THIS TAPE HAS BEEN RECORDED ON JANUARY 27TH 1979 AT 13 WHITEHEAD STREET, RAWTENSTALL. THE INFORMANT IS JOHN GREENWOOD, FORMER MANAGER AT SPRING VALE MILL. THE INTERVIEWER IS STANLEY GRAHAM.
Social life outside the home this week John.
R- Pardon?
Social life outside the home. Where did you usually play outside the house?
R - Well, you used to play in the street mainly. You see, the nearest park was about three quarters of a mile away, so of course you played in the street. I mean there were a lot of children. The games we used to play, speaking now of early childhood. You know if you got a ball you'd play with the ball, well we used to play hopscotch and, as I've said before, tin in the ring and various other games like that. But you always played in the street because the nearest park was three quarters of a mile away and you never went to play in tha park, say after tea or anything like that. It was always an outing like, to go to the park, so you used to play in the street that was the main recreation area.
What sort of attitude did your mother have to you, say on a Saturday morning or a Saturday afternoon, if you'd done your jobs like and you were playing out, if you set off down into the town or went for a walk or something like that?
(50)
R- Well, the thing is that in those days of course life wasn't as hectic as it is today, there were no such things as cars to any extent so that the from a safety point of view you were a lot safer on the street than what you are today. They never used to have any qualms, really of sending you off. If you went anywhere special that was all right but you didn't just set off and wander away. There was the odd occasion like when a child got lost because as you know our location is so near the moors that within ten minutes you were on the moors. But the footpaths were a lot better defined in those days, well they were used a lot more. And the cart tracks you know, were open for walking along whereas today you know, they have gone, they have been ploughed in and what have you so that you have lost a lot of the old cart tracks that there was. As
children we used to go on one favourite walk, it used to be what we call round
the Marl Pits which was about five minutes walk, and you were out in the country. You see it’s on the left hand side of the hill there under Whinberry Naze, that's a good word Whinberry Naze, and…
How do you spell that?
R- Pardon?
How do you spell that?
R- Like Whinberry, w h i n be r r y.
Aye Whinberry Heys?
Naze, N a z e.
Oh, N a z e.
(100)
R- Aye, I mean we have Whinberry Naze to our left and Seat Naze in front of us you see? But we used to go round Marl Pits and of course round Marl Pits there is a stream runs through and it's quite rural and picturesque.
What did it used to be? A brickworks or something? Marl Pits?
R- Oh no. Marl Pitts was the name of the area and there were no brickworks round here. The thing is that the sports complex is now built on Marl Pits but the question of drainage has always been a serious problem ever since it were put there and of course the name Marl, like I've said to people who were responsible for these things, the old folks knew what they were talking about when they named this area Marl Pits. And they go and put a sports complex on and now they can't drain it you see out there.
Aye. And because marl’s what they used to put on the land. It were a type of clay.
R- Well, marl, that’s clay really..
Is it? Aye.
R- And what happens now, and it happened in those days, because we used to go gathering rushes, you see. And we used to get these rushes, pick the long ones out, and then you used to plait them into, well I mean us lads used them as whips but you know we used to plait them all together and make then in, like they used to plait the hair, we used to plait them like that. But this was Marl Pits and we used to walk round there and you came then on to the main road, and then you back to home. Or on the other hand, when we moved into one of the other houses, we used to play mainly in the street because it was a bit further away.
Who did you play with John?
(5 min)
R- Well, all the neighbouring kids. You know, the thing is you'd have a friend one day and then you'd have an argument and you wouldn't be speaking, and then you'd get another, and so on and so forth. It's like how it operates with children. But you got to the teenage years, well what you might call grown up lads, you then used to have your special friends. I know I had one in particular and we used to go places together. But I was always a reader you know, I used to spend a lot of time reading books. Then the thing was when we got working, I went working and when I went into the mill I found this lad a job in the same mill you see. But of course when he got money he started going into the billiard hall you know and started smoking, you know, grown up men, grown up lads. And well that wasn't my bent because I started going to night school as soon as I left school. I left school in September and I went to night school in September you see and followed it on.
Yes, we'll get round to that later, to your night school because you went to night school for a long while didn't you?
R - Oh I did indeed. Yes.
Where there any children that your mother didn't like you to play with?
R- Well, yes there were a few who, the parents didn't seem to bother about them, and of course they were always getting into mischief, we used to call it lumber in them days
That's it.
