LITTLE MADAME, BIG MADAME, & MRS.JACKMAN

This blog has been prompted by Mum talking with Velia and the fact that Maureen Mercer, a very good friend, is a teacher at a Catholic School.
I believe that primary education can be as important as secondary education; it was certainly the case for me when we went to Bath at the latter part of the War. I went to St. John's School in the city just across the river from the Recreation Ground. The School was run by some lay teachers and nuns from La Sainte Union des Sacrés Coeurs, a French order of nuns with a convent and girls' school across the Pulteney Bridge. [The famous MP and TV personality, Anne Widdecombe, went to this school at the age of eleven.]
Two of these nuns were called Madame Lucy Margaret. One was called Little Madame and the other Big Madame. Little Madame was a very tiny lady, like a thistle down, she appeared to glide across the floor and one never saw her feet, and with her face framed in a wimple she seemed the very epitome of holiness and calm. She maintained order and taught by the fact that one could not offend such a sweet person. She looked after the little children and every afternoon all were settled on palliases to rest and try and take a nap. It was always calm in her class.
Big Madame was the other end of the scale, she was a raw-boned North Country lass who boasted of having worn clogs to school. Her voice matched this appearance and she walked with awkward intensity. She somehow gave the impression that she would not brook any nonsense and that was the way it was. It was really amusing to see these two wonderful nuns walking back to the convent together in the evening. The teaching was great too and actually there was love for us all.
And then there was Mrs. Jackman, a lay teacher, a widow with a son at University, a really elegant English lady. She was a good teacher who invited children to her home in Walcot for afternoon tea and then we learnt how to behave socially in elegant surroundings and talk properly, we learnt how to conduct ourselves in good company. There was fine china, silver, and all the right things, and she treated us like young adults in the conversation.
By the time I went to St.Brendan's College in Clifton, and faced the harsh regime of an Irish Christian Brother system I had been given a good start in my eduction.
Having met Maureen, Tina and I are sure that she too belongs to that cadre of women who manage to help children forge their way in life with a good education. I was fortunate, I have always been fortunate.

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