Kenton Field and theTarmac
we used to play massive games of football on the 'big field', that is/was kenton school field in the lovely summers we used to have but alas have no more. These went on for hours until it was pitch black. In the autumn as the field was all muddy we used to play on the tarmac down from the pyry, using the concrete wall with a goal chalked on it and jumpers for goalposts for the other one. We just used to have to ignore the climbing frame in the middle of the pitch. The ramp served as the one sideline as did the kenton bar school lower wall, so there were rarely throw ins. You could also play golf up on kenton school field-there was a course made by kids which was there for years, or you just go and sit up on the plateau. Some ruffians and bounders, probably from the rough bottom end used to fire golfballs at kenton school windows from the plateau, shouting "four!"That was shocking... Also, the posh kids from up the top, the one's with the RAF havas with 2 straps used to play cricket in the summer. This was a game whose rules were beyond the comprehension of the peasants and normals from the bottom and middle. We used to camp out on there too, hundreds of kids at a time, down below the plateau. Alas the plateau is no more, nor indeed can you even get on the kenton school field as it is totally fenced off(unless the kids have tunneled under it)Maybe their not bothered anymore as they just sit playing computer games all day and night eh? My point is that due to the access to kenton field I doubt they thought about planning this kind of provision into the estate design-now with no access to it their seems to be no such provision, no park no nowt...
The golf balls were usually of the yellow "John Jacobs" type - helpfully recycled...................
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a pre-teen, the Primary school fence was a lowish wooden one in a "Ha-Ha" trench. Last time I went, it looked like a secure detention facility!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember the name of the Headmistress at K B Primary in the late 60's? I can't remember it but something to do with jumpers springs to mind.
I dont know that, but I remember when I was a kid the headmaster was Mr Johnson-(looked a bit like woodrow wyatt, who wrote for the Sun newspaper, as the 'voice of reason'(actually he was most unreasonable...)
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of uninterest, Mr Johnstone had a twin brother who was also a head teacher, but at posh Jesmond Primary School...
i went to kenton bar primary when mr johnson was head master....then he left and we got stuck with the awful mr kieth!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Johnston was ok...basically you never saw him apart from assemblies or if you were in trouble...occasionally he would come round the classes...I recall he would always ask 'what is 12 x12? then 'so what is 24 x 24, hmmm?'
ReplyDeleteGod knows what the answer was, but as I say Johnston was ok as the head as far as I recall...
Anyone remember Mrs Blacklock, Mr Brownlaw or Mrs Usher?...
Mrs Blacklock and Mr Brownlow both taught me!. Mrs B was always immaculately turned out and Mr Brownlow married the french teaching student, can't remember her name though. I remember Mrs Usher, she sometimes played the piano in assembly and when she spoke, her right arm looked as if it was stuck to her side, yet she moved her elbow up and down furiously.
ReplyDeleteHello anonymous! Blacklock was a nasty piece of work in my opinion-all we ever did with her was 'times tables'-she used to walk up and down the room with a stick, threatening to hit you if you got one wrong(a times table sum that is!)
ReplyDeleteMr Brownlow was sound-a gentleman and ahead of his time in that he never used corporal punishment, as far as I recall...
Usher 'taught' me unfortunatly...she had a book called'nine a day' or something like that, for maths...(you had to do 9 sums a day and that was it...)anyway, thank you for your comments and please add more!
dunno if I've mentioned this before, but ruffians and bounders from down the bottom used to go and pinch the flags from Newcastle Golf Course and put them in the holes on the'kenton school field' golf course...shocking eh?...
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