Stan Whaley's brief period at Upton St.Mary's in 1918

I can’t remember how and when I learned to read and write, but it must have been quite early and I seem to have had no problems. Mum was keen to make a scholar of me and gave me excellent private tuition and Dad enjoyed nothing more than being a Secretary.

So I was allowed to start school before my fifth birthday and thought it wonderful. Dad arrived home on discharge from the Army on April 17th 1918 and one of his first decisions was to agree with Mum’s plea to let me go to school immediately. I had probably become a big handful and before the end of that month I was gladly enrolled at Upton School. This was easily arranged in that our two girl neighbours. Mabel Fletcher, aged 8, and Phyllis aged 6 were already walking there twice a day and they rather proudly took possession of me. They gave me much juvenile advice on what to do and what not to do - and for girls were surprisingly knowledgeable in such matters as the best sections of hedgerows to find birds nests and how to test the speed of approaching horses by putting your ear to the ground.

The delightfully winding Upton Lane was bordered by tall trees all the way and as yet was almost completely undisturbed by cars.

Upton St Mary’s C of E School was a well built place with three classrooms, separate entrances and yards for boys and girls, and a pleasant red brick Headmaster’s house where dwelt the tall thin austere Mr Hacker. He looked severe and authoritarian and conducted morning and afternoon services frigidly and traditionally. But I don’t think he ever spoke a single word to me and I was the concern of Miss Homes, teacher of the infants. I remember her as a small, mousy fussy teacher who made me sit on the front row and must have regarded me with some suspicion.

I can recall only one incident during my stay under her jurisdiction. It was a handwork lesson and each pupil had been given a square piece of coloured paper and a pair of blunt scissors to cut it with. I cannot understand now what the object of the exercise could have been, but we were instructed to draw a circle inside the square and then to cut a fringe half an inch deep around the circumference of the circle. This must have taken approximately two minutes. But Miss Jones had disappeared and as we waited with increasing impatience for her return, and further instructions, we quickly became bored. Then as a diversion, the small bright boy who shared my desk suggested cutting off the fringe and throwing the bits at the boys in the next desk. This we did, and it was easy to cut another fringe so that teacher would not notice. So, to obtain more ammunition, we had to repeat the operation, and with all the class joining in, our pieces of paper were soon reduced to miserable scraps the size of a sixpence and there was a fair amount of litter on the floor. When Miss Jones finally did reappear she was furious - I have often wondered where she went - and all the culprits were called out to the front to be caned. Because of my strategic position I was dealt with first and had to hold out my hand while she slapped it with a ruler. I am afraid that I laughed. There must be few children today who can claim that they were caned before their fifth birthday, at school.

As my parents were both strict disciplinarians, I did not report my demeanour when I got home, but there must have been many things about Miss Jones about which they disapproved. I probably learned and repeated several naughty words from the other children - they were certainly uninhibited. So at the end of the year, despite the expense and my reluctance to loose the company of Mabel and Phylis, I was sent to a small, refined, expensive and quite useless private school held in a house on Hoole Road, This was a good mile away from Mona Villa and to save Mum a lot of additional walking, we got into the habit of Dad taking me on the carrier of his bicycle. This was great fun. But the school itself made no impact on me whatsoever, and the only lesson I vaguely recall was a sissy sort of dancing practice with some girls.