Hallo,
Beano mentioned the cane as a form of punishment in schools.Without wanting to sound polemic, I seem to remember this treatment as something reserved for the children of those who were without influence or dependant upon their livehood or / and housing from their employer. In my class in Hilden school were offspring from professional and business families, I cannot recollect any being punished in this form. I remember a schoolmate, Arthur Crothers from Leamington being exhibited, together with the "corpus delicti" and punished ( 6 x caned ) by Mr Woodende headmaster, in each of the six classroom in Hilden school, while a piece of roofing slate ( = corpus delicti ) he threw up into the chestnut trees ( to knock down chestnuts ) across the street from Director Long,s residence in Grand Street accidently struck the daughter who was entering the house and slightly injured her. If the injured party had been the offspring of someone with less influence would the punishment have been so severe?
Donald

Donald,

Mind you dont fall off your high horse.The cane was widely used in schools around Lisburn, maybe those who deserved it, got it, myself included. I certainly did not have the privelege of influence nor did I want it.

Beano

Beano
I too got a few canings, but what right does a person have, even mother,s and fathers to inflict pain or corporal punishment upon other peorsons?In prison it was forbidden to chastise criminals, but in schools it was permitted. I never had any influence myself,. Reading your last reply to Liz concerning your teacher I dont think you approved of caning either. Please don,t take offence, there is none meant
Donald
PS you probaly heard the Labour Party have lost their majority in Nordrein - Westfalen and Gerhard Schroeder has announced they plan to step down, so there will probably be new general elections in Germany.

donald
beano is right.. i went to brownlee in wallace avenue and we were caned hard and often.. and we were i suppose from all walks in life
no fear or favour shown to anyone
regards tom

Tom The Black Man here. In my day at Brownlee John Kerr was fond of using the kane,I was there in 1950-52-3 in my days there a few names were Cecil Gallaher, Norman & ? Campbell, Mat & Tom Foreman < twins >& as you say ho favour to anyone. regards Black Man.

Donald,

Firstly, no offence taken. I certainly do not condone the cane or any form of corporal punishment. However it was a different time that we lived in, and I certainly would not want my grandchildren subjected to the kind of punishment that was handed out back then.

Dabbler,
Good to see you back, I am sure you had a wonderful time.I know you were going with family and that makes it even more special. We are looking forward to our trip home in just over four weeks.Mind you I can't see me snorkelling in Portrush or Newcastle.

Beano

hi beano and all,that morrison you mentioned was very sadistic,and his wife wasnt much better,he also had a henchman (bouncer thompson)who was a dab hand with a four foot length of half inch dowel rod.they would never get away with the half of their punishments today.i hope you have a good trip home,port rush is better known for golfing than snorkling,have fun. ken

hello blackman
i would have been at brownlee at about the same time. do you remember the teacher nosy boyd? who was not only a great caner but used to lift the unfortunate up in the air by the lapels and "bang"you backwards and forwards against the noisy room particians nearly the whole school could hear it another teacher was mr crothers who used
to lead us football players over to barber park every wednesday for our football fixture.
regards pupils didn,t really remember the ones you mentioned but by a funny coincinence ran into one here in australia called jim cairns whose older brother hal cairns had an electrical shop in lisburn for years bridge street i think. jim was in the same class as my brother desmond and would have been round about your time?
good luck tom
ps..just thought i think the john kerr you mentioned used to help mr crothers and go with us footballers as well?

Hi Tom, Yes those were the days & remember nosy Boyd Very well & I got a few bangs against the partition, I remember the names Cairns, Mc Cabes John Kerr Was a student teacher & John Macracken @ a few very nice young lady student teachers, I think Kerr may have married one of them. I see you live in Aus as do I, did you watch the match Wednesday night. Ps., I had to catch the bus in Smithfield for Hillsborough, right beside Neesons pub & the coblers shop. see ya The Black Man.

g,day blackman you did say you,re also in oz?
so you also remember nosy boyd? what a thing to be remembered for. banging young kids backwards and forwards against a partition.i got my share as well.
a teacher nowadays would be locked up for that.
i didn,t see the match wednesday? last match i saw was saturday fa cup final.
in my previous message i think i got the teachers names mixed up. it was john maccracken who took us for football and he used to play rugby for some lisburn team. he was also a dab hand at the cane as well as throwing chalk and the blackboard wiper. it,s a wonder any of us survived?
my brother des in lisburn makes kitchens etc and all his work is from referrals a big list. he told me last year he visited a house in lambeg to give a quote and in he went and there was an aged mr maccracken who said straight off desmond how are you? so thats a memory and a half

funny to re-live these
things
good luck
tom

Donald et al,
As you know I went to Hilden and Wee Waddy (Mr Woodend to his face or more likely "Sir") certainly dispensed his punishment without favour. I remember the late Malachy Lavery and myself getting a right going over with the long cane because neither of us could spell "guard" properly (I think that is right spelling). The only real favour he showed was to give the girls slightly less than the boys!!
Billy Cowan at the tech had a habit of throwing the blackboard cleaner and Mr Gillespie?(Chemistry teacher) was very quick with his hands. Miss McQuaid had the ultimate sanction as far as I was concerned as she lodged with a relation up in Warren Gardens.
I must say that I preferred the cane to lines or being "kept in" after school even though the pain was a real tear jerker at times. And I was considered a good boy. Didn't stop the cane at Hilden I can tell you and with two brothers ahead of you it was not easy!!!
LR

Lowroader
If I remember rightly Miss McQuaid from the tech had a passion for dispensing " words", as punishment you had to write one or two hundred words and their meanings from the Dictionary. I remember a teacher there called " Hoey " a very intelligent chap but had no control whatsoever over the class and had to pack the teaching lark in and went to Shorts. I think he taught maths,
Have to end now as I,m leaving tomorrow at 7.00am for a weekend in Prague
Donald

I got a few "lashings" at Downshire School. One for glancing out the window. Can you believe it! This was from a student teacher no less. I felt like punching his lights out!! No one was immune from the cane. Girls and boys alike were subjected to caning. Teachers back then disciplined by instilling fear into their students.

A few boys, namely Hubert Blakely, Bobby Prentice, and maybe Thannie Haslem, if I remember correctly, at St. James's school got it right, they pulled up a loose floor board and hid the teacher's cane when she was out of the room! Of course when she went looking for the implement of torture we all were very innocent. "We don't know where it is!"

Wm.Foote, well known for caning by David Leinster conductor of the Opera House ochestra in Belfast, wicked man with the cane, and Andy Norris also.Tom Small and Ian Hamilton also myself got it many times, plus most of the boys in my era. Ma Price throwing tea cups at the wall in class.Horticulture in gardens so teachers could reap benefits, man, those were the days, Were was the school board then? Hanging was allowed then also. Any Footies about ,contact me, would love to hear from you all.

Hi Frazer,
I was a Footie, I remember well Leinster, Norris and Uprichard. Once in Leinsters class someone, and I don't remember who, had some sort of device made up of a clothes pin and a rubber band that could shoot paper wads. When Leinster found out about it the cane came out and whom ever the culprit was got his hands warmed. Those were the days, but we all survived.
Hope everything is well in your world. Vera has changed her e-mail but she is still in Seattle, I heard from her last week. She had been to Derriaghy for a month.

Sylvia.