The teachers
in the back row from right to left are Mrs Wheeler, Miss Whelan, the
Headmistress, Mrs Edwards (I think this is her name) who taught
kindergarten and the last teacher I cannot remember her name but she taught
ballet and elocution (both I think). I have been trying to remember
exactly.
I am the girl sitting in front of Mrs Wheeler
in the 2nd row with what looks like a bow in my hair.
The photo it taken in the back garden of the school. There was a huge bush
that you can see in the background which I think was a rose bush and as
children it was great to play in.
Miss
Whelan lived at the school.
Both myself and my two sisters went to Damien
school in the fifties. Anne is in the picture on the site, Maryalice and I
attended the school a few years after her. It was a wonderful school.
Beth Mason
This was a
small school run in an ordinary 3 bedroom house by Miss Whelan. She was
Irish and of the kind but firm sort. I was there from probably 1952 -
1957. There were 3 classes with an age range from 5-11. So ages
ranges were mixed within the classes. Mrs Edwards taught the little
ones. I remember lovely stories, plastecene the colour of mud to play
with, and a sung grace before we went home for lunch: "Thank you for the
flowers so sweet, thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the birds
that sing, thank you God for everything."
That class
was in what would have been the lounge. Upstairs in two of the bedrooms
were the two older classes. In the top class we had lots of desks of
varying heights, a big map of the colonies in red on the wall and a
blackboard. Spelling tests at the end of the week were marked in blue
and gold points on a chart. We had 'French cards' on Friday afternoons
- 'voulex-vous me donner le....'. The poor woman also taught us
knitting - we did tea cosies in two colours. Chaos. But basically we
were prepared for the 11+ exam, very effectively.
Nearly
everybody went home at 12 o'clock for lunch, walking for the most part
by ourselves. One or two unfortunates had to stay for a packed lunch
but we all felt sorry for them. Then back at 2.00 until 3.30.
We put our
coats etc. in the garage and then walked in through the kitchen, where
our 1/3 pints of milk were gently warming on the boiler.
Playtime was
spent on a tiny concrete terrace in front of the house, unless the grass
had been tested by the back of Miss Whelan's hand and pronounced dry.
Then we had the rest of the garden, all grass with a huge rose bush at
the bottom, between us and the railway. Only daring girls went behind
this, and they got shouted at.
At break we
played skipping in big groups with a long rope; also some lucky girls
had their own small skipping ropes; 2 balls was popular, bounced against
the wall; big group games of 'releasio' and other versions of tag ran
for weeks. If you didn't want to play you had to shout 'feinitz'. I
have no idea why or what it means or where it comes from, but it worked!
There were
about 60 of us, and we had a safe and careful education there. I loved
it, and then went on to a convent in Hammersmith on a prestigious 'out
of county' scholarship, so it clearly worked!
I hope this
is what you wanted. I found that very detailed memories came back to me
as I thought about this little school. Great fun!
Debbie Bone
(nee Ollett)
