First week, first form at Headlands. First history class. Miss Almond, in her academic gown presiding. She was one of those teachers who could see round corners and knew what you were up to even though she was busy writing on the big roller board that filled most of the front wall. She could see what you doing; she invariably did not like it; and would tell you so in no uncertain terms.
She was unbending, unyielding and relentless.
And of course she was known as “Nutty”.
I look at this picture that I found in the 1967 Headlandian at the time of her retirement and I see a more kindly and genial face than the one I remembered. This Miss Almond is almost twinkly-eyed and positively warm and fuzzy.
People did sometimes say that when you were older and got to know her she was really very nice. I never knew that Miss Almond and was relieved when I didn’t have to have her for ‘A’ level history. Not being in the ‘top’ class had its advantages. To me she was a holy terror and I knew I could never meet her exacting standards of neatness and correct behavior no matter how well I memorized all the dates and took careful notes. I do like to imagine her surprise when the ‘A’ level history results came back in August 1966 and there I was with an A. (Very petty of me.) Again – fairness dictates that I add that those who were in her class as older students did express fondness as well as respect.
She seemed as ancient as the material in the curriculum even then, although she was only in her mid-fifties. And from the very start she was completely and utterly terrifying.
It’s people like Miss Almond and others at Headlands that have left me with an abiding detestation of “standards”. Whenever anyone starts on about them I always want to say – “Whose standards?” “Whose interests are served?” and “Why? Why do they matter?”
The editors of the Headlandian said this on the occasion of her retirement.
Honesty, effort, courage – interesting words. They capture the the sense of moral righteousness and rectitude that I always associate with her. Honesty, hard-work and courage are not incompatible with a strictness that to me felt like it crossed over into vindictive, unkind and mean. But – I am sure it was all intended to be for our own good. Never did Miss Almond allow herself the indulgence of being popular or beloved.
(I think they miscalculated the number of years. Miss Almond says she arrived in 1928, That would make it just over 38 years of service.)
In that first class of the year she gave us our green notebooks, distributed the text books and assigned the first homework. We were to take the books home – carefully in our satchels – and cover them in brown paper to help preserve them. She then sent us across the corridor to the cloakrooms where we hung our gaberdine macs, school hats and satchel and where we changed our shoes every morning. (Daps were required footwear for school in order to protect the parquet flooring in the school hall.) We were to bring our satchels back to the classroom for inspection.
Most students had the blocky stiff dark brown satchels that were common in those days – and for many purchased at a price they could ill-afford. Still – it was the grammar school and families were proud and made the necessary financial sacrifice.
My satchel was a softer and in lighter caramel brown leather. I rather liked it. Later – when the novelty of it all had worn off – I inked the names of poets into the inside flap. Quite why I did this I don’t know as I was not reading any poetry beyond the scraps we got at school – Byron, Longfellow, Coleridge, Arnold, Tennyson – the usual stuff.
One of the names I inked was T.S.Eliot and who knows where that came from. I had certainly not read any of his poems and he was not in any book at home. I must have read about him in the newspaper. In those days we took the Daily Herald but on Sundays we had The Observer and the book reviews in that paper were always an eyeopener. Especially the biographies. People, it seemed, lived all kinds of strange lives full of relationship drama, marital escapades, adultery, infidelity, and indulged in a whole lot of stuff that was never talked about in my house.
But – back to the satchel.
Miss Almond clearly did not approve and gave me special instructions to make sure the precious book was not damaged. I don’t remember anything else about the book nor much about the curriculum. I remember the Ur of the Chaldees and something about the Tigris and the Euphrates, pyramids and the three kinds of Greek architectural columns. But I certainly remember how I felt.
In his farewell remarks on Speech Day “the Boss” – Mr. Magson – had this to say:
“They all loved her?” Really? Handing down the “genial spirit? Genial for whom I ask. Perhaps in staff meetings. And I’m curious as to why she was always second in department. Surely deputy head Maclean had plenty to do without leading the history department. That extra step on the salary scale would have made a big difference.
I can quite believe he envied her “power” but what was he actually envying? The ability to ice a glass of water with a single look? Reduce small children to obedient nervous wrecks with a steely stare? Mr. Magson was already pretty good with those skills.
