First Day Memories

First Day

I had visited Tulketh briefly with the Roebuck Primary school football team in April 1975. We played a friendly against their first-year team. I was one of the subs and managed to get on in the second half and score in a 4-3 defeat. It was nice to play on a full-size pitch and change in proper changing rooms for once. Steve Bolan’s dad had a minibus to take us to Tulketh. I remember thinking how big the school looked in comparison with our Edwardian primary school

In the summer holidays my mum, brother and I one day had a walk up to Tulketh on a warm day just to get of an idea what it would be like to walk it there and back every day. The walk down Woodplumpton Road and Tag Lane seem to take forever to reach the school. Funnily enough on the way home it did not seem to take as long helped along by a Milky Way chocolate bar and a bottle of pop.

On the first day I was probably the smartest I have ever been to go to school. Black blazer, grey shirt, the school tie and black trousers with black socks and leather slip on shoes. My mum gives me the once over and made sure I brushed my relatively long hair which most kids in the seventies seem to have.

 I made my way outside to meet Mick Pearson, Paul Walsh and our next-door neighbour’s son Dennis Winder.  We all looked smart with new football bags to carry our pencil and pen case, dictionary, and a World atlas book.

We all walked up Roebuck Street on to Shelley Road which led you on to Woodplumpton Road which led you to Tag Lane and on to Tulketh. We talked about what might be ahead of us on our first day and just for a change the weekends football results.

As we made our way up the drive to the school yard you could see many different groups of kids in the various parts of the yard. This we found out was the primary schools you were at all tended to stick together on the first morning at the school. As the bell rang at 8.30am we were ushered through the main entrance into the assembly hall by the Deputy Heads Mr. Gibbons and Mrs Akers. There seem to be quite a lot of us, and we had the whole school to ourselves with the remaining four years coming back on the next day.

We congregated near the front of the hall all looking apprehensive. The deputy heads made their way on to the stage and there were various teachers standing down the side of the hall next to exit points. After about five minutes the Headmaster Mr. Jones came in and made his way on to the stage with his university gown on carrying various bits of paraphernalia which he placed on the lectern. The assembly hall went incredibly quiet you could sense the presence of someone who was important.. 

For next half hour Mr. Jones spoke about how great the school was and what a chance we all had of going on to achieve success like so many other pupils who had attended Tulketh since its opening in 1964. I remember him saying that the school was originally built for just 450 pupils but had now nearly 900 on the role. And in our year, there were 174 pupils from 13 different primary schools across Preston. Our lessons would be split in two periods he said four in the morning either side of the break and the four more periods after lunch. The length of the period was to be 35 minutes long for a single period and 70 minutes for a double period in this time you had to make your way from one room to another. Often a single period was 30 minutes of the lesson and 60 minutes for a double period.  

He introduced the Deputy Heads, Heads of the houses, Bowland, Fylde, Furness, Lonsdale, which we all would be part of, followed by various Heads of subjects.  He outlined our day ahead starting with the allocation of house places for us all. This task was completed by the various heads of house calling out our names and off you went into a corner of the hall. This did not take too long and some of us who had older siblings at the school already had an idea which house group you would be in. I was allocated to Fylde House with the Mr. Forshaw as Head of house, along with Michael Pearson and some other familiar faces although some of us had different registration teachers.

 We were then told our temporary forms that we would be in for the first week with the timetables of our week ahead and which members of staff with their initials the only indication who they were and what subject they would be teaching and which classroom we would be in. The school had rooms numbered 1-41.  In the main building which comprised of a block facing the yard with 15 rooms mainly allocated to Art, Craft, Domestic Science, English and a library. In the second block inside the main building to the right of yard comprised of three stories had 16 rooms which were mainly Science, Geography, History and Modern languages. A new building facing Tag Lane entrance was devoted just to Mathematics and made up of 5 classrooms. There were also two prefabricated blocks comprising of another 5 classrooms which were used for various subjects and included a common room these were situated to East of the Maths block facing the expansive playing fields. You also had various rooms for the Heads of the school, reception office, photo copying room, gym with changing rooms, dining hall and assembly hall.

Forms at Tulketh were based on your academic ability. Were made up of six alphabetical letters which spelt, I N G O L, with M being added on. I was to be in G to start off. The top two forms were I and N, were for the more academically minded kids , followed by the average educated kids in G and O, followed by L and M, who were for kids who maybe struggled with their studies. The form M seem to be on its own and were taught in Room 37. They were probably classed as special needs though that was never confirmed. The bell went for break which give us all a chance to have a breather for 20 minutes.

