16 replies to this topic

[Minerlad]

I left St. Helens in 1955. Neither my wife or daughters belive me that during the WW2 as well as have school dinner I had breakfast also. While I went to Holy Cross school, we had school dinners at a place off Bridge St. along with a number of other schools but I had breakfast at Merton Bank school. Doe's anyboby else remember.



Minerlad

[jvy20]

I don't remember breakfast at school - well before my time !

However in a booklet about the History of Parr Cent there is a passage in there which talks about pupils getting breakfast at school during WW 2.

[Minerlad]

Is the booklet available to buy, if so where could I buy a copy.



Minerlad

[jvy20]

I have my doubts if the booklet is available now. From memory it was produced around 1983 to celebrate the schools 50 th anniversary. I will make enquiries for you.

[paul]

i attended the hamblet open air school as a small child due to a chest complaint.were we had breakfast evry day. bowls of thick milky porridge and big jugs of cocoa. then we;d have our dinner later on then would be tucked up in little camp beds for bobos.

[Alan]

Sounds appealing that Paul. I can just visualise that school. I remember it as two or three large wooden buildings on the right as you left the Green along Rainford Road.

Why was it called the open air school? Were you taught outside?

[paul]

Alan, on Nov 10 2005, 07:49 PM, said:

Sounds appealing that Paul. I can just visualise that school. I remember it as two or three large wooden buildings on the right as you left the Green along Rainford Road.

Why was it called the open air school? Were you taught outside?

sorry alan, i couldt tell thee why, does anyone else know why it was known as the open air school.

[splus]

Was the emphasis on fresh air and exercise rather than just academia?

[Veronica]

I think it was for children whose fathers were in the army etc., we didn't have breakfasts at school, but horrible bottles of milk that had been placed at the side of the huge coke stove in the centre of the classrooms. We didn't get school dinners either because we lived near to school but the kids from Clinkham Wood did.

I wasn't allowed to have milk at home but these teachers used to force me to drink it or should I say try to force me to drink it.

My sister took great exception to not being able to go on a school bus and took it into her head to get on the one that took the kids back to Clinkham Wood and then come back to town again on it. she got in real bother over that.

We did have those little beds though for an afternoon rest.

Edited by Veronica, 08 April 2006 - 04:35 PM.

[ellie ellins]

My dad went to the open air school in the thirties. He had been hit in the chest witha cricket ball and it had caused pneumonia. He actually was at home for about three years and then went there. He too only remembered the meals, the knitting lessons, the country dancing and the afternoon naps. He left school without being able fully educated and his mother ran up a bill at the doctors for two hundred pounds. She had him in her forties so was a very neurotic mother. In fact the doctor told her to stop bringing him to the surgery as he was worried about the bill. He lived until he was eighty and I swear they only worried about him because he was small and slight for his years. They talk about giving kids support but as you can see even in the thirties they were prepared to go the extra mile to look after kids in our good borough.

[Ian]

Alan, on Nov 10 2005, 08:49 PM, said:

Sounds appealing that Paul. I can just visualise that school. I remember it as two or three large wooden buildings on the right as you left the Green along Rainford Road.

Why was it called the open air school? Were you taught outside?

Hi I attended the Open Air School 1959/1962 when left. the wooden buildings you refer to were a differant school the school is still there (take a look) but very differant to what it was. Most of the kids who were there when i was had chest complaints thats why it was called the open air school I had gone there from Central Modern School because my lungs would not let me keep up with other kids at sport etc. My years at The Hamblett Open Air were the happiest of my life Now at 61 I am retired and my breathing problems are catching up with me once again, and i am now starting to think about those happy times. (see Introducing Yourself to-day)

[gypsygeoff]

I went to St Bartholemews in Rainhill.When our old school literally fell down on top of us, we were sent to St.Patricks in Widnes.Before we got the bus we had porridge and fruit.This went on till our new school was completed.

[brunty]

we used to go to the colliery canteen every day for a big basin of pea soup,kit kat,mug of tea all for9d old money
by god them teachers went through it in afternoon.

[Olliebeak]

We lived in Lingholme Road and my Dad's brother went to the Open Air School in Rainford Road. He missed a great deal of school due to chest infections etc. and it was considered a good idea for him to go there to 'catch up' with his education while enjoying the outdoor lessons etc. Must have done him good, when he did his National Service he went into the Royal Air Force - so not much trace of chest problems by then.

I've just tried googling Hamblett Open Air School - but found nothing. However there was a link about Open Air Schools in general.

It seems they were started in Germany in the early 20th Century.

http://www.institutions.org.uk/special_sch...air_schools.htm

[Griffin]

Those who recall St. Helens in the 1950s and 60s, before the Clean Air Act was introduced, will maybe feel that the respiratory health of children might have been improved by excluding as much of the outside air from the classroom as possible. The pine woods of Charlottenburg it wasn't!