Newport
My first school was in a suburb of Newport (Gwent). This was a small co-educational school with junior years 1 and 2 sharing the same classroom. It was in a fairly modern single storey building with a big grass field on one side and a tarmac playground on the other. I walked to and fro (about a mile), mostly coming home for lunch also.
Whitchurch Junior
When I was seven years old, my parents moved to a suburb of Cardiff and I went to a boys-only junior school in Whitchurch. This was in an old building with no electricity (open coal fires for heating and gas for lighting). The toilets were open-air in the school yard and there was no grass anywhere. The school was Dickensian: "masters" carried canes and minor misdemeanors were rewarded with a cane stroke on the hand (the trick was not to flinch and withdraw the hand but to push the hand forward and down to absorb the swish..). I got caned regularly.
The design of the building was curious - many classrooms could only be reached by passing through another. It had two stream entry - streamed A and B by academic ability.
The class register was taken by pupils calling out consecutive numbers in Welsh. On my first day I was told that I was "un ar ugain" (21) but after "ugain" there was a pause: I did not know I was next. There were Welsh lessons timetabled, but nobody, teachers included, knew any Welsh. One lesson was just to go round the class and pupils had to say a different Welsh word, or drop out. I was smart enough to realise that Welsh words could be invented...
In the top class (standard five) the big event was the "scholarship" examination. This was later known as the "eleven-plus" and determined who would go to grammar school rather than secondary modern. As preparation for this exam, the syllabus was maths in the morning and English in the afternoon. Many pupils were privately coached although I was not. At that date, there were two tries allowed (in successive years) so some pupils stayed an extra year in junior school. Those who passed highest got to go to their first choice grammar school (Whitchurch Grammar which was nearby) while the next tranche could choose to go (by train) to Penarth Grammar. The remainder went to Whitchurch Secondary Modern.
The top class teacher was quite go-ahead and had devised a system of points whereby the pupils with the highest points each week got chosen as monitors. My friend (Michael Weber) and I realised that being a monitor was not important and we competed between us to get the worst points score (mostly by asking to go to the toilet - which attracted negative points unless you had special permission). This rather threw the teacher...
Whitchurch Grammar
Whitchurch Grammar School was a fairly new building (1930s), co-educational and two stream entry when I first went there. Because the top tranche of girls could choose to go to Howell's School in Llandaff (direct grant), there were less than 50% girls at Whitchurch and they were not as many academic high fliers as among the boys.
As the post-war "bulge" came through, the school was extended and was five stream entry when I left. Discipline was less Dickensian: you could be made to stand outside the classroom for a while; made to stay behind after school for detention; made to write out 100 times some nostrum ("lines") or sent to the headmaster to be caned on your bottom. I remember that we found a cache of "lines" in a form teacher's desk drawer -- so we had a supply ready..
I was able to take an impression of the school master key and then cut down a key to that shape. This was convenient for many purposes -- some of them legitimate.
The school organised school trips: typically to Stratford upon Avon to see a Shakespeare play. An excursion train took us from Whitchurch Station to Stratford. Another destination was Bristol Zoo. There were also coach trips for smaller groups (middle school society) locally and to London. I remember that the coach broke down on the way back from London and there was a long delay in getting a replacement: so some parents were very anxious.
Being in Wales, rugby was the winter sport for boys. I was small for my age and could not run fast: so was not able to achieve much. Later on, we were allowed to do cross-country running instead and this was preferable for me. Since I knew the area well, I could even take a short cut if wanting to get back early. I actually played football (soccer with a smaller ball and piles of coats for goal posts) nearly every day. I was able to hold my own at soccer and enjoyed playing. I also enjoyed cricket and usually volunteered to be wicket-keeper since you had more to do. Also, I was not very good at batting or bowling.
I was not very interested in sports as a spectator: I have been to view most sports only once ever (soccer, rugby, cricket, athletics, horse racing, car racing, motorcycle racing).
The first two years were streamed on age (younger pupils in B stream - myself included). Then streaming was science v arts. I took science which still required several languages: English, French and a choice of Welsh or German. My parents advised that a job in Wales might be had more easily with a command of Welsh, though I have never had such a job and I have subsequently had to acquire basic German because of frequent visits.
A boy joined us from another school bringing a precious skill: you could blow down a gas pipe, causing air to enter which could put out the flame of another branch (do NOT try this - the air-gas mixture could explode). Gas was poisonous in those days (town gas made from coal with carbon monoxide). But we tried this in chemistry lessons: the teacher could not understand why the Bunsen burner on his demonstration desk would go out...
