Mr Gardiner was lovely and I was fortunate to have him teach me for both Class 5 and 6. When I left St Margaret's he granted me three wishes. I chose no hymn practice, extra points for the blue team (my team colour, so we won that week!) and to be teacher for the afternoon. And he actually agreed to it. I sat at his desk and ran the drama lesson whilst he sat in my tiny chair. I was even cheeky enough to ask for a cup of tea at playtime! Lovely memories and one of the boys in my class (not mentioning his name) gave me a kiss goodbye because I would never see him again. 
Although, who would have thought back then I would manage to find so many of these lovely friends, who I share some of my most precious childhood memories on Facebook! Good Old Facebook! The picture here is of my cousin's class 2 years below me, but I've put it on because of the teacher. Mrs Howarth was a fierce woman, but she was fair and encouraging when it was deserved. She praised me when I discovered I had a talent for art and produced a Plasticine Triceratops dinosaur, which some other kid squashed for whatever reason! I discovered Egypt and Hieroglyphs with Mrs Howarth, which is still a passion of mine today.
And I can still remember story time and the song of the prince who had secretly got horses ears, he was so ashamed of his secret, he whispered it to the reeds by the river. One day, a musician came along and picked the reeds and made a flute with them. He went to the Prince's court and played the flute for all to hear and all that came out of the flute was "March has horses ears!" Hahahahaaaa. Love that, still sing it now! I also had the great honour of impersonating Mrs Howarth at the famous Mr Purcell's Christmas play, which every child couldn't wait to be in his class because he always put on a blinding play that involved poking fun of the teachers through impersonating them! She came up to me afterwards, gave me a big hug and said, "I've seen many children impersonate over the years, but never one so good as you." Naturally I was very chuffed. 
So the picture opposite and above may look strange for a school, but St Margaret's was a Church of England School, so we were heavily involved with extra curricular activities outside of school time revolving around the church next door. When I look back, I realised that up to the age of 10, my life had been quite sheltered. Everything revolved around my family, the street I grew up on, the school I went to, the church and swimming and dancing lessons. Anyhoo, I don't know whether this was just a Northern Mill town thing, but all the churches had their annual Whit walks.
The Rose Queen and her attendants, Brownies, Guides, Cubs, Scouts, Brass Bands and Morris dancers used to walk around the streets of Heywood with their flags and banners, parading in their best clothes... (not sure why, now I question it as an adult, but as a kid I loved it!) Even more so when I got picked to carry my Brownie pack flag and walk at the front of the Pack! Great stuff.
I decided one day that I wanted a long, pretty dress to wear, like the Rose Queens attendants, so I asked my mum how I became one. She said I had to go to Sunday School to even be considered. So, off I went to St Margaret's Sunday School, never missing a single Sunday, unless I was at Brownie Church parade, which was excused, as I was a St Margaret's Brownie and Pupil. The day came when they announced the new Rose Queen and her attendants. I sat there in the school hall, excited to hear my name be called out because I was so sure I would be. You can imagine my dismay and disappointment when my name wasn't called.
When it was all over I looked at my friend, who had been chosen for the umpteenth time to be an attendent, she was like "Oh god, not again! I've got to wear yet another frumpy, ugly dress, humph." I was quite angry because I would've given my right arm to be in her shoes at that moment.
I went home that Sunday - sad, despondent, almost in tears. I told my mum about my friend, who didn't even like being a Rose Queen attendant. My mum's reply was, "Ah well, you see, Kerry's parents are heavily involved with the church and school. All the parents who have a vote pick their own children first." Thanks mum, you could have warned me of your own churchy, elitist cynicism before I spent a year working my ass off to try to reach for something that was totally achievable. And yes, I did try and persuade my mum to join the church committee! Naturally she said no because she wasn't an elitist. Needless to say, I gave up on Sunday School after that. 
Once a week, instead of assembly in the morning we had to attend a church service next door. I enjoyed it because it was different surroundings and we could sit on chairs like the grown ups, a pleasant change from sitting cross legged on a dusty, wooden floor. I loved the smell of the candles and all the pomp and ceremony that went with the hymns and communion. We held our harvest festivals here and I even made it into the local rag one year. I actually remember being chosen by the Heywood Advertiser photographer to sit among all the tins of food and baskets! 
