I started at Hough Green School in 1951. My brother David had moved on to Simms Cross by then. He was four years older than myself. We had to do sums on a slate, with chalk and we were only allowed two pieces a week. I thought this was really mean as I did more sums than the others and trying to write with a tiny bit of chalk was really difficult.

The Headmaster was called Mr Upward and he used to stand in front of the open fire, warming his backside. We were all quite frightened of him. The free school milk would be put inside the fireguard in the winter when it was frozen so that we could drink it.

We used cowrie shells to do our counting and pencils for writing in our exercise book. Each child had a Tidy Box to keep their equipment in. Classes were mixed but at playtime we were strictly segregated into boys and girls by an imaginary line across the play ground.

Autumn was a good time as the playground was full of leaves and we would make houses from them with outlines of the rooms. There was an old dinner trolley in the corner next to The Hammer and Pincers pub. This made a great boat as it was extremely wobbly. Funny how one remembers playtime more than worktime!