TB Treasured letters and comics from schoolmates
BRISTOL Times readers may be interested in my childhood growing up in Knowle. My parents had bought a house in 1932 in Buller Road (for £900) – my sister Anne was born in 1935, I was born in 1938 and my brother Chris was born in 1944.
We survived the war, with my father being in the Home Guard – we had an Anderson Shelter in the back garden early in the war, followed later by a Morrison Shelter installed in the dining room.
I started school in 1944 at Knowle Park Infants School. However, in September 1948, I became very ill, and was taken to hospital. It turned out to be TB. Had it been diagnosed immediately, I might have been sent to a Sanatorium, but there was a new drug Streptomycin, and my parents had to approve my being given the drug.
I was put on the open air balcony of Budd Ward in the BRI, where over the next 4-5 months, I had injections every 6 hours in my backside. My rear was like a pin cushion! While I was there, Mrs Wright, the teacher of what would have been my class at the Junior School, got 23 girl and boy pupils to write to me and send comics.
I still have those letters beautifully written in pen and ink on lined paper which I treasure. May I quote some of the comments? (Spelling mistakes left in.)
“on Friday afternoons, the boys play football and the girls do country dancing. We did some tests and Valerie was top and Shirley was bottom” (I have omitted the surnames!)
“Every night we do homework not very much”
“I am sorry I have not sent you any comics only my mother won’t let me have any”
“Mrs Wright said she would take us out for a walk to Masknowle Tump”
“As you know we have got Mrs Wright and she’s OK”
“When you come home, you will be able to play with my Dinkey’s and other toys”
“Mr Grimes takes us for Geomatary on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’m sorry sounding like a timetable”
“We have homework from the “Train and test for Juniors” and it is very interesting, so buck up and get well And come charging back pell mell”
“Mrs Wright is a very nice teacher and doesn’t make us do homework unless we want to.”
“In the school there are new books for us to read and Mr Ashworth bought an expensive dictionary especially for us”
“We have three wireless lessons, History, Singing and a lesson called How Things Began”
“We do lots of things in this class which we did not do in Mr Bone’s class. Football Friday afternoons and Saturdays; nature walks, swimming at Jubillee baths, we grow bulbs which we paid for ourself and are our very own”
“We won the first footer match of the season against Holy Cross. The school is still the same except that the annex is finished (the hut)”
“We still have miss Francis for singing and we have had some fun lately. I have to wear goggles now with pink rims”
After five months in hospital, I then spent five months at home in bed. When I had recovered, having been in bed so long, I had to learn to walk again as my legs were so weak.
Having missed the 11-Plus exam, I then went to Wells Road Secondary School for two years followed by three years at Bristol Commercial School and at 16 I started work at John Harvey & Sons in Denmark Street.
I have recently been in contact with Knowle & Totterdown History Society who indicate that some of these school boys/girls may still be around.
I hope when things get back to normal, I will be able to get to one or more of their meetings.
John Broughton
Nailsea
Time for the naughty step?
As ever I have enjoyed reading through Bristol Times especially with the old Bristol photographs (BT, Jan 12). Many fond memories are raised as most are my “era”.
However, are you correct with location of market scene on page 5 said to be the fruit and veg market, British Road, Bedminster.
Having worked in the Corn Street area for several years this looks to me more like the market behind Corn Street and bordering High Street.
The archway on the left looks as though it is the one exiting out onto High Street. I may be wrong and apologise if I am, but this does bring back memories of strolling through the market during my lunch hour past the various flower stalls etc on the right under the stairs. Keep up the good work – a great weekly nostalgic read.
Paul Davies
Downend
Editor’s reply: You are not wrong, Mr Davies. We looked at the page again and realised that we got the picture captions for St Nick’s Market and the stall on British Road the wrong way round, something I should have spotted at the proofreading stage but didn’t. We apologise to readers for this mistake. If anyone needs me, I’ll be on the Naughty Step.