When we came in after break and back into the assembly hall, we told by Mr. Jones of the plans for the next hour or so before lunch that we will be going to room 16 in the Science block on the top floor of the building to the right of the staffroom for our photograph to be taken. This was methodically done by each individual House group and did not take long. The lunch bell rang and before we made our way to the dining room, we were told by Mr. Jones to meet outside the Maths block after lunch.

I did not have a packed lunch and we could not go home on the first day so I would be eating a school dinner which was to be a rarity in the 5 years I was at Tulketh. Normally I went home for dinner or had a packed lunch. The school dinner was Meat and potato pie, mashed potato, carrots and peas followed by angel cake with pink custard washed down with a glass of cold water. Once again you had your dinners depending on your house group. Fylde and Furness together followed by Bowland and Lonsdale. The teachers sat on the front table headed by Mr. Jones. You got about 30 minutes to get your dinner. After that straight out into the yard for the rest of the dinner hour.

When the bell went for the afternoon, we all congregated outside the Maths block where we told by Deputy head Mr. Gibbons, which room and what teacher would be looking after us for next couple of hours as we would be doing a couple of aptitude tests in Maths and English and the room we would be in depended on your form. I was in G, so I was in room 33 which faced out on to Tag Lane. The form M were in one of the rooms in the prefab block to the side of the Maths block which housed 3 classrooms.

The rest of the afternoon we did two tests in Mathematics and English roughly an hour each we had Miss Smalley Head of English watching over us. These tests were to determine the eventual form we would start our academic lives at Tulketh.

As the bell went off at approximately 3.20pm our first day of many was over. The same four lads who set off in the morning also came home in the afternoon. I remember when we were walking down Roebuck street back to Delacy Street, some of our parents were waiting for us and a neighbour’s daughter called Ruth Watson, also a pupil at Tulketh but a year older.  

One thing what always reminds me of the first day at Tulketh, is the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons hit, Who Loves You. You could hear it from the canteen kitchens radio while we were having our lunch.

                                       Mrs. Wilson 

Mrs Wilson came to Tulketh in September 1978. Back then she was known as Miss. Hardman, and she taught Science with Biology being her specialist subject.

An attractive lady if a little timid and in her early twenties who was liked by the pupils especially the boys. It was her first teaching job after qualifying.

I first came across her when she taught Science to in my final year. Because of poor results in the exams in the third year in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics I had to take Science in the final two years. This meant me being billeted in with about 20 other pupils of various abilities in a CSE Science class. The pupils were the likes of Martyn Chattel, Mick Churchman, Stuart Cutler, Alan Foxton, Chris Kelly, Sue Duckworth, Chris Kane, Barbara Smith, Peter Sullivan , Tony Westby and Chris Wignall. To be fair we were all counting our time down to leaving either at Easter or Whitsun which meant the subject wasn’t taken too seriously.

A few of us had been entered for the exam and one lad called Chris Kelly made quite an exception he really excelled on the two-year course and went on to pass the exam. In the fourth year we had been taught by Head of Science Mr. Foster, who was a particularly good teacher with lots of experience and stood no nonsense from anyone who didn’t want to learn.

Along came Mrs. Wilson in the fifth year after getting married in the summer to Mr. Wilson who taught Geography and was someone you either hit it off with or did not.  The lesson was always the last two periods in the afternoon in the fourth year on a Friday, so everybody was in the weekend mode but in the fifth year it moved to last two periods on a Monday afternoon in room 17 on the top of the three story building which housed the Science, Languages, Geography, History classrooms. Some of our class were leaving the following Easter so were slightly excluded from the lesson which made things a bit difficult for Mrs. Wilson. One afternoon things got a little out of hand when the class was a bit rowdy and Stuart Cutler and Mick Churchman were fooling around at the back of the class making a din. Mrs. Wilson did her best to control them both, but it wasn’t easy. Stuart Cutler was always the clown jester in the classroom, and I had been in many of those classes with him in my five years at Tulketh. Mick Churchman I did not know very well only that along with Michael Moon  and Brian Collier were hard characters in the group year.

In a Science classroom there so many hazards with equipment such as Bunsen burners, scales, and general lab glassware. One of the specimen glasses was smashed while the fooling around went on with a sticky liquid covering the tiled floor. This interrupted the lesson entirely and with the melee brought the attention of the class next door in room 16, which was a photography class with Mr. Lewis who came into our room to see what was going on.

