Memories of Childhood
by John Appleby

~ 23 ~

And now I was five, and so, came the day I started school. This was the year of the 1926 general strike, more of which later. The school was near to the next block of Melrose Terrace, not far to walk. It consisted of two classrooms housed in a tall pinewood hut with lots of windows. It faced north and south, and separating the two classrooms was an entrance where we hung our coats, and used the toilets and washbasins. There were two teachers, their names were Miss Wright and Miss Pike, and to these good ladies, we boys and girls were handed by our parents on our first day.

The schoolhouse was a primary annex of the older brick school, the one Winnie attended, and about a hundred meters down the street. The little girls wore pinafores over their dresses to protect them from chalk dust. I suppose the boys just got dirty! The girls also carried little woollen knitted pouches on multi-coloured strings which they knitted on a bobbin studded with nails. I believe it is called French knitting. This was perhaps their first hand bag, and contained their handkerchiefs. The boys wore the customary grey shorts, shirts and jerseys and knee-length socks.

We all had to take a square of cloth, which when dampened was used to wipe our slates, on which we learned to draw figures and letters. We had a one and a half-hour's break at midday, and Olive, Win and I would come home for lunch, Olive from a more distant school. My school mistress was Miss Pike, a tall slim lady, whose memorable feature was a startling hair style - it was glossy and parted down the center, and had a great coil of plaited hair, a spiral, covering each ear, like a pair of headphones. It happened to be a fashion of the time. Miss Wright wore her hair short, and was reputed to have a chair leg she used to beat naughty boys! On that first day, how I raced to our backyard door for lunch - our house was still there thank goodness, and so were Mam and the lovely smells of home.

© 2003 John Appleby, New Zealand

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