Figure 1.--.

When we were young my mum used to send us to Sunday School at the local church. I think she wanted to get a connection with the church as she wanted to get us into the local Church of England primary school. It had a good reputation. um wasn't particularly religious. Later, when we were already at the school, she probably also wanted to get me and my older brother out of the house for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning while she looked after my little brother and did the cooking. My older brother stopped going to Sunday School when he was 8 years old because he joined the cubs then and they used to meet up in their hall on Sunday morning before attending the main church service. I still had to go until I was about 10 though. As far as I can rememeber our clothes for Sunday School were not a lot differently to a normal schoolday for us. We never had suits or anything like that like some other boys. My best mate Michael (the one who's mum was Irish) didn't go to our Sunday School as he was a Catholic and went to mass at another church. I know he did have a suit for that completely different to his school uniform. The Sunday school was split into two - the vicar's wife would take the younger children in a corner and it was just a sort of glorified creche. My mum would leave me and my older brother and then pick us up later - we never used to go on to the main church service then. Anyway the child with the most stamps got an “attendance prize” every so often – and this was one of the Biblical Ladybird books with a church sticker in the front with your name on it. I didn't like it as the other kids there were not my kind of people but my mum always made me go – but then she'd let me out to play in the afternoon with my other mates.

Church of England Primary School

When we were young my mum used to send us to Sunday School at the local church. I think she wanted to get a connection with the church as she wanted to get us into the local Church of England primary school. It had a good reputation. My older brother and I attended the same primary school. It was a traditional Church of England school in West London. I started there in September 1964.

Mum

Mum wasn't particularly religious. Later, when we were already at the school, she probably also wanted to get me and my older brother out of the house for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning while she looked after my little brother and did the cooking.

My Older Brother

My older brother stopped going to Sunday School when he was 8 years old because he joined the cubs then and they used to meet up in their hall on Sunday morning before attending the main church service.

My Attendance

I still had to go until I was about 10 though. I didn't like it as the other kids there were not my kind of people but my mum always made me go – but then she'd let me out to play in the afternoon with my other mates. The Sunday school had attendance stamps – they were like postage stamps but with a different biblical scene on them each week and you'd stick them on a card – which also had the “Lord's Prayer” printed on the cover in case you forgot it – as if you ever would as we used to say it every day in school at afternoon prayers just before we went home.

Our Clothes

As far as I can rememeber our clothes for Sunday School were not a lot differently to a normal schoolday for us. We never had suits or anything like that like some other boys. When we were very little I suppose we had some sort of special Sunday clothes but I don't really remember them. As I say my mum used to take us down there before we even started at school. My little brother was still in his pushchair so I must have been only 4 or 5. Later on when we were at school we just wore our school clothes - but I had to wear a white shirt on those days and I think I had a different tie - a plain one. Also we always wore proper black shoes even in the Summer. I only really remember it from about the time when my older brother didn't have to go as he went to his cubs hall instead. For some reason my little brother never went at all as far as I can remember - he always stayed at home with my mum. Like I said my mum always made sure we were smartly dressed to set out to school before she went out to work and Sunday School was just the same except a bit more so. For instance on schoolnights she'd always make us have a bath the night before but let us just have a stand up wash in the mornings. On Sunday though she'd make us have a bath and wash our hair in the mornings as there was more time to get ready. Wwe had an old gas water heater that took ages to heat up for a proper bath. Then she'd iron our best school shorts and white shirts for us to wear and make sure we'd polished our shoes. The one thing I do remember is that she'd always iron a clean white hankercheif and then take it out of our pocket later to wrap a penny in for the collection. When I was older and joined the main group most of the boys were dressed similarly - white shirts, ties and grey school shorts - although one or two did have suits. Some also had different types of shorts to school ones - still grey but of a wool type material. My mum never tried to make me wear my "best" shorts - the check ones - on Sunday so that was one thing. The girls also always seemed to wear dresses and not skirts or frocks like at school. One or two boys did wear their cub uniforms to Sunday school and they used to leave early to go to the hall next door.

