A Coventry Kid's Tale

Chapter 10: 3A (Getting older)

Back to Coventry and back to school the child went. No longer in Tubby Turner's class 2A, but to 3A, Mr. Powell, a little Welsh teacher who was to be the child's teacher for another year. Now this teacher mainly took the class for English literature. Here the child was to learn about poems and prose, and of course the writers of old, like Shakespeare and Wordsworth and many others, but the child forgets most of them.

Different teachers took the pupils for different lessons. When the bell was rung at the end of a period, the pupils would then go to another classroom with a different teacher, history, geography, science, art & craft, woodwork and metalwork, music and games. There were many different teachers in Freddie's. One of the child's favourite teachers was for art, a Mrs. Jackson. She was getting on a bit but still looked OK (26 years old), but we will return to her later. The 3A classroom overlooked the sports field, which as luck would have it the child had a window next to his desk. What a delight for the child with all them green kickers (knickers really) playing on the field, for the girls shared the same sports field. No time for daydreaming in this class, Mr. Powell was a serious teacher. A knock came on the door, "Enter" said Mr. Powell. The door opened and in walked a girl, now this was no ordinary girl, this was Pamela Hutton, whom everybody knew the child was seeing after school. Wolf whistles and catcalls abounded only to be silenced by the teacher. Apologising to the young "Miss" the teacher asked her to wait outside the door until he called her. After the door was shut he turned to the class of pupils. With a very red face and hissing through his teeth he said "What an impolite rabble of children you all are. When the young lady comes back in you will all rise from your seat and apologise to her". The teacher opened the door and Pam walked back in with a very red face too. All 42 pupils rose from their seat as one and apologised. When the young lady (Pam) left, Mr. Powell said "You can now form an orderly queue starting by my desk", where upon he started to cane every pupil across the backside. The child was last in line and argued his case saying he never said anything because he had hid his head behind the desk lid. The child's caning was harder for arguing. Injustice the child never forgives. Besides, the cane across the backside makes you feel sick as well as not being able to sit on it !!!!

The writing was on the wall for Pam and the child. While at Pam's house the father said "Would you like to come to the works' pig roast?". Said the child drooling, "Yes please". Pam's father said "Do your parents know you are seeing Pam?". The child replied "No". The father then said "If you do not tell your parents about Pam then you cannot come to the pig roast !". The child was now in a dilemma. He was not allowed girl friends of any sort !!!!!! While in this dilemma, the child went to the St. Peter's youth club in Yardley Street. Here he was confronted with Brother Stuart, who asked him what seemed to be the trouble. Explaining his dilemma to Brother Stuart, he said he would see what he could do about the dilemma for the child. Now the child thought nothing of this until returning home from school one day, he was confronted by his mother. "Why have you been telling tall stories to Brother Stuart?". "Haven't mum" said the child "it's the truth". The child's mother and father conferred with each other and came back to the child and said "You may have a girlfriend and bring them home". The poor child thought he had won a milestone. Poor child, it was a millstone instead. Pam by now was a lost cause as the father had forbade her from seeing the child until he had told his parents, too late had Brother Stuart intervened.