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MARY LOWES
TEACHER

Mary was brought up at Westwick, where her Grandfather was a gamekeeper for the Strathmore Estates. She went to Barnard Castle C of E School, where the Headmaster, Fred Wilkinson (father of Alan) saw her potential to pass the 11+ and encouraged her. When 13 she moved with her widowed mother and older brother to Coronation Street.

I did my School Certificate exams at Bishop Auckland Girls’ Grammar School and began to study for High School Certificate. When in the Sixth Form the girls and staff did ’fire watching’ with the English Teacher, Miss Olive Dixon, but never had to put this into practice. I remember being an officer in the Girls’ Life Brigade and someone cutting the ‘sweet’ coupons out of my ration book when camping at Whitby!! From school I went to Neville’s Cross College, Durham and was in Hatfield College in the Bailey. I could go to the Cathedral every day and met Rev. Michael Ramsey, then a lecturer at the university.

My first school was at Shadforth, near Durham, starting in August 1943. I earned about £13 per month.. It was an old building and I taught the Infants (about 10 of them) and sewing to the Juniors. The Headmaster, Mr. Brown, usually taught the Juniors and if he hadn’t arrived before me in the morning, I had to leave a space above my name for him to sign in. There was no secretary and he had to do the paperwork. There was a fixed timetable with lots of ‘the three R’s’, art and music. It was important to get the children to read. There were desks and chairs in rows, a stove in the room, outside toilets and a tiny garden in the yard where we tried to grow plants. I had to do ‘yard duty’ during playtime each morning and afternoon when the children enjoyed ball games.

The caretaker was also the cook and managed to provide good meals, within the limits of rationing and milk was given in the morning. The children didn’t wear uniform. I remember wearing a warm coat and hat in winter and practical shoes made by ‘Gold Cross’ or Wellingtons. I would walk the children up to the service at Church on Ascension Day. We were quite safe at Shadforth and life was quite ‘smooth’, though I always had concerns for my brother who was serving with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and REME in India and the Far East and my cousin, an only child, who was in the Navy and sadly died.

I came home by bus on a Friday and returned on a Sunday. My mother could get eggs during the war and farming relatives would give us a ‘bit of sausage after a pig killing’. Mid-week I lived in ‘digs’ opposite the school. I had to hand my ration book over to Mrs. Wittingham, a dear old lady, who gave one bedroom to me and slept alternately in the other two to keep them aired. She had fruit trees in her lovely garden, which I would help her with and we often had a fruit sweet. We had to be careful during the ‘blackout’. I also became friendly with the Stead family, who were very kind to me ~ Bob Stead gave me piano lessons and they made me a 21st birthday cake.

In 1944 I moved to Harrogate Hill Infants’ School in Darlington and had 20 to 30 children to teach, with the aid of blackboard and chalk. The Headmistress was formidable and I remember a bare yard and having to take my turn at doing ‘dinner duty’. I was here for the rest of the War and again I was lucky that it was a reasonably safe place to be!

Mary taught for 37 years altogether. She became Head Teacher at Corporation Infants School, then in January 1976 became Headmistress at Forest-of-Teesdale School. After early retirement in 1980 she led County Council walks in the area and kept botanical records of flowers; she continued to be a Methodist local preacher; has written various small books about Newbiggin Chapel and local personalities and been President of Craftworks.

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