Schooldays are often thought to be the best days of our lives and Mount Pleasant School certainly had a special significance for reader Dave Anderson.
He was inspired by the recollections of the school in wartime by Brian Smith from Netherthong which the Examiner published a while back.
Dave started there in the autumn of 1942 and Mount Pleasant’s reception class included two playmates, David Mellor and Malcolm Arnold, who lived near him.
Dave, who now lives in Kent, said: “From the age of five the three of us used to walk together down Woodside Road into Thornhill Road, across the footbridge over the railway (usually waiting long enough to be enveloped in sulphurous steam) and eventually into Victoria Road and School – a distance of over a mile.
“The ‘school run’ in those days was when we were late, usually after lingering over the railway to get an engine number. An alternative route took us down Hanson Lane into Meltham Road where the much pleasanter smells were those of hops and malt from Seth Smiths’ brewery.
“For the (uphill) return twice a day, fortunately there was a school bus, complete with latticed shading on the windows as part of the wartime ‘blackout.’
“At home time the shop on the corner of Mount Street and Victoria Road had penny apples or halfpenny pieces of liquorice root to chew on the bus. Back home for tea at 5pm there was Children’s Hour on the Home Service including Uncle Mac, Auntie Vi and adventures such as Bunkle Began It introduced by Elgar’s Chanson du matin and starring the late Billie Whitelaw. There was no homework to be done in those days.”
Dave added: “For the Infant school’s morning assembly we sat in rows on the floor of the hall. On Monday mornings the teacher collected five pence milk money and, for those eating school dinners, two shillings and a penny for the week. Morning milk came in a small glass bottle with a card top, removed by depressing the centre circle. Used tops were recycled in the craft lesson by threading wool through the hole and then cutting it to make a pom-pom.
“One day we had a fire drill and were all taken to the dank air raid shelters specially built in the middle of a cobbled road (since disappeared) off Mount Street. Everyone chose a bunk bed and we hung about until the drill was over. Fortunately our class never experienced an actual air raid.
“Fire was a constant fear at that time. The muddy playground at the side of the school was partly closed off for an emergency reservoir tank. At the time these wartime arrangements all seemed quite normal as we had not known anything else. A vivid memory is sitting in Miss Dews’ class doing sums on May 9, 1945 when the announcement was made that Germany had surrendered and the war was over.
“Progressing to the junior school, Mr Beaumont remained the headteacher. The morning assembly in the hall was memorable for the piano music played by the deputy head, Mr Whitehead. As the classes arrived and dispersed before and after assembly he played pieces that turned out to be by Elgar, Chopin, Schubert, etc, although I didn’t know it at the time.
“In class we sat in double desks with lift-up lids and two ink wells for the dip-in pens. Girls tended to sit with girls and boys with boys.
“My desk partner on the back row was Billy Fenwick. One day, after some misbehaviour we were both sent to Mr Beaumont for punishment. Fortunately, he decided to spare the rod on that occasion although the cane or slipper was used fairly often in those days. Another memory is that a school choir was formed and we sang Brother James’ Air one evening in Huddersfield Town Hall, as part of a schools concert.
“The winter of 1947 was very cold and snowy. The milk often arrived frozen solid and had to be thawed out near the radiators and there were great banks of snow piled up on both sides of Victoria Road.
“That summer, at home time one day, some of us caught the Number 10 trolley bus from Lockwood Road to Fartown where Yorkshire were playing a County Championship match. Allowed free entry, we sat on the grass just beyond the boundary and watched Bill Bowes send down his fast Yorkers until close of play. I can still recall his high, upright bowling action.
“Other recreations at the weekend included visits to the Saturday matinees at the Excelda to watch westerns, followed by a bag of chips from the fish shop next door. Leaving Mount Pleasant one day in the summer of 1948 during the Olympic Games I recall hearing a radio commentary from Wembley while I was buying a cornet in Rhodes Creamy Ices in Swan Lane – a double treat since ice-cream had been scarce during the war.
“During the last two years, taught first by Mr Middlemiss and then a lady whose name eludes me, the focus was on the Eleven plus exam.
“In class we practised reading out loud, writing, mathematics and some history and geography such as naming the counties of England and the members of the Commonwealth. We sat the exam at single desks in long rows in the hall one morning.
“Like Brian, I passed and chose to go to Almondbury Grammar School, as did my neighbours David and Malcolm.”
