Published at 17:20, Friday, 20 July 2012

DALTON’S Carole Lamb takes a look back to school life 60 years ago.

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She writes: “I was passing the Chequers Hotel in Dalton when it came into mind my starting school there in 1948, in the nursery class with Mrs Wray as our teacher and Mrs Tomlinson as her helper.

“My earliest memory was of my mother taking me on my first day into the porch, where all us kids were given pegs with various pictures on them. Mine was of a fire kettle.

“We were then taken into the nursery and given blankets with the same picture embroidered in wool on them.

“These were for us when the cot beds came out in the afternoon for us to have a sleep.

“Looking back it was a long day for us as we were only three years old and were there from 9am till 3.30pm.

“We all stayed for school dinners. There was still rationing so the dinners offered very little food choice.

“Mashed potato with beetroot was one of the worst for me. Nothing had to be wasted so we had to mash it into the potato and eat it all up.

“Cheese and onion pie was another.”

Sometimes we got a biscuit with chocolate pudding on top. What a treat!

“Mrs Tomlinson used to take all the kids from around the streets of Skelgate to school every day.

“We all met her on the corner of Buccleuch Street and she led us off down Skelgate, across to Ship Hill and down we would all go until we got to the gates.

“The same thing happened at the end of school. She gathered us all together and took us all back.

“During the time we were at Green School, Mr Aiken was headmaster.

“He was a gentleman and a very kind hearted.

“None of us had very much but there was one boy who used to come to school with an army shirt on and a pair of cut-off army trousers held up with rope.

“He had no shoes or coat, and always needed a wash and a hair comb.

“Mr Aiken got him shoes and socks and sorted him a wash out in the school porch.

“We children always tried to help him. He was never treated any differently and was never bullied because he was from a needy family.

“As we got older we moved from class to class, we learned to read, write, and knit and sew, boys as well!

“Also we got a teacher who took us for PE every morning. Rain or sunshine we had it to do. We all tried and it got us fit at an early age. She was called Miss Holmes then married and became Mrs Tweedy.

“We all loved her. She was young and really good fun.

“Every year I was at Green School we had a party. It was always referred to as Miss Hayes’ party. She paid for us to have a Christmas treat.

“I have often wondered who was Miss Hayes? Does anyone know?

“The Chequers Hotel looks lovely and it has held a lot of memories for plenty of Daltonians and hopefully will continue to do so.”

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk