(Illustrations: School photograph of Form 1B, and sports photos)

 Our school assemblies at Wallsend Grammar school were so different to what we were used to in Junior school, where one hymn and a story, or lecture on behaviour, sufficed. These assemblies had a definite public-school edge to them, and we were quickly made aware of rules and regulations!

For example, in our first year, a deputy headmistress stood on guard to check our school uniforms, as we marched into the hall. A girl’s skirt had to be the correct length, shoes the correct style, and black tights were forbidden. She would even express her opinion on messy hairstyles. One girl in our year loved dyeing her hair. Changes of colour had largely gone unnoticed, but we were certainly aware of each new shade. One day she tried to dye her black shade back to blonde again, and it turned a psychedelic shade of green! She was only twelve or thirteen at the time, a real rebel! The headmistress’s face was apoplectic with rage, and this offender was hastily removed, and sent home, as an example to the rest of us.

Silence was expected at all times in assemblies as we waited for it to commence. But if we had to wait any length of time, a whisper would turn to a murmur, which then became light chatter, and very gently the noise level grew. But then the teachers at the side of the hall would step in to silence us. Any pupil caught misbehaving was sent down to the front of the hall.

Then suddenly the headmaster would sweep in, from the direction of his office, black cloak flying behind him, and no-one spoke at all! He made announcements, introduced the hymn, and a pupil would read the lesson. I don’t recall him telling any stories though. Then he would waft out, with never a smile, leaving the deputy head to dismiss us in his wake

Hymns were the best part of an assembly for me. I loved them all, especially when Scott Weightman, a sixth former and an accomplished musician, played the piano.

He was so very gifted, and his hearty playing made me want to ‘dance’, as well as sing.

‘Lord, dismiss us with your blessing,’ was a hymn we all sang at the end of the year, which always brought tears to the eyes of school leavers. The alternative version was sung at the beginning of the year. ‘Lord, behold us with your blessing. That’s when we thought, “Here we go again!”

I remember, a few years later, when I was in lower sixth, our head boy had been invited to step forward and give a vote of thanks, on behalf of us all, at a speech day in that same assembly hall.

But after fluffing his first sentence, his mind froze, and he was completely lost for words. Unfortunately, he had no speech written down to remind him what to say, so he got flustered and just walked off the stage, red-faced and highly embarrassed.

The deputy head boy, had also been invited to take part, and, as was the custom, he recited the words he had rehearsed carefully, which happened to be:-

“I would just like to second all that the head boy has said!” So he also stepped back after his speech, with a red face.

We couldn’t keep our laughter in, nothing had really been said at all, much to the annoyance of the staff around us.

There was a long balcony up above us, way up in the heavenly realms, all around three sides of the assembly hall. This balcony upstairs also led to two staff rooms, one for the men, and another for the women. Our sixth formers stood up there around the balcony rail, looking down at us, and we would stand gazing up at them, in awe, as we waited for assembly to begin.

We younger girls admired one girl in particular, who was not only deputy head girl, but also house captain, and sportswoman extraordinaire, and she had such a pretty face and a very long pony tail to boot. She had it all!

Each day, we looked up and searched for her face, and adored her, because we all wanted to be Jane Ridley!

We had all kinds of swimming galas and extra curriculum sports clubs and tournaments. Of all these events, there was one that really stood out for me. It was an end of term netball tournament, one where my sister was playing Goal Attack for her house team, Stephenson. Joan and I were in the same house, which was red. I’ve already mentioned that Grey House was green, but there was also Collingwood house which was blue, and Percy house which was yellow.

Our classes were allowed out to watch whichever tournaments were on in Sports week, on the field or in the yard. So I was there on the sidelines when our Goal Shooter was injured, and she was helped off the court.

They had no reserve shooter, and they weren’t sure what to do or who to ask to step up.Then, I heard Joan tell her team, ‘My younger sister can shoot, she’s just over there!”

They looked at me, weighed me up, and beckoned me over. Remember I was two years younger, but I proudly took my place on our house team . . and what a good job these two sisters did scoring goals! Joan was a marvellous shooter, and got long shots clean in through the net from the edge of the circle. And I remember during that game, leaning out and stretching to receive one ball which had missed its mark.

I balanced out over the line, reached out as far as I could, drew the ball in, took aim and shot, and it was a GOAL!!!! YEEESSS!!

I got a few other goals in too. What a thrill! You don’t forget moments like that! Others might, but not me! What a day that was.

How desperate I was to make up for my Junior school’s lack of provision of sport.

I joined every single team there was going over time; tennis, hockey, netball, athletics and badminton, and then high jump, sprinting and javelin in the athletics season.

We played in all weathers, and one day, having played hockey in the snow for the entire lesson, at the Battle Hill playing fields, we went straight in for hot showers, and our legs, with the sudden change in temperatures, started to itch like crazy!

We were expected to perform in gymnastics displays too at the end of the year, and we were also allowed to play a very special game of chase called Pirates! This was a fantastic game, usually kept as a treat for the last gym lesson of the year.

Every piece of gym equipment would be set out, every single one, in what was, in reality, one huge game of tag! It was wonderful trying to get away from the chaser, and even more exciting when you were chosen to ‘be’ the chaser! Not surprisingly, this best ever lesson was banned for safety reasons. We girls only got to do 'Pirates' for two or three years, but it was marvellous while it lasted!

The boys may have been more fortunate.

The gym was also where we practised dancing before the Christmas parties each year; a couple of our PE lessons were given over to this, to make us proficient in dances such as the Veleta, the Bradford Barn, the Gay Gordons, the Military Two-Step and Square Tango! The boys joined us, as it was their gym lesson at the same time.

We were put into partners, by forming two large circles, which moved in opposite directions, and when the music stopped, the person opposite was your partner, just as in the film West Side Story.

Woe betide any boy caught played the fool or who was not taking the dance seriously enough, or who objected to holding the hand of a girl for a dance!

Whenever this happened the PE teacher told the offender to remove his ‘slipper’, (his sandshoe) and bend over, then he was whacked hard across the bottom. I couldn’t look; you already know my view already on corporal punishment, and the humiliation that accompanies it!

I can still see the boy’s face afterwards though, shamefaced with embarrassment, because he knew that every single boy and girl, had been watching.

Needless to say, after that, we had some very well-behaved boys doing dance lessons, which always went without much of a hitch, being under threat of such punishment!

So, at our Christmas parties, not only did we have lively games, we were also asked up by the boys to dance, unless it was deemed Ladies' choice. My favourite was the Bradford Barn. You got to change your partner regularly.

I rather enjoyed those Christmas parties.