More Corwen Memories

A Memory of Corwen.

It was abuot 1950, and we were having what we called PT lessons, the infants teacher Miss Olwen Davies had us playing 'What's the time, Mr Wolf?, culminating with 'Miss' (the wolf) turning and chasing us, shouting "Dinner time!", and us running off shrieking with delight!

In winter, there were at Corwen Primary School large open fireplaces, one to each classroom, with large brass and wire mesh fireguards that, if very cold, a table (usually four to a table) of children would be called out in turn to warm at, leaning on the guard drinking milk, or in my case the orange juice issued to us kids post-war.

The one lesson I hated was dancing to the school radio with someone we called out "Bore da, Miss Bassett" to, and I, as I'm sure others did, believed she could hear us as she returned the greeting! (Teacher's trick?) Oh, we boys disliked having to pick a girl as a dance partner! Well, it was cissy, wasn't it!

Well, lunchtime came, I looked forward to school dinners, except for the meat that my friends would gladly take off my hands, especially if the headmaster 'Daddy' Davies wasn't looking! It wasn't chips with everything then - I don't ever recall chips on the menu - but we did have roast potatoes, on Tuesdays, if I call recall rightly. In fact, there was no menu, all had the same, take it or leave it, and the latter choice was frowned upon - "Think of hungry children in Germany, be glad of that!".

Well, soon it was promotion to Standard One - and Miss Lloyd (Hannah Lloyd, no longer with us) who lived to a great age, and had taught our parents in the same room, one we called the Board Room. By then, Mr M O Griffiths was a new headmaster - much stricter than Mr Davies, to my mind. His loud voice frightened me, as the sight of him carrying a cane about school would late. Well, one day, a school doctor came, and Bryn Davies - a bigger boy - assured me all would be well (but hadn't there been a rumour we were all inline fo a 'pgyn' (innoculation)? I felt hot inside, and my fear heightened when 'Doc' lowered a piece of wood on some contraption onto my head! Mr John Gruffudd-Jones said in Welsh "Silly boy! He only wants to check your height!".

One day Miss Lloyd sent me to the east gable of the school to look out what she called "Plates with dates on", so off I went, mystified. The only plates I had seen were in the school canteen! There were certainly no plates on the wall here, and almost tearfully I returned to Standard One to say so. To the laughter of the other children, she explained the little ,misunderstanding! Very often, if there was cause for laughter in the classroom, the stern face of the 'Head' would appear in the circular glass 'peepholes' in the classroom door - if the rumpus continued, in he would come with a deafening silence - "Get on with your work" - and do you know, quiet as mice, we obeyed, as any other way could mean a 'stinger' on the ear!

Soon I will tell you about 1953 - in Standard Two!

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