But – look at that dedication. And the commitment to the life of the school The fruit-picking trips in wartime. I would love to know more about them. In a comment on my last post Geoffrey Brown has many interesting things to say about the pre-Magson Euclid/ Headlands of the 1940’s.
So who was she, this legendary teacher? Where did she grow up and what was her background? I had to see what I could discover.
Doris Musgrove Almond was born in Low Moor, just south of Bradford, Yorkshire in 1904.
The family lived in a two bedroom house on Railway Terrace – a row of 28 houses, built by the Lancs. and Yorks. Railway Company for railway workers in the 1880s. (The Wesley Place Chapel records refer to it as Locomotion Terrace, a curious detail.)
The houses face south east looking over the shunting yard. Her father was a railway clerk and the son of a railway guard. When he married her mother – Mary Jane Hudson – at Eastbrook Wesleyan Chapel in Bradford she was a burler and mender in a woolen mill. In the chapel records her father’s occupation is listed as restaurant keeper.
But there’s something else interesting about that family home – 17 Railway Terrace. It is listed for several years as the location of the Forward Tent of the Rechabite Friendly Society. (See the sidebar).And therein perhaps lies a clue to Doris Almond’s temperament of thrift and righteousness.
It is reasonable to conclude that her father was the High Chief Ruler of the Forward Tent and that this was a strict teetotal and observant non-conformist home. Doris Almond was a child of her upbringing. All five of the Almond girls were baptized at the Wesley Place Methodist Church, Low Moor.
Building Jerusalem among the dark satanic mills had meaning.
Bradford was a mill town – home of worsted wool. But Low Moor three miles south was known for its iron works. The iron foundry was established in 1781 and was built to exploit the local high quality iron ore and low-sulphur coal. Low Moor made wrought iron products right up until 1957 and at one time had the largest iron works and foundry in Yorkshire.
When Doris Almond was a child Low Moor was a complex of mines, coal, iron ore and slag heaps, kilns, forges and blast furnaces connected by a web of rail lines. Smoke stacks blackened the sky. It was a busy rail hub with four through platforms and huge goods and shunting yards.
There was considerable damage to Railway Terrace and to the rail yards.
I wonder how that experience affected her and what she remembered of it.
From scraps of clues in local newpapers of the time it looks as if she attended Carlton Street Secondary School in Bradford and then on to Sheffield University where she earned a B.A and then a masters. Quite an accomplishment.
Miss Almond must have moved to Swindon soon after she graduated arriving at Euclid Street in 1928. In 1939 she was lodging at 61 York Road with Henry and Alice Barnes.
Here is the farewell address she made from the assembly hall platform when she retired from Headlands at the end of the autumn term 1966. I find it fascinating in the glimpses of history and for what it reveals of how she thought about her work, the values she held, her awareness of change, her sense of purpose and her hope for the future. No wonder she made us cover and care for those books.
Given her own childhood she must have seen most of us children of the 1960s as pampered, privileged, lazy, idle brats. We may not have been that, but we were becoming a cynical lot who didn’t have much time for things like duty and respectability, school pride and honor. No wonder it was her life’s work to try and shape us up.
I find this a remarkable, poignant and personal testament to her character and to her time.
From the perspective of 2020 I like to think that I would have enjoyed knowing her. But then, she would still disapprove of my bad handwriting and general slackness.
Do you remember Miss Almond? I would love this portrait to be expanded by those who knew her better than I did. Please leave a comment.
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I just came across this article. So nice to read as it’s my great Aunt who my Sister and I stayed with in Swindon during the School Holidays.
Hi - I attended Headlands Grammar School from 1958-1965, and saw the good side of Miss Almond when I was some kind of monitor with her over in the prefab temporary classrooms near the science wing. I might have been a Dinner Money Monitor, or something, although I never had school dinners myself! I remember making some kind of cockup with the money, and Miss Almond being lovely about it, as in helpful and forgiving. Of course, I was a bit of a goody two shoes, not given to wearing makeup - well, not then, anyway! - and trying hard at school. I think I might have been in the fifth form that year, maybe she was the firm mistress, I’m not sure, but she was always very nice, to me and others, kind of mellow. Although your description of her as having eyes in the back of her head resonates with me, too! I think she was in love with Lord Palmerston😹
Hi Della - Great to see your name pop up here. We both went on that Davos trip back in 1963 and I will always remember your sophistication in ordering a bottle of Beaujolais in the cafe across from the youth hostel ("schnell schnell fünf minuten").
