Faye Costello (nee Hallowes)

My Years at Canterbury Home Science School

My years at Canterbury started in 1945; I was 11 years and six months old.  My birthday being in June and although I was young I was able to go on to High School as I had come top of 6b at Belmore North Primary school.  During that year the 2nd World War ended and what a day that was?  The school closed and we all went home, not as easy as most of us travelled by train and as everybody had been allowed to leave work or other schools the trains were overcrowded and we had to let some go through before we could safely get on one.  Through the war years clothing and foods were rationed so that uniforms were not really enforced although most girls wore tunics as they were practical.  I remember how hot they were in summer.  At that time we could also knit in class, as we were making balaclavas and scarves for our soldiers at the war.  In our first year everyone did cooking, sewing, home management and a few turns in the laundry.  In second year we could choose either a business course or home science and I chose the home science as I had wanted to do nursing, my mother was not happy as most girls then went to work in offices, anyway I loved home science.  I was married at 19 and had 5 children so lots of “nursing” in that!  Never regretted, 60 years married this year 2012.

The year I left (1947) as the year our headmistress Miss Summerley was retiring and I still remember her speech, we all loved her, she advised us not to be in a hurry to grow up, looking forward for 21 as every year you live gets shorter and how true that is.  She also told us that just because we were girls our education was very important as we were the teachers of the next generation.  I had a happy time at Canterbury, I suppose it was easy for me I had lovely friends and I enjoyed school.

Some teachers I remember:

Miss Newton, First Year
Mrs Silk, Second Year
Mrs Maddox, Third Year
Miss Wagstaff, History
Miss Pont, Maths
Miss Holmes, Typing
Miss Pope, Sewing
Miss Fulcher, PE
Miss Williams, Library

Books I read at school:  The Wind in the Willows, Pride and Prejudice, Merchant of Venice, The Red Centre, Captain Courageous, Midsummer’s Night Dream.

For sport I played Tennis, Vigoro and Basket Ball.

By Faye Costello nee Hallowes
September 2012