A Brief Memory Of My School Days At Duncton

A Memory of Duncton.

The first School I ever went to was Duncton Primary, I loved this school. Our Headmaster was Mr Salsbury who we nicknamed Mr Strawberry due to a strawberry shaped wort he had on the back of his head. He was an ex military veteran - or I was later told this - and was quite scary. He gave me the slipper for something i had done and my mum insisted on it and was there on the day. My first teacher was Mrs Radcliffe, she was lovely, every afternoon she would read a story to us. If it was a lovely day, she would take us onto the playing field and read to us there. We would have outings - one I remember was to Chichester Cathedral - the whole school had to dress up as people from history. My mum and my aunt Pat made mine and my sister Claire's costumes, and my cousin Julian's. Eugene, his young brother, insisted on dressing up too even though he was not at our school, but because Mum and Aunt Pat were volunteers on the day, Eugene dressed as a pirate. Julian went as one of The Beatles, Claire went as Nell Gwynn with a huge basket of oranges, which me, Julian, Eugene and other kids nicked lol. I went dressed as Lord Nelson. We had two lovely dinner ladies at school - Mrs Mathews who nicknamed me jilly giles, and Mrs House. We had wonderful school dinners and would walk around the playground with our lovely dinner ladies after lunch. They would tell us stories of when they were at school. I often hear that phrase that your school days are the best days of your life - looking back from the point in my life now, those words are so true. i get an emotional feeling when I think back to those times - of how I could of been kinder to my sisters and family when i was growing up, not been a bad boy and stolen and told lies, of what I could of been, what I could of done, and the places I could of gone. The grass stains and muddy knees have all faded and with them too some of my memories, but I thank god I still have some, I keep them close.

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