(200)
R - They were always getting in lumber. And of course they'd kind of lead you on if you could be lead, so you were told to avoid them, not avoid them strictly speaking as to shun them, but you didn't play with them because they were the type. Well I have one laddie in mind in particular who would create a situation, and then when it come to the upping he could run fast you see and he wasn't there when it came to the accounting.
That's it, aye. Aye, we have all met them I think. You've mentioned tin in the ring, we have talked about that before but you mentioned another game there, Rallyo, how did you play that?
R- Oh well, Rallyo, it was a case of one person was ‘it’ or the seeker shall we say. Because I mean, a lot of people listening to this’ll not know what we mean by this Lancashire phrase of being ‘it’.
That's it.
R- But the seeker. And you covered your head and counted up to a hundred while the others dispersed and hid. Now then the point was that you used to hide in a lot wider area than you did for tin in the ring. Now if it happened that one of the lads who'd gone out came back to the den as we called it, and you weren't there, he waited there until you came you see and of course you'd got to hide your head again while he went again, and so it went on until finally if you saw somebody and got back to the den before they did they were then ‘it’ you see. That's how it operated but it’s area, I mean, you used to go a long way. You'd go up the street and down that street because somebody'd spy the seeker coming and then you'd bolt. And of course if the seeker heard running feet he'd chase the running feet and so on and so forth.
Aye. Can you remember any other games Johnny besides Rallyo and tin in the ring?
(250)(10 min)
R- Well I mean, you used to play cricket if you had a piece of wood and a ball with stones for wickets. And you know, there are a lot of seasonal efforts like at one time there’d be skipping ropes…
That's it.
R- And you'd play running through and higher and higher, that's jumping over the rope you know, held a little bit higher. And then you, there'd be skipping, turning up, the rope went round, you jumped, and of course if you stopped the rope you'd to get hold of the handle.
It’s interesting you saying that about things, things did seem to come in cycles. I mean obviously things like conkers and sliding on ice and what not, they were governed by other things but every now and again you'd seem to get a craze for say whip and top ...
R- That’s it, yes.
Everybody had a whip and top for about four or five weeks.
R- Aye. Shuttlecock and battledore. You know the girls used to play shuttlecock.
That’s it.
R- But it'd have a phase and then it'd die out, and they had these various phases.
Did you use to chalk the tops of your tops?
R- Oh yes if you had any chalk. Oh yes, aye.
Aye, we used to chalk patterns, aye.
R - And see them spinning round. They looked really nice. Of course in the mill they used to use cotton string, we used to call it burning band, it was a tubular banding. Well, of course, the thing is your mum'd pick some off the floor you know, it was used for driving the spindles on the ring spinning frames. Well, if one broke the whole string used to fall on the floor and my mother's brought us quite a lot of burning band as we called it. Well the thing was that if you were whipping a top with that it made a smart crack and this was it, the bigger the crack the better you were.
Yes, that's it.
R- Aye. And of course there were all different shapes of tops. There used to be jumbo tops
Aye, and peg tops.
R- Well, they were nearly all peg tops. But I mean, when I say jumbo, they’d be about three inches diameter and three inches high, you know a bit of weight about them. And then you used to get the peg top, the type that you mean with like just a thin shank and a little bit taller, yes.
Yes and a bigger top, yes.
(300)
R- Only I were thinking about the peg in the bottom of the top that it spun on see.
That's it. Oh whip and top, yes we used …
R- Oh we used to play whip and top.
And of course you'd play games like tig and…
R- Oh tig, aye. Oh aye that was quite a common one.
Did you ever have a bicycle John?
R- No. Me mother never would let me have one. She used to say “You are not safe on two feet, let alone two wheels.”
Is that right?
R- Although my uncle that went to the war, he had one. And it was an old one and it were kept at my grandmothers but I never was allowed to ride it or anything like that. So I never had a bike, I don't think I could ride a bike to this day.
That's interesting. When you went for a walk in the country you said about collecting, rushes and plaiting them together, did you ever collect anything else like berries or firewood or fruit or anything like that?
R - Well in this area of course there is no trees that really bear fruit except hawthorn and we used to collect hagues (?), that's the hawthorn's berries and we used to throw them at one another. But there were no horse chestnuts, no conkers round here or anything like that you know, they are mainly sycamore and a few ash trees.
