A Sharp Reminder Of My Schooldays

A Memory of Uttoxeter.

Saturday, 20 February 2010
A sharp reminder of my schooldays.

I attended Bradley Street, Church of England Primary and Junior school, Uttoxeter. Some teachers, remain in your memory, others disappear. I remember in particular Miss Kingshott, a tall, a dark,angular lady. Her teaching was always forceful, her discipline strong. I remember her telling us of a visit to Oberamagau and the Passion play. I do not think I thought of her again. After the Royal Marines, I became a police constable in the Staffordshire Constabulary, later to be the Staffordshire County Police, I was stationed in Willenhall Division at Tettenhall Station. Bill Ford from Uttoxeter was on my shift. In 1951 I became the second man at Compton sub-section, which comprised the villages and hamlets of Tettenhall Wood, Compton, Finchfield, Trescott and Wightwick. Very little supervision, only means of communication was a Police Pillar at Tettenhall Wood Cross Roads. In 1952, about April time, we changed from flat caps to helmets, and on my helmet's first outing I was in School Road, when a shrill voice behind me said, "John Mellor". I turned and said, "Yes, Miss". Automatic reaction. It was Miss Kingshott, a little older, but still very much with it. She explained she was staying with her sister, in School Road, I gathered, but did not previously know that Miss Kingshott was a native of Tettenhall Wood, although she lived in Uttoxeter for years. I left a year later. I never saw Miss Kingsott again. Pity.