160 Devon Street

A Memory of Nechells.

We moved to 160 Devon Street in 1957 which is the top end, over the road from the outdoor. As we were a black family people didn't have much to do with us. I went to Bloomsbury Sec. Modern where the head was Mrs Hinchliffe. My teacher was Miss Clift, other teachers were Miss Pratt, who lived in Sutton Coldfield and Miss Hastilow - can't remember the other names. I hated school as being the only black pupil, the kids called me horrible names. There were only 2 kids that wanted to sit by me in class, one of them lived in one of the houses facing the school that backs onto the railway line. I wish I could meet up with this girl just to say thank you for being my only friend. They called me Essie, as in Esmilda (surname Henry). Our neighbour was an english lady called Mrs Allan, her husband's name was Alf and they had one son called David. They were the best neighbours anybody could ask for. I am now a cancer nurse and I work in the community doing a worthwhile job and whilst I never forget being at school, I treat people as an individual and not because of their colour.