Fawcett School

Memories of a student in the 1950s

By Keith Blunt

I have been reading the comments regarding Fawcett School, and as an ex-student way back in the 1950's it brought back a lot of memories.

Remembering the teachers
I certainly remember some of the teachers like Mr. Lane, whose favorite trick was throwing chalk at inattentive students, and Mr. Bond, who vainly tried to teach us the violin. If you were not paying attention and he felt that his strap would not be sufficient punishment, he would send you off to get a more lethal one from another teacher.

Art lessons
I forget the name of our art teacher, but  I liked him because he would send us out for the afternoon to sketch whatever we wished. My efforts were miserable but who cared! It got us out of class for an afternoon. There was one boy in my class who was an incredible artist, so I would tag along with him and try to copy what he was drawing. My effort looked as though someone had thrown up on my drawing pad, and his looked as though it should be hanging up in a museum. I think his name was John Heath and I often wonder if he made a career in art?

My best times
Although I was a lousy student, I wasn't bad at athletics, so my best times were at the Preston Park Cricket Grounds for the local schools' competitions. My wife, who is famous for never throwing anything away, still has some old certificates. Note that there are none for academic acheivement.