISP providing their webspace so that they could sell it on rather than let them use it for free. Since then I think we have lost touch with Dave Mac again. He did try to contact him last year when the BBC were about to show "Dr. Dave & Mr. Big" on TV but I don't think he managed to.

I don't see my brother very much these days even though we live fairly locally, we both have very busy lives of our own. However, next time I see him I will try to remember to remind him about Gary and the details of his Norfolk School Caterick visit photo.

[Guest wapntake]

Yes that lad was Andrew Fletcher, he learnt to drive soon after leaving school and drove around in an old, large VW car.

Nigel Morris went to live in Kent at Ashford where he trained to be a long distance lorry driver and I have not heard much about him since.

We also lost touch with Dave Mac until about 10 years ago until Paul contacted him via the Internet and they did a sort of "reunion" of their school days. They set up their own, short lived, website called MacPiggy, a name which at school they gave to their output of characture cartoon artwork. They did loads of cartoons and could characature all the teachers and most of the kids they knew and so did cartoon of them putting them in outrageous situations and settings, with word balloons of their personal mannerisms (e.g. Man Everatt calling someone a "cocky 'Erbert!). It didn't get much response from other ex Norfolk kids in their year and was "reclaimed" by the ISP providing their webspace so that they could sell it on rather than let them use it for free. Since then I think we have lost touch with Dave Mac again. He did try to contact him last year when the BBC were about to show "Dr. Dave & Mr. Big" on TV but I don't think he managed to.

I don't see my brother very much these days even though we live fairly locally, we both have very busy lives of our own. However, next time I see him I will try to remember to remind him about Gary and the details of his Norfolk School Caterick visit photo.

I knocked around with Mac from leaving school up to about 1994, we used to go out twice a week Tuesday and Friday, then i went to work away for 6 months down in Essex and we haven't been out since, he has since split from his wife and moved in with someone else, I have just found out that you can now send messages for free on Friends Reunited so i have sent him a message. I don't think i have seen many of my fellow classmates since leaving, i met Andrew Fletcher and his wife about four or five years ago. I remember the "Macpiggy" stuff, it was ahead of it's time. I have enjoyed reminiscing and now my memory is activated again i'll keep posting when something comes to mind, i will leave with a question, when was the cane abolished in schools, was it a deterrent and would it work today.

[DaveH]

I will leave with a question, when was the cane abolished in schools, was it a deterrent and would it work today.

I think the date of abolision of the cane may have varied from one local Education Authority to another, as did the rules for administering it, - eg, only certain teachers to administer it, a number of witnesses required and a record kept in a "punishment book"

However, there must have been a date when caning was considered to be "physical assult" rather than punishment and so as such was a criminal offence and so would have been stopped by Central Government.

I think this date may have been in 1982

I started teaching in 1978 and at that time the rule in my Education Authority (Derbyshire) was that you had to be teaching for 4 years before being allowed to cane students. I seem to remember that just as I became eligible to administer the cane its use was abolished in all Derbyshire schools (and possibly Nationally at the same time), so I never got to use it.

Was it a deterrent? Well when I was at Norfolk I think it was. But as a teacher I have never had the authority to cane anyone but we have still managed to maintain discipline, teach kids and get them through qualifications. I certainly haven't missed not being able to cane and have never really seen the need to or wished I could.

So to your last question, would it work today? I don't think it would. Times have changed and things have moved on. It is no longer seen as an appropriate punishment for even serious indiscipline just like hanging criminals even for the most serious of crimes is considered acceptable any more. There are other ways of dealing with problems these days, some would see them as "soft options" and they don't always work, - just as the cane didn't. However, there is more than one way to skin a cat and you don't always need a sledgehammer to crack open a nut. We are after all trying to guide young people and educate them into becoming resposible law abiding young adults when they leave school and we are hardly likely to do that by thrashing them with a stick every time they make a mistake or step out of line. Doesn't caning send out the wrong message that violence is the answer to any disagreement and that the biggest thug is always right? Not exactly what you would want to be teaching young people is it?