How about firewood?
R- Well, firewood, well you didn't .. as I say there's very few trees. Although this on the old maps was known as the forest of Rossendale and the historians tell us that they used to hunt deer round here there's hardly any trees to be seen now. I mean it was totally denuded. Some say that it was denuded when they wanted wood for ships I don't know whether that's a true fact or not but it's supposedly that the forest was denuded and of course, well, you can see the hillsides are barren.
(350)
Yes. And how about, of course there’d be Whinberries wouldn't there?
R- But just one point, sorry to interrupt you.
Yes you are right.
R- But such things as firewood, well you used to be able to go these shops and get, orange boxes and margarine boxes. A lot of the goods used to come in wood boxes of which the shopkeepers they used to charge .. if it was a big one it'd be 3d, if it was a small one it'd be 2d and if it was a very small one it would be a penny. Because I can remember the time when we used to go to woodwork at school. If you were making something special you had to take your own wood and of course we used to make a raid for margarine boxes because they were soft wood and usually they were clean and they were easy to work whereas the boxes that the oranges came in, it was a tough, pliable sort of wood and many a time you could hardly break it up to put it on the fire.
Aye, Maypole’d be a good place for that wouldn’t it, aye, for the boxes.
R - Oh yes they had them at the Maypole. Or the grocery shops you know I mean other shops sold margarine as well.
And as 1 say, you’d collect Whinberries when they were in wouldn't you?
(15 min)
R - Well, it's a point that although there's a quite a lot of Whinberries we never made a point of collecting them. No, some people did and also there were blackberries. The blackberries seemed to grow wild, but again, not a lot because the hedges were all, well there weren't hedges, there were stone walls you know where these things usually grow. Aye.
That's it, yes. Yes well that's a thing that probably a lot of people don't realise, I mean there are very few hedges round here. Very few.
R- Well, that's it yes. Well, they are all stone walls. Of course you see this is the point, that the hills are covered with stones when you get a short way down.
Did anyone in the family ever go fishing John?
R- No. No, as I say, my father was a clubman, and of course club and pub. So like, he never went fishing.
(400)
Was there much fishing done round here, you know, either canal fishing or river fishing?
R- Again, no. There is no rivers that are clean enough.
Aye that's it, polluted.
R- You see, all the rivers round here of course, I mean, you get the Irwell, which they say is the worse polluted river in Europe, or was because I must add that in the past tense now because it's been cleaned up terrifically because a lot of the mills have closed down. But the most overworked river in Europe was the Irwell. And then you get the Limmey Water which is one of its tributaries, well you got a, right at its source there is a great big calico printing works which used to send all its effluent into the river so I mean it used to come down various colours. One day it would be nearly blue, the other it would be red.
Obviously nowadays pollution of a river like that is regarded as a serious matter and it’d soon be a matter of local complaint but in those days did anybody seem to worry about the fact that these water courses were polluted to such an extent, did anybody ever worry about it? Was anything ever done?
R- Well, no. The thing is that the whole standard of hygiene right from the very barest essentials was a lot cruder than what it is today. For instance, there were ashpits you know. Like in a row of terraced houses there’d be happen three say to a dozen houses, about four houses to one ashpit. Which would be like a brick chamber and the dustmen used to come round with a shovel and have to empty it. And then again there were tippler toilets, and the thing is that the whole standard of hygiene, and it worked right through the house. You'd a tin bath and you had a bath once a week and if it were cold you missed a week to keep you warm. But the whole standard of hygiene was a lot lower, a lot cruder than what it is today. The corporation used to have a cart that went round specially to all the farms and a lot of
the outlying houses that used to empty the bins that they used for toilets you see? Oh aye, I mean I knew the chappie who was on it, he lived just across the road and they used to make, well they made up a little song about him you know “The corporation muck cart was full up to the brim, the driver fell in backwards and thought he could swim, he sank to the bottom just like a little stone, and they could hear him whistling 'There's no place like home'.”
(450)
Aye. I’ll have to tell you some day about Ernie Roberts and the muck cart, and the night soil cart. Well, this question here, we have already covered it really “Did your father go out in his spare time?”
R- Yes, aye he did.
Yes. And of course, ‘Where did he go?’ he went to the club didn't he.
