Stephen Pratt 1955 to 1962

StephenPratt

Balby Street School – 1955 to 1962

My first day at Balby Street School

As a five-year-old child living on Leslie Avenue, Conanby, Conisbrough, I was not allowed to go to attend the nearby Rowena School that was just round the corner on Gardens Lane. Instead, for some strange catchment reason I had to attend the Balby Street Junior and infant School at the top of Balby Street in Denaby main.

The first day was the only day my mum took me to school and was very exciting. The rest of the time I would be going to school with my brothers, who also attended the same school. Mum took me by the hand and walked me down the crags from Conanby and through the small school gate to enter the school premises. The introduction was short and sweet before mum left for home again. Some kids cried on their first day at school when their parents left but I didn’t, it was something new and exciting for me and I loved this school.

First I was shown around the school inside and out. The school playground was sloped; the toilets were also outside at the bottom right-hand corner. There were large archways under the school which was supported by heavy wooden beams structures to hold back subsidence, though inside the school we never noticed anything untoward, the building was fine.

The school caretaker, Mr. Keywood´s house was on the west side of the school and adjacent to the bottom area playground. There was a grassed area too with large trees to the left of Mr Keywood’s house. I was taken to my first classroom, the nursery, facing windows onto a lovely view of the Conisbrough crags. This classroom had a roofed veranda built on it with safety wooden rail around and doorway to allow children to go in and out of the nursery class player. The nursery class had small desks and chairs with ink wells in the desks for nibbed pens to be used and green blotting paper was provided. There was an almost hairless rocking horse in the classroom for us to play. I also do remember that first blackboard in the room with it´s A is for Apple and B for ball and so on with added little colourful illustration. The name of my first teacher was Mrs Moody, not so Moody at all but really very nice, she was a lovely lady.

The milk monitor, Mr Keywords, the school caretaker would bring into class free school milk in crates of small milk bottles, each bottle about a quarter of a pint and one for each child. If someone hated milk then you were lucky and allowed to have two bottles. I had to take into school five shillings (25p) weekly for my school dinners. This was pre-decimalisation days with 12 pennies to each shilling and 20 shillings to each pound. Each week I and would take in two silver half crowns instead. Each half crown was equal to 2 shillings and sixpence.

At 4 PM it was end of the day, my first school day of many more to come. I would leave the school with my brothers or friends by the crags gate. I will never forget my own mother’s unique way of calling us home to Conanby from the top of Conisbrough Crag´s steps adjacent to Montagu Avenue. My mother knew how to yodel and yodel is what she did daily at home time to let us know she was there for us. On hearing our mothers yodelling, without hesitation, we would race each other to the top of the Crags to meet her, then go home for our teas.

Time to Remember

Inside the old ball with Street school hall and high up on the west wall was a large clock with wood circular frame, white faced with Roman numerals on it. One afternoon I clearly remember my form teacher Mrs Sheldrake asked me to go out of the classroom into the hall to look at the clock and see what time it is. I don’t know what age I was. But although I could read and write, I could not tell the time – no one had ever taught me. In the school hall my luck was in as a friend of mine from another classroom had just been to the toilet and was walking towards me stop I had to ask you what time it was, he looked at the clock and told me it was quarter to four. I went back into the classroom and told my teacher and all was okay. That night I asked my brother, also pupil of the school, how do you tell the time.

Believe it or not in just one evening my brother Gary explained everything, and I learned to tell the time. However, the saddest thing for me was that after this I wanted to tell my teacher the time from that day on, but I was never asked again!

Balby Street School at Christmas time

I looked forward to my Decembers at Balby Street School. It was the time that our giant Christmas tree was put up by the caretaker, then decorated with all the finest of decorations. The lights on the tree seemed to be like liquid filled tubes of bubbling colourful liquid when the tree was lit. The tree decorated with baubles. The tree decorated with more baubles and tinsel made it a sparkle into life and with the same fairy on top of the tree, Christmas had arrived!

I do remember that in Mrs Craniche’s class. We acted out the play, sleeping beauty. My cousin Denise Pratt was chosen to play, sleeping beauty, and I was chosen to be the handsome prince, who awoke her with a kiss. Kissing my cousin didn’t bother me but the class teacher was surprised when I chose to do it by the book with cheers from the class. It actually made me feel like to print and “panto star”.

Father Christmas came every year, visited the lower school and gave them each a gift wrapped present in the school hall. Father Christmas will always be brought into the school by the lower school headmistress. The familiar voice of this Father Christmas called out the children’s names handing out small presents to the ever excited infants.

It was not until some years later that I found out the true identity of that particular Father Christmas – he turned out to be an art teacher from theConisbrough, Northcliffe County high school in Conisbrough – a Mr Jack Moody, the husband of Balby Street, head of lower school Mrs Moody.

