My Time At Salfords School

A Memory of Salfords.

I started at Salfords school when I was about five around 1935. My first teacher was Miss Licence. Later I had Miss Kick and Miss Ferguson. There were no male teachers. The headmistress was Miss Atherton who had an Austin 7. My father would often take off her very deliberate hand signals.

Before the war I remember there was a glow in the sky one night which my Dad, Cyril Hutchings, told me was Crystal Palace burning down.

I was rather chatty in class and one of the punishments I was given was to be told to sit next to a lad who was known to be smelly! Can you imagine that! What must he have thought?

I also sat next to Betty Springer. She was dark and very pretty but very conscious of being Jewish. I told her not to worry as I might be Jewish too! She was a good friend.

I lived in Siwah, Woodside Way, near to the school, where the Vance brothers, Hughie and Bunny (Cyril), lived as well. Also in our 'gang' was Colin Oatridge, who often swore followed by 'God forgive me'. I thought we were destined for each other but he got a job as an undertaker and it put me off a bit. I also fell in love with Gordon Stevens. His father was a dustman but he had lovely wavy reddish hair.

We used to go bird nesting in Pettridge Woods. We would blow the eggs and also collect bird skeletons. Colin Oatridge had a tent of which we were all envious so we were very happy to play in with him when we got the chance.

When the war was imminent we had air-raid drills. We all had to shelter under desks. They also had a surface shelter in the play ground. However, when the war actually started we often had lessons in the Parish Hall because it was considered safer than the school itself.

Many evacuees came from London and shared the school. For a period we attended in shifts and only went to school in the morning or afternoon.

When invasion seemed imminent we expected German paratroopers would be landing. At school we were told that when they asked the way to London (it seemed to be presumed that this would be the only question they would ask!) we were to answer, "I cannot say."  We should not say, "I don't know," as that would be a lie. It might all seem ridiculous now but at the time we really thought that an invasion was very likely.

One day during the Battle of Britain I was going across the common with my mother, Mary Hutchings, when some German bombers were intercepted by some Spitfires. In the dogfight some of the bullets came down near us and my mother threw us down in a ditch and hid me under her arm. I distinctly remember her praying out loud. Most unlike my Mum, but it worked!

My father built an air raid shelter in the back garden with reinforced concrete. He had served in the First World War so knew the power of explosives but comforted us by saying, "We'll be safe in here. Only a direct hit can get us now." He worked at Hall & Co. where later in the war they serviced tanks. Sometimes he had to take his turn on fire watching duty.

At the bottom of our garden was a farm which was run by Farmer Ginger. Sometimes the sheep came through the hedge into our garden and trampled everything, so my Dad put up extra fencing.

He also kept two allotments so we never went short of vegetables but I did miss sweets which were on very short ration. When rationing started my Mum said, "You can either have sugar in your tea but no jam, or jam and no sugar in your tea." So Dad and I said we would give up the sugar in our tea so we could continue to enjoy Mum's jam, especially blackberry and apple jelly.

Because of the war, in common with many others, we had to take lodgers. Some of them were workers from Monotype others were in service in Hapstead Hall, Ardingly. But we all socialised playing cards and listening to the radio. I liked the extra company.

The war was sometimes a very frightening time for a child and the adults too, I am sure, but there was a great sense of camaraderie and there was often fun too like singing and playing games in our air-raid shelter.