First & second grade - Mrs Strang

Mrs Strang was my teacher for both first and second grades. My really happy time at Infants' School was over. We moved out of the airy kindergarten room into a grim brick building with windows so high you had to stand on tiptoe to look out. I'm sure the designers of schools in those days decided children shouldn't be distracted by being able to see out. The rooms were high and there were special poles with hooks on the end that opened the top windows. In the corner at the front where the teacher had her desk was a tiny fireplace which in winter received a daily shovelful of coal put in by the janitor before we all arrived. In the opposite corner was a big cupboard that held all the goodies such as books, pencils, paper and chalk.

The wooden double desks were in rows and were screwed to the floor. Each desk had a seat attached which could be folded up with a loud crash. The desks at the front were lower than those at the back of the room so you were seated where you fitted. You were really lucky if you were the same size as a friend because that meant the possibility of sitting together. We had to practise sliding in and out of the seats without making a loud crash if the seat flipped up. Mrs Strang would cane noisy stander uppers. We would always have to stand if an adult came into the room so there was plenty of opportunity for banging the seats and being caned.

We were forbidden to talk. You could be caned for that. We had to be neat. You could be caned for any number of reasons and I was always terrified. I would suffer just as much as a caning victim and had nightmares for the two years I was in Mrs Strang's class.

Luckily Mrs Strang liked me so I never really got into trouble. I was too frightened to be naughty anyway. One day Mrs Strang heard my friend Vicki call me Gabi (pronounced in the German way - Garby) and was absolutely furious. She said that my full name Gabriele was beautiful and that if she ever heard anyone calling me Gabi they would be caned. It had such a profound effect on me I remained Gabriele all through school and even for my first few years of teaching.

Teaching in the 1950s was very different from what it is today. There was a lot of rote work, which is still the best way to learn times tables I think, but reading was a chore. All the class had the same reader whatever the ability, and we all read the same page at the same time although each person had a turn at reading aloud. I sweated blood fearing I might not know a word and suffered with those who struggled, particularly as Mrs Strang would stand beside the person having a hard time whacking the desk with her ruler for emphasis. It was ghastly.

You could get a star on your hand if you brought in flowers. We had lots of flowers at Clitheroe so I often brought in posies. My work was also always neat and I drew well so I was classed as a 'pet'. That didn't make a scrap of difference, I was always scared anyway.

One day Mrs Strang announced that it was her birthday and told us to sing 'Happy Birthday to You' as she conducted. We all obliged of course and then some bright spark asked how old she was. "21", she answered. Afterwards in the playground there was much discussion if Mrs Strang was actually 21. I adamantly insisted she must be 21, she was a teacher and she would never tell a lie! I obviously didn't have any concept of age. My mother told me years later that Mrs Strang was certainly 'over the hill and far away'.

Upstairs was a young teacher who was even crazier than Mrs Strang. She belted one of the boys and then locked him in the cupboard for the rest of the day. Thank goodness things have changed. My parents didn't dream of complaining about the terrible treatment and when I cried and didn't want to go to school they told me to behave myself so I wouldn't get into trouble.

We were allowed to stand in front of the class and hold up any lost property. This was where my friend Vicki and I did the 'naughtiest' thing we ever did. We would take turns and hold up each other's hanky saying we had found this and ask if it belonged to anyone. Either she or I would claim it back.

Mrs Strang chose me to stand up in front of assembly to count to 100 in German. Also I was 'the queen' in a parade we had. My father made beautiful golden crowns for the 'king' and 'queen' and the whole parade was filmed. I wish that film would resurface somewhere but I guess it was lost eons ago.

Mrs Strang was obviously being kind to me but I was constantly frightened. The way she treated other children was nothing less than cruel. I was always shy in a school situation after being in her class. When I think about it, it is amazing that I became a teacher. I did want to make learning an enjoyable experience for children. Perhaps my career choice was thanks to Mrs Dawney and a reaction to Mrs Strang.