St Mary's March 2018 Magazine

Memories of a Finedon
Schoolboy
Some years ago, 20 years plus, I
asked Eric Chapman, Bryan’s Father,
to write a few reminisces of his school
days in Finedon as an interest to our
school children at the time. I found the
article recently and would like to
share it with readers.
Jane Read
Memories of my childhood days
during my four years at Finedon
Junior School Boys School
1923 – 27.
First of all may I begin by stating
when and where I was born, being
Saturday 13 th November 1915 at
4-10am at 54 Well Street, opposite
the ‘Pam’, The Waterloo Club, later a
Tannery run by Messer’s Sexton and
Cox.
Having jumped out of bed, sometimes
later than others, a quick breakfast
then off to school, which was a good
mile from the top of Well Street.
The Finedon Junior Boys School was
situated at the top of Church Hill, now
a home occupied by Mr and Mrs
Philip Powis, (now occupied by Mr
and Mrs Phillips).
The headmaster at the time was Mr
William Taylor with Mr Harry Hinton
as deputy.
How did we go to school in those
days. We had to walk or leap frog or
with a dicky stick, some of us had a
steel hoop with a hook made by Mr
George York the towns blacksmith,
price 3 pence in old money.
No bicycles or cars in those days,
parents could not afford those
luxuries.
Having arrived at school at about
8.45am, stopping half way down the
High Street, run up the Old Post
Office steps, peer through the
windows to look at the clock on the
wall opposite to see how much time
we had left to get to school.
It is now probably about 10 minutes to
nine, out comes Mr Hinton with the
school bell, one ring and we all stood
still motionless, second ring and we
all line up in our classes order in
single files, right turn into the
classrooms we go.
Many amusing incidents occurred
during my Junior School days. I very
well remember one, when I was a
little naughty in Mr Taylors class.
He called me out in front of the class
for talking, laid me across his knee
and it seemed ages before his hand
came down to slap my bottom, yes!
All the boys were laughing and
giggling, what for? Just because I
had about five inches of shirt showing
through a hole in my short trousers!
I remember one boy sliding down an
icy surface of the playground on a
cold winters day. He couldn’t stop
and slid into the wall at the bottom of
the playground and made a nasty
gash in his forehead.
Another incident that happened in the
class room was when Mr Taylor left
the class for a few minutes to go to
his house which is now occupied by
Mr Margaret Pettitt.
Well between the classroom and the
cloakroom was a wooden partition
with cracks in it that Mr Taylor could
peep through and it was one of those
days when he did peep, most of the
boys were throwing blotting paper
soaked in ink at one another when all
of a sudden Mr Taylor’s voice rang
out. ‘Stop it! Stop it! at once Smith,
Jones, Brown come out to the front’.
Mr Taylor enters with the cane and a
stroke across each hand for each of
these boys. Oh yes the cane was
used often in those days. Well one of
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