Not long after this chapter of my life another one opened. My younger brother Sean was born. Instead of now being the focus of my parent’s attention, they had another baby to care for. So I made my brother the focus of my attention as well. I tried to be really helpful and protective to this little ‘thing’ my parents cared for so much. I helped at bath times and protectively stood in front of his pram if a strange visitor arrived. What a pity that, that little ‘thing’ turned out to be such a terror!
When I was about three years old I can remember a women coming to survey the roof of our house. I remember being quite excited at this, as the women was one of those executive types with a clipboard and calculator. My mother tells me I followed her all around the house with the TV remote in my hand, making calculations and basically imitating her every move. Maybe this was a glimpse of things to come of my own possible actions in years to come.
My infant years flew by and by the tender age of three and a half I started the biggest adventure of my life! Nursery school. I think this was one of the best years of my life as there was no homework, angry teachers or vile school lunches! Nursery only lasted the morning and the afternoon left a gap for my daily nap. My nursery teacher was called Mrs Morgan, and even to this day when I walk home from Comprehensive I still see her on her way home. The main thing that remains in my mind about nursery is the mad rush at break time to grab the best car/bike from the playground/yard. They were lined up neatly in two rows, but by the end of break time could be found halfway up the street with some little three year old trying to make a break for it!
The next few years were quite a blur to me; they raced by just like the three year old trying to make a getaway. Strange that I can remember nursery but not infant school. The only thing I can recall with prompts from photographs is me dressed angelically in a blue checked dress with a white wool cardie, complete with long white socks (pulled up to my knees!) and patent black shoes. This must have been my first day at school. I can remember being quite mystified at the idea that I had to spend the whole day at ‘big’ school. No time for an afternoon nap! At the age of eight I made the journey to junior school. Now instead of being in my old playground I was in with the big people. I can remember there being two corners each around either side of the school. They were nicknamed one the ‘boys’ corner, and the other the ‘girls’ corner. The ‘girls’ corner was the scene for a very painful moment of my life. I was with a gang of friends playing some sort of game. I can’t remember exactly which one, as they all seem the same to me now! Anyway it had been raining earlier on in the morning and the ground was really quite slippery. I can remember running as someone tried to catch me, and the next thing I knew I was on the cold gravely floor, a throbbing pain surging through my leg. I recall trying to be brave and not cry, even though the pain was unbearable! I was sent to the teacher and nothing more was done about it. I was sent to dinner as usual, but I could hardly walk! I can remember my friend Catherine calling me ‘leggy Peggy’, as I tried to hop to dinner, the excruciating pain still in my leg! I remember one unsympathetic dinner lady moaning as my 2 friends tried to help me to the canteen ‘she can walk herself, leave her alone, she’s not a baby!’ Little did she know that later that day my mother would come to pick me up to take me to Neath General Hospital-Just in case! Nobody suspected I would have broken my leg – But how wrong they were!
The next thing after that that I can remember is another big change in my Comprehensive School. I’m now in my fourth year in Glan Afan and what a four years it has been! I’ve been in Court Challenge, the annual school production and a reporter for the school magazine ‘The Avonian’-amongst other things! Glan Afan has been and still is a challenging, but enjoyable chapter in my life! I just hope the following two years will hold as much excitement and fulfilment!
By Ceri Morgan
10/M
