Fraternisation and Boredom
Non-fraternisation was in force at my new school. We could see, and hear, the girls on the playing fields at every break time although we were forbidden to mix with them during school hours. Nevertheless, the timetables seemed to have been deliberately arranged to ensure that a girls’ session in the swimming pool or gymnasium was immediately followed by a boys’ session – and vice versa.We boys were supposed to keep well clear of the changing rooms until the girls had left and the female mistress had given us permission to enter. Sometimes, however, the mistress was nowhere to be seen and the girls lingered provocatively, giggling profusely, until we arrived. In the following term the timetables changed and the situation was reversed. Our swimming instructor always dashed off as soon as he had blown his whistle to clear the pool. We then found that if we took a little extra time to get dressed, the girls would come rushing in and catch us apparently unawares while we feigned false modesty. The girls’ teacher would then enter, shouting loudly, ‘Come along boys, get dressed quickly before you frighten my girls!’ Either those swimming teachers trusted us or, more likely, they considered this to be part of our education. Whatever, it was all very revealing!
In my private diary after my first day at Roundhay, I wrote: "1A’s greeting was rather more than I had expected and I was soon made to feel at home. I found some friends and I must say I liked the school". Sadly that did not last long!
I had been at Roundhay School only about a week when it dawned on me that none of my new friends lived within a mile of our house in Harehills. This had two immediate effects. In my sparkling new Roundhay School uniform I stood out like a sore thumb in the neighbourhood of Gipton Mount and Gathorne Terrace. There was a definite suggestion that since I went to the ‘posh’ grammar school, we must be a rich family, in which case why were we living where we did? Although I am not aware that there was any significant crime in the area then, unlike today, the fact that my Dad had to wear his Prison Officer’s uniform to go to and from work, added to the suspicion with which our family was viewed by the neighbours. The second problem was that out of school hours I had no-one to play with. I did not want my school friends to visit me and see how we lived and so if I wanted to visit them, I had to go on my bike.
Roundhay did not ‘do’ music. The nearest it got was a weekly sing song which was interesting enough in its way but we had to learn the words and tunes from memory – there were no song sheets or music. Roundhay was not a church school although there was the mandatory morning assembly at which we sang a hymn and the Head Master recited a few prayers. Many of the pupils were Jews and they were excused the religious part of morning assembly. I had never met any Jews before and I was keen to learn as much as I could about their religion and way of life. Formal religious instruction was confined to a single hour per week and, as far as I can recall, it consisted merely of readings from the bible with selected boys, in turn, being invited to read a few verses. Once again the Jews were excluded.
Sport was as much at problem for me at Roundhay as it had been at QEGS. Wednesday afternoons were devoted to sport and all boys were expected to take part, indeed it was called 'compulsory sport'. The school’s winter game was soccer and I had no idea of the rules. My first outing was also my last! I had been keeping out of the way of the ball for about half an hour when suddenly a boy from the other side kicked the ball hard straight at me. It reached me at shoulder height. Instinctively I did what I would have done in a rugby game at QEGS: I grabbed the ball and started to run with it towards the goal mouth ignoring the howls of the other players on the way! I am sure they thought I had done it deliberately to annoy them. I was never invited to take part in a football game again.
When the cricket season started shortly after my arrival, I was not asked to take to the field - perhaps they thought I would kick the ball! I was actually quite disappointed by that because as a true-blue Yorkshire lad I was well acquainted with the laws of the game and was quite keen to learn. However, it was just as it had been at QEGS. The staff had no obvious interest in teaching the game; they were there just to supervise the boys and break up fights.
There were two alternatives for boys who could not, or did not wish to, take part in the 'compulsory' sports. One was to remain in a classroom doing homework and the other was to join the Combined Cadet Force which paraded every Wednesday afternoon in a remote area of the school grounds. I did not even know about the CCF until I had been at Roundhay for some months. Had anyone bothered to tell me that it existed I would happily have joined the Corps and I am sure I would have been a success. Instead, I remained indoors doing homework on most Wednesday afternoons.
This is our Form 2 class photograph at the start of the second year, probably September 1948. I am second from the right on the front row. Note all the short trousers and wrinkled socks! Click here to download a larger version.
This was the start of my lazy teenage years. Frequently I wrote in my diary, ‘another really boring day at school’. I found most of the school work incredibly easy and I rarely needed to do any private study at home. I could rattle off homework very quickly and that left most evenings entirely free. My problem was what to do with my evenings. It was Springtime when I arrived and with it the light evenings. How I missed Wakefield Park and the many other green areas around my former home and, yes, I missed the trains. Still, I had a new bike and I spent hours cycling hundreds of miles around the greater Leeds area. Early on I had a couple of minor accidents when my front wheel got trapped in tram lines but then I learned the technique for crossing the lines without getting trapped.
I quickly acquired a vast knowledge of the streets in the greater Leeds area and I am sure I could easily have passed the taxi-drivers’ route knowledge test. It is interesting to look back now and note that it was perfectly safe for a 13 year old to cycle on his own around all parts of Leeds, including the busy town centre, and even on dark evenings, without any danger from any source. Many adults would not do that these days. Lazy I might have been towards academic work but Leeds is a very hilly city so physically I was very strong, although still slightly built.
Then I got a paper round! One day I noticed that the paper shop just round the corner from my house was advertising for a lad to deliver evening papers. Dad gave his permission.