大象传媒

Aged 10 years I won a County Minor Scholarship and stared at Ossett Grammar School in 1942. School uniform was compulsory and had to be purchased from Southcotts in the Bull Ring, Wakefield. I needed 1 gymslip, dark green, with a red girdle, 2 long sleeved cream blouses with a square neck, 2 pair of dark green knickers, a green blazer with red braid and a school badge on the pocket, a navy blue gabardine coat and a black felt hat with red and green striped hat band. The gymslip had to be a certain length, just touching the floor when kneeling and a chain for this purpose was provided in the shop. The garments were made from wool or cotton. The former could not be washed and had to be sponged to remove marks. The blouses were cotton, which took a long time to dry after washing and needed careful ironing. They were each worn for 2 or 3 days as the two blouses had to last for a week. Shoes were expected to be lace up and the soles were made of leather, which quickly wore out. They had either to be re-soled or a rubber sole stuck on top. A pair of black gym shoes were also required for the gym. All these articles took a large number of clothing coupons and Grandma was called upon to give me some of hers. The garments lasted 3 years and when I tore my gymslip on a door handle it had to be patched. Even so when I had to buy another because I had grown considerable, the old one was passed on to another smaller member of the class, saving her coupons. Feet grew and new shoes had to be bought. By this time I took size 6 and adult size. Shoes were in short supply and you had to go round Ossett's three shoe shops, Robinsons (Station Road), Rocketts (adjacent to Horse and Jockey), the Co-op to see if a suitable shoe had arrived in their delivery. More coupons had to be paid for adult clothes than childrens, meaning that large children were penalised. Aged 14 we were all measured and weighed I qualified because of my size 6 shoes and also for height and weight.
A satchel was essential to carry books home for compulsory home work. Leather was in short supply and the school bags were made from canvas. Kathleen Milner had just left Ossett Grammar School so mother and I went to visit her Dad and he sold us her old leather bag, which had already done 8 years, for 2/6d (12 1/2p). It accompanied me to school for another 8 years. To maximise daylight the nation operated on summer time and double summer time. This meant that going to school in winter was in the dark. The street lamps were screened so as not to throw light onto the ground. Car headlights were dimmed, but they were few and far between because petrol was only available to essential users. To get to school it was either the bus or walking. School dinners were provided for 5d, which was 2s 1d per week. This gave 5 extra meals per week on top of home rations. Milk was available in 1/3 pint glass bottles costing 1/2d with a cardboard top. A hole could be thumbed out so a straw could be inserted. Often your thumb plunged in spattering you with cream from the top of the milk. This necessitated a quick dash to the cloakroom to get rid of the spashes so a permanent mark was not left on the gymslip. Text books were provided, but they had all been used by many people before. Some were in a poor condition and they were backed in brown paper. The brown paper was second hand too and had been saved after a parcel had been carefully unwrapped. You needed to provide pen, pencil, coloured pencil, rubber, ruler, set square, protractor and a pair of compasses. Ink was provided in inkwells in the desk but most peoples pride and joy was a fountain pen, with its own supply of ink. Diagrams had to be drawn free hand and maps traced using tracing paper (similar to greaseproof paper) Maps of countries were printed into exercise books using a roller with a rubber outline and an ink pad.
Air raid shelters were in a field behind the huts on the lawn. No air raid took place during day school hours, but some night school classes were affected. Each evening a member of staff and 3 senior scholars had to fire watch, a master with the boys and a mistress with the girls. Camp beds were provided in the attics of the old building and one of the windows opened onto the roof giving an overall view of the school during an air raid. The school had its own siren. All windows were covered with muslin or had a trellis of sticky paper stuck onto them to reduce injury from flying glass. In the fields of Rookery Farm, below the school, outcrop coal was extracted. The mechanical diggers worked throughout the day and lessons were conducted to the background noise of the machines.
Every family was expected to make its contribution to the war effort. We had no garden so growing vegetables was impossible instead our contribution was knitting. Patterns and double knitting wool were provided by the W.R.V.S., Mother knitted sea boot stockings, whilst I knitted scarves. These had to be knitted on 4 size 10 needles, so that the finished product was double thickness and about 9" wide. When completed they and to be 5'long. It was just plain knitting, but when the scarf was nearing completion, its bulk and weight were considerable. There was only one low chair on which I could sit to knit and tussle with this bundle. Eventually I discovered that the easiest way to cope was to roll the scarf up as I progressed fixing it with safety pins, and then it was easier to turn around as you moved from needle to needle.

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