A trip down memory lane

[Richard1978]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Roald Dahl mentions a few horror stories in Boy of his time at St Peter's School in Weston Super Mare. It got so bad he faked having appendicitis to be sent home.

Later on he learnt the ropes & went to Repton school without so many problems, but was considered a maverick there.

[tex]

Re: A trip down memory lane

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Dont let appearances deceive tex. This too was a hell hole.. albeit an oppulent one. The word draconian was invented in establishments such as these. You saw the sports day in the clip.. that my friend was the only organised sporting event run by the school. The rest we had to improvise as there were no actual sporting grounds. We made our own.. If we wanted to play rugger or cricket we had to remove the cow c*** first. We were not allowed to buy any lollies or other goodies. If you sneaked out to the shops you were put on heavy detention.. a second time and you were expelled. Instant expulsion if you were more than a day awol. We were allowed a whole hour of weeknite television and two hrs on weekends. The food we were made to stomach was neither tasty nor nutritional. eg. the soup.. we called 'dishwater" actually had weavils floating in it. We had an egg a week and toast only twice a week. We were marched 5 klm to church every Sunday regardless of weather. Mate I could write a book on that place.

Wow, sounds awful, Many would say character building but i expect you see it differently, sounds like a concentration camp

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Lot of history right there Donald, a million miles away from the scruffy hell hole i attended.

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Dont let appearances deceive tex. This too was a hell hole.. albeit an oppulent one. The word draconian was invented in establishments such as these. You saw the sports day in the clip.. that my friend was the only organised sporting event run by the school. The rest we had to improvise as there were no actual sporting grounds. We made our own.. If we wanted to play rugger or cricket we had to remove the cow c*** first. We were not allowed to buy any lollies or other goodies. If you sneaked out to the shops you were put on heavy detention.. a second time and you were expelled. Instant expulsion if you were more than a day awol. We were allowed a whole hour of weeknite television and two hrs on weekends. The food we were made to stomach was neither tasty nor nutritional. eg. the soup.. we called 'dishwater" actually had weavils floating in it. We had an egg a week and toast only twice a week. We were marched 5 klm to church every Sunday regardless of weather. Mate I could write a book on that place.

[tex]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Here is that vid I spoke of for those interested. Taken in the mid 60s I am guessing.
https://youtu.be/SWiQA0OvKX8

Lot of history right there Donald, a million miles away from the scruffy hell hole i attended.

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Here is that vid I spoke of for those interested. Taken in the mid 60s I am guessing.
https://youtu.be/SWiQA0OvKX8

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

They've pretty much tore down much of my old high school and are building an entirely new campus in its place.

This school was built by the mysterious Masons.. so it was built to last. Pity as it was a strict, draconian establishment that stunted your growth (not literally) and kept me from having a happy childhood. I have a rare video of my boarding school. Wanna see it anyone? I am fairly sure there is a scene where myself and my older brother appear.

[staffslad]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Our local park also had a couple of tennis courts that were surfaced with rough grey concrete. They have also been resurfaced to make them safer.

[victorbrunswick]

Re: A trip down memory lane

This is my old school today. A wedding reception venue.

They've pretty much tore down much of my old high school and are building an entirely new campus in its place.

[victorbrunswick]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Yup, our climbing frame was pretty much metal tubing with concrete and broken bottles underneath, that certainly taught you not to fall.

We used to call them "monkey bars."

[Zincubus]

Re: A trip down memory lane

I recall a little stone cottage being gutted in a bad fire ... all that was left was the stone shell ... it made a fabulous meeting place / dry & safe house for all the local kids for what 'seemed' like years ..


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[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

See if I can think of a new subject while you all sleep.

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

when my kids were young i took them to the park and decided to have a go on the slide, i was ofcourse much too old and should have known better, i came off the end far too fast and landed on the concrete base, i could hardly walk and after a few days decided to go to my doctor, the x-rays revealed a cracked coccyx (the tailbone) and it still pains me to this day.

I had my share of playground accidents. I have fallen off the monkey bars, slipped too fast down the slippery slide and landing on my bum on a hard ground. I recall I flew off a roundabout and fractured my arm in two places. I can see why playground owners are closing their sites as are they not liable for an accidents that happen on their equipment?

[Donald the Great]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Something that neatly illustrates the difference between previous generations and today is play equipment in parks. It used to be that it was just constructed on bare concrete, now it is constructed on that soft, slightly springy material, just in case one of the children fall over. Also, at our local park, the play equipment is now fenced off and you have to go through a gate to access it to keep dogs away.

I have noticed over recent times that more and more playground equipment is being dissembled due to insurance considerations. I recall I had great fun playing on playground swings, monkey bars and roundabouts when I was a kid. Not fair to remove this fun past time.. specially with todays kids spending far too much time indoors on computer games and the like.

[tex]

Re: A trip down memory lane

Yup, our climbing frame was pretty much metal tubing with concrete and broken bottles underneath, that certainly taught you not to fall off!

The swings were metal framed with wooden seats, which we'd jump off of, they hurt when they got you in the face/head though.

Roundabouts were also metal and wood, with gaps that you could fit your arm under, if you were stupid.

The local slide was a massive metal affair, with a cage up the top which we'd climb in, and the actual slide was long and metal, a real leg burner in the summer, but awesome when it worked.

When we were visiting the UK this year we stayed at my brother's house and took my kids to a local park, i was pleased to see they still have a metal/wood roundabout, a big metal seesaw (which my brother and I had a go on) and the old style swings, so refreshing in this day of rubber and plastic.

when my kids were young i took them to the park and decided to have a go on the slide, i was ofcourse much too old and should have known better, i came off the end far too fast and landed on the concrete base, i could hardly walk and after a few days decided to go to my doctor, the x-rays revealed a cracked coccyx (the tailbone) and it still pains me to this day.

[Mulletino]

Re: A trip down memory lane

We used to climb on shed or outside building roofs - about 7' high and jump off and land on concrete flags ... when i think about it I can remember the burning sensation in my ankles and feet ..

That was the worst feeling, jumping off a high wall after sitting on it for a while to get that horrid feet/ankle burn!

We used to play on our shed and garage roofs, they were asbestos so we had to be careful we didn't fall through them, that was the only worry back then!