Leaf mould

[The Low Country]

Did anyone else have a bulb festival at their primary school? We used to have an annual trip across the field, along the old railway line and into the woods to collect leaf mould to set our bulbs in. We used to have to bring a plastic bag & a pair of wellibobs to school for this annual trip. After everyone had collected a bag of leaf mould in the woods we'd go back to school, have our dinner and choose our bulbs, we could have 3 Hycinths, 4 Daffodils or 6 Crocus bulbs. (forgot to mention we also had to bring in from home a bulb bowl with our name & class sellotaped to the bottom) Then we'd spend the afternoon with our sleeves rolled up to our elbows setting the bulbs in our bulb bowls & giving them a good watering - we had a great time as you can imagine!!!! At the end of the day they were left on our desks. Next day they would be gone. A few weeks later we would arrive for school Monday morning to discover the 'lobby' had been transformed with wall racking and all our bulb bowls would be lined up with about 2/3 inches of growth showing. That's when 'watering duty' began. We would be paired up and listed on a 'watering rota' on a daily basis. This may sound a chore but it was great fun, and you got to miss part of your lesson! Some weeks later - when they were all in bloom we had an open day and the flowers were judged. Don't have a clue who judged them but I know there used to be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize for the best flower display - I never won anything but it was a great day doing it all, not a lesson in sight!!!

We often had nature walks in the summer too, along the same route to listen for the cuckoo, find cuckoo spit (not connected) and pick wild flowers etc., I loved my primary school!

[Seventies Child]

Re: Leaf mould

No, we never did that but we had a nature table. I can remember an empty armadillo shell and a dead puffa fish being on there. We once made stalactites in a jam jar too. I loved my Primary school aswell and I was lucky enough to go back a couple of years ago for it's 125th birthday celebration. It made so nostalgic. It even smelled the same. You hardly see cuckoo spit these days either do you. In actual fact what on earth is it?

[The Low Country]

Re: Leaf mould

Wow! 125th birthday celeb sounded brill sadly there's a housing estate where my Primary School stood. Having said that I do have some photo's of it in the loft. Rumour had it that it was sold to an american chappy and was taken down brick by brick and re-built somewhere in America - that would be soooo coool if it's true but i don't know. Perhaps I should try and find it on the net??? We had out door loo's - the far side of the playground and sad as this sounds in the winter (years ago when it regularly froze and snowed) we used to snap the icicles off the pan tile roof of the outdoor loo's and eat them like lollipops (heathen or what) we also were allowed to make huge slides (the length of the playground) no one complained about slipping over etc., and there was a 'sticky bud' tree in the corner of the playground (don't have a clue what it was, maybe a horsechestnut) but I know we used to snap off the stick with the sticky buds on the end and dib them on each other - didn't need anything electronic to have fun in them days - Oh and not forgetting playing marbles in the drains!!! All Good Stuff! Health & Safety would be having a ducks fit in this day and age!!!

I think cuckoo spit is a type of fungus that just grows on on wild plants, it looks just like spit but i've not seen any for years - not since primary school actually. I'd have thought I would have though as I regularly walk our dogs in the fields & along the river. Hey Ho Happy times of days gone by.

No, we never did that but we had a nature table. I can remember an empty armadillo shell and a dead puffa fish being on there. We once made stalactites in a jam jar too. I loved my Primary school aswell and I was lucky enough to go back a couple of years ago for it's 125th birthday celebration. It made so nostalgic. It even smelled the same. You hardly see cuckoo spit these days either do you. In actual fact what on earth is it?

[Seventies Child]

Re: Leaf mould

Talking about Health & Safety they probably would have a duck fit but most of us survived didn't we. I think we are better for it too. We were allowed to get dirty and I think our immune systems are probably better than children of today. Most of the young Mum's work with spend their live spraying anti bacterial stuff all over the place and their kids are always ill. Just my thoughts.
Sticky Bobs! Oh yeah, I had forgotten about those too.

