School was never closed by snow but we still had our fun

LAST weekend, there were a couple of centimetres of snow onto dry ground that first allowed it to settle and then to freeze. It brought back memories of my childhood when a thin fall of snow was simply a delight that meant we could throw snowballs as we walked to school. I do not think schools ever closed in those days.

I did wonder if the very large snowfall in 1947 caused schools to close, but I was only four and yet to start school. I am confident my primary school did not close during the seven years I was a pupil there. I think all the teachers lived close and simply walked in. I do know none had cars, so bus/bike/by foot were the only way to get to work.

I do remember we had radiators – great big things that were filled with hot water supplied by a massive coke-fired boiler that was stoked up by the caretaker. The job of that radiator was to warm the classrooms – but for the pupils, warming the one-third bottle of milk we got every day which arrived cold and was heated by being put on the radiator in each classroom.

In those far-off days we all went home at what was called dinnertime. Fathers were working locally and duly came home to the main meal of the day, which was at dinnertime. After that meal, dad went back to work, ensuring he got to the factory before the works hooter went, and we walked back to school for the second half of the day.

My dad sadly died when I was in year 5, and that meant I was entitled to a free school dinner thereafter. If the school had been closed because of the snow, not only would I have not had my dinner, but my mother would also have missed out as she got a job as a dinner lady and got fed as well.

We had 20 schools closed in Derbyshire during this little bit of snow… who prepared the free meals for children in those schools?

Life moved on when I started my secondary school. My mum had remarried, but we had not moved to the point where we owned a car. My school was about a mile and a half from home... but not on a bus route. Whatever the weather, I had only two choices of transport – I either walked or rode there on my bike. I never minded the bike as I got a new one as a reward for passing the 11 Plus. I wonder how many readers can remember the bike bribe for passing that key exam in the February before starting secondary school. All parents were reminded that a bike was due when a letter came home advising that the cycling proficiency tests were about to take place. I am pretty sure primary schools still run the cycling proficiency training – but not as a bribe for a new bike!

I visited my old secondary school ten years or so after I had started college. The 300 or 400 bikes that always filled the bike sheds when I was a pupil were no longer there and the head told me that a bus service was now provided and pupils no longer were expected to make their trip to school other than by bus or parent’s car.

My clearest memory of the occasional snowy morning during secondary school remains my bike ride to get there early enough to get on the slide that had been created in the playground. If I had not fallen off my bike on my ride in, I could join the queue for the slide. We always rushed out for another go at break time, but by then the school caretaker had ruined our fun by spreading ash on the slide.

My clearest memory of the occasional snowy morning remains my bike ride to get there early enough to get on the slide that had been created in the playground.