School in the evenings

[Marine Boy]

Does anyone have any recollection of their school being used 'out of hours'?

In the mid 70s, my mum used to go to my junior school once a week to play badminton. I remember it being very important to her.

Then there was the famous school barn dance and beetle drive.

[moonvisage]

I heard our secondary school was being used for out of hours activities,but i never went to find out,except to a few school discos.I only found out our old primary school was being used for out of hours activities,when a bunch of other children dragged me there one night and we all peeked through the window to see a female keep fit class.The older boys stayed to '' Watch '',while we younger ones strolled off,confused and oblivious to the effect the women were having on the older boys.

[branny]

Our primary school was used for boys brigade meetings. I went once. Only because I wanted one of the Thunderbirds like hats.

[Wil]

I used to have band practice and stuff like that at our school in the evenings but the best/weirdest thing was when we did a 24 hour charity concert. Being there all night and then watching the dawn rise while I was at school was very odd.

[Trickyvee]

Our school had a swimming pool - just a little thing and nothing fancy but it was used by all the schools in the borough. After school they did adult swimming lessons there and student teacher training. For the latter we'd get asked to be volunteers. It was great. After school we'd go down the television room for an hour or so of children's telly and messing about then it was off to the pool. It was great fun as they weren't like proper lessons and you'd get one to one swimming tuition. Pool wasn't so nice though...no steps so you always had bruised legs from getting in and out, mouldy floats and green water. Chlorine was so strong it was like swimming in toxic waste!

[Marine Boy]

...mouldy floats and green water. Chlorine was so strong it was like swimming in toxic waste! I recall the floats that were going a bit green around the edges and that overpowering smell of chlorine when they'd got the mixture a bit wrong. It was my secondary school that had the pool and I think it was hired out in the evenings - thought it must have been bloomin' freezing!

[Trickyvee]

I loved our pool despite its flaws. To me it always looked like a temporary thing that had somehow managed to stay in use for 30 odd years. The pool and pool side were constructed of these big plastic slotted together panels and I can still remember the draught that used to come up between the gaps. The rail to hold onto along the pool side was a copper pipe. There was an old guy who was the caretaker of the pool - I don't think he ever got that chlorine concentration right! The pool still managed to survive until about 5 years ago but was pulled down as it was going to cost too much to modernise it.

[kazboot]

The only thing I can remember from junior school was beetle drive for adults.

[AmethystWitch]

I remember when I was 5/6 there being an after school 'thing' for children who's parents couldn't pick them up straight away, like they didn't finish work till 5 or something and I remember seeing alot of my friends in the playground when my mum would pick me up just playing, waiting for their folks to come and I soooo wanted to join them! I actually asked my mum if I could stay behind one day and I think she let me once, the last day there, as we were moving house, she let me spend a bit more time with my friends before we left :)

[Richard1978]

I remember my primary school having a few after school clubs, often for children had parents who worked late.

My brother used to go to band practice & my Mum used to have to take me & my sister along to pick him up.

[Balbarian74]

i remember one building in our secondary school being used as a youth club twice a week

[Austin Maxi]

On Friday nights our primary school hall was used for a while for movie nights. We would all go along and watch screenings of Muppet movies or 'Star Wars', this was in the early '80s.

[Austin Maxi]

This has also reminded me that I used to go to a young mechanics club when I was 15/16 in the late '80s. It took place on Monday & Thursday evenings and was based in the craft block of a secondary school I never went to as a pupil. The workshop was seperated from the classrooms in the craft block by a wire mesh fence and a locked gate. The workshop was always full of cars which people donated and we were taught to fix whatever needed fixing on each car. We would also drive the cars or ride motorbikes around the school playground (with heavy supervision from the group leaders). We would also strip cars down or be shown welding techniques and so on. It was strange to think of the school pupils at that school being able to see all the cars, tools and parts strewn around the workshop whilst they were at school during the daytime, but not being able to get at them, as the compound was exclusively for the members of the club.