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School run in the fifties

(83 Posts)
FiftiesChick12 Sat 16-Jan-16 18:00:26

Hi, I'm a mum of three young children and I'm about to start an experience of living a fifties kind of life ? I was just wondering.....we have 3 mile each way journey to school. If this really was the 1950s how would we have done this? Walk, bike, bus?? Obviously not car as we do now.... Thanks

jocork Mon 18-Jan-16 07:23:47

At age 5 in 1959 I walked to infant school on my first day with the girl next door who was 6! After that I went alone. When my younger brother started I took him. It wasn't far but involved a gated level crossing though roads were quiet then. Junior school was a bit further but there was a lollipop lady for the only main road we had to cross. Secondary school was just under 3 miles away so I went by bus. When I was older I sometimes walked in the summer to save the bus fare. My brother thought it was unfair because his school was just over 3 miles so he got a contract bus for free and couldn't 'earn' the money by walking!

friends123 Mon 18-Jan-16 11:46:04

By Taxi then by school bus-3 unforgettable miles.(1954-60)

etheltbags1 Mon 18-Jan-16 12:40:03

I lived near the school so even in primary school I walked alone, there was always the local 'dirty old man' to look out for but we were all told not to speak to him and not to accept sweeties from strangers even women. It seemed to work for us no one I know got abducted and the local road was quiet, sometimes with cattle or horses going along apart form the occasional car or bus.

Linedancer1 Mon 18-Jan-16 14:22:37

I had a big sister & brother who took me to school every day & home again...Thank ~ you to both of them for keeping me safe...❤️❤️

LuckyFour Mon 18-Jan-16 16:08:17

Born in 1947, I walked to school from my first day aged 5 with a girl aged 7 who lived across the road. It was about a quarter of a mile with one main road. However very little traffic in those days. When I went to grammar school aged 11 in the centre of town I went by bus. We went everywhere by bus or walked so as a teenager I always had to catch the last bus home from town.

My DD walks her two boys to and from school every day. They run on and then stop at the pavement edge until she catches up then they cross when she tells them to, even if the road was clear. When I walk with them they do it automatically.

witchygran Tue 19-Jan-16 10:31:18

From 5 to 11, school was 10 minutes' walk away. As someone commented earlier, in the late 40s and 50s not many families owned cars. Then my mother (an inveterate snob) decided to send me to a school in London. As we lived way out in Essex and the school was a day school, this meant a 20 minute walk to the railway station, three quarters of an hour on the train (then the old steam trains) to Fenchurch Street, a ten minute walk to the Underground at Tower Hill, another twenty minutes or so to Blackfriars, then a short walk to school. I left the house at 7am and was rarely home before 5 pm. As both parents worked, I hated the winter, coming home to a cold, dark house. Not academic, I didn't benefit from the school anyway, so it was a waste of money. I would have been so much happier at the local grammar school!

henetha Tue 19-Jan-16 10:42:30

I was at school in the fifties, on the other side of town. I always walked or rode my bike. Nothing unusual in that as all my friends did the same.
The only mishap I had happened on the day I was due to sit my English O level exam. I was stung by a wasp (or bee), slammed on my brakes and flew over the handlebars and banged my head on the road... I was taken to Casualty, then home, and was allowed to sit the exam some days later.
Apart from that, and the day I carried home a rice pudding, which I made in Domestic Science, in my saddle bag with disastrous results, it was uneventful and I took it for granted. No lifts in those days.