We held our nativity plays here as well and although I would put my hand up to volunteer for the part of Mary every year, then the Arch Angel Gabrielle and then the little fairies, (I know there isn't fairies, but they had to give 30 kids something to do!) I always got chosen to be a sheep, cow, donkey and one year... a robin! Major insult! Anyhoo, I still loved the plays even if my speaking line was a "cheep cheep" or a "baaaaaah"! I went to Brownies at St Maggies too, but I have a separate post all about my love for Brownies and Guides, but it was in this hall. As like most Primary Schools it was the hub of school life.
Assemblies, Dinner time; and this was when we couldn't take pack lunches to school.You either ate what the dinnerladies force fed you, (which usually involved semolina or Ox offal) or you went home for dinner. As I got older, I was allowed home for lunch, but in my younger years, I had to endure the milky coffee with the skin on top and instant packet mash served with an ice cream scoop. I have other great memories of my time here:- learning to read my first words, whilst sitting in the cute little Wendy House in Class 1 and copying my friend, because I had no idea what the words said or what they meant... playing in the sand pit, painting with bubbles, milk breaks where we all got a little milk bottle and if it was really cold the milk would freeze and break the lid, but we still drank it, no health and safety back then!
Melanie Brown getting her leg stuck around an old lead pipe whilst playing hide and seek and firemen coming out to get her free, whilst she wailed like a banshee! Playing pirates in PE, basically all the green mats were put out as islands and the horse box, ropes and benches were boats and you had to run to safety before the pirates caught you in the water... (the floor) an elaborate game of tag with the Gym apparatus, but great fun! Getting up on stage at assembly for your birthday and blowing out the candle as the rest of the school sang happy birthday and counted the candles being lit. Heehee.
Learning about Native American Indians in the library, learning the Viola and watching the Space Shuttle take off at lunch time from those big telly's on wheels, which was rolled onto the stage whilst we ate. (I could go forever really, the memories are flooding back as I write.)
Singing my favourite song in assembly "Sing -a Loud" which I've only just found on the internet... Oh the joys of the information highway! Learning to play the recorder in Class 4 and pretending to be ill so I didn't have to go out at playtime so I could stay in with my friend, who really was ill. I got home that afternoon and mum's like "lift up jumper," I'm like, "Why?" Mum whilst inspecting my tummy, "Christine's mum's just called and said she has chicken pox. She mentioned you weren't well either." I'm like.... 'OMG!'I'm so busted' I had my fingers crossed as my mum began inspecting my whole body. Low and behold I had them too! Result! I was so happy I had a disease! So, if you have kids and they are suddenly ecstatically happy because they're ill, it's probably because they've been up to no good and been telling big, fat, porky pie lies to their teacher!
Bring and buy sales in the school hall where I'd always bring home some manky old toy that would mysteriously disappear the next day. I remember bringing home a furry womble with no eyes, It was a hideous thing, but I thought it was cute. I guess it was donated to the dustbin on bin day. Sports day at St Margaret's, I was always good at obstacle race, but as I'm not very athletically built, the egg and spoon race, three legged race, sack race, the sprint, I was always really rubbish at and to be fair, I didn't like sports day all that much, except that it got me out of the classroom for an afternoon. As it is very warm and sunny as I write, it reminds me of those special classes, where we were allowed to sit outside in the sunshine and do our drawings or activities.
Finally, my adoration for stories told in many formats, including Mr Purcell in Class 6 playing Jeff Waynes War of The Worlds on his record player. I was so excited when it was first releasedon CD and I still listen to it regularly now. I loved it and went away with two friends to the storage cupboard and a taperecorder and wrote and produced our very own ghost story (complete with sound effects) for the class to listen to. I guess that's when I noticed my passion for writing creepy stories. I particular enjoyed the Television programmes we were allowed to watch as part of our learning. The huge TV used to live on the stage or in the staff room, so I always felt it a special treat to get out of the classroom and enjoy learning in a different environment. But more of TV programmes in a later blog.
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