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Early Days-A Boy goes to School in Swalwell.
I was born on March 25th 1940, which was Easter-time and 6 months into World War 2, in the village of Swalwell, which was then in the county of Durham. I started Infant School after the Easter Holiday in April 1945. The war in Europe was still going on. It ended in May 1945 but the war in the Far-East lasted until the end of August.
I, like most children, thought that being sent to school was some sort of punishment, devised by adults to keep children in their place. The same idea as whatever all children seemed to ask for was met with the reply "No, you can't have it, there's a war on". (Much like the politicians of today promising "Jam and Good Things Tomorrow", but no way now.)
Most of the children starting school were examined by a School Doctor and a "Dickie" Nurse. Most were suffering some health problems because of poor diet during the war years eg. no fruit, too plain a diet with not enough starch or protein and not enough food. I had a dry, scurvy skin with body spots and was under-weight, so was given a special allocation of Virol (malt) and concentrated orange juice for Vitamin C (normally only for babies). I was 8 or 9 years old before I knew what a banana was or chocolate. I thought only boiled sweets were made. They, and everything else, were obtained via a "Ration Book" if available. Rationing remained in force for some things until 1954, the year after the Queen's Coronation.
Children started school straight after their 5th birthday (no nursery schools then). There were 38 boys and girls in my class. We were given a pottery beaker of milk each morning at 10.45 am and sometimes, special treats of pieces of cheese or Horlick's tablets. Once we were sent a crate of red apples, a present from the children of Canada. We got 2 apples each, what a treat!
The toilets were outside in the school yard. They often froze up in the winter, so we were sent home. There seemed to be a lot of snow in those days.
When the war ended, we all paraded in the school-yard, along with the Senior School, to sing "Land of Hope and Glory" and "God Save the King".
There were always plenty of textbooks, crayons, pencils, etc for all the children. The desks were doubles, so two had to sit together. This could cause a problem if no-one wanted to sit beside you. The teachers, all women, were held in awe. They were kind, but firm, and the Head Mistress had a cane, which she used if necessary. We had to collect Rose Hips in the Autumn time, with the help of our parents, to be used for the making of Rose Hip Syrup, which was rich in Vitamin C. We kept daily records, on the classroom wall, of each day's weather, by means of symbols of the sun, rain etc. We had large wall maps of the World, with lots of countries in Red. This, we were told, was the British Empire, owned by us. (Within 10 years, most had demanded and got independence.)
Early days at school were mainly pleasant, even with war rationing, and most children got on with each other.