An extract from my forthcoming autobiography:
SNAPSHOTS FROM MEMORY
The Autobiography of a Greenock Academy Schoolboy
From Chapter 1, ‘Earliest Memories’ …
“Miss Francis was both owner and teacher at ‘Beltrees Private Kindergarten’, situated in a house on The Esplanade …
… Miss Francis was a diminutive woman with brown hair, intelligent eyes, a gravelly voice and a friendly, smiling face. Her fingers were brownish yellow, stained with nicotine. Occasionally she would cough and cough, with a rattling smoker’s cough. The day at ‘Miss Francis’, began in the play room, which had French windows opening onto the lawn. Then we went through to the schoolroom where we sat at little wooden desks. Each desk had a lid. Inside was a tin of coloured chalk crayons, a small, lined writing jotter and a drawing notebook with pastel papers interleaved with tissue, so that the chalk didn’t rub off on the facing page. After morning lessons, there was a milk break …
… After break we sat on the floor around the blackboard in the playroom, which was mounted on a wooden easel. Every day, Miss Francis would tell a story, illustrating it with coloured chalk as she went along. I was enthralled. It was the highlight of my day. The stories usually ended when Miss Francis said with a smile, “And they all lived, happily, ever, after.” An ending that never failed to satisfy my simple little mind.”
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