Purbrook Primary In The 1950's

A Memory of Purbrook.

I attended this school from about 1952 through 1956 completing my 11 Plus before moving on to Cowplain Boys School. We lived in Potwell, where my father was Chauffeur Gardener for the Dr. Eden family in (the amazing to me) Potwell House. We lived in a rather primitive tithe cottage that has since been demolished. The Ware family of Pigeon House Farm drove us to school in their Austin Seven (I think) that was already an old car in the '50's. I remember starting in Miss Boag's class and moving on to Mrs Vincent's class and finally into I believe it was Headmistress Mrs Lawson's class. The headmistress' job came with an apartment in the school. In my teens our family was lucky to secure a council house in the vicinity where my sister and husband still live. My first job was delivering papers on the Potwell route for Mr. Nuttall (10 shillings a week). I emigrated to Canada in 1969 and live in retirement with my family in British Columbia. Along with the basic academic skills, Purbrook Primary taught me to basket-weave and knit - and we tried in vain (but not too hard) to learn the catechism.