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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0
geography) were the very primitive facilities for boys and girls
(separately, of course) and the air-raid shelters, more of which later.
Juniors went out of their door and round the back to get to the
playground, a tarmacked slightly sloping area bounded on two
sides by the road. The slope, inevitable in Muswell Hill, had been
reduced a bit by excavation so that by the fence and by the wall of
the adjoining house was a short steep bank. At the other, lower end
a stout wooden fence stretched across the playground, leaving a
narrow strip of ground which was intermittently and
unenthusiastically used to show that seeds put into the soil would
sometimes germinate and produce a flower or vegetable. To the top
right of the playground there was a small square extension which
was meant to be reserved for the infants. In the garden backing on
to this were kept a few chickens; these fascinated us town kids.
Astoria, Finsbury Park c.1949
we didn't sound too bad.
We all got more and more excited and also more and more
nervous. As the date got nearer and nearer to go to the Astoria,
we found ourselves coming up with reasons not to go. The
thought of going up on stage was suddenly very daunting, and
would our bowels be able to stand it, but most important of all,
if were honest with ourselves, we weren't as good as we thought
we were anyway!
Almost at the last minute, with a mixture of disappointment and
relief, we decided not to go. So, the start of an amazing musical
career fizzled out before it even started. But I still wonder, after
all these years, if Bob can play more than 5 chords now.
Mike Hiron 1954-1959
TIN POT MEMORIES
Muswell hill primary school
The building was originally intended to be temporary so it was
relatively inexpensively built in wood and corrugated iron. It was
rectangular in plan and orientated roughly NW-SE. This meant
that the five classrooms on the SW side of the central corridor
were generally sunny (when there was sun). They each had tall
sash windows, most of which could be opened and closed with
the aid of ropes.
They were fairly high up so that we couldn't see anything of
interest outside to interrupt our education...... There were floor
to ceiling sliding/folding partitions between at least some of the
rooms, but this useful facility was rarely if ever used.
The rooms were equipped with standard double iron framed
desks with hinged seats and work surfaces and a pen rack and ink
holder at the top. Teachers' desks were raised on small plinths.
The walls would be plastered with teaching aids and occasionally
pupils' work.
Doors at each end of the central corridor let pupils in and out of
the school, infants at the NW and juniors at the SE. On the
other side of the corridor, working along from the junior end,
there was a cloakroom, a store room, caretaker's den, a room for
the head mistress, then the Hall. This had a platform at the
upper end and many seldom used glazed doors leading to the
outside. Beyond the hall, another tiny room served as a very
cramped staff room, another store and the infants' cloakroom -
all very tidily designed.
Outside at the back (Le. NE, for anyone still following the
Summer PE lessons often took place on the playground. Races
were run up and down; as the fence at the bottom and the house
wall at the top were not parallel, it meant that you had an
advantage being on the side nearer the school - you had a slightly
shorter run. I still remember the look on the face of the most
athletic boy in the class, Eric Eveleigh, when I beat him in a race,
having worked out the advantage. You collided more or less
violently with the wall at the end of the race - it would not be
allowed today by the H & S people. Half way up the playground
on the right one could clamber through a couple of bushes and
scramble onto the shady roof of the adjacent air raid shelter. This
I would sometimes do on a summer day after returning to school
from lunch at home. I would lie there in the sun with eyes closed
and listen to conversations around me. I was most gratified one
such day to hear a small voice ask, 'Is he dead?'
I remember little of my first day in school, other than being put
next to Barry Griffiths.
Barry wore glasses, one lens blanked out. Not having met with
this phenomenon before, I must have stared. In my class from
the earliest days was Roger Heard; he and I became good friends,
though we drifted apart after we went to Stationers', as we were
in different classes from then on. I have recently made a small
effort to trace him, and one or two other classmates of those days,
but with almost no success. Talking about whom I sat next to, I
remember being most upset once being made to sit next to
Stinker Myers. Poor girl, I am sure she didn't deserve this
nickname.
At the other end of the spectrum, there was a sweet girl with a
head of fair curly hair, whose name I forget at the moment, but
may well remember before I finish this; she had a moderate
stutter and although I didn't fall in love with her at the time, I
remember her with affection. I did find myself attracted to
Rosemary Dickens; she never showed any sign of recognising my
affliction and at that time I was puzzled about my feelings.
Whilst on this tack I will recall a school party when I was in the
upper part of the school - no idea about the circumstances - at
which we played various games which involved running about. I
swung round one of the Hodge twin sisters and quite innocently
and accidentally clutched her right breast (which must have been
in its very infancy); I recall clearly the electric shock which
passed through me and the subsequent wonder about what it
meant. Today's young people would surely readily understand ...
The Sankey twins, Ted 'n' Harry, joined the school not long
before we went to secondary schools. They were good friends -
and I really fell for their sister, Pat. I took her to the opera at
Sadlers Wells a couple of times - so perhaps it is no wonder I
made no progress with her! The only one of my contemporaries
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