I met up with Mrs Moody after I had left the school one day in Conisbrough. I told that I’d recognised the voice, but Mrs Moody swore me to secrecy. I have kept that secret until now, but I’m sure that if she were alive today, she really wouldn’t mind me sharing this for the school’s anniversary year

Register, Assemblies and Diaries

After classroom register we would form an orderly line and go every day into our morning assembly.

We sang songs like the school one titled “he would valiant be.”, and the one “we plough the fields and scatter” to the accompaniment of the school piano.

One song that I loved was about the Titanic and went something like this:

It was sad, so sad.

It was sad, so sad.

It was sad when the great ship went down

Husbands and Wives, little children lost their lives.

It was sad when the great ship went down.

These were memorable songs.

The Headmaster speeches varied from school behaviour to knit infestation and the knit nurse visit; inoculation days and school celebrations and so on.

Once a year we had a school trip to the seaside that I think our parents paid for. This would be announced on stage as well as well as the coming Jubilee of the school and what would be expected to happen and what we were expected to do.

After the morning assemblies we were expected to stack the chair away before going into our classroom to start our usual school day lessons. We too hada daily diary to write, about our weekend, time off school. What we did in our school holidays about family.

Dinnertime

School dinners were lovely; roast potatoes mashed potatoes, meet and the usual two veg. The only vegetable that I didn’t like was spinach. I wanted to have the strength of the Popeye character, the cartoon hero who ate spinach and got instant strength. This became very useful in defending himself against bullies.

I tried to eat spinach with its acquired taste, but never again – it was to me truly horrible! However, for me the tasty puddings from Bakewell tart, blueberry pie and rhubarb crumble, all with custard! I also loved rice pudding and sago. Some kid didn’t like sago because it resembled and was nicknamed frogspawn – but I loved it and always ended up with extra helpings!

Swimming

One day each week, except for the winter months, we will go swimming at Denaby main swimming baths. Our swimming costumes were rolled up in our towel or carried in a shoulder bag. We would go out of the school grounds through the small school gate, onto the crags, along the footpath, passing the swing park and football pitch. We would then turn right and on down to the bottom of the lane to the baths.

The swimming baths were situated at the back of the Denaby and Cadeby Miners Welfare, close to Denaby United football ground and not far from the cricket field both of which were busy, on match days.

Inside the baths we were given numbered armbands and locker keys. After changing it was first a quick cold shower, then into the swimming pool where we were being taught to swim in the shallow end. Eventually, those who were thought to be good swimmers from each class were chosen to do an organised swimming challenge race from the deep end to the shallow end of the pool and back again. Yes I could swim but only a little and all in shallow water, never ever had I been in deep water before and the thought of it terrified me. My schoolmates cheered me on when I was selected. I was too scared and embarrassed to tell them I couldn’t swim that well but I went along with it. My worst fear was of drowning in front of all my schoolmates and this terrified me. My name with others was called out and I was going along with it whatever happened.

Fate gave me a helping hand as I slipped on a wet patch and fell, banging my head on the floor and cutting it open. I was out of the competition and bandaged up in the medical room before being sent home accompanied by one of my classmates.

The good thing that came out of this was that I became determined to better myself and overcome my fears to become a better swimmer and did later conquer them to swim in the dreaded deep end!

Jubilee Time

In my time at Balby Street we celebrated a school Jubilee, I think the 50th.

We had a school party, we dance and play games. We had a free show by group of people who gave their voices to shadow figures behind a big white screen – acting out of play “chopping of a head” I don’t know what this play wasbut we all enjoyed it!

While children parted and played in the playground the teachers sip tea and ate sandwiches on the school and outside the nursery classroom. Some of the children dressed up, some took part in fun races like cool sports day e.g. the sack race. Hoops, skittles and ball games too, were the order of the day. He really was a fun day, party day and the day we all given a gift to remember that celebration.

We were all given a free fountain pen with the school name and celebration details on it. I wish that I kept this.

The May Queen

My best friend at school was Michael Hancock, from Conanby, who also lived on Leslie Avenue. His older sister was called Maureen Hancock, who became the school´s May Queen. Maureen was crowned May Queen in a ceremony held on the grassed banks at Conisbrough Castle, with maids of honour and page boys too.

This was a lovely day with all the royal trimmings, the regalia and pageantry to be proud of. On Castle Hill grass embankment there was a maypole stuck into the ground with the dancers weaving in and out until the Maypole ribbons reached to the bottom.

The ice cream vans always seem to be ever present on the Hill by the tea rooms on hot days like this one.

These were happy days – Easter time was a religious time, especially in assembly. We would sing the song “there is a green hill far away.” There were competitions to see who could decorate the best egg or make the best Easter bonnets. We were also given a small Easter egg each to take all before the start of the Easter holidays

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