Cleanse your soul from the bottom up

My teacHINg career began in 1955 in a school on the outskirts of Sheffield. Nearby was the site of the Newton chambers works, where there was an engineering section making fireplaces and other domestic equipment, and a paper section that made the famous Izal toilet rolls, each shiny piece bearing the words: ‘Izal Medicated. Now wash your hands please.’ as part of their preparation for entry to the big wide world, the older pupils were taken on visits to various places of work, including Newton chambers, one of the largest employers in the area. I was put in charge of a group of 15-year-old girls on a tour of the paper mill (the boys went to the engineering works — you could do that in those days!) and we watched all stages of the process of turning wood pulp into neat rolls of shiny printed paper. the following day the pupils had to write an account of their visit and suggest what job they might want to do when they left school. the girls had a range of ambitions, from typist and tea lady to private secretary. But my favourite was the girl who wrote: ‘. . . and if I could work there I would like to meditate the toilet rolls.’ Several times in a long, often stressful teaching career, I have thought that perhaps she had the right idea.

Rita Taylor,

Hedon, E. Yorks.