[Guest wapntake]

I think the date of abolision of the cane may have varied from one local Education Authority to another, as did the rules for administering it, - eg, only certain teachers to administer it, a number of witnesses required and a record kept in a "punishment book"

However, there must have been a date when caning was considered to be "physical assult" rather than punishment and so as such was a criminal offence and so would have been stopped by Central Government.

I think this date may have been in 1982

I started teaching in 1978 and at that time the rule in my Education Authority (Derbyshire) was that you had to be teaching for 4 years before being allowed to cane students. I seem to remember that just as I became eligible to administer the cane its use was abolished in all Derbyshire schools (and possibly Nationally at the same time), so I never got to use it.

Was it a deterrent? Well when I was at Norfolk I think it was. But as a teacher I have never had the authority to cane anyone but we have still managed to maintain discipline, teach kids and get them through qualifications. I certainly haven't missed not being able to cane and have never really seen the need to or wished I could.

So to your last question, would it work today? I don't think it would. Times have changed and things have moved on. It is no longer seen as an appropriate punishment for even serious indiscipline just like hanging criminals even for the most serious of crimes is considered acceptable any more. There are other ways of dealing with problems these days, some would see them as "soft options" and they don't always work, - just as the cane didn't. However, there is more than one way to skin a cat and you don't always need a sledgehammer to crack open a nut. We are after all trying to guide young people and educate them into becoming resposible law abiding young adults when they leave school and we are hardly likely to do that by thrashing them with a stick every time they make a mistake or step out of line. Doesn't caning send out the wrong message that violence is the answer to any disagreement and that the biggest thug is always right? Not exactly what you would want to be teaching young people is it?

I think you have put up a really good explanation of why it wouldn't work today, i have never heard it from the perspective of a teacher before, I think it worked for some and not others in my day, i had it only once and made sure it never happened again but there were the same kids outside the headmasters office time after time so obviously it didn't make any difference to them so maybe another approach may have worked., I don't remember a girl ever getting caned, i think each teacher had his own version of punishment, a ruler on the back of the hand, a large slipper (i think that was the games teacher), my french teacher stood at the back with a large book and if he saw you talking hit you on the back of the head with it. I don't think i saw Mr (Man) Dickson ever hit anyone, for some reason everyone was terrified of him and all behaved in his class. I think the favourite was the chalk and blackboard rubber which i have mentioned before. I think that sometimes the punishment dished out by some of the teachers was harsh, unfair and sometimes not deserved, i think it reached the point where physical punishment was being dished out far to to many trivial things, and it looked like the odd teacher actually enjoyed causing physical harm to some of the pupils. I don't think the kids went home and told their parents then for fear of making it worse.

[DaveH]

I think you have put up a really good explanation of why it wouldn't work today, i have never heard it from the perspective of a teacher before, I think it worked for some and not others in my day, i had it only once and made sure it never happened again but there were the same kids outside the headmasters office time after time so obviously it didn't make any difference to them so maybe another approach may have worked., I don't remember a girl ever getting caned, i think each teacher had his own version of punishment, a ruler on the back of the hand, a large slipper (i think that was the games teacher), my french teacher stood at the back with a large book and if he saw you talking hit you on the back of the head with it. I don't think i saw Mr (Man) Dickson ever hit anyone, for some reason everyone was terrified of him and all behaved in his class. I think the favourite was the chalk and blackboard rubber which i have mentioned before. I think that sometimes the punishment dished out by some of the teachers was harsh, unfair and sometimes not deserved, i think it reached the point where physical punishment was being dished out far to to many trivial things, and it looked like the odd teacher actually enjoyed causing physical harm to some of the pupils. I don't think the kids went home and told their parents then for fear of making it worse.