I only knew "Nutty ' as a scared first former. I am fully prepared to understand she was more than an ogre. Researching her background shows me she was an extraordinary woman of her time.
Hi Mandy - how wonderful to have a comment from you.Your great aunt was a remarkable person. For me, she gave a perfect account of hersel with her farewell remarks to the school. What character. They don't make them like that anymore. I am glad I had the opportunity to know her.
Have read with interest all your comments.. I passed the 11plus in 1946 and attended Euclid St until 1952 just before the move to the new Headlands.. So many memories .. more bad than good but I was a rebel at an early age!! Loved history, loved Nutty Almond, still love history.. and she was great at fruit picking camp at Tardebigge where her quarters were in The Henhouse.. respected Mr.Moore, a brilliant Maths teacher.. still love Maths.. so sad when he died.. loved French but not Miss Bobe we made her life a misery.. sorry about that , should have been kinder to her.. Teachers were mostly older men and unmarried women.. we were restricted to subjects available and had to make choices.. war service had taken its toll.. Remember many class mates from so long ago .. does anyone out there remember me? At 88 years of age we must be a rarity! Diana King.. the blond bombshell.. Robert Tyldesly,Doug Acres, Royston Wakely, Andrew Tigwell.. we called him Tiggy.. Margaret, a great hockey player, married John when she was 16 years old.. many more who have since died.. And much to the amazement of my teachers I finished up as a qualified teacher and loved it for more than 50 years! Doreen nee Leonard..
Hi Doreen - How wonderful to read your comment and to hear all about your memories of those years. I always like reading about the fruit-picking trips and this was the first time I heard of Tardybigge.
I am going to mention your name Doreen Leonard and the others you mention on the school Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/413266433320550
If anyone remembers any of them I'll put you in touch.
Thanks again for the memories! - Josie
Good to have your reply.. More names remembered.. Gogs Govier.. John Reed m. Margaret Bartlett.. Ken Baxter, Thelma Miles, Barbara Laister, (.. a year below me.. Joan Hawkins, John Bunce) Brian Legge, Margaret House.. so many more .. too many to list!! Have a collection of personal details of pupils of Euclid St in the years 1946-1951 collated at a re union in Swindon held on June 30th. 2000.. so many names andI know many have died..
How wonderful to find all your comments.. I attended Euclid St school 1945 to 1952 and have many memories.. some good some not so good.. not many of my classmates left now! We had some lessons at Euclid St and some at the College.. Games lessons were at the Commonweal Grammar school, we either walked or went on the bus.. school dinners were at Drove Road School.. another walk.. was usually in trouble and lost the honour of being a prefect! Loved history and french.. fond memories of ‘Nutty’ , and still love history..and Miss Bobe who we really played up.. we were so unkind.. Mr. Adams who threw the board rubber at badly behaved boys.. he never missed.. we were really frightened of him.. Mr. Smith , headmaster.. a disgrace to the profession.. followed by Mr. Magson.. very much disliked.. Nutty Almond.. loved her, she inspired me but we were hard work.. fruit picking camp and freedom.. Mr. Moore.. maths.. a great teacher.. remember him singing The three Gendarmes at the Soirées.. Always wanted to teach so decided I needed to work which I did and achieved my ambition.. on and off for over 50 years and still miss it.. Does anyone out there remember me ? Doreen Sherratt nee Leonard..
Fantastic memories Doreen. Thank you.
Wow! Reading through all of this, paired with the comments has been really special. I have recently lost my Grandmother Patricia, who was niece to Doris ‘Nutty’ Almond. While going through some of her old keepsakes, I encountered an old school certificate awarded to my Great Grandmother Nellie (Doris’ younger sister) in 1924. When asking my Grandfather about Nellie and her background (my curiosity was peaked at her successes studying English Literature at University of Leeds while sixteen years of age and still in school), I heard of her older sister, the spinster High School History and English teacher.