(20 min)
R- He went to the club and the pub. In point of fact my first recollection was that he used to go and sit in the pub which was only about 30 yards away. And then when we moved into a fresh area he started going to the club, but he wasn't, mind you I'll not say he went every night because there'd be times when he had no money you see, and I mean it's no good going into a pub if you are not drinking. I mean that was the whole idea of the exercise. But he used to stay in those nights, waiting for payday, but in the main my father wasn't a handyman in as much as, I have inherited that tendency, I'm not a handyman, like you wouldn’t see him making things or having hobbies like some of these chaps have, doing a lot of painting or decorating. Let's face it, the walls in our bedrooms were limewashed, there were no such things as paper on walls you see, they were white, limewashed. We used to limewash them every year you see? But downstairs, like in the living part, of course that was papered. Now, the kitchen that was done in colour wash rather than tiles and paper you see? But he wasn't a handyman, and of course you see he died comparatively young. I mean he was only 42 when he died and I would be what, I think I was 13. But you see there wasn't the time to get to form a father-son acquaintanceship, in as much as you look at things from an adult point of view and you can talk it over with your dad and all this kind of thing. Like, I was kind of left adrift.
(500)
Did your mother go out in her spare time?
R- No. No it would be a very special event if my mother went out. This is, I'm speaking now of early childhood. Of course as we grew up she was able to, because… But in early childhood I can't remember my mother going out except say like she'd go and see some of her relatives who lived in Waterfoot a mile and a half away and she'd go on the tram. And that would be an occasion, say somebody was ill or something like that. But she never socialised, in as much as there was more or less a set program of events every week.
That's it yes. If she did go out would she go on her own or would she go with your dad?
R- Well, again you’ve got to take the age into consideration. As small children she’d go on her own and my father’d stop in with us, but ...
That’s it aye, aye.
R- Again, as we got older of course she used to go out but when we were in our teens, I mean mother was a Salvationist and of course if they had the meetings and we were grown up, or at least old enough to leave, she'd go and she'd want us to go with her and I mean we did on a lot of occasions. I had a sister older than me of course who joined the Salvation Army and was a Salvationist, but I mean I never had inclinations. Well I wasn't inclined that way, I had no inclination to kind of tie myself to it.
(550)
So your father wouldn't be a church goer then?
R- Oh no. Never did. I can't remember my father going to church.
Your mother?
R- Oh my mother’d go. Well, the thing is you see again, I think that one of the things that kind of helped my mother with the Salvation Army, they had a place which was only 30 yards from our house you see? So she could nip in for an odd evening service you know at Sunday night.
Yes. If she, well she was a Salvationist wasn't she. As well as being a Salvationist, did she ever go to a church or a chapel, you know? Something special you know?
(25 min)
R- Oh yes. In point of fact before she was married, when she lived in Waterfoot, she went to a church called St James the Great, and when she was 21 they gave her a silver teapot which my sister still has. Aye, so I mean actually I should imagine that she must have been a fair worker at that particular church.
Must have been if ....
R- Because my sister still has this silver teapot, all engraved. And it is a silver one, I mean it's not silver plated. Oh aye.
Aye? What sort of attitude did she have towards you going to church? Did you have to go regularly?
R- Oh yes, aye.
Was that church the chapel or…
R- Chapel.
Chapel?
R- Chapel, yes.
Which chapel was that, John?
Well, Longholme Methodist aye. It were Longholme Wesleyans really. But I found out I preferred to go there rather than go to the Salvation Army. Mind you let me say that we went from being very small. Of course you see, I had this sister who was that little bit older and she used to take us as children, you see?
When you say that you'd rather go to the Longholme Chapel than the Salvationists, any particular reason?
R- Well, I don't know. The thing is that their style, whilst I agree in a lot of ways with what they present, it didn't appeal to me.
The Salvationists, yes
R- Aye, I mean it's supposedly recorded that General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army said he didn't see why devil should have all the good music, you know, the popular music. And of course he put words to popular songs you see? Well I mean it's all right but like a lot of tambourine bashing didn't appeal to me. Although like the officers of the local Salvation Army used to come to our house for tea regular. My mother'd invite them because they were very, very poorly supported in the sense that they had to pay all their dues and demands before they had anything left for themselves. And so it used to be that the officers used to go round to the various people to have a meal you see, because there's many a time when they haven't been able to pay their way, say with .. you know, electric bill came in or a gas bill or they wanted coke. Because you know it were ha’pennies and pennies in collections in those days.