Yes it was always the same kids outside the headmasters office for the cane just like in the grown up world its always the same known repeat offenders and career criminals being picked up by the Police, standing in the dock before the same Judges and Lawyers and ending up back in the same prisons. (Now if that isn't a point in favour of bringing back hanging I don't know what is, - the good thing about the death penalty was that you didn't get repeat offenders, it was based on the simple logic that "dead men don't commit crimes")

Girls did not get caned and at Norfolk they were dealt with by the Senior Mistress, Lass Moore (She has featured along with my photo of her in early posts in this topic) and most girld were terrified of her. The girls were "hit" as a punishment (with a slipper I think) but it would be considered unacceptable even then for a male teacher to strike a girl.

The large slipper was used by games teachers (plimsol type gym shoes were easy to come by I suppose) but was most famously used by Man "woodwork" Smith. He had an extra large one, size 13+ on which the sole had become partially detached and flapped about so that when he cracked you with it the sole belted you first, followed a fraction of a second later by the upper, giving you a very quick "double whack", a bit like those things that jockeys use on horses to make them run faster.

You never saw Man Dixon hit anyone!!!!

You are joking...he was vicious if you got on the wrong side of him.

It was usually the ruler or the back of the hand, - but he did have a cane as well for "Serious offences"

Stuart once got a backhander from him because he didn't like the fact that he hadn't written on that wide line at the top of the page and so had "wasted paper"

He once caned Frithy because we had dared him to swear at him when he asked him why he hadn't done his homework, and Frithy was not one to turn down a dare.

He once went mad with over half the class for not doing their homework, - an 8 side essay on the history of Trade Unionism in Britain, 1745 to 1945.

Then if you were caught out not doing the "routine homework", copying notes from rough book to best book, then you were in trouble as well.

In my day, the late 60's early 70's growing sideburns down in front of your ear was a fashionable style. Several teachers that were known "hard cases" developed the habit (allegedly from Man Whitham) of picking you up off the ground by this piece of facial hair. Man Cooke and Man Piercy, along with Man Whitham, were masters of this.

Now me and Stuart once got the cane off Pop Ward. We were lining up to go into his maths lesson and were at the back of the queue. The bell rang, he started letting kids in while stood at the doorway. The bell stopped ringing and his arm came down to block the doorway, - right in front of me and Stuart. "You 2 are late, the bell has stopped ringing and you are not in class, I will have to cane you", - and he did. How UNFAIR was that!!!!

[SteveHB]

Maxons or Moxons sounds a familiar name, I reckon you could be right.

SH link ... Maxons

[Guest wapntake]

Yes it was always the same kids outside the headmasters office for the cane just like in the grown up world its always the same known repeat offenders and career criminals being picked up by the Police, standing in the dock before the same Judges and Lawyers and ending up back in the same prisons. (Now if that isn't a point in favour of bringing back hanging I don't know what is, - the good thing about the death penalty was that you didn't get repeat offenders, it was based on the simple logic that "dead men don't commit crimes")

Girls did not get caned and at Norfolk they were dealt with by the Senior Mistress, Lass Moore (She has featured along with my photo of her in early posts in this topic) and most girld were terrified of her. The girls were "hit" as a punishment (with a slipper I think) but it would be considered unacceptable even then for a male teacher to strike a girl.

The large slipper was used by games teachers (plimsol type gym shoes were easy to come by I suppose) but was most famously used by Man "woodwork" Smith. He had an extra large one, size 13+ on which the sole had become partially detached and flapped about so that when he cracked you with it the sole belted you first, followed a fraction of a second later by the upper, giving you a very quick "double whack", a bit like those things that jockeys use on horses to make them run faster.

You never saw Man Dixon hit anyone!!!!

You are joking...he was vicious if you got on the wrong side of him.

It was usually the ruler or the back of the hand, - but he did have a cane as well for "Serious offences"

Stuart once got a backhander from him because he didn't like the fact that he hadn't written on that wide line at the top of the page and so had "wasted paper"

He once caned Frithy because we had dared him to swear at him when he asked him why he hadn't done his homework, and Frithy was not one to turn down a dare.