Michael

My best mate Michael (the one who's mum was Irish) didn't go to our Sunday School as he was a Catholic and went to mass at another church. I know he did have a suit for that completely different to his school uniform. (He went to a different school to me - a R.C. primary). I know that because as I said my mum would always cook a proper Sunday meal while we were at church and we'd have to sit at the table to eat it. It was funny because I'd still be in my Sunday School clothes and my older brother in his cub uniform but my younger brother would be more casually dressed as he'd been “helping” my mum. I don't know why he was never sent to Sunday School. She'd normally let me get changed and go out to play then. Some boys would have to stay in or go out with their parents to a museum on Sunday afternoon but as I say my mum wasn't particularly religious and Michael's parents always let him out too. Sometimes he came round for me while we were still eating and he'd got changed. Normally though I finished first and went round for him. He had a massive family (compared to ours) and they were always having their meal when I got there. There always seemed to be ! some relative (not kids but young men) over from Ireland telling stories and Michael was always trying to get away to come out with me but his Dad wouldn't let him as he was supposed to wait and help wash the dishes until his mum finally intervened and let him go and get changed. Anyway like I said he was wearing his mass suit when I got there. It was navy blue. What I remember finding odd was that he wore his school socks with it. They were normal grey socks with blue and gold rings but not his school tie. They looked wrong with his suit. His older brothers had suits too – but with long trousers – they were teenagers then - and he had about twenty sisters ( well five actually but it seemed like twenty when they were all talking). I always thought he looked comletely different in his suit - even more than in his school uniform. He always said he liked it as his mum always called him her “little man” when he wore it on Sunday even though he was the youngest boy in their family. It had buttons on the fly rather than a zip so it was old-fashioned then and had probably come down to him from his brothers – although it didn't look worn. I was always glad when he was out of it though as he was the only one of my mates who was up for doing something a bit daring. The other odd thing was that although he dressed much smarter than me for church he could change into jeans to go out whereas my mum had a rule of no jeans on Sunday even though I was going out to play. He also always had his hair slicked down with brylcream on Sunday which made it shine. My mum would never let the barber put anything on our hair even though I used to want it as it seemed “grown-up” and anyway my hair was always sticking up,

The Classess

The Sunday school was split into two - the vicar's wife would take the younger children in a corner and it was just a sort of glorified creche. My mum would leave me and my older brother and then pick us up later - we never used to go on to the main church service then.

Ladybird Book Prizes

Anyway the child with the most stamps got an “attendance prize” every so often – and this was one of the Biblical Ladybird books with a church sticker in the front with your name on it. Because my mum always made me go and if I didn't I couldn't get out in the afternoon I often won these prizes. The books were some sort of consolation as I loved books as a kid (any books). My favourites were “Joseph and the Coat of many Colours” and “The Story of Moses”. Like I said the Ladybird History books were my favourites but these Sunday school ones were well illustrated and so I did read them.I don't have them still but I remember the parting of the Red Sea was a classic ladybird action illustration – very realistic. Another book spin-off was that because I used to take in all these stories I also won the school prize for R.E. - also a book : “The Small Miracle” by Paul Gallico – a classic children's book about an Italian boy whose donkey gets sick and he tries to get to see the Pope so he can visit the tomb of Francis of Assisi and pray for a cure. I didn't like the illustrations though – sort of smudgy watercolours not bold and clear like most Ladybird illustrations – but I read the story over and over - I think I gave that away as I can't find it.

Sunday Afternoon

My best mate, Michael used to go to Mass on Sunday morning anyway so I could put up with being dressed up for the morning as long as I could change and get out with him in the afternoon after we'd eaten. My mum always got some proper food in on Sunday and tried to have a proper family meal at the table, but I was always straining to get out.

Bill