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School Days
When I was five years old I started school at Tillicoultry Primary.
I was going to be in primary one, my older brother John was already in primary seven.
I remember my mum taking me to school, brand new school uniform with leather school bag.
Our class was in a small building set apart from the rest of the school.
Inside the classroom there was a single heater on the wall, a blackboard, the teacher's desk and the pupils' desks and chairs. The desks had lids and ink pots.
Our teacher was called Mrs Harrison. She drove a Triumph Herald car. She was very nice.
Different pieces of work, depending how good your work was, decided the colour of star - there was gold, silver and coloured. If the class was really good Mrs Harrison brought us all sweets.
I've made a list of the boys and girls in the class of '64 but I may have left out somebody because it's that long ago.
| Sandy Snaddon | Jennifer Crawford |
| Keith Allan | Jennifer Woods |
| Duncan McLaren | Jennifer Baird |
| Drew Hunter | Karen Black |
| Thomas Keenan | Sandra Hunter |
| Grant Looker | Catrina Wilson |
| Roddy Peters | Sandra Paton |
| James Woods | Patrica Atkin |
| Ian Adamson | Caroline Paterson |
| Drew Hunter | Ann McEwan |
| Donald McErechar | Margaret Fenton |
| Frank McAllister |
Primary Two I had Mrs Stephenson she drove a Morris Traveller. She was a good teacher but a bit strict.
In Primary Three Mrs Cameron was my teacher she was another good teacher. One of the things I remember about primary three was that I recited Burns Poetry to the class. For my endeavours I received a Burns Certificate which I still have to this day.
We used to get a bottle of milk each day. Two pupils would be chosen to bring the crates of milk across the play ground to the classroom.
In Primary Four I had Mrs Stalker.
Whilst in Mrs Stalkers class an incident happened which I am not particularly proud of.
I was standing in the playground with James Woods and May Curruthers was standing in front of us holding a sixpence coin. I think I pushed her and James grabbed the money.
The two of us had to report back to Mrs Stalker, as what had taken place was spotted.
We were standing in front of the whole class heads bowed. James handed the money back then I held both hands out for my first taste of corporal punishment. It was a real shock to the system. I never repeated those actions again!
Even though I got the belt, Mrs Stalker was one of my favourite teachers.
I have no recollections of primary five. All I say is I might have had a male teacher.
Primary Six I had Miss Bowie. I thought she was very attractive. She was a very nice teacher. That year was a happy one.
Miss Bowie got married and changed her name to Mrs Brown.
At this stage I must mention the toilets.
The boy's toilets were classic stone age design with no entrance door and no roof with the exception of the lavatories. You were faced with a ten foot high wall and at the bottom, a long concave trench and you can imagine the rest.
You can also imagine it was vast, pretty grim with regular blockages in the loos.
Some years later a new toilet block was built and the difference between the two was like night and day.
My first headmaster was a man called Mr McKay. He was a big man in every dimension. He drove a Citroen and smoked cigars. His raised voice was enough to put the fear of death in to you.
Mr McKay left and was replaced by Mr Ramage who drove a light blue Morris Minor. Mr Ramage was a firm but fair type of headmaster but I noticed he was always biting his nails.
Miss Kinross was my primary seven teacher. The way Miss Kinross put things across everything sounded interesting. Having said that I once got the belt though can't remember what it was for.
For the primary school camp I went to Abington.
One of the first things we did was have a game of football.
I had a brand new pair of red suede training shoes out of my mums friends catalogue (Mrs Chalmers).
I felt a real poser when I was wearing them. Anyway the grass was very wet and by the time the game was over my trainers and feet were soaking. I took my wet trainers off and to my horror my socks were bright red! It took days to come off.
While at the Camp we paid a visit to Lead Hills. It was a dismal day so I did not enjoy it that much.
Back at school my life was being made a misery because I was the only boy in primary seven still wearing short trousers and I had to endure a lot of name calling.