Memories of Bennerley Infants School

Just four years old, I'm sitting there,

A midget in a tiny chair.

Stern classroom walls call down to me,

"We're Infants School, we're Bennerley!"

Now, Teacher leads me, by the hand

To games, and books, and trays of sand.

Dad's shown me how to write my name,

But, still, I think I'll choose a game.

I've built a castle, really tall,

(I guess I'll like school, after all !)

That naughty boy's up to his tricks,

Oh dear ! There goes the building bricks !

The bell's just rung, it's playtime now,

We're all outside, and look at how

They've built a shelter, in the yard,

I'll play there, when it's raining hard !

There goes the bell for class once more,

Our Teacher smiles, and shuts the door.

Miss Dampier is reading now,

A poem of Magic.....look at how

The children sit, a wide-eyed row,

They're captured by its Spell, you know !

This room is my Aladdin's Cave,

My thoughts become a tidal wave.

When hometime comes, and school is done

Miss Dampier knows my love she's won:

There's lots of thoughts return to me

Of childhood days at Bennerley;

The sharp injections in the arm,

The school Nurse there to keep us calm;

(Diptheria, a killer, cruel,

Would track its prey throughout the school).

The Gasmask-tin about the neck,

The Shelter Humps on Bennerley Rec.,

All memories, yet still I see

Our Mother..... waiting there, for me

by

Shirley Frances Winskill 1992