Education Calling

A Memory of Intake.

It was during the summer of 1944 that my mother recieved notice of my compulsary introduction into the British education system. Much against my will I was dragged kicking and screaming to the Sydney Road Infant School and there I was met by some very hard hearted people who insisted that not only would it be good for me but believe it or not, I would learn to enjoy it. Despite my suspitions, I was told that I had no choice so it was a case of like it or lump it. As time went on and I began to realise that there was no escape, I settled down into the system. This was made easier for me when I became a milk monitor, I always liked milk and if there was a spare bottle, it went down my throat. Education I found is not too bad because we could have little sleeps [all legitimate and above board] on the classroom floor, all the class, not just me, and afterwards for being good we would recieve Horlicks tablets and diluted orange juice and sometimes if we had been especially good we would get a spoonful of black molasses. All these treats were designed to build up our little bodies to counteract the effects of the austerity measures that us children had suffered because of the Second World War. The only teacher that I can remember was the headmistress Miss Sharman who on retirement bought a cottage in the same Yorkshire village in which the television series 'Heartbeat' was filmed.

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