RICHARD'S STORY

The new year starts and in a few days time we will start lessons again; we are glad that we will have something to do as we are all rather bored, although we have been allowed out a few times when the weather has not been too bad.   The first lesson is always arithmetic, then we have a lesson where we have to write about how much we enjoyed Christmas Day and what sort of a day we would have had if we had been at our homes.  When the teacher hands the marked essays back he has a few remarks to make about the boys who said they would have rather been at home!

Soon one week has passed and in three weeks time it will be my fourteenth birthday and very soon I will be able to leave Stanhope.  One of my friends says “Well, not long to go now Knighty and then you will be free!”  He asks me what I want to do when I leave and go home, and all I want to do at first is go home to my parents and brothers and sisters, but it strikes me that although I am in an Industrial School, where I am to be taught to do a job, not one of the officers has ever asked me what I would want to do when I leave to go to work, and this would have been a help if I could have done a job that I could have carried on with when I left school.  Some of the boys who work on the farm say it is the last thing in the world they would want to do when they get home.  One boy in particular says he wants to be a chef in a hotel, because he has figured out that everyone has to eat, and I think that that is a brilliant idea.  Some of the boys are rather silly and say that they will become gangsters and have guns, and not have to go to work.

The middle of the month brings some more snow and we can’t go out for very long at breaktime, but we are all nice and warm in the playroom, and I don’t remember any boy ever having to spend time in the sick bay because we are all well looked after.  We have been told that three new boys are coming next week and one of them is a really bad boy, and we would be better to leave him alone.  We are spending most of our playtime in the playroom, but some of the boys go into the billiards room, and arguments start if someone is waiting to get the table for a game and the boys playing want to stay on the table too long.  One of the officers has to come in to sort out the quarrel, and usually then no-one wants to play anymore.  The new boy arrives, and we think he does look rather mean and tough.  No-one speaks to him and he hasn’t spoken to anyone either.  Of course, this may mean he is not so tough as he looks and he may be shy. 

The next day the other two new boys arrive, and the school is nearly full to capacity again.  These two new starters turn out to be friends that lived in the same street, they are a couple of “tearaways” that got out of their parents’ control.  They don’t think they will be at Stanhope for very long, and they say that when they get fed up with it here they will start a riot, several of us say “Just you try it and see what happens to you!”.  A few days later one of them is defying Mr Penny the gardener and trying to drag some of the other boys into the situation, but after a few minutes the Headmaster is called.  The boy is sent to wait outside the Headmaster’s office and the Headmaster and