Following a recent thread got me thinking of my days at school in the mid to late sixties , It all seemed quite normal at the time but in these days of political correctness maybe it wasn't. I apologise if you feel I am being over indulgent but here goes.
I left Junior School in 1965 after passing my 11 plus in them days you were given four preferences of schools in the City you would like to attend and they allocated you to one of the four.I was allocated my fourth choice Cardinal Godfrey aka Stalag 17 which was on Breckfield Road South in Anfield.
It was a strange looking school and as I wasn't aware where it was I jumped on a bus from Walton Vale on a reconnaissance mission to find out.
It took me 2 hours to find it as many of the locals didn't even know it was there.The school was an old house from the front then when you went in the main building it bore a resemblance to Colditz Castle which was a popular TV programme at the time.
It had a courtyard surrounded by four high walls all with barbed wire on the top, escape was impossible.
The School was run by Christian brothers who were a bit like the Nazis but more violent. I was an average kid not particularly disruptive but I would say that in my years at the school I probably got the cane every other day sometimes twice a day it was just the way it was.
All the teachers were tooled up so they could dish it out instantly at a whim. The woodwork teacher liked to get you to bend over a desk then announce to the class "Mahagony is probable the finest timber on planet earth" and proceed to clump you with it. Another would whack you with one of the wooden dusters they used to clean the blackboard.
Many times you were caned for no reason once the class of 40 kids got 6 each because one lad wouldn't own up to some misdemeanour.We knew who it was but you didnt say it just wasn't done.
My personal quickest caning was after 40 seconds in my first TD lesson me and a mate got 4 each for breathing I think it was.
Was this all normal at the time?