Northwood School 1

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, 9th August 2010, 18:52

I am sitting here reading some old reports from 20th March 1940 of my late husband Michael Walder who lived with his Mum and brother Ray in Wyatts Lane. Bearing in mind he is 7 years old and had started school when 5 in 1938, these were the lessons they were expected to complete:

Reading
Composition
Arithmetic,written
Arithmetic, mental
Dictation
Grammar
Literature
Recitation
History
Geography
Science
Hygiene
Handwork
Writing

He didn’t seem to do very well as he is 14th in a class of 18 but he had been ill for most of the term with one childhood ailment after another. The head teacher whose signature looks like G Sandlly seems to think he is a bright little boy though and says his manners are good and he is obedient.
I wonder how many of the 21st century children would have to do as much in their early years at school. I also have a report from Cowes Secondary Modern school written in 1946 when he is aged 12. He seems to have done a lot better as he is now 12th in a class of 43
and his head teacher a Mr Guppy says he will do well in life as he is hard working and quick to learn. His lessons seem to be just as long though:

Religious Knowledge
Literature
Composition
English Language
Mathmatics
Algebra
Geometry
Physics
Botany
Hygiene
French
Geography
History
Technical Drawing
Woodwork
Handicrafts

He left at 14 as was the norm in those days and got a job as a telegraph boy at the post office in Cowes, mainly because he lusted after a bike, and it was provided with the job. But to keep his job he had to turn up spick and span every morning early with his uniform creased to a sharp edge on his trousers and his shoes and hat badge and buttons highly polished. If they were not he would have been sent home smartly and told not to return until they were. The boys were inspected every morning before going out on their rounds and woe betide a boy who was late or sloppy in appearance. It stood him in good stead though as when he was called up for his National service to the RAF in 1951 he knew how to ‘bull’ his boots to perfection and to iron his trousers with a slither of soap running down the inside of the crease to keep it knife edge. Times have changed so much and I doubt if today’s youngsters would ‘put up with’ the strictness of the regimes that were the norm back then.

2 Responses to “Northwood School 1”

Mrs Jackie Walder says:

Tuesday, 10th August 2010 at 18:53

My late husband lived at 52 Wyatts Lane with his Mum Clara and brother Ray from 1937 onwards .His late Mum was Clara Margaret Walder nee Jenkins and her family were all Island people.She married John Malcolm Walder in 1932 he was an N.C.O. at Albany Barracks although she had met him in London where she had been in ‘service ‘ with her sister Dora in Westminster.He was then stationed at Chelsea barracks.After they married at Northwood Church they moved back to London, and when he came out of the army soon afterwards they were living in Fulham.He ,although a fit ex-P.E.instructor in the army contracted T.B. a very common illness in the mid 1930s and within 6 weeks was dead leaving Clara with three little boys Alan,Ray, and a baby Keith who was only two months old.The baby was taken very ill with a chest infection and withing six weeks had died also .So at 28 widowed with two tiny children to look after she used her husband’s life insurnce to buy the cottage and land for £550.00 back home in Northwood .Her Dad and Mum who lived in Pallance Road helped her settle in and at 28 she was left with a roof over her head and very little else in the middle of the Depression.Not an easy task for a young lass.But my late ma-in-law was made of strong stuff and she used the back garden to raise fruit and veg and chickens and the tiny widow’s pension she had meant that they could survive ,but only just.Her family helped as best they could of course but times were tough in those days .Very little assistance and I remember her being visited by the local vicar who suggested that perhaps the school could help with meals for the boys.She sent him off with a flea in his ear saying ‘My boys do not eat off the parish, I will feed them myself and that’s that.’ and she did by golly.When the war started things got slightly easier and she went to work in a munitions factory, and her Mum took care of the boys .There she met and married her second husband Joe Morgan who worked at J.S. Whites.he was a lovely little welsh chap who had originally walked from south Wales looking for work and ended up on the Island.They had a son between them called David so the three boys were all brought up together.My husband left the island eventually and met me in Oxford.Ray married a local lass called Pam and became a landlord, at one time running a big pub at Wooton Bridge,I think it was called The Sloop’,he then moved off the island and lived in Bicester for years before finally retiring to Dorset where he still lives with his wife Pam .David stayed on the Island and after his Dad and Clara died, met and married his wife Eileen, they sold the property I think around 2003 and moved off the island to Leicester
I had the greatest respect for my late Ma-in-law as she was a very strong lady who had quite strong principles.To her hard work and frugality were things to be attained .We would often visit her in Wyatts Lane in the holidays from London with our two small children and they were facinated with a Nanny who could seemingly make things out of nothing almost.She taught my children to apprciate the simple things in life and played domino’s and cards with them for hours .To her it meant that they learned that winning was through counting and remembering things not cheating or being sly.She was definitely one of the ‘old school’ and we were all sad when she died in the 1980s
Her tales of what island life was before cars and all the houses appeared would have been great to have written down .Her late Mum Beatrice Jenkins was the local ‘layer out of the dead and birthing lady in Northwood and apparently Granny Beatrice was the one my Ma-in-law learned all her ‘cure-all’s’ from.She was the old wife that all the tales were written about.If the kids were ill she had a cure for them and they usually worked as well.These folk were the back bone of the island and I don’t suppose there are many left like them now
P.S. by the way I found my late husbands report for 1943 and his position in class had gone up to 3rd so his headmasters faith in him was justified

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Roger Mazillius says:

Monday, 9th August 2010 at 18:53

Thank you very much for this wonderfully evocative list of memories of your late husband’s education.

As you so rightly point out, what a different world in those days when the extent of the importance of a well rounded academic and vocational education was the norm.

Of course in the 21st century we have different moral and social standards which would give rise no doubt to human rights and bullying claims if those standards were suddenly enforced today.

I did not know your husband although Walder is a well-known Island surname. Is Eddie Walder a relative of yours? I think he played Island football at the highest level, eg Newport.

Thanks again for a fascinating posting. Best wishes, Cllr. Roger Mazillius

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Northwood School 1

2 Responses to “Northwood School 1”

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