Chapter 2

1946 - 1951

Primary School Days

Upper Wortley County Primary School

I cannot actually remember starting school nor a great deal about it.  I went to Upper Wortley County Primary School until passing my ‘eleven plus’.  We had a School Song, the chorus of which was very corny.  I have copied this from an unknown source on Friends Reunited:

Up, up, up Upper Wortley forward with honour we cry

Up, up, up Upper Wortley we lift the banner on high

We will ne’er hang our heads in shame or bring disgrace on 

Those whose name our houses are proud to bear

When duty calls in time or need a valiant true a gallant deed

A Wortley son will be there.

The school, as shown in the heading to this chapter was divided into Infants, aged 5 - 11, at the top of the picture and ‘Big School’, ages 11 - 14 at the bottom.  I remember none of the teachers nor much about the teaching except that I did not do very well at ‘writing’.  On one test I scored 8 out of 20, which was poor although someone did score only 3.  Some of the lads were fairly aggressive and some of the games we played in the playground were fairly rough; one lad was  particularly tough with arms flailing as he tried to break through ranks of defenders, hob nailed boots clattering on theplayground tarmac.  This must have been a version of ‘British Bulldog’.  He was quite a frightening sight for me, a quiet lad.  Goodness only knows what the current vogue for Health and Safety would make of it all, if the children are no longer allowed to play ‘conkers’ or even football on the tarmac.  Meanwhile all the girls who played out tucked their skirts in the obligatory navy blue knickers.

I think I must have had a difference of opinion with my parents with regard to school dinners.  Five dinners cost One shilling & Eight pence and I bragged about not bothering with ‘pudding’ because I didn’t like custard.  That ended my school dinners at Primary School.

I sang in the choir at one time and was selected to sing a solo once but somehow managed to get out of it.  I really wasn’t confident enough to put myself through that ordeal.  Every year there was a school play at Christmas.  The only time I remember being involved was as a suitor to a princess; I had to approach her wearing a blue pantaloon suit and bow.  I might have had a couple of words to speak but I don’t remember what.  The princess obviously didn’t fancy me because she took off her shoe and threw it at me, whereupon I scuttled off; that was my acting career over for that year; actually that was my acting career over for good.

Pop got very unhappy with one little episode at school.  We were all asked to collect and identify as many wild flowers as possible, press them and stick them in an exercise book.  A prize was offered for the best collection.  Mum and Pop were brilliant and, with the aid of the car, we spent hours finding loads of flowers, most of which we were able to name.  I duly pressed them and stuck them into an exercise book and wrote all the names adjacent to the flowers.  I didn’t win the prize because, according to Pop, he was told that my handwriting wasn’t good enough.  He was furious as he thought that this was supposed to be an exercise in botany not handwriting.  I still have that exercise book.

Absolutely nothing else stands out about those school years.  The only boy I can name is Kenneth ELLIS who was five days older than me.  I remember one girl, Diana COULTER and thought that there was another named Susan McFADYAN, however looking through all the birth records for the appropriate years, she doesn’t exist so I must have her name wrong.  The only reason I recall them is that they were the top two in the class.  The rest of the time must have been fairly boring I guess.  The school was about half a mile from home, by the proper route, but being a boy, that was pretty boring so, when I was allowed to go by myself, I used to go via the alternate route which was between two large water filled quarries and very dangerous.   I believe that two boys did drown in one of them.  From on-line sources, I have learned that the two boys were brothers named James & Barton DICKINSON, aged 9 & 7. 

The last time I visited Leeds was in 2003 when I took the above photograph of the school.  It was, as can be seen, boarded up and a very sad sight; I guess that it had outlived its purpose and perhaps was too expensive to maintain.