After a clear up which involved a couple of the lab technicians and various pupils and a rebuke from Mr. Lewis about behaviour in Science classrooms the bell went for home time. Mrs. Wilson was in the corridor for a while talking with Mr. Lewis which meant we could not leave straightaway.

A tearful Mrs. Wilson finally came in and sent us all home barring Tony Westbie and Mick Churchman who had to go and see the Headmaster Mr. Jones. I never found out the outcome of their visit to the dreaded Head, but I am sure they were dealt with in his customary manner of the time with the cane.  

I managed a grade 4 in the Science CSE exam in the spring of 1980 which had a practical and a theory exam and to be fair we were helped through the process quite admirably by Mrs Wilson which showed her true worth as a teacher considering that it was a subject to fill in the timetable for pupils leaving school early generally.

Mrs. Wilson left Tulketh with her husband Mr. Wilson in the mid-1980’s to work at a school in Blackburn. Although I did bump into the two of them in the Wimpy Burger Bar in Church Street in Preston in the early eighties.

Mrs. Johnson

Mrs. Johnson taught Home Economics at Tulketh and operated out of room 1 which was on the second floor of the block which faced the schoolyard.

A small conservatively dressed middle aged lady with glasses on I presumed she was Welsh judging by her accent. Mrs. Johnston had been at the school since 1967. Not long after its opening in 1964.

In the first year on a Friday afternoon, we would have 4 periods devoted to Technology and Art and Craft. I think the idea was to give you a taste of subjects not normally associated with boys like Home Economics and Needlework. They split the four subjects over the academic year. In my group which was made up of around 30 kids of different abilities did Home Economics until Christmas followed by Art, Craft, and design, and finally Needlework.

I thought this would be different and give us a chance to learn new skills. Our first task we were told prior to the lesson that we would be making Jam tarts. I had to get my mum to buy me an apron, some flour, eggs, butter(unsalted), salt and jam.

So, I turned up on our first lesson with these ingredients in a Booths carrier bag. I always went home for dinner in the first year, so I brought back the goods in the afternoon being extra careful with the box of eggs. Some of the kids had their ingredients with them all day if they stayed for lunch and there was the odd accident with the eggs.

We all lined up at our work benches with a line of electric ovens at the side of us and listened to the instructions from Mrs. Johnson carefully writing it down in our notebooks. Making the pastry in the large bowl was fun for someone who had never done anything like this before.  Some of the class had already done similar tasks at home and sailed through. Mrs. Johnson was extremely helpful with some of us who struggled.

Rolling the pastry out and using the cutter to cut discs of pastry I found the trickiest. Probably the easiest part was putting them in the electric oven supervised by Mrs. Johnson. While we awaited the jam tarts to cook. The smell was certainly nice.

Mrs. Johnston had a ritual where she made cups of tea, coffee, and a plate of McVites digestives for the teachers in the other Home Economics, Needlework and Art classes. I had the task of taking the tray round the 5 classrooms and later picking the empty tray up. I must admit to taking one of the biscuits for myself which I devoured in the toilet later. The cups were catering style coffee cups a dull green colour. The afternoon was quite warm, and a fly flew in and landed on one of the cups where it slipped in even with my half-hearted attempts to rescue it without spilling the drinks.

When I took the tray and drinks in to Mr. Bevan, in the art room the fly had already perished in his cup of coffee. I tried to alert him to this, but he picked the cup without looking and drank most of the coffee in-between munching on a biscuit. I left the room and completed my chore in the final two rooms without spilling any of the cups.

When I returned to Mrs. Johnston class I did mention the fly incident of which she remarked, “I don’t think it will do Mr. Bevan any harm.

When the jam tarts were eventually cooked and laid out on plates with our names on them. Mrs Johnston picked a couple of the jam tarts for consumption and the best ones were made by Michael Iddon who had a lovely melt-in the mouth texture and used an apricot and ginger jam filling followed by Jackie Maddox who earned similar remarks to Michael, Jackie   used Sweet mince as her flavouring associated with Christmas mince tarts.  Mrs. Johnston award gold stars to them which gave them a chance of a surprise gift at the end of term.

For the rest of the term up to Christmas we tried various tasks like making mainly sweet items like Gingerbread men and Manchester tarts.

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