Francis Frith

Although I lived in Collis St, Amblecote I went to Brook St, Junior School from 1951 until I went to Audnam Secondary in 1955. I remember it had an infants school attached and the little ones would have a sleep in the afternoon. Mr.Ballinger was our Head until he retired and Mr.Cartwright took over. The other Teachers were Miss Bowater, Mrs. McKlean and her son Alistair was in my class, then there was Mr.Yardley who we all loved and Miss.White who we called 'sally'. I never knew if it was her real name and if it was a nick name it should have been 'tarter'. But I used to enjoy her readings of 'Mowgli'. The toilets were outside and in the cloak rooms there were wash basins and metal cups for us to drink out of. Names of children I remember were Moore, Rich, Gentry, Hotchiss, Collings, Wood, Horton, Crabtree, Bridge, Pargeter, Murray, Price, I was there for the Coronation and we all lined up in Brettell Lane for a parade. There was a shop in Brook St where we used to get sherbert liquorice dips or cocoa powder in small cornet bags for 1p. At school they used to bring round Wagon Wheels for 3p. I never had these as Mom couldn't afford it and perhaps it saved me from not developing a sweet tooth. It was a 15 minute walk from my house and in Winter we loved making slides on the hills. You never see slides anymore. Why? Because the children are all taken to and fro by car. The 19C school was knocked down and I believe a housing association built on it.