Fond memories of school days

Two former pupils have contacted us about our articles on Whitnash School (Nostalgia, March 7 and 14).
Pupils outside old Whitnash School 1940sPupils outside old Whitnash School 1940s
Pupils outside old Whitnash School 1940s

Jean Morgan emailed to say she was interested in the old photos of the school.

She said: “One of the photos was definitely taken in the 1950s and not the 1940s as I recognise some of the people as being classmates, even though I can’t see myself. I was born in 1946.

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“I am also confused about the opening of ‘Whitnash New School 1963’. We were moved to the new school building in about 1956 and we had a headmaster.”

Margaret Goodman (nee James) of Coundon, Coventry, also wrote to clarify when the photos were taken.

She said: “The picture of children seated in front of the old school building was taken about 1953-4 and we were in Mrs Maycock’s class. I am the fair-haired girl on the left of the back row, and the girl next to me (second left) was my friend Susan Taylor. The girl seated on the left of the front row is, I think, Kathleen Rainford. The boy on the right of the front row, with a metal calliper on his leg, is Graham King. The boy second right is Robert Dingley and third right is Christopher Leacock. I think the girl with the plaits may be Beryl Lines.

“I don’t remember the picture being taken, or know why it was taken, but I do have a vivid recollection of standing in that playground in front of the school with a group of children. It was a hot, sunny day and Mrs Maycock asked us ‘Why do we have shadows?’. I think a girl called Catherine Hardy gave her the answer. Perhaps the photograph was taken when we were having an outdoor science lesson.

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“With reference to the picture of staff at the school, Mrs Ingram used to teach the infants, or what is now called Reception, in the small white building at the rear of the main school. She was a lovely teacher and used to call us her ‘little people’ - a term I would remember when bringing up my own three children, thereby giving them the respect they deserved.

“Mrs Lambert taught the final year pupils in the old St Margaret’s Hall and gave us a thorough grounding in maths and English grammar before we moved on to secondary school. Mrs Maycock, too, was a lovely teacher - very homely and motherly and I still think of her with affection to this day.

“We were also taught at times in the old WI hut. We eventually moved into the new school in Masters Road in September 1956.”

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