Going To School

A Memory of Duncton.

I very fond memories of my early school days as a child in the 1970s,the local first school,which i believe is still there,had only two teachers that i can remember,which was miss radcliff,and headmaster mr salsbury.We had wonderful school dinners,cooked on site,and two wonderful dinnerladies,mrs house and mrs mathews,who gave me a nickname of jilly-giles,where this came from i do not know.I remember two school classmates,graham hull who lived in duncton,and emma now forgive me the spelling of her surname,klinkscale,i have often wondered whatever became of these two,and wonder if wherever they are,they think back too those far off days,of crunchy chocolate pudding coated in chocolate custard,poured from the coloured jugs we had at school,or perhaps all of us sitting on a summers day in class,with the blinds drawn down,all counting the white clock counter on the tv screen,before it unleashed a programme for schools,such as STOP,LOOK,AND LISTEN or LOOK AND READ,or staring out of the class window at the hump,which was a huge grassy hill outside mr salsburys classroom.The other was the swimming pool,which was enclosed by a wooden fence,but you could smell the clorine,and my favourite time,christmas,going to school for the last day before the festive holiday,our nativity play,and the snow outside,as a child i cant remember it ever not snowing at christmas,the local vicar mr dagger giving us a warm wish before we went home,hot mince pies and sweets,rushing to our buses,clutching the many drawings,paintings and crafts we had done that year,hoping not to drop one single item in the snow,it never amazes me how many memories i have,which is good for a man who has had several strokes,and also has brittle bones desease,i have had to adapt my life,yet would give anything to spend just one day back in time,to sit on the school field and have mrs mathews read us a story,or to be able to just go back as we are today,and sit on that huge grassy hump,myself and graham and emma,and the rest of our class,its not nice getting older,noone warned us how much it would change,you see whatever age we are now,and wherever in the world we all are,there is a tiny school,thats nestles deep below duncton hill,just past the cricketers pub,that im sure if you listen carefully,is still haunted by the childhood voices of the past,happy go lucky children,who im afraid had to grow up and move on.

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