By some lucky coincidence, I am currently in my eighth year as a High School History and English teacher in Australia. I like to think that wherever she is now, my Great Great Aunt Nutty would be proud of me! Even if I’m not as… fierce… as she was.
Thanks Josie and everyone else for sharing your stories! It’s been wonderful!
You can surely be proud of your great, great aunt.
Hi Ryan loved your Gran and Great Gran. Your Dad visits us too. I stayed with Aunty Doris during the School holidays as a kid. In fact both me and my Sister Julie did. I think it was to make us ‘proper’ ladies 😁 it didn’t work. Mandy ( was Brewerton )
Nutty was one of those fearsome ladies along with Misses Wheratt, Wilder, Jacobs and Jackson who scared the life out of me in those early years. She is still etched in my schoolday nightmares when she caught me doing an impression of her at the front of the class, with a pair of white shorts on my head and my top lip receded to show my teeth. She never said a word as l slunk back to my desk. She never took her eye off me all lesson. I cowered behind my book peeping out occasionally only to be re-aquainted with her glare. I have never felt so uncomfortable until the bell rang and with a slight smirk towards me she swept out the door. Her vulpine black gown and white hair vanished behind that pillar outside Jacob's office.
Yet she was totally different in the A level classes and l enjoyed her lessons very much. She was lovely and a delight to listen to.
That's a great set of memories Martin. Sounds like she had a sense of humour behind the severe facade.I only had her that first year - the Ur and the Chaldees and three Greek architectural columns are about all I remember other than how fierce and fearsome she was.Finding out all that stuff about her background was really fascinating to me. She came from that and then dedicated her life to the school. I did A level history - i think I chose it because i had a good memory and that's what it seemed to be all about. Nutty always took the "top" class - 6A1/ 7A1 and i was in the second so i never got to experience the more humane Miss Almond.
Great article on 'Nutty' . Very interesting background of her early life. Like Roy Hicks who was my classmate at Headlands we shared 'Nutty' for a few years. I had always been interested in history having received a history prize at Junior school. I would like to think that she enhanced my life long interest in anything historical. One thing that is not mentioned is that like Miss Jacobs and also my geometry teacher whose name I forget they were all of a similar age and spinsters. Perhaps they never married due to the massive loss of the male population during WW1 . I heard somewhere that Miss X my geometry teacher ( please does someone remember her name) had been engaged but lost her fiance during the war and never ever fully recovered the loss to marry anyone else. I remember the three of them would always be together like the witches in the 'Scottish Play'. Looking forward to reading about Magson now. Miss J's article also really interesting especially as my mother was born in the Rhonda valley during the same era .
Thanks for the comment and observations. I was fascinated to unearth that stuff on Nutty's childhood. Amazing stuff. And quite a parallel with Miss Jacob's history too. Daughter of a mill hand and a railway clerk who somehow manages to earn an M.A. from university. Non conformist, Methodist chapel and etc. And the rituals of those Rechabites that would have taken place in the family home. Crikey!
Interesting speculation about WW1 and single woman. Apparently in the Rhondda there was no "shortage" of men after the war. (My source for that is the dissertation I mention in The Welsh Connection.) There was a marriage bar though. And if you wanted a career in teaching as a woman you would have to stay single. And many Welsh women teachers did just that.
Fifty eight married teachers were fired in 1923 in the Rhondda and that led to the court case Price v. R.U.D.C. When the N.U.T. backed off from the fight, many women teachers joined the National Union of
Women Teachers to fight for equal pay as well as the marriage ban.
Amazing to think that the unequal pay issue continued to be an issue right up until 1961. When the long battle for equality was finally won the NUWT disbanded.
And those stories about the single women who had lost their fiancés during the war ... I remember them too. Probably mostly rumour and speculation from people/ children trying to find reasons for why women were single and not conforming to expectations. The stereotypes about "spinsters" were vicious - often laced with scorn, ridicule and homophobia - so it made a convenient cover story too.
And then there were those others who definitely did not want to get married - or at least not to someone of the opposite sex!
