St Mark's School In The 1960s
A Memory of Mitcham.
I too have wonderful memories of going to St Mark's, the teachers I remember are Mr Freemantle, Mrs Carmichael, Miss Holmes, Miss Catherine and Mr Legg. The headmistress at the time was Miss Bowley, who everyone was afraid of but I remember when she left and Mr Weatherley took over. The dinner ladies were lovely, all under the charge of Miss East and yes, the best pudding was butterscotch tart, God, I wish I had the recipe. They also made wonderful gravy, but the stews were yuk with gristly meat!
There was the tiny little library, where I remember being fitted out for my first school uniform, this is also where we had all our medicals, jabs and eye tests done and of course let's not forget Nitty Norah. Mr and Mrs Earwaker (Eriker) lived in the house at the side, by the kitchen, he could be a mean old so and so but they took a shine to me and they bought me a book for Christmas one year. I loved to play netball, and we used to play against other schools and the school to beat at the time was Pelham Road, which I don't think we ever did beat. Mr Freemantle gave me detention one day and said I would have to miss a netball match and kept me in right up till the coach was pulling away and then told me to run and catch it! I also remember the wallop over the hand with the ruler that you got from him and if you ever lent him a pen, you never wanted it back after he had stuck it in his ears!
I must say that I loved it there and had a terrible shock when I went up to Rowan Road High School when I suddenly realised that my childhood had been left behind.
I am looking into the history of The Mitcham May Queen, my daughter was the May Queen in the 1990s, a very proud moment for me, it was a lovely tradition, which I have heard has, sadly, faded away. If anyone has any information, memories of photos, I would love to hear from them my email address is yharris1us@yahoo.com
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Comments & Feedback
Lovely reading these reminiscences of very happy times at this wonderful little primary school which I attended from 1970-1974 after a short time in the adjacent nursery next door. The teachers I remember were Miss Spooner (class 2), Mrs Carmichael (class 3), Miss Holmes (class 4), Mr McEwan (class 5 and also the music teacher) and Mrs Raggerty (class 6).Mr Freemantle ('froggy') was the headmaster when I first started but he then retired and was replaced by Mrs Coles. None of the boys in my year were too happy about this as one of the first thing she did as headmistress was to ban the playing of any ball games in the playground, so being football mad it was very frustrating not being able to play football. We resorted to small soft balls, practice golf balls and even marbles but all were confiscated. Queing in the corridor before morning break to get our small bottle of milk (they were always warm and creamy, horrible) and then at lunchtimes I remember Mrs East and Mrs Goldsmith who used to bang the spoons on the end of the table when she wanted us to all be quiet, I think she then retired but I remember she then used to work at the small sweet kiosk in the entrance to the Majestic cinema, my mum always used to buy me and my sister some sweets from there before her ballet practice class in the church hall after school just a few yards away in St Marks Rd We used to walk home via Baker Lane past St Marks Church where my sister was christened (remember harvest festivals there and sometimes the school choir I was in would also sing there) before cutting up to Beehive Bridge and down to our home along Commonside East. For a treat we sometimes caught the 118 bus from outside Thorpes record shop on Fair Green, think it was 2p after decimalisation. Very happy care free days!
Best Wishes
Max Dawson
I too remember the small library where the check for nits took place. Curiously, I don't recall the school dinners, but I do remember receiving a small bottle of milk every day and blue blankets and gym mats for the rest/sleep period from a teacher called Mrs. Radley. I can only remember the christian names of three of the friends I made there: Stuart, Anthony and Sally, whom I believe all stayed on at the school, whilst I left to go to another primary school.
You mentioned a Miss Catherine and this name sounded vaguely familiar to me, although I could be mistaken. Do you remember her surname? She wasn't American by any chance, was she?
I expect the teachers for the respective schools were two distinct groups, but I suppose there could have been some crossover.
The name Stephen Russell sounds familiar to me. I can remember a Stephen who had an operation at St. Helier's Hospital in 1964 while I was there. (I think he was having his tonsils out). At the time, I attended the nursery school section of St. Mark's and by some astronomical coincidence, so did he(!), but I can't remember his surname for certain.