He once went mad with over half the class for not doing their homework, - an 8 side essay on the history of Trade Unionism in Britain, 1745 to 1945.

Then if you were caught out not doing the "routine homework", copying notes from rough book to best book, then you were in trouble as well.

In my day, the late 60's early 70's growing sideburns down in front of your ear was a fashionable style. Several teachers that were known "hard cases" developed the habit (allegedly from Man Whitham) of picking you up off the ground by this piece of facial hair. Man Cooke and Man Piercy, along with Man Whitham, were masters of this.

Now me and Stuart once got the cane off Pop Ward. We were lining up to go into his maths lesson and were at the back of the queue. The bell rang, he started letting kids in while stood at the doorway. The bell stopped ringing and his arm came down to block the doorway, - right in front of me and Stuart. "You 2 are late, the bell has stopped ringing and you are not in class, I will have to cane you", - and he did. How UNFAIR was that!!!!

I have some vague memories of school and some very vivid ones, i honestly can't remember Man Dickson hitting anyone, but i can remember things like in metalwork making a chess set, a paint scraper and a candle holder all standard stuff for the time i think, I remember some kids making the steam engine i never did this but can't think what i did instead, i remember making a pencil case and a stool in woodwork with a raffia twine for the seat, i think my parents still have it but has been re-covered since. and sometimes you would go to the claokroom after school to get your coat and some clever so and so had been swapping the coats onto different hangers and it was chaos with kids looking for their coats (or was that the middle school), i remember one winter (a good six or seven inches of snow) in the middle school a friend and i decided it would be a good idea to stick snow into the large storage heaters in the canteen hallway which caused chaos when the heaters started steaming and everyone thought they were on fire, thought we'd got away with it until the headmaster read both our names out in assembly next morning for an appointment with him, we got severely punished that day i can tell you (never told my mum as i would have got done twice), i think it was my last year at junior school. Didn't Paul and mac come up from Manor Lane school. It was mac that started me drinking and smoking, we once went on a trip to london with school when we were 15 and in our free time we went to a pub and he introduced me to a thing called beer. i spent my 16th birthday with him in Faces nightclub where i got really drunk and he gave me a cigar which started me moking, only gave up about 14 years ago, we used to have parties at mac's girlfriend Karen's house at Herdings when her parents went away, we got Party fours and party eights cans from the Cutlers Pub beer off. mac got them as he looked the oldest.

[Guest wayneybabes]

I have some vague memories of school and some very vivid ones, i honestly can't remember Man Dickson hitting anyone, but i can remember things like in metalwork making a chess set, a paint scraper and a candle holder all standard stuff for the time i think, I remember some kids making the steam engine i never did this but can't think what i did instead, i remember making a pencil case and a stool in woodwork with a raffia twine for the seat, i think my parents still have it but has been re-covered since. and sometimes you would go to the claokroom after school to get your coat and some clever so and so had been swapping the coats onto different hangers and it was chaos with kids looking for their coats (or was that the middle school), i remember one winter (a good six or seven inches of snow) in the middle school a friend and i decided it would be a good idea to stick snow into the large storage heaters in the canteen hallway which caused chaos when the heaters started steaming and everyone thought they were on fire, thought we'd got away with it until the headmaster read both our names out in assembly next morning for an appointment with him, we got severely punished that day i can tell you (never told my mum as i would have got done twice), i think it was my last year at junior school. Didn't Paul and mac come up from Manor Lane school. It was mac that started me drinking and smoking, we once went on a trip to london with school when we were 15 and in our free time we went to a pub and he introduced me to a thing called beer. i spent my 16th birthday with him in Faces nightclub where i got really drunk and he gave me a cigar which started me moking, only gave up about 14 years ago, we used to have parties at mac's girlfriend Karen's house at Herdings when her parents went away, we got Party fours and party eights cans from the Cutlers Pub beer off. mac got them as he looked the oldest.

How did the headmasters get to find these things out?. It wasnt as if they had CCTV or anything!!!. I suspect an inside informant!!.