E-mail me

Other Gosport Books

New Book By

John Sadden

Discovery Centre Books

Gosport Gardening

Photos of the UK

Weather In Gosport

OR

Gosport Weather

Another Girl at St. John’s School

“M” was 5 years old when she started at St. John’s School.  Her first memories were of the gravel playground and the slates used for writing and other work.  There were partitions dividing the classrooms except for a small, separate room for the senior girls (14 years old).

A kind of hygiene was taught by Mrs. Mitchell, who lived with her parents in the “lodge” at the entrance of Ann’s Hill Cemetery.

There were coal fires in open fireplaces in the classroom in Winter.  Some children came from very poor families.  M’s father was a naval man who was away at sea a good deal.  Even though he left her mother with 6 children M did not remember being any other than clean, well fed and well shod.  She realised even then that they were very lucky children.

It was a familiar sight to see cattle driven from the Market right past the school, some would go to a Butcher’s shop just down the Forton Road.  There was a large shed at the back of the shop where the cattle were slaughtered!

At the Criterion Cinema, if they could muster 2 ½ d. each, they had the excitement of films with an ongoing serial of Pearl White every week.

Next door to the Butcher’s was a dairy, where one took a jug to buy milk.  It was always spotlessly clean.

Sometimes after going to school, M caught a cold and then had pneumonia.  She was very ill and only recovered after a long time.  Even then, she was not allowed to take part in any “exercises” or anything strenuous, as the illness had left her with a weak heart.  This was not discovered until the school doctor came.  There were medical examinations at certain times and the parents attended with the children.  When it was M’s turn, the doctor was checking her chest and after a few minutes, turned angrily to the headmistress amidst the hubbub of noise and said “Send these people out, I can’t hear this child’s heartbeat!”.

When M was about ten years of age things changed at St. John’s Church.  The Rev. J. Stephenson was very “low” church but the new vicar the Rev. C.S. Carey was “high” church.  The children didn’t understand what “high church” meant, but some children were ‘popping’ into the church at lunch time and on entry were crossing themselves with Holy Water etc., and, being curious, M and others went in too.  When M’s mother discovered this she was furious.  Although they were C of E they had been going to a Baptist Sunday School in Victoria Street when they were younger, but mother did not approve of the “happening” in St. John’s Church so they were taken away from the school and went to Newtown School instead.  There,

M became tired of her physical instructions and started strenuous exercise in the form of being a member of the Netball Team.

There was a little sweet shop nearly opposite St. John’s.  If the 3 sisters had a farthing each to spend, or a halfpenny between them they felt quite rich as some kinds of sweets were sold at “so many for 1 penny”.  Some sweets bought then, M has never tasted since.

NEXT PAGE - Chapter 10