Wonderful times af zoo
NO doubt many of you, particularly those living in the Bristol area, are aware of recent reports in the media of changes being considered by and to Bristol Zoo Gardens.
The main message is that the present Bristol Zoo site in Clifton will be closed and the Bristol Zoological Society’s operations will be moved to the more recent development, Wild Place, a drive of around 20 minutes out of Bristol.
The modern, responsible zoo has increasing potential to contribute to the conservation of animal species and, indeed, the natural world, in the fields of education, science and recreation and I believe that the new management at Bristol Zoo Gardens should receive full public support for its proposals.
In an updated form and at a great location, the Bristol Zoo organisation will no doubt have every opportunity to develop a multi-faceted conservation organisation to meet new standards.
I make the above points partly because Bristol Zoo was an important influence in my life in my teens
Mr Golding still gets emails from Nigeria, and photos, such as this one of a young visitor to Ibadan Zoo holding and touching a royal python. He attached an email from a woman in Nigeria, part of which reads:
“I was born in Ibadan and I attended the International School Ibadan (1972-1978). It was always a joy to visit the University of Ibadan Zoo and I have fond memories of these visits. To my siblings and I you were a super hero! Why? On one of our outings to the zoo, we watched you drape a python around your neck. That was an unforgettable moment! I later learnt that you had pythons living in your apartment!! Growing up, the zoo was a place I always looked forward to visiting. My memories of the zoo from my childhood are wonderful and enduring. Your pictures bring to mind the good times we spent at the zoo in its days of glory.” and indeed subsequently. Let me explain:
In my mid-teens I developed a deep interest in reptiles and because of this started to visit Bristol Zoo every few weeks, usually on a Saturday morning. I could catch a bus very near my home in Downend and be at the Zoo within forty minutes or so.
I gradually came to know the zoo’s senior reptile keeper, Alf Elliott, with whom I chatted now and then about the reptiles I kept at home in a large, carefully adapted display cabinet.
One day Alf invited me, for the first time, into the central service area of the zoo’s reptile house from where there was access to each of the many separate reptile units or vivariums.
I followed Alf over to the far side of the service room where he opened the top of one of the snake cages, leaned in and, with one swift movement, picked up a small, beautifully marked royal python and placed it in my open hands.
I shall never forget the thrill of that moment – pure, undiluted delight that is not easy to describe or translate into words but which remains for ever in one’s memory. The royal python as a species has had a special place in my heart ever since.
Soon after this, during one of my Saturday morning visits to the zoo, I was surprised to be asked by Alf Elliott if I would like to work in the reptile house during my school holidays.
What?!
I gathered later that Alf had discussed this idea with Bert Jones, the head keeper, and that it had been approved by the zoo director,
Mr Reg Greed. I remember Bert, having then discussed the matter with me, looking at me and saying, “Ten Bob a day OK?”
I could hardly believe what I was hearing! So for two or three years after this I spent my entire school Easter and summer holidays working in the zoo’s reptile house with Alf and gained not only a lot of valuable experience in the care and display of exotic reptiles but also an initial glimpse into in the management of a public visitor attraction.
I was able to balance time needed for GCE O and A/S levels at school, time spent on my reptile hobby at home and work at Bristol Zoo, and the fact that the zoo paid me ten shillings a day was just an amazing bonus!
Many years later, when I was the zoo director at the University of Ibadan Zoological Garden in Nigeria,
I built a basic reptile pit as a sort of test exhibit and, later, a fullblown reptile house.
Both of these exhibits were very popular with visitors, including school parties. We sometimes allowed some of the children to touch or hold – yes – a royal python! And sometimes, as I watched a child handling a royal python, my mind returned to Bristol Zoo and the day Alf Elliott dropped that python gently into my hands ...
Editor’s note: What a wonderful story! Many thanks for this to Mr Golding. If readers would like to read his stories about the Zoological Garden in West Africa and some of the animals, people and places there (plus the tale of the Leigh Woods Python!) see www.bobgolding.uk