I don't remember sports days and swimming galas very fondly as I was rubbish at anything sporty, even the egg and spoon sort of race. The best bit was the ice cream van which parked near the school gates and did very nicely.
I have always enjoyed swimming but not competing. I'm happy just to swim lengths and maybe to increase my distance but being told to go faster just took the pleasure out of the activity for me.
There would be end of term plays and concerts (at least at Primary School) which were a lot more to my taste.
At Primary School there would be the school day trip. I remember going to York and to Knaresborough on coaches and taking my packed lunch with me.
The thing I remember most was autograph books. I had a new one each year. Everyone (or maybe it was just the girls) would tote their autograph books to every adult in the school from the headmaster to the dinner ladies. They'd also get signatures from others in their own class. I have no idea what happened to those books: I suspect they were in the bin before next term started.
And on the last day there was the school report for our parents to read. I think some children dreaded that but I was a smug little Good-Two-Shoes.
And so home for six weeks summer holiday.
I enjoyed reading your memories of your school days. When I was growing up, our school year started in January and ended in December. It was in a tropical country and there were no summer holidays as such. We had 3 weeks off in April (Cultural New Year), about 4 weeks off in August, and another 3 weeks off in December. I did enjoy the class plays some of us would do and I remember autograph books, although the only one I had was from the last year of school, just before I left the country. I had that autograph book with me for years, until I decluttered it quite recently. :)
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to keep it so long! I still have class photographs from my first three years at school but I just didn't keep the autograph books.
DeleteI still have my autograph books from school. Nowadays the children all sign each others tee shirts.
ReplyDeleteHow long do they keep those, I wonder?
DeleteOur end of term trip was always to Bristol Zoo a place I loved as a child, sports days were not for me, I once got stung on my foot, stepped on a bee as we were creeping away from a cricket match.
ReplyDelete