Gorse Park Primary School Stretford In The 1950's

A Memory of Stretford.

Now, this is a long shot, but does anybody remember going from Gorse Park Primary School in 1956 or 1957 to do a P.E. demonstration in London? We went by train with MR. FLOOK and stayed one or two nights in a hotel - very exciting for the times! And went on a sightseeing trip around London.
My granddaughter Eva has just joined a gymnastics group at school and the memory of our P.E. trip popped up from nowhere.
Mr. Flook was the Deputy Head, and the name of the headmistress was Miss Horridge. There was Mrs. Caroll who read us 'Wind in the Willows,' at Storytime and we were all fascinated. Miss Greenhalgh, Miss Tate, and Miss Prouse are other teachers I remember. Every afternoon at home time we all stood at our desks and chanted the home time prayer.
'Hands together softly so, little eyes shut tight, Father just before we go, hear our prayers tonight.'
Then a long, drawn-out chorus of arrrrr - men!
I also remember a good few names of my classmates and to think you will all be seventy-five this year is incredible. Of course, it is inevitable that some, (only a few I hope,) will have passed on and I won't print any names for fear of upsetting anybody. What do you think?
It is incredible how long-term memories survive much better than the short term, especially as you grow older.
I was one of the milk monitors, my number one lifetime achievement! and I can still recall some of the orders. One class had forty-eight bottles- one-third of a pint per child. We were all members of the 'baby bulge' after the end of the war and classes were big.
It was also a time of austerity and at the Christmas party, we had to go home and change and come back with a plate with our name stuck on the back and our own cutlery. Parents used to contribute food like jellies and sandwiches, and we made our own decorations, but we never felt deprived.
The 1950s were another, simpler world, and although we had fewer possessions most of us had happy childhoods,
we certainly had more freedom to roam. Rationing continued until the early 1950s and I recall some children calling their Friday night sixpence, [payday for most fathers], their 'sweet ration.'
School dinners were one and nine pence for the week, about 8p, which sounds like nothing, but wages were incredibly low and like a lot of children, I went home at lunchtime. We could tell the time by the midday hooter at Metros in Trafford Park.
My name is Alan McCaffrey and I hope there are still people left who remember life as a child at Gorse Park Primary School. Primary school is a time of innocence for everyone when life is new and real, and I prefer to think of those days than the more turbulent period of senior school and adolescence.
Leave a comment if you can, regardless of your school.
All the best
Alan

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