Woolton County Primary School - unofficial website for past pupils

I attended the school from the late fifties until my 11+ exam in 1963. I then spent a very short time (not short enough!) at Holt High School before leaving permanently for Australia.

I remember WCP as a pleasantly situated group of buildings with a large sporting oval on the lower end, divided by a row of trees. There was a long, narrow concrete pathway, which led from the school down to the lower gate (Orient Drive end). Each winter when the snows came, there would be a thick layer of ice on that pathway and the kids would create long slides, resulting in many cracked heads.

The main building was a two-storey thing with a staircase on the outer end. I think there was another two-storey building too, but I rarely went in there. In the angle formed between the two buildings was a paved area like a quadrangle. This was the scene of many lunchtime football games.

There was a large assembly hall (or it seemed large from a kid’s perspective), in which morning assemblies would be held – a hymn would be sung and headmaster Mr O’Connor would address the school. From the back of the hall you entered the dining room, and the infants section lay beyond that.

At the back of my classroom was a small courtyard that had a fish pond in it. My teacher Mr Frank Garnett kept rabbits in cages there and the pond had stickleback fish, newts, frogs and other aquatic life. I can remember the only time I ever received the cane was when some other boys and myself used the pond thermometer as a speedboat and it broke.

Mr Garnett was a wonderful teacher (is he still alive I wonder?) He engendered in me a lasting interest in nature and animals. To this day I can remember his lovely italic handwriting – a skill which I subsequently taught myself. I remember he came to our house in Layton Road with one of his buck rabbits to mate with our doe; a successful venture, as we had a dozen little ones after that. I remember Mr Garnett as quite a big man (or maybe he was just big in my estimation of him back then) with a large black moustache.

As for the other teachers, my memory is vague. Was there a Mrs Murphy perhaps, who taught in the upper school? She was a quiet, dignified person – very kindly. I think there was Mr Haddaway there somewhere, and I do recall a Mr Rivers who kicked a football so hard at me when I was goalkeeper for the school team. It knocked me off my feet but I did stop the ball and I think he was impressed that I did not turn away – more good luck than good management actually. Funny the small details that stick in your mind.

I also remember a groundsman/janitor who had a little shed with lost property and garden tools and things, but his name escapes me; McSomething perhaps. We had those little bottles of milk that would arrive mid morning. You could carefully remove the aluminium top and spin it from your fingers across the room. On summer days the milk was warm.
The school would hold a summer fete in June and there would be country dancing. I was not fond of that at all, but it was not optional. I did like the swimming lessons however, and we would walk up the hill to the pool in the village. I still have the certificates for the various proficiency tests we were put through.

I also remember a camp called Colomendy where the class went for a week or so. There were lots of outdoor activities (when it wasn’t raining) like walking up the mountain (Moel Fammau). There was another camp, which was held later further south on the coast somewhere but I cannot remember its location. I recall there was a beach with lots of huge shell fossils (ammonites I think) embedded in the rocks.

I do remember a few of the people in my class: there was my good friend Stuart Gorrie, with whom I am still in regular contact after some 50 years. There were some friends who played football: Charlie Labone, Douglas Carr(?) and Paul Whittington who used to jump the wooden picket fence to his home adjoining the school. I remember Garry Gannicliffe who lived down the bottom of Out Lane, near what was then an apple orchard. Martin Smith, Adrian Thompson, John (?) Dawson and William Allen also come to mind.

Of the girls, I recall Felicity Clegg, Linda Mansell, Nadia Knight, Pat Lambert and the lovely Zena Greenfield, with whom, at age 10 or so, I was totally obsessed.

My family left in 1963 to start a new life in Australia. I finished school here, took out Australian Citizenship and became a primary school teacher (hopefully as good as Mr Garnett). I went on to spend many years teaching remote area children by radio on the School of the Air. I'm still doing that, but part time now.