[Bill Haddow]

Mind you there are a few other things where the UK has been rather slow in the uptake....

Abolishment of the death penalty, persecution of gay people, ...................joining of the EC

Nonsense, all 12 members joined (more accurately, were subsumed into) the EC at the same time.

Bill H

[Leodisflyer]

Primary school in the early 70s. Only feel comfortable sharing now as the teacher concerned is likely long dead and I am semi-anonymous on here. She had a real temper, but always seemed to save it for the same girl. I try not to think about it.

[mick w]

The thought of my parents finding out I'd been Caned , was far more scary than the actual punishment .
I once chased a lad through some Glass Doors , & as he went through he swung the Door back into me , & my knee broke the Georgian Wired Glass , I was Caned of course , & tensed my Arm as it came down , moving the striking point to my Wrist , within a few minutes a large Slug like mark appeared , Mr Deputy Head told me to tell my parents to ring him if there was a problem ..... of course I didn't ??.

[OCB]

Misc..yes, I got belted. One and only time was the last day it was "legal" in our primary school, 1981.

I was actually innocent of all charges - but the Head Master (an Irish Catholic who went into education estab. rather than The Church) obviously wanted to vent some anger and get some belting in before he'd be charged for assault.

Honestly - yeah it hurt.

Did it bother me? Nope, not really. As you know, Lanarkshire upbringing at the time was rough as f+++

It was sort of a bragging point for a while, but I always knew that corporal punishment was bollox.

I had one classmate who had issues, mentally and at a family level. He had a complete emotional melt-down in P4 (8-9 yr old I think), in the middle of class.

Our Teach - of the Victorian School of Absolute Strictness - had him eat his wax crayons, "plank" on on his desk with his hands behind his head (you have to realise only his stomach was on the desk - his upper and lower body were dangling), then stick him in the corner with his head planted against the wall. The only thing missing was the Dunce Cap - which had been banned but obviously missed by some members of staff.

The lad, it was clear, had obvious issues - and I met with him not long after leaving high school. He needed psychological and psychiatric help - not Guantanamo Bay.

I have to say, he didnt seem to bear a grudge - al respect to him cos he was a punch-bag..

[Leodisflyer]

Only caned once and then only following a negotiated settlement.

I was wrongly accused of throwing a snowball at a teacher. Refused the cane, which created something of a dilemma for the Head. He and I spent some time in his office and came to a negotiated agreement where he gave me 6 symbolic taps on the hand so that he could record it in the book.

Learnt a lot at that school - all positive. Out of a class of about 30 (state Grammar school) one pupil became a British Ambassador, one is very well known in the printed media and is occasionally on TV, one was a champion in his sport, one was an actor, I think there was a surgeon in the mix and then I start to lose count. There are Wikipedia pages with some identities so not being too specific...

[Bill Haddow]

I had one classmate who had issues, mentally and at a family level. He had a complete emotional melt-down in P4 (8-9 yr old I think), in the middle of class.

]

Sounds very similar to the tale I recounted earlier, and, yes, that was in Lanarkshire too.

Bill H

[OCB]

I had one classmate who had issues, mentally and at a family level. He had a complete emotional melt-down in P4 (8-9 yr old I think), in the middle of class.

]

Sounds very similar to the tale I recounted earlier, and, yes, that was in Lanarkshire too.

Bill H

I know, that's why I said it. The investigation ongoing at the witch factory up at Smyllum - with the 90 something yr old nun being arrested etc - that's just skimming the top as you know.

TBH, in today's terms I'd be a millionaire via ambulance-chasing lawyers for the not so bad abuse I (as in all of us) lived through.

It wasn't right, and TBH one big reason I denounced my Catholic faith was the unwarranted physical abuse meted out on at least a weekly basis by those in "position" I volunteered my own time to help.

The church was something very dear and integral to my family, we didn't even think there was any separation between us and our local priests - they were welcome in our home any time; and they visited regularly. I had family high up in the church going well back (pre Victoria), cousins who went to seminary etc.

How things have changed....

My family home was 30 yards from the local church. The Chapel House (where the priests lived) was just after that. One troubled lad (less than 10 yrs old) had his face punched in by the priest, in the playground in front of the entire school.

His father went to the Chapel House as I was going by later that afternoon- to give the priest a bit of his mind; a very rare event. The priest opened the door, and without saying a word smashed the (Lanarkshire steel worker) father square on, then closed the door. Start to finish; about 5 seconds.

The father was semi punch drunk, rang the door bell - waited a bit - realized he was onto a loser then left.

Some people might reminisce about the "good old days" where physical beatings were accepted.

I don't. They were a bunch of cnuts who couldn't logically argue their way out of a wet paper bag - so reverted to authority and violence.

One mate of mine, in the ambiguous position of being in an English run private school in Scotland in 83, got punished with the belt. The deputy Head told him that the punishment wasn't entirely legal - but if he declined; he (and his younger sister) would be expelled.

So, he stood there - in the famous "wrists out" stance. The wazz gave it his best, my mate opened his arms just before impact and the deputy Head got a taste of his own medicine. My mate walked out the school right after and never returned, and thankfully his parents fully supported his decision.

[OCB]

Learnt a lot at that school - all positive. Out of a class of about 30 (state Grammar school) one pupil became a British Ambassador, one is very well known in the printed media and is occasionally on TV, one was a champion in his sport, one was an actor, I think there was a surgeon in the mix and then I start to lose count. There are Wikipedia pages with some identities so not being too specific...

I met a lad in 87 or 88, his name was Richard. It was a long weekend martial arts seminar open to the general martial arts community, with the grand master flying over from Japan etc, guys from all over Europe attending.

