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Pat Waller (nee Morton), born in 1936 at Birmingham, shares some childhood memories of the war and post-war periods with us, from a bygone time when she lived on the Wirral.
I went to Barnston Lane Junior School (now Moreton School) as a child, and well remember having to go into the school air raid shelters during air raids in WW2.
When the sirens went, we were all lined up in classes and marched into the shelters, where we sang songs. I think occasionally the teachers did try to do some teaching, but not very often, it was mainly community singing. To us it was great fun, but I imagine to the teachers it must have been a nightmare.
That Liverpool received a pasting during the war went without saying, but we lived on the Wirral and were relatively protected. Birkenhead across the Mersey from Liverpool was the target for the bombers, and I suspect these were the targets for the attacks.
As children we had no idea of the seriousness of the situation, and simply enjoyed being able to miss lessons!
Later, after the war ended, the same ground was used to create a kitchen garden, and I had my first gardening lessons there. I do not recall if the seeds ever achieved eatable status, but I do remember digging and planting seeds and watching them grow.
A love of growing things was put into a 'townie's' heart, which many years later developed into a passion for gardening.
We also used the same plot of land for our Arts lessons, and I remember becoming obsessed with the way that a branch would produce more and more little branchlets. My 'picture' resembled a web rather than a tree.
But I still remember my first 'masterpiece' and the kindly ex-army teacher who taught us to see beyond the obvious, though not his name. My form teacher at that time was a Miss Powell, who married and changed her name.
My next teacher was called Miss Banks, and the headmaster at that time was Mr. Hibberd.
We had to take the 'dreaded' 11+ exam, and were marshalled into the big hall where the desks were set out in straight rows. The exams took the whole morning, with another set in the afternoon.
We must have received coaching for them, but it seemed to have been part of the school curricula, as I do not recall it being the bugbear it became in later years. Just another exam. This was in the year 1947.
I passed from Barnston Lane, to go to Oldershaw High School. This was a very different kettle of fish to the cosy junior school. We had to go by bus from Moreton to Wallasey (about 5 miles).
In our satchels we carried the books we needed for homework -- and many and varied they were. Two hours of homework each night was the norm. I was very happy at both these schools and even though it was over half a century ago, I still remember the classrooms vividly.
Pat Waller, 2002
Pat later moved from 131 Borrowdale Road, Moreton to 54 Taylor Street, Chadderton, and went to Chadderton Grammar School before attending the Oldham School of Commerce.
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