[The Low Country]

Re: Leaf mould

You can say that again. I certainly didn't suffer and never ailed a thing as a kid. Too busy having a good time out doors making mud pies, making dens in the bale stacks, falling in the pond climbing trees and looking for worms (and I'm a girl) kids don't get a chance to be kids and get their hands dirty or experience grazed knees & proper play, they don't get out enough & use their imagination to make their own fun and keep themselves occupied these days. Sad but true!

Talking about Health & Safety they probably would have a duck fit but most of us survived didn't we. I think we are better for it too. We were allowed to get dirty and I think our immune systems are probably better than children of today. Most of the young Mum's work with spend their live spraying anti bacterial stuff all over the place and their kids are always ill. Just my thoughts.
Sticky Bobs! Oh yeah, I had forgotten about those too.

[Seventies Child]

Re: Leaf mould

I still bear scars from being a kid. They are my memento's from a childhood well lived.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Leaf mould

Too right! I was never happier than when I was up to my elbows in mud or looking for beetles and worms, and I'm a girl too!

As for the bulbs, we did that too, though we didn't have a show or do anything as exciting as going to collect leaf mould. We'd just plant them in bowls then the most exciting part was taking them up to the projector room (because we were never normally allowed in that mysterious place) so they could over-winter in the cool and dark. Thing is I can't ever remember getting them back down and seeing them bloom in spring

[The Low Country]

Re: Leaf mould

Oh goodness that has just reminded me of something else to do with primary school. Don't know if there is a thread anywhere, haven't looked but we used to make heads and mask out of papier mache (paper mashay) by blowing up balloons then sticking small torn pieces of newspaper all over them, they had to be left to dry between the layers of paper. Can't remember how many layers we had to do before it was rock hard but the last layer was always done with proper white or coloured paper.
Anyway the whole reason for writing this is, we did this activity upstairs in the old school house (across the way from the school) 'unsupervised' - well a teacher would pop upstairs every so often to make sure we were ok but otherwise we were on our own (5 or 6 pupils at a time only) in the upstairs rooms of the old school house. It was so scarey we nearly cacked ourselves and the boys used to make things worse by leaping out of cupboards or from behind doors with blood curdling screams which made us girlies scream too. The house had a fusty smell - bit like leaf mould :-) - don't think it had been lived in for many years, there wasn't any furniture in it other than a few old school desks and chairs. Bet there aren't any kids allowed to do anything like that in this day and age.

Too right! I was never happier than when I was up to my elbows in mud or looking for beetles and worms, and I'm a girl too!

As for the bulbs, we did that too, though we didn't have a show or do anything as exciting as going to collect leaf mould. We'd just plant them in bowls then the most exciting part was taking them up to the projector room (because we were never normally allowed in that mysterious place) so they could over-winter in the cool and dark. Thing is I can't ever remember getting them back down and seeing them bloom in spring

[Seventies Child]

Re: Leaf mould

Oh yes, I remember making those masks with Papier Mache now you mention it.

[moonvisage]

Re: Leaf mould

I first discovered practicality at school,when i went to a new primary school that had just been built.They allowed so much there.Walks around the local streets,trips to the zoo,pottery making,just about everything and anything.It was a wonderful school to be at.
Then,we went to a typical old fashioned school,which prided itself on being like the school building itself,old,sturdy and as grim as the red brickwork it was made of.I spent four years sat in a classroom with pen and paper only,never learning about anything other than writing and copying from cards and books.I left that primitive school,and went to secondary school,totally unprepared for all the activities going on.
Personally,i prefer the first school i went to,as i thrived on all the goings on there.We did likewise with the plants,and the smells and love of nature and the weather system of the UK,still brings back memories of my childhood at that lovely first primary school.I walked up to that first primary school,though a long pathway,shrouded by trees and shrubbery,and leaf mould was heavenly to play with on the way to and from school.It smelt and felt so wonderful.