I started school at Sackville House in 1942 when I was 4 years old. Miss Sackville owned this private school and was the headmistress. Her sister, Miss Winnie, taught there, and her cousin taught needlework. Miss Sackville cut off my shoe laces because I could not tie them, and forced me to drink milk, which made me ill. She told an older girl to put her fingers down my throat to make me vomit. We were all taught in one room, the oldest girls on benches at the back, the youngest on stools at the front, where we were mostly ignored. I can still remember the names of some of the girls, including the female mayor''s daughter. One morning there was an air raid warning as we were nearly at school, and. a woman living nearby took us into her house to shelter. I hated this school and was relieved when Miss Sackville died about a year later and the school was closed. The only thing I learned there was survival.
28-09-18
