h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When I was 60 my "children" took me on a trip round all the places I had ever lived in England. One of the people we called on was the legend who taught me in a class of almost 50 in 1951-2.(I can still recite the register)

Other things I van still recite include several long poems. I won a poetry-speaking competition in 1960 with The Walrus and the Carpenter and my sons and I netted 50 quid from a pub quiz in Mansfield on the tie-breaker because I knew that Flores was in the Azores.

I also remember laughter and energy, and a lot of learning - Brian Wiggins and I were given extra playtime because he had successfully explained long division to me.

We also ran into Mr Wakefield some years later when I visited Westleigh Primary School for its 100th birthday celebrations. This is the only condolence card I have sent where the words "In Loving Memory" are truly meant with nothing to shade them.

How lovely to be able to remember him like that. Just goes to show, it's almost entirely a matter of which teachers we had that defines us ultimately.

Many years ago, I managed to organise a kind of class reunion. We all agreed that we had had a good set of teachers and a good general grounding, but there were none which we were really attached to. My husband did keep in contact with one of his primary school teachers for many years, until the teacher died.


Maybe there are Chinese ex students of yours who will be knocking on your door in the near future, remembering your wonderful lessons.

I have mixed memories of schooldays. I was a late developer, shy and not very popular, I am sure not many teachers remember me. I had a close circle of friends who I am still in touch with. We have grand reunions every 5 years which includes a fundraiser for our local hospice. The close-bys have a get-together every couple of months or so, they're like extra family. I've been lucky, I don't know anyone else who has regular get-togethers or reunions, and it's been fascinating watching my old muckers develop into adults, propagate the species and become the elderly generation.

Mr Wakefield did remember me. I started to introduce myself and he got my maiden name out before I did. The "children" were horrified. I thought it was because of the unusual first name, but he talked about other members of the same class without prompting. We met for lunchtime drinks the following day, which was when I discovered he had been torpedoed twice. Like several of our other teachers, he had done the short teacher training course after the war.

I did my own preliminary teaching practice there in 1968 and he had moved on to a headship, but another of that cohort took me into his class. (He had had a few years out in the middle to run a pub) Neither of them would last a week today, as they would pick up fallen children, dust them down and give them a hug if they were still crying.

My own students are too far away (and dead if Ethiopean) to visit but I have had cards over the years and a couple of Poles did visit once.
I'm nowhere as good at remembering names.