大象传媒

MY WARTIME SCHOOLS - by Ken Roberts

My first school was Cattedown Road Infants鈥�, one of two buildings situated next to each other in St John鈥檚 Road, Plymouth. It had been built just before the outbreak of war, with a flat roof of solid concrete about four or six inches thick, probably designed to resist incendiary bombs. My years at the Junior Mixed School next door were completed weeks before it was set on fire by the Luftwaffe and totally burnt to the ground one night.

Yes, the whole of the Infants鈥� School survived the rest of the Blitz.

At Sutton Secondary School in Regent Street, Plymouth an air raid shelter had been constructed in the playground by the 鈥渃ut and cover鈥� system, but was not big enough to accommodate all the pupils. The bottom floor of the huge school building was below street level and housed the woodwork and metalwork classrooms, as well as shelters formed by reinforced concrete dividing walls. Further floor area was used for the storage of food supplies which belonged to the Ministry of Food; these supplies were for distribution to the retail trade.

When required for distribution, those of us pupils who normally took shelter in the basement found ourselves being used as a labour force to load the goods on to lorries. We had three ways of considering this practice: (a) it was better than carrying on with schoolwork (b) it was better exercise than schoolwork and (c) we were able to chat with the passers-by.

None of the packages to be loaded weighed in excess of 56lb, all were of the rectangular format and easy to carry and there were no dangerous containers such as glass. I think the main commodities were margarine, butter, cheese, corned beef, powdered egg, and evaporated milk. Most of the two last-named were of American origin.

Another requirement which gave us the opportunity to get away from schoolwork on a temporary basis occurred once every three months. We fell in 鈥� a class at a time - carrying our gas masks, all of which had to be taken on foot to the Air Raid Precautions centre at Mill Street for a system of checking. At all other times it was forbidden to be seen without the gas mask being within reach 鈥� even in the playground or at the Marsh Mills sports field.

With the air raids becoming more severe, more frequent and more nerve-wracking (especially for the older generations) a decision was made to carry out partial evacuation plans. The parents of the Sutton High School boys were offered the choice of either taking or sending their sons to St Austell in Cornwall to continue their education; the Devonport High School parents were similarly offered the Penzance evacuation.

The teachers of both schools somehow worked out a system which would see about fifty percent of the Devonport High School teaching staff transferring to Penzance and some of the Sutton teachers moving to St Austell. The Regent Street school building then became known officially as 鈥淓mergency High School鈥�, staffed by the remaining mix of teachers. I left school to start work with the Superintending Naval Store Officer鈥檚 Department in Devonport Dockyard and lost touch with all my former schoolmates.

Anyone who can tell me 鈥渨hat happened next ?鈥� (and the date on which it took place) is cordially invited to email me as soon as convenient at the following address - ken@shpr.fsnet.co.uk

The End.

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