Baines Endowed School

This is where it all began just a few days short of the 5th birthday. I actually lived about half a mile from school, my Mum took me for the first few days but soon I was going by myself, or in the company of newly found friends who lived nearby. Things were rather different then.

Early Days
My first teacher was Miss Fisher, who later wrote a fascinating history entitled 'Mr James Baines and the Thornton School.' Early memories are of 'Listen with Mother' a couple of times a week on a large and very solid looking wireless placed at the front of the class, and broadcast on the BBC Home Service. The classrooms were pleasant with large windows which initially looked out on farmland but which soon became very different as Sunningdale Drive and the surrounding estate was built. It was all very interesting to a daydreaming schoolboy.

This photo was taken outside the Infants' classrooms in 1964. Six of the seven teachers who taught me can be seen. Mrs Harris (nee Butterworth, back row left), Mr Taylor (back row second left), Miss Fisher (middle row left), Miss Smith (middle row second left), Mrs Haslam (nee Wadsworth, front row left) and Mrs Spencer (front row right). All long serving teachers and all still there when I left in 1969. In the centre is Headmaster Mr Jackson, a very strong character who led the school from 1944 until his retirement in 1971. Tragically Mr Jackson died suddenly a few weeks later whilst on holiday in Yugoslavia.

Organisation
The school consisted of the Infants, three years ages 5-7, and Juniors, four years ages 8-11. The classes were numbered in reverse order, so Miss Fisher's entrance class was 7, and Miss Smith's final class was 1. Apart from these my teachers were Class 6 Mrs Spencer, Class 5 Mrs Harris, Class 4 Mrs Haslam, Class 3 Mr Taylor and Class 2 Mr Beckett. The only teaching position that really changed much during my time was for some reason Class 2, which had a least three incumbents as far as I can recall. As the school catchment area became more populated so class sizes grew, extra classes were required from time to time depending on intake, and more permanent and supply staff needed.

Academia
Standards were always good. As befitted a school of its time the focus was on the traditional areas of reading, writing and arithmetic. Extra emphasis though was placed on tables and spelling, weekly tests ensured Baines' pupils were always strong in these areas.

Headmaster
Mr Jackson was looked upon by all new children as something of a fearsome character, consequently he always commanded maximum respect. After a time though you realised he was hard but fair, you generally knew where you stood with him. He was a down to earth character who spoke a lot of common sense much of which has stayed with me. He took the school through a critical period of transition and rebuilding as Thornton grew from a village into a small town. There is no doubt he was a strict disciplinarian, no bad thing and very much a requirement for a headmaster in those times. Unlike a lot of other schools the ultimate punishment at Baines' was not the cane but the strap. The strap was talked about in hushed tones and mentioned by Mr Jackson from time to time by way of a deterrent. I shall never forget the day I and most of my fellow pupils saw the strap for the first and only time. It was in Mrs Haslam's class so I would have been eight, a few items had been stolen from coat pockets and Mr Jackson was on the warpath. In assembly he warned any thieves who might be listening that a special coat now hung in the cloakrooms, its pockets contained objects covered in a special paint that could not easily be washed off, and which would identify the guilty parties. The consequences of being caught were demonstrated later that day.

As we sat in class writing in our exercise books Mr Jackson came in unnoticed through the already open door. There was a terrific crack and most of us jumped out of our skins. We looked round to see Mr Jackson holding a pale brown leather strap like object about a foot long which he had brought down with some considerable force on an empty desk. Against the stunned silence he reinforced his earlier message of savage retribution (gulp!), we certainly knew where we stood. I imagine he gave similar performances in subsequent classes, it seemed to have the desired effect as the matter was never mentioned again. I wonder who the thief was? Was he ever caught and does he still bear the scars?

Healthy competition
Encouraged in all areas even from the early days in the Infants, we were all allocated to one of four teams. I was in the Blues, others being Reds, Greens and Yellows. A rite of passage into the Junior School was the changing of team names from mere colours to proper names, a precursor of the House system I was later to encounter at the Grammar School. Hence Blues became Normans, Reds became Saxons, Greens became Romans, and Yellows became Danes. Academic competition came on a weekly basis by way of 'Good Signatures.' Good work in class was rewarded with a VG (very good), this was a cardboard token to be carefully kept in your VG tin, usually one of those Old Holborn tobacco tins that Granddad had finished with. When you had collected three VGs they were returned to the teacher and you could enter a 'Good Signature' in the book. At the end of each week the 'Good Signatures' were counted up and recorded, then in Monday morning assembly everybody's scores were read out. The clever ones like Christina Swift and Michael Thompson sometimes got as many as seven or eight, I think my top score was five. There was then a brief pause while Mr Jackson added up the total scores for the whole school and then declared the winner, Monday assembly was always that little bit more exciting!

This photo from sometime in the 70s shows the canteen (left) which acted as a temporary classroom as numbers rose during the 60s, the playground and playing field lie beyond. The front of Classes 1 and 2 can be seen to the right.

My old mate Pete Holme (Sept 2002) tells me that the old canteen buildings are now scheduled to be demolished to make way for more classrooms.

Sport
The other main area of competitiveness was in the sporting arena. Like many other boys of my age I was inspired by the England football team winning the World Cup in 1966 and thus began a lifelong obsession with the beautiful game. I can remember lots of rivalry in the playground, more so when Blackpool were in the old First Division and playing the glamour teams of the day, such as Manchester United and Liverpool (nothing much has changed there!). In the final couple of years we began to play more organised football, the better players would be selected for the school team. I always tended to be on the fringe, not quite good enough to be a first choice selection.

Within the school we had a three a side league between Normans, Danes etc. These leagues would run for a few weeks and then start again to keep up the interest. The action took place in the hall with benches for goals, a goalkeeper and two outfield players, the ball wasn't really allowed above waist height. It was all good fun with plenty of keen rivalry although one or two of the Captains began to take it a bit too seriously for a while. I was pleased to be Captain of the Normans in my final year and ended up one of the top goal scorers, unfortunately I couldn't translate this success to the real game on grass.

The other main sporting event was Sports Day. It was fairly basic stuff with a sprint, a sack race and an obstacle race, I was usually fairly good at the sprint, average over the obstacles and useless at the sack race. I seem to remember John Crossley as something of a dark horse in the final year winning all three races, with the likes of myself and Simon Richardson who fancied ourselves a bit making up the other positions.

And Finally......
Anybody out there reading this? I'd love to hear from you, drop me a line at stephen.yarwood@btinternet.com

Some of you may be in for a shock, I have discovered a number of ancient photos of us when we were very young. If you want to see how you looked then go to the Baines' Endowed Gallery Page.

If you are interested in the history of the school, try and get hold of a copy of 'Mr James Baines and the Thornton School' by Molly S. Fisher (aka Miss Fisher). Published by the Trustees in 1984 it looks in detail at the life and times of James Baines and the evolution of Baines Endowed School. Many of the photos on these pages can be found in the book.

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