Forgive me for interjecting, I’ve been enjoying reading your blogs, which I came across in researching Abel Jacob’s part in Price versus Rhondda UDC. He played an absolutely key role in the council meeting that initiated the dismissal of all 58 married teachers and was a witness at the court case. What an appalling legacy. Happy to share more details if you’re interested. I’m an English teacher (close to retirement now) because of the inspirational teachers I had. It can go either way though and I remember some absolute monsters from my own education. A great read. Thank you! (You mention in your other post that he was a pupil teacher before becoming a miner. I couldn’t find a record of that on the census reports but he was clearly ‘bright,’ whatever that means, so it comes as no surprise. It would have been hard to avoid the lure of the more lucrative coal industry). Miss Jacob fascinates me.
Please - interject away. And thanks for the comment. I will see if I can find the source for the Abel Jacob as a pupil teacher. I'm sure I will have it somewhere. The fight for equal pay was a long one and his daughters would have suffered from that injustice as all of them became teachers. My take on Miss Jacob at Headlands is that she very much suffered from sex discrimination there. It was a very "male' place.
I understand the married women ban given the context of the times but it reveals the long history of discrimination and injustice that women have endured and still endure.
I'm curious about your interest in the Jacob family - or perhaps that is just an aspect of your research. Would love to know more.
Was a pupil from 1954 until 1961. Was taught by 'Nutty ' for a couple of years, and was terrified of her. However when I was in the sixth form her attitude to us completely changed. I well remember a visit to the Stock Exchange as part of our A level Economics course. On the way back we stopped at the Jack of Both sides,a pub which was adjacent to a public toilet. As we alighted from the coach she knew full well where we were heading and told us to be careful. The look on her face and the glint in her eye I will not forget. I was fortunate to join the school as a member of staff in1967. It was initially quite daunting having as colleagues people who had taught me when I was in the first year. They were all very welcoming and treated me as an equal. Nutty was amazing. She had returned to work as a supply relief. She helped me no end and by the time she finally disappeared I had come to regard her as a surrogate Grandmother. Loved her.
Q
Hi Roy - So great to have your perspective. And what a great anecdote about the trip and the pub stop.
Looks like that pub is still there on the London Road and Kings Road (hence the 'both sides') in Reading only it's now called the Hope and Bear.
You must have a wealth of insight and information about the school re-organisation and the all of the teachers. Some big generational differences there. I like to think of Miss Almond as being beloved although I am not surprised she reached out to be helpful and supportive to a young colleague.
You must have been in the same year as my brother Chris. He was on the science side though.
Thanks so much for comment.
Thank you Josie, it has certainly made me think anew about a teacher who I had dismissed in my memory as merely a strict disciplinarian lacking a very human touch. Her family background must have meant that she had a real struggle to become a grammar school teacher. Now I can imagine her pride in this achievement and how this fuelled her relentless drive to ensure that her pupils grasped the same opportunity and maintain the standards which had served her so well.
Always hard for students to see their teachers as actual human beings. Understandably. And especially when those teachers are harsh command-and-control people. But learning all this about Miss Almond has given me a whole new insight into what motivated her. As well as an appreciation for how hard she worked throughout her life. Quite admirable really. Although - terrorizing children is never really a good thing! Yes - a relentless drive to help children seize the opportunities they had been given - that sums it up well.
I was never in a class of hers, though of course I remember* her name, but I still found your article fascinating. I look forward to reading about other teachers.
Thanks for the comment John. Right now I'm working on several "projects" including Merv Comrie and Miss Jacob.
Did you ever have "Holy Joe" Holroyd and if so do you remember his first name and where he came from? I know Yorkshire - he loved to play "Yorkshire - "ee by gum. I've 'ad an 'ard day". Was it George? Anything else. (So many Holroyds in Yorkshire.
And give my best to Pam! I liked her enormously.
I love the research you've done for this interesting post! Makes me wonder about the background of my own teachers...
I've been finding it fascinating. Haven't really thought much about them for decades and then in clearing out the basement i found some of my old notebooks and it all started coming back. And so I got curious. Who were these people who loomed so large in my life all those years ago and now are all long gone? It's been interesting.