Memories of School

Pat, who was born in 1930, went to St Peter and St Pauls. She remembers getting into trouble with the headteacher:

“We had another quite a biggish playground and there were railings at the bottom end and that’s where the boys school was and that was their playground. So we were told by Mother Hyacinth, because they were very strict with us, we were told by Mother Hyacinth that under no circumstances we were to go down to the railings and talk to the boys. And so I didn’t. But then I had a cousin John and it was Raymond’s age and they were both at the railings and they were shouting, for me to come down. I kept shaking my head and Raymond said, it’s important, you need to. So of course I went down and someone one of the other girls, I think, I don’t know, or a teacher, they saw me and I only went down to find out what he was saying and then I came away. So when I got back into school, Mother Hyacinth appeared in the classroom and so she said, Patricia Marshall, I believe that you’ve been talking to the boys and, you know, this is forbidden to go down to those railings. And I tried to tell her that it was my brother and that was why, and the cousin, but it didn’t satisfy her. I still got the cane. That was the only time I got the cane.”