Richard turned up in his dad's very expensive car, waving his black belt for effect over his shoulder - as soon as his dad disappeared the black belt got stuffed back in his backpack where it belonged.

We remained courteous with the lad; and he insisted we call him Dick rather than Richard. Even the naive and loveable Swedes quickly figured that one out.

Dick recounted his tales of boarding school - like having his hand gaffa-taped to a boiling kettle, or roped into a chair and chucked down the stairs as part of a "hazing" thing. He insisted it was all in good faith, that it was just the way of things, and when he went to work in the City these older lads would be his "best friends".

Yeah......

A few years later, I recounted that story to a fellow student at Uni - and he said the same happened to him at a similar school.

..honestly, some might think I'm making carp like that up - or that it was "character building". I'm happy my character remained unbuilt by such lovable rogues...

[Berri]

Some shocking stories on here - poor kids.

I was at school in 1960s and 1970s - state mixed primary and then mixed grammar school.

Can only remember cane being used once in the junior school and once in secondary school - both for serious offences. The schools made a very big deal of both - serious talks in assembly.

My husband went to same junior school and an all boys secondary school - he remembers cane was used very rarely indeed, and only for serious things.

Did it depend on where you went to school;
whether state or private - seemed to be far more common in private schools?

I've never had felt the need to 'belt' a student.
The fact I'm 5'3" and most teenagers tower above me might have something to do with it.

[Miscellaneous]

Misc..yes, I got belted. One and only time was the last day it was "legal" in our primary school, 1981.

Michty, you're way much younger than I thought!

[avtur3]

At the particular south Manchester Catholic boys grammar I went to '67 - '72 corporal punishment was very much a daily activity; purpose made leather straps were used.

A visit to the headmaster resulted in a guaranteed 'six of the best' on the back side, punishment delivered by other masters varied from 2 - 6 strokes. The headmaster had a choice of six implements to use. A system of 'dockets' was used to ensure that boys sent to the headmaster fully disclosed the nature of their offence and that the required punishment had been delivered. It was a well engineered system. Headmaster would issue the usual platitudes, 'this is for your own good', 'this hurts me as much as it hurts you', 'I get no pleasure from this'; it was sick.

About a third of the masters had their own unofficial punishments that stayed within the classroom, hair pulling, side burn pulling, being hit with various wooden objects. Punishment delivered within the classroom also had the added humiliation factor of being delivered in full view of classmates. Also about a third of the teachers were priests, there were good and bad in both the lay teachers and the priests.

The punishment regime was ferocious and use of teacher on pupil violence appeared to help legitimise boy on boy bullying. Not surprisingly the physical violence lead to other forms of abuse.

Ultimately, some years after I left, various aspects of this behaviour became very public on the back of a crown court case which saw one teacher charged with sexual abuse and sent to prison.

All in all a very unpleasant 5 years of my life, I am not preoccupied with the memory of it but it doesn't take much to bring it back, especially with today's media coverage of abuse against children.

[OCB]

Misc..yes, I got belted. One and only time was the last day it was "legal" in our primary school, 1981.

Michty, you're way much younger than I thought!

I’m a product of 1970 - birthday next week in fact! I like that on this place being nearly 50 is considered a youngster

I grew up with an entire clan of elderly relatives-maternal grandparents born 1900, aunt who stayed with us who was born 1893 etc. I’ve travelled a lot and packed a fair few things in; although now I’m playing “older dad”, which is great but...

At least my kids aren’t having to deal with abusive priests, and nasty teachers who obviously enjoyed their “right” to assault kids (or worse).

[Sir Morley Steven]

I was sht scared of Mr Rowland in primary school who used various things to beat us with. It made me a disruptive little sod until, well, I will let you know when I stop.

[Leodisflyer]

Misc..yes, I got belted. One and only time was the last day it was "legal" in our primary school, 1981.

Michty, you're way much younger than I thought!

I’m a product of 1970 - birthday next week in fact! I like that on this place being nearly 50 is considered a youngster

I grew up with an entire clan of elderly relatives-maternal grandparents born 1900, aunt who stayed with us who was born 1893 etc. I’ve travelled a lot and packed a fair few things in; although now I’m playing “older dad”, which is great but...

At least my kids aren’t having to deal with abusive priests, and nasty teachers who obviously enjoyed their “right” to assault kids (or worse).

Our secondary school ( a traditional Grammar) was very good. In general people were respectful to each other and was not a violent environment.

That contrasts greatly with my own experience of the wider 70s and things that also came out later, that I wasn't aware of the time, and where the subsequent court cases are a matter of public record.

IMHO the 1970s was a deeply amoral time. Looking back there was a mix of a breakdown of previous social norms, a lot of social experimentation, but no new moral compass in place. Combine that with Cold War and, in effect, civil war (Government vs. unions), fuel crisis etc etc. Its not a time I'd close for my own children. The mass unemployment and shut down of industries in the early 80s is also a strong memory. I visited a lot of those places.

Earliest memories of TV news that stand out are, first the daily reports from Vietnam which as a child I used to find boring (feel guilty about that now). I remember the bulletins seemed to show the same map each day with lines on it. The next TV news memory is of the newsreaders at the end of each program giving a list of the daily shutdowns and how many people had lost their jobs that day in various factories. The numbers always seemed to be in the 1,000s or tens of 1,000s.

[Paul_Sengupta]

The next TV news memory is of the newsreaders at the end of each program giving a list of the daily shutdowns and how many people had lost their jobs that day in various factories. The numbers always seemed to be in the 1,000s or tens of 1,000s.

The '80s "job losses" and "job gains" news items were parodied by Spittin' Image.