St. Mark's School

by Joyce Powell (nee Beesley) 

It was a pretty school with two large gates, one for the boys and one for the girls, and the boys had their own playground and the girls had the same.

Mrs Roberts was the Headmistress, and each morning we would assemble into our large hall for morning prayers, all children together. After prayers we would then go to our classrooms for the register to be called. Monday and Friday morning were church days to St. Mark's Church. All the school went those two days a week, as St. Mark's was a High Church. 

From church we would all walk very smart back to school. Boys one side of the road and girls on the other, we hada very large cross on top of the school, which made it more pretty.

Then on Monday morning from church was milk morning, when two girls and two boys would go around to each classroom to collect the empty bottles, and take the crates of empties outside in the playground ready for the milk man. On Tuesday and the rest of the week the same procedure. That cost 2 pennies and a half penny, plus a biscuit. On Friday morning after church was bank morning, and if you had a penny or two it went into your bank book.

It was only a small school, roughly 150 children, including the Juniors we had about eight small classrooms, that included the cloakroom, and the room for reading.Two sets of toilets, one in each playground, with four toilets in each.

We had one teacher who caned you if you were naughty, that's if the boys were found in the girl's playground or vice versa, not many girls were caught in the boy's playground though.

Reproduced with kind permission of the Hillfields History Group. This story was first published in a publication by the group called Hillfields in their Own Words, volume 5, Looking Back at School days.

This page was last updated 24/05/06

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This page was last updated 24/05/06