Mackworth School: School taught us to read learn and inwardly digest

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Recent articles about Mackworth School have prompted former pupil Jackie Stevens, of Mackworth, to write about her time there from 1959-63 and how it influenced her later in life.

WHEN I went to Mackworth School in 1959, Elvis was the King of rock ’n’ roll. Then came the madness of Beatlemania and the Mersey Sound, changing the face of teenage culture.

It was the beginning of massive social changes for all of us. But of course we did not know that then.

What a very different world we live in today. At that time, there were more manufacturers and a lot of industrial factories in the town.

Those of us who went to secondary schools were there because we did not pass the 11-plus exam when we were 10 or 11 and there was little expectation that we would achieve much in the world.

There was also an opportunity for some of us to take the 13-plus but, for some reason, I didn't.

I remember Mr Allen, or Jasper as we called him, was quite a remarkable man and some of the things he said are still very clear in my mind.

We had an assembly every morning and he usually said three things most days. The first was: “The countryside is on your doorstep. Get out into it.”

I recall going on a rambling expedition with a group of girls led by Miss Foxon. We went into Derbyshire and stayed in a youth hostel overnight. I seem to remember walking through Monyash and all the way to Ashbourne before getting a bus home.

Mr Allen also used to say, “Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” when talking about some high moral issue. Now, I know this phrase to be a biblical text and assemblies were usually Christian based. We sang a hymn and had a bit of a sermon every day to build into us some values.

He also said: “Don't blame the Government!”, which did not make much sense to me as aged 12 or 13 years old. Now, I guess his sub-text was to take personal responsibility and be pro-active about making changes in society rather than do nothing and then blame someone else. I wonder what he would have thought about our present government.

Mr Allen seemed to carry the authority he had with great dignity and presence. We all stood up when he came into the classroom.

One day, he was in our classroom and we must have been talking about nature because he asked: “What does foliage mean?”

I did not know and tried to avoid eye contact with him but his eyes seemed to bore into me. We had to write out twenty times “foliage means leafy”. I've never forgotten.

I remember Miss Jameson well. I liked being in her classes. We did a play about the prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry. I think Margaret Prince was Elizabeth and I was one of the prisoners.

I cannot remember talking much about theology but the lessons often included some discussion about the Jews who had been in the concentration camps. The war had only ended just over a decade before so it was still a comparatively recent tragedy affecting the nation’s psyche.

There was even a school song, most of which I have completely forgotten but there was reference to Mackworth girls, Mackworth boys and Poitiers field.

Was Mr Allen trying to give us a sense of history and tradition? I think so. The estate was built in 1952 but there had been mention of a Mackworth a millennium earlier.

Plantagenet history became of great interest to me and I became a member of the Richard III Society later on.

When I left school at 15 with no qualifications and no expectations to have any kind of a career, I worked at Moore and Eady for seven years.

I had a great time there. I earned lots of money on piecework making jumpers for Marks and Spencer. I made some good friends with whom I am still in contact and they were good times. Some of my old colleagues had a reunion two years ago and it was really good to meet up with everyone again.

Our society changed in a lot of ways and I, like many others of my age, have had the opportunity to further my education and broaden my experience.

My elder daughter went to the same campus when it became Parkfields. There was a massive protest from local residents when the council wanted to change it into a college but it did not make any difference. Mackworth College it became.

Nearly 25 years after leaving Mackworth Secondary Modern, I returned there to do two GCSEs and then, as a full-time student, to do a B Tec National Diploma.

One of the many topics we had to cover on the BTec was cultural awareness. I chose to research and do my project on Jewish culture.

I found it completely fascinating and I can see that the interest may have been sparked from my school RE lessons.

It seemed strange going back to the old school with its associations but I enjoyed it all. I bumped into Miss Ryalls, who was married. I recognised her straight away. We also met up at the Walbrook Nursery where our grandchildren were in the same nativity play.

I went on to go to university as a part-time student, just for my own pleasure.

My elder daughter is now a lecturer at the Joseph Wright site but sometimes she is at the Mackworth Campus. It has been a significant site for my family.

Yes, I would say Mackworth was a good school. I am still in regular contact with some of my old friends. In fact, my oldest friend, Linda Barker, whom I have known for 54 years, went to the same school but in the year below me.

She went to work at Davis, Watson and Elliot before becoming the owner of a shop in later years. We both currently have good, fulfilling jobs and enjoy our lives with our respective families and friends.

We are also looking to the future, thoughts of retirement and all the opportunities that will bring but, in the meantime, we are off to the Algarve for a holiday next month.

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