In the sixth form, the mathematics teaching was the most inspiring and I found mathematics relatively easy. I also took physics and chemistry. I was intending to study mathematics at University, but the circumstances of my arrival at Oxford, meant that the choice was Physics or wait a year... So I took Physics.
I left school and went to University 10 days later. This is because I returned for a third year in the sixth form to do Oxbridge entrance exams. But I won a Meyricke scholarship to Jesus College, Oxford, which was awarded in early September on the basis of A-level results. Two Meyricke scholarships were awarded each year (restricted to applicants who satisfied one or more of the criteria of being Welsh) and that year the other went to my colleague from Whitchurch: Robin Okey. I believe this clean sweep was celebrated by giving the whole school a day off.
Sunday School
For a while I went to Sunday School. This I found rather boring and I can only credit it with providing my first experience of smoking (aged 11). It also organised Whitsun treats (described here). I attended church (Church in Wales) with my father for a while and took more interest in predicting the time that Mrs "Fainty" Davies would keel over than in the service. As I became more independent-minded, I stopped going.
Rationing
During and after the 1939-45 war, there was rationing of food (meat, sugar, butter, tea, jam, biscuits, breakfast cereals, cheese, eggs, lard, milk, canned and dried fruit) and of fuel. Meat rationing finally ended in 1954. Lemons and bananas were not available. Clothing was also rationed. Shops had very limited stocks.
The advice was "make do and mend". Vegetables and fruit were grown on any land available (gardens, parks,..). Rabbits were hunted and eaten. Blackberries, whinberries, hazel nuts and mushrooms were foraged for.
Clothing was "patched up": socks were darned, elbow and cuff patches were added to jackets, bed sheets were cut and re-sewn edge to middle to make them last longer. Wellingtons were repaired with bicycle tyre repair patches. Items were knitted if wool was available (for example by unravelling some knitwear which was worn or the wrong size). Sewing machines (hand turned mostly) were commonly used.
When there were eggs available, some would be preserved in waterglass. Powdered egg was available sometimes too. Tins of meat (SPAM) were also available at times.
Children were allocated orange juice (a sticky liquid) and cod liver oil tablets (not great tasting).
I don't remember any sense of deprivation at the time -- we just made the best of what was available and I, as a young lad, had never known anything else.
Shops and deliveries
Before most people had their own cars, walking to a local shop to buy food was usual. Most houses did not have a refrigerator in the 40s and 50s, so produce had to be bought soon before it was needed. Some perishables were commonly delivered regularly to the door: milk (in re-usable glass bottles by electric milk float usually); bread; icecream; pop (soft drinks);.. Many groceries would also deliver items ordered. Heavy items (coal and logs) were also delivered to your house.
In Whitchurch, a greengrocer came regularly with a horse and cart to deliver. The horse knew the round and would move on to the next stop without being directed. One day the horse had a foal alongside: the greengrocer had not realised that his horse was pregnant until the foal appeared that morning. A van does not (as of now) self-replicate, so a horse was a very "green" option.
Supermarkets had not appeared, in a shop you asked the person behind the counter for the items needed and they gathered them up. One slightly go-ahead grocery in Whitchurch (Edwards I think) had installed an overhead cable system to transport cash from each counter position to a central cashier. I remember being fascinated by this "modern" technology.
Games children play
Before television, video games and mobiles; children played together outside much of the time. You knocked on the front door and asked "can X come out to play please?". The suburban roads carried little traffic, so one could play in the street. Any hedgerows, trees and bushes could be used to make "dens". Trees could be climbed. Any brook, pool or lake allowed exploration with a net. Hills could be climbed and paths explored. Any open patch of grass allowed impromptu games of tag(touch), soccer, cricket, rounders,..
Children also made their way to and from school without supervision: walking, or cycling when older. There were "disputes" between children sometimes, but no great damage was done (though I have a chipped tooth as a result). I don't remember any serious problems with other adults: some people were known by children to be "odd" and were kept clear of. I do remember one lady who spent much of her time, by the main road through Whitchurch, spitting at every vehicle that passed her. Scoutmasters and the like were often known to be fond of little boys: but were expected to stop when told.
Weather
I remember a bit about the winter of 1949. Snow fell and remained, building up to a depth that seemed to be almost my height then. For a small child, this was a game, but, I believe, the country struggled to keep food distributed during this period.
A later memorable winter was 1963. Again snow built up in depth and remained for several months. Many roads were impassible for long periods. I managed to drive (and ride a scooter) during this winter. By car I needed to use the shovel to dig tracks for the tyres a few times in order to get through.