Aye that's it. Now about, yes, well it was you that was saying the week before last wasn't it, about the collection, many a time you went to church and you had no collections ...
R- Oh yes.
Yes, well we were on about clothes. Were there any social events connected with the church?
R- Oh yes, in point of fact one of my earliest recollections of social events is that when we were very small you see, and we lived in this particular area I’m in now. Well, the chapel was only at the bottom of the street, that was a Wesleyan chapel at the bottom of the street. Well, we only lived 40 yards the other way. Well if that, and of course they used to have what they called the Band of Hope, you know the Temperance Movement.
That's it, yes.
R- And they used to throw coffee and bun [parties]. Well if there was a coffee
and bun evening, which was what me call a school bun and coffee. Well, the word went round like wild fire and they'd get a lot of children coming that night. Of course that was an inducement to get them to attend you see. I remember those coffee and bun nights. And then again there was that about it that when we moved out of this area into the other area lower down and I started going to Longholme they had one, a
Band of Hope and they had quite a lot of activities. There used to be what they called the Wesleyan Guild which was a kind of educative come social society, they'd have speakers on various topics and they'd have socials there and they'd have visits. Like visits, I can remember one time having hiked as far as Edgeworth, the National
Children’s home you know and this kind of thing. And then again the people in the chapel itself used to organise concerts to raise money because I can remember as a young man particularly, the Lady’s Aid they used to call themselves and they used to put up an annual concert which was usually a comedy play and of course the thing was they used to have practically the same cast. Because you found these people with a bit of a flair for acting. And then when the leading man that they had fell ill they asked we to take the lead. Well, I was thrilled to bits. I took the lead in quite a few of these farcical comedies. And then again, like the Cricket Club or the Football Club, they all used to have concerts to raise funds.
(650)(30 min)
There were a lot of local concert parties, that was half a dozen individuals got together and made a concert party up with some ability and talent you know. And they used to get these people to come, I can remember the fee used to be about three guineas, and if you get a special one it was five pounds, which was colossal you know. And they used to charge a shilling a time to go in. Well you knew, when you'd have your tickets printed and you'd paid your concert party and that kind of thing you used to make a pound or two for yourself if you were lucky. If it were a bad night you used to drop a clanger.
And that wasn't for any particular charity, that were people trying to make a bob or two for themselves?
R- Yes.
That's interesting that, that's the first time I’ve ever come across that John.
R- Oh aye. I mean the thing is there used to be events every week of one particular organization and another. I mean, I can remember the Girl Guides, they had some leaders, well there were three sisters actually and none of them ever married and they are still alive today, I think the eldest is about 88. And they used to put on a real spanking do you know, like pageants of the Ages. They weren’t without a bit of brass so of course they went to town and they used to put this on for about two or three occasions and they'd have packed houses every time. And of course we used to help them out with these ...
How strong were the Boy Scouts und the Brownies?
(700)
R- Well, the Guides particularly, they were very strong because these three sisters were as keen as mustard. And then about 1934 I think, well I were getting on then you know. One lad decided he’d start a troop of Scouts and he asked me if I’d become assistant Scout Master. Well I didn't know the first thing about it and
of course I've always been interested in young people so I said I'd help him out with it. The thing is we started this troop and it went like a house on fire. The only point being that we didn’t get support from the chapel elders that we would have liked. Some of them were dead nuts against it. It was a para-military association you see, the Scouts, and they were out and out pacifists. But there were some who were quite keen and they gave us a lot of support. But there were those who had the idea that the Scouts were just a lot of rowdies, mind you, some of them were little jumped-up uns. But at the same time was an institution that engendered in some of those lads a spirit of responsibility in as much as when they’d been going for about 18 months or so some lads were being appointed as patrol leaders who were in charge of six other lads. Well, they used to organise these hikes and what have you and it did lead to far more independence than they otherwise would have had. I could tell you quite a few stories about taking these lads to camp. You know, that would be quite interesting…
(35 min)
Well ...
R- We built up quite a strong group of scouts, and then of course we got a cub pack started and I can remember that we used to have to go on church parade every month, the first Sunday in the month was always church parade. And we have had more
Scouts and Guides in the congregation than there were other people. I remember I took a census one time when it was the annual walking day and we’d no fewer than 140 walking in the procession, cubs, scouts, guides and brownies. Well, you know, it was quite something.
