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I started at a council school at the age of five years. I went to Netherfield Road. I enjoyed my time there and made nice friends. We played a lot of team games. I liked the sword dance. We used long clay pipes to dance over. The teachers were strict. Is that why I always had ‘conduct excellent’ on my school reports? My best subject was maths. My writing was not good. We always had a good time for Empire Day. St George’s, and any other special days, we would dress up.
One day a bee came into the classroom. The teacher caught it in a jar. Then, took the whole class to a park to set it free.
When I was aged eleven I went to Salisbury Street, they must have been the first school to have showers. It was not private, so I don’t think we were very pleased with that. We could have Horlicks instead of milk. I still like Horlicks.
Our headmistress was a great lady, besides the above items, she brought out a curfew stating that all children, in the area, had to be indoors at eight o;clock at night. She did get an honour, but I can't remember what it was. We played netball. I only attended for one year. Then we moved to Walton. I went to Gwladys Street for one year. I then went to Priory Road, which was a newly built school that had swimming baths. Then the Second World War came. I was evacuated to Shropshire and went to Wistanstow School until I left at fourteen years of age.

'This story was submitted to the People’s War site by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Merseyside’s People’s War team on behalf of Pat Mountfield and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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