& No 5 School
St Helier Estate
The grounds were large and had some lovely 'conker' trees! We used to climb in over the back railings and with some heavy sticks which we threw up to bring down the conkers. It was quite a thrill to split open the prickly green shell to find the glistening brown conker inside.
( See photo below. )
These were then drilled through the centre to enable a string to be threaded through, then you were ready to play. It was considered cheating to soak them in vinegar, or to bake them in the oven.
It is very nice to see that there are still conker fans in this country and that they run a world championships!
The residents association used to run a Christmas Loan Club here which meant a weekly visit to pay in our subs. At the beginning of the year you would state how many shares you wanted, which would cost 6d each (that is about 2 1/2 pence decimal) . I used to have five shares for 2/6 a week. During the year you were allowed to take out a loan, say �20 for holidays, which you then paid back with a small interest added, this was how the money in the bank increased. Come December it was payout time! We all went down on a certain evening to collect our savings for the year. The more loans that had been made the more we got back per share. It was great having some money for Christmas. I doubt if the club is still going.
Just across the road was the school I and all my family attended. All the schools on the Estate were numbered from 1 to 10, The Holy Family Catholic School was No 5. You entered the school in the nursery going right through the school until you left in the seniors! So you had the same mates right through the school. There were a number of Nuns who taught in the infant and Junior school, they were very nice. there was Sister Ann, Sister Theresa, Sister Maria and Sister Benignus the headmistress. I can remember being in the nursery ! so I must have been 4 years old. I even have the odd memory of even earlier years. It is strange how you are able to recall certain events in your life while others pass you by!
During the war the playground was ripped up and they built about twenty air raid shelters. These were marvellous to play on, we use to have races over them. Eventually there were only about fifty pupils of us there while the evacuations were going on, in fact this went down to less than twenty during 1944. We had no lessons, so we were in the playground all day except for the air raids when we were hurried down the shelters. I was evacuated with my sister in 1944, I have detailed this on another page. When I left in 1948 at 15 years old, I was given a bible by the headmaster Mr Mann .
My school photo taken when I was in 4b is below. The teacher is Mr Flynn who was very strict and gave me the cane many times! Thats me in the second row, fourth from the right just behind Mr Flynn's left shoulder.
and how to play the game!!click pic
on Ray's Nostalgia.
