Miss Farley stopping the girls from competing in hurdles as it would affect our child bearing organs. This after we had been doing it for a couple of years.
Playing pile-on against the brick outcrop by the south doors. We would all line up and push as hard as we could until we had pushed the first person out of the way and we would keep doing this to try and get to the front of the line and be pushed out in turn.
Playing alleys against the playground wall and hearing the different cries "get it with your alley and your own alley back" There were pot alleys and cat's eyes which were the best to get and some alleys where if you hit it you would get 10 alleys back. The cement had pits and cracks so you would have to be quite good to hit things. The distance from the line where you aimed depended on the value or the number of alleys being given. You didn't dare put a finger over the line, which was a join in the cement.
Going with the whole school to plant hundreds of trees on the slope on Blythwood Road (given to us by the Ministry) and a couple of years later seeing it all torn up and the trees destroyed to put in fencing. Up till that time most of us from Mount Pleasant to Yonge St. would walk up the hill from Blythwood.
Riding my bicycle down the hill in the rain and falling off and being taken home in the side car of a policeman's motorcycle.
Being petrified of Mr. Godbold in Grade seven. We always had math after recess and he would ask questions and direct them at anyone. I could never answer quick questions like that and he made me feel like an idiot. I could never enjoy recess on those days and it was almost more than I could bear to get in line to go into the school.
The time we locked Mr. Barton out of the classroom on April Fool's day He was out for a good hour and then he held a projector up to the office window and so we let him back in and sang "For he's a jolly good fellow" whereupon he projected "April Fool's" on the screen.
The time we had a supply teacher and we all stood up and sang "If we knew you were coming we'd have baked a cake"
All the assemblies and concerts that we put on with all the teachers' help. I recited Flanders Fields each year for about five years on Remembrance Day, and we had choirs and plays and visiting pianists. Also the square dances we had every Friday night starting in about Grade five and the walking home at night with a boyfriend, something that probably wouldn't be allowed now. I went to a square dance this year in the country and I could still remember all the steps from those square dances at Blythwood. Those square dances were also where we learned regular dancing. The boys would line up against one wall and girls along another and at the right moment there would be a rush from the boys side to get the girl they wanted for the next dance.
Having penny drives. There would be long lines of tape through the halls and up the stairs and everyone would place pennies on the tape and try to get all the tape in the school filled, and then the pennies would be collected and given to charity. Probably something you couldn't do today, either as the money would disappear.
Having drives for baskets and hangers which would be collected and sold for the war effort The baskets would be lined up several layers thick against the playground walls. Also newspaper drives for the same thing.
The smell of the school in September, when the floors had all been newly oiled and looked and smelled good.
My first year of teaching at Sackville School and having lots of the students wearing Blythwood t-shirts and camp Oconto ones. Another clothing charity drive at Blythwood for the downtown schools.
