Lives in Cricket No 49 - Enid Bakewell

52 20 pupils. This was before I realised that heads are paid according to the number of pupils! However, he let me help out the teachers and I became a parent governor. A wall was built to allow the children to play kicking or throwing a ball, and at some stage a learner swimming pool was built attached to the school, so it was natural that an ex-PE teacher should teach the children there. After Robert was born I was desperate to get back to work and was very lucky to be offered - when Robert was about three - around 1974 a job teaching swimming in the learner pool attached to the primary school attended by Lorna and Lynne. Robert would come into the swimming pool area with me and learnt to swim in a week so that he was safe. Eventually he would wander up to the play area where Lorna and Lynne were. As I had helped the teacher and on occasions when she went on a course I had taken the whole class (paid too), the mathematics specialist Miss O’Hara did not mind and Rob was no bother - I imagine - quiet like his dad. One day, of course, he was destined for that class. The swimming ‘work’ was paid on an hourly basis so I ran lessons in the holidays except when selected for cricket. I also had to job share to get away to play cricket. This was OK as the first job share gave me back hours - the second lady, however, wanted all my hours and ‘took’ them! The pool was my little aquarium. It was five metres by eight metres and because of mining subsidence there were cracks in the sides but fortunately never the bottom. I used to get there early before lessons to check for cracks. It was my aim to have everyone swimming and with this in mind I took nursery aged children and even younger ones in the Enid from 1969 North Midlands, 1971, Enid with blazer.