Tony Cunnane's Early Years 1935-53

In August 1941 I started my formal education at Christ Church Infants School on the corner of Thornes Lane and Mark Street just beyond Bridge 58 of the 99 Arches. I found the image on the right (copyright unknown) in an old book - it shows Christ Church on some unspecified date in the 1800s when it clearly stood in open fields long before the 99 Arches and surrounding terraces were built. However, the very imposing steeple for such a small local church can not be mistaken.

The following description of Christ Church comes from a document dated 1888:

"Christ Church, Thornes, is an ecclesiastical parish, formed Oct. 20, 1874 of Thornes and Holy Trinity parishes: the church, situated in Thornes lane and consecrated in 1876, is a building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north porch, and a tower with spire, containing one bell: there are sittings for 596 persons. The register dates from the year 1876. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £261,derived from endowment, in the gift of Mrs. Disney Robinson and held since 1884 by the Rev. Daniel Scurr Cowley M.A. of Downing College, Cambridge."

The image on the right shows Mark Street - or what is left of it. Christ Church Primary School, the 'Little School', was behind the railings on the right. Everyone called it the ‘Little School’ to differentiate it from St James’ Church of England Junior School, which was the ‘Big School’, just up the road. The church was beyond the school on the right at the far end; the Vicarage was on the left opposite the school building. The road in the foreground is Thornes Lane. I took this image in May 2008. (Click on the image to pop up a larger version). Christ Church itself was demolished many years ago but the school buildings were still there until quite recently. Now everything has disappeared, including Mark Street itself, under an industrial development.

I can clearly remember arriving for my very first morning at school. It was about a 10-minute walk from home and sister Kathleen must have come along in her pram but I can’t remember for certain. I had with me my gas mask in its small cardboard box slung across my shoulders. It was mandatory for everyone to carry a gas mask at that time. The exact date, 12th August, has always been synonymous in my mind not only with the start of my formal education, but with Granddad's birthday and the start of the grouse shooting season, even though as a city child I had no idea what grouse were, nor why they had to be shot on that particular day.

I had been both excited and a little apprehensive when I left home but I clearly remember crying when Mum left me to the tender mercies of the assembled staff of two ladies who were waiting outside the main door just before 9-o-clock. I also remember how reluctant I was to leave the school when she came back to take me home for dinner three hours later. I’d made lots of new friends and had a thoroughly enjoyable time because everything was so different from anything I’d experienced before.

Just inside the front door of the single-story school was the cloakroom. We each had a peg on which we hung our outdoor coats, cap and gas mask. The cloakroom led directly into the large, main classroom which I soon discovered was used for just about every activity, including mid-morning milk breaks, dinners for those who had them at school, and general games when the weather was too poor to play outside. In one corner of the main room was a large, black, well-worn teacher’s desk containing such treasures as pencils, paper, and stocks of Plasticine, the colourful, rubbery plastic modelling clay. Off to the back of the room was another door that led, via a short corridor, to a smaller classroom used by the final year pupils. The major difference between Christ Church School as it was in the 1940s and infant schools today is that the classroom walls were bare – no colourful displays – in fact no displays at all.

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