Edinburgh History - Wardie School - Recollections

Recollections of the 1930s

from the

'Wardie School Anniversary Booklet 1931-1981'

Around Wardie

Pupils who attended the school in the 1930s remember:

- Horses pulling delivery wagons were still common,

- Sea planes visited Granton Harbour.

- Sir Alan Cobham's Flying Circus offered rides at Silverknowes.

School Uniform

Some of the first pupils at Wardie school in 1931 recall being proud of their new brightly coloured tie and badge. There were three different styles of hat for the girls:

- black felt for winter

- 'pork pie' for spring

- panama for summer

Royalty

A floral Pageant was held at Wardie School in 1935 to commemorate the Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary.

A wireless was installed in the school in the school in 1935 and used for weekly 'speech training' lectures. In 1936, the whole school assembled in the Hall to hear the broadcast of King Edward's abdication speech.

In summer 1938, pupils from the school lined Granton Road, cheering and waving flags as King George VI drove past.

Preparing for War

In 1938 the ARP (Air Raid Patrol) were making plans to occupy the school. Fire drills were held 'without warning'. On one occasion all classes were clear of the school in 48 seconds.

In September 1939, Wardie School was taken over by the ARP, and 403 children were evacuated to Fife. They were looked after in groups of ten by parents and others who travelled with them.

The children assembled in the school playground where they were told of their destinations, then they set off by train, carrying gas masks with labels tied to their blazers.

231 children remained in the district. They were dispersed to houses and taught in small groups for an average of about five hours a week for the remainder of 1939. Some were taught in the basement of the Bank Manager's house in Granton Square.

Most of the evacuated children returned during the early months of 1940. Some were taught in the mornings, others in the afternoons.

[Anniversary Booklet - Wardie School 1931-1981]

Recollections

Ed Thomson

Thank you to Edward Thomson for sending me this photograph:

Ed wrote:

First Headmaster

"Mr Downie was the first Headmaster at Wardie School. Here is a photograph of Mr Downie, twenty-eight years before Wardie School opened, when he was then teacher of Class 6 at Torphichen Street School.

Headmaster at Wardie School was Mr Downie's last appointment. He retired before World War II broke out and he was succeeded by Mr Vickers.

Ed Thomson, Glamis Castle, Angus Scotland, November 20, 2006

Sports Days

"This was the uniform worn on sports days. This photo is of myself, aged eight in 1936. I was Captain of Bangholm house.

Ed Thomson - 1936

There is a downside to this.

On my way back from Wardie that day, I was attacked by three "yobs" from the Granton area who resented my blazer and ripped it up.

They also got my trousers messed with tar in Boswall Green which had just had the road resurfaced."

Ed Thomson, Glamis Castle, Angus Scotland, April 12, 2006

Recollections

Kathleen Wheeler (née Christie)

Thank you to Kathleen Wheeler (née Christie) for sending me the recollections below.

Kathleen wrote:

Message from USA

"I came to the U.S. in 1961 and enjoyed my new life with my new husband. I worked and kept busy, travelled quite a bit, complements of Uncle Sam, and never really got homesick.

But now I have become terribly homesick. I found your web site and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have 'clicked on everything' and saw all the old places I knew, all the old memories came flooding back .

I have tried to find names of people I knew, but the only one I have recognized so far, is Mr. Downie, Headmaster of Wardie school."

Teachers

"I think that the next headmaster at Wardie School was Mr. Vickers, and that all of our teachers were spinsters! I was terrified of all of my teachers and most of our class was too."

Wartime

"I remember a POW camp, down from Wardie School. You'd see the prisoners out, sometimes working. I remember the air raids and bombings very well and also the evacuations.

If I remember correctly, if you had relatives or friends who lived in the country, you went to stay with them but if not, you went to the camps in various places. I went to an aunt and uncle who lived in Innerleithen and stayed with them."

Metal Fences

"I also remember the city taking down all of our metal fences around our gardens, to be used for the war effort. They left the main vertical supports for the rails which had holes in them to place the horizontal rails.

All of us kids used to put our mouths over the holes and blow to make some strange sounds. It ended up with everyone on my street getting impetigo around their mouths from blowing on those holes.

Ah - these were the good old days."

Employment

"Bruce Peebles' factory was just up the street from where I lived in Crewe Grove and many of the neighbourhood men worked there.

Also, Ferranti's was at Crewe Toll. I worked there for several years with the Air Ministry."

Kathleen Wheeler (née Christie), Crossville, Tennessee, USA: May 4, 2007

Do you remember Kathleen Christie?

If you remember Kathleen Christie and would like to contact her, please e-mail me and I'll pass on your message to her.

Thank you.

- Peter Stubbs: May 12, 2007

Recollections

Iain C Purves

Waterdown, Ontario, Canada

Thank you to C Purves who wrote:

Enrolled 1939

"I was born in Links Place in 1934, but my father found employment with Morrison and Gibbs, the printers at Canonmills, and somehow we were able to rent a Gumley and Davidson house a house in Crewe Grove (Number 20).

When I was five years old, a Miss Smith came to the house and after an interview I was enrolled in Wardie School (in 1939).

I remember that the playground and the covered area were taken over by ambulances etc. for the duration of the war.

HMS Lochinvar

"Playing sports, we were aware of the Royal Navy at the foot of our playing fields (HMS Lochinvar).

We used to hear the Naval announcements on our way to the school dinners in the large wooden building just next to the wall of the camp."

HMS Lochinvar

"I left Wardie School after the 'Qually' and went to Trinity Academy, attending school there with the sons and daughters of many of Newhaven's community."

Iain C Purves, Waterdown, Ontario, Canada: October 3, 2011

North Edinburgh

Cramond - Granton - Royston - Trinity - Wardie

Maps

Granton: transport map 1932

Granton: small map 1870

Granton: large map 1870

Recollections

Cramond: from 1940s

Cramond Island: 1970s

Granton: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1970s

Granton, Trinity, Wardie: 1940s 1950s - 60s Shops