(750)
How important do you think the Scout Movement was in say, the 1930's to the beginning of the War in the formation of young children's ideas? Obviously, the ones that were in it. Do you think it was a big influence?
R- Oh definitely yes. I mean, I look back now to the lads who were genuinely interested, you always got a fringe you know who used to come and then after a week or two it palled and they dropped off. But the lads who were genuinely interested, I look round now, now that they are men, and see some of the positions that they've attained, and the lads of other troops who you got to know and it’s quite surprising how many, I’ll not say the Scout movement was totally responsible for them holding responsible positions now but I'm sure it helped to mould some facet of their character that helped them in their, what you might call growing-up life. Oh aye.
Yes, yes. That's the impression I get yes.
R- I'm still a member of the Scout Executive you know, in spite of my age.
Oh age is no bar surely.
R- Well I mean the thing is that you have an age limit on active participation but on the Local executive you know, like what you might call the ruling body, I mean the thing is age is no bar. I've had various awards from them you know for service.
How strong are the scouts now round here? Are they as strong as they were?
R- Oh yes. The whole thing is it's a problem today of course getting people who will give up their time to lead them. In point of fact we had a meeting last week and the thing is that their numbers are actually increasing. There are a lot of troops that have gone out of existence, for instance I mean, now the latest troop is about the 42nd Rossendale. Well, of those 42 troops that there have been, mind you that’s in the whole history of scouting, right from Baden-Powell's time up to now there have been 42 troops, I should say that there are now about eight active troops. But at the same time I went to a meeting of one troop, and as far as the Cubs were concerned they had to have two nights they've so many you see so that there is still a keen interest. And one other troop, a friend of mine’s the Scout Master, he’s been there that long well he'll have to retire this next year because he is 65. But he's been there that long, but I mean the number of lads who have passed through his hands…. And he's given them a far greater insight to things than ever they would have done. For instance he took his scouts abroad every two years. You know, them who wanted to go but I mean there is a scout camp in Kandersteg in Switzerland, and they used to go to Kandersteg every two years. And then of course they widened their horizons and went into Austria, they went into Germany, they went into France and there are a lot of places that them lads would not have visited had it not been for him.
(800)(40 min)
R- And of course you see a lot of them again they formed associations with scouts from other areas, and I know there are a few who keep this association even if it's only a Christmas card at Christmas time you see.
That's it, aye. To get back to the chapel, what sort of people would you say went to the chapel? What sort of cross section of the local community went to chapel?
R- The whole spectrum. For instance I mean like there was one particular family, the Whitehead family who were very well known really. Well, some of their ancestors founded our chapel and their descendants came but they always came, walking stick over the arm and they all head their own special pew. You got like from the mill owners right down to the bobbin carriers, you know, the labourers in the mill. But you got a full spectrum.
Would you say that they mixed well John, or was there any segregation? You know, were they standoffish at all, better people from the…
R- Oh yes. I mean there was a degree of social snobbery in as much as the church officials always stood at the door welcoming these folks whereas we children used to have to go in at a side door. Up the side of the chapel, right out of the way, under the Gods, under the gallery you see. There they sat in the body of the chapel straight facing the pulpit and all that. They were given the VIP treatment, whereas we children, and let me say there were children of all sections, we were tucked away up one side of the chapel. Well I say children of all sections, I mean the bank manager’s sons and tradesmen’s children and all that you know. We were all…
And what do you think was the reason for that?
R- Well, because they were what you might call the main monetary supporters of the chapel you see.
Yes, yes. But I mean, the reason for segregating the children, would you think that it was the old thing, you know, ‘Children should be seen and not heard?’
(850)
R- Well yes definitely because the thing is that when we started these youth movements there were certain sections who looked down on us and although
we attracted children to the Scouts and they had to come on parade, and I mean we got a lot of lads who never went anywhere even in those days. But they didn’t just seem to realise that the children of that day were the men and women of today and it narrowed their outlook. I mean they could, we were as venturesome as any, you know what I mean. They did damage, they broke windows and damaged furniture, you got boisterous kids and some of them were [worse than others] I think we only, the whole time I was in we only expelled two. One was for misbehaviour inside, and the other had been a bit of a naughty lad outside.
SCG/28 August 2003
6,445 words.