The Church School in Dunns Lane by Michael Charles

Part Two - The Church School

had been a pupil in Newton School, until I started Dunns Lane School in September 1968 and went into Class 3B. The school, which had opened in 1908, consisted of two buildings—a smaller one of two classrooms and a cloakroom, which housed the infants, taught by Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Pressdee and the main building, which had five classrooms and two cloakrooms, which was the Juniors’ department. It also had a large hall with classrooms on both sides with heating provided by coke stoves and wall-mounted gas fires, which were very efficient in winter. There were separate playgrounds for the girls and boys.

Michael Charles aged 9

Dunns Lane School

The head teacher was Mr. Beynon, who on retirement was succeeded by Mr. Jack Clochler. Other members of staff were Mr. Florence and Mr. Charles Boyd, who were my main teachers. Also there was Miss Jones, who taught Welsh as well as her own class and was a kindly lady who would always give ‘house’ points for good behaviour; Mr. Pressdee, who taught handicraft. Each teacher had their own class, but sometimes we went to other classes for singing etc. There was also a class in the hall, taught by Miss Pack (now Mrs. Buckland). Mr. Mansel Lovering succeeded Miss Jones on her retirement.

School hours were 9am until 4pm and most days began with an assembly with the usual hymns and bible readings. One I remember was ‘Over the sea there are little brown children’ (Imagine this being sung today!) and another was ‘Jesus bids us shine’. Lessons consisted of maths, English, history, singing and games and occasionally, art and handicraft and the books used were ‘The Essential Spelling List’ by Fred Schonel, ‘Duncan’s Mental Arithmetic’, ‘Word Perfect’ and ‘First Aid in English.’ TV and radio programmes were also big parts of school life. In the hall, we watched the large black and white TV, which was on a stand with wheels, and the windows blacked out with curtains. Programmes included ‘Discovering Science,’ ‘People of Many Lands’ and ‘Watch.’

When the change over from pounds, shillings and pence to decimalisation came, one teacher said he wanted nothing to do with the new ideas of the government and he got a student teacher to explain the new decimal money to us!

Games such as rugby, cricket and football were played at Underhill Park with Mr. George Guest, Mr. Pressdee and Mr. Boyd. Mr. Boyd could often be heard shouting out loud all over the park—he did enjoy his rugby! PE lessons took place in the school yard and a popular event was tunnel ball where we stood in lines with our legs apart, the person at the front rolled the ball through the open legs and the person at the back caught it and ran to the front and so on.

St David’s Day was always a good event and I can remember one particular year, we did a sketch from the Black and White Minstrel Show, a popular TV musical show of the 60s and 70s, where the singers all wore black make-up and white around the eyes and mouth as well as the usual solos of singing and piano playing. There was usually an unofficial competition among the boys as to who could eat their leek first—daffodils usually being worn by girls with their welsh costumes.

In the hall, the names of the ‘houses’, LANGLAND, CASWELL, BRACELET and ROTHERSLADE for the sports events, were painted in large letters above the four classrooms either side of the hall. School trips were a feature of school life, when we went to places such as Bristol Zoo and London Airport.

Near the end of the Christmas term, we had a carol service in the hall and on the last day of term, a small Christmas party which consisted of two trays of cakes, fairy cakes or macaroons, from Pressdee’s shop, accompanied by cans of orange. You had to be quick or you ended up with two cakes the same! On that day also, the custom was to take books and board games to school for the day.

Discipline in the school was strict but fair, the cane, ruler and the slipper being used when necessary. You did not forget having the cane! Lines at the end of break-time were very strict, the whistles being blown with a long blast which meant form lines for each class. Each line was inspected and we had to be tidy and standing up perfectly straight. On the second blast of the whistle, each class was led off one by one in silence—monitors being posted at all corners and the hall and cloakroom and pupils caught talking would be sent to the head teacher to await their fate. For talking in class, a thousand lines were issued, which would be counted and inspected to make sure that no-one else had been helping.

The school doctor, dentist and ‘nit’ nurse were part of school life, when every so often we had our hair checked and yellow forms given out to some pupils prior to the visit of the school doctor for the dreaded injections.

Exams were given near the ends of terms, the questions being duplicated on a ‘banda’ printer—the smell of the ink used evoking a distinct memory. The major exam was of course, the ‘Eleven Plus,’ which decided if you went to Grammar school or not.

Other memories include carrying a tea service down to Oystermouth Square for Miss Jones when she retired. She lived in Sketty, but asked two of us to carry it to the bus stop to catch the 85 bus home.

School dinners were eaten in Victoria hall, supervised by Mrs. Dorothy Bennett, Mrs. Margaret Charles and Mrs. Cornelius, where discipline was strict. There were many bent spoons due to them being banged on the table to keep order!

Some amusing events to remember include the day we were sorting out hoops and mats for gym at the back of the hall, when one of the girls let out a deafening scream, as she had found a pair of false teeth belonging to the caretaker! Another is of one of the teachers, who would often fall asleep at his desk while reading a story. We used to keep quiet until it was nearly going-home time, when we would make enough noise to wake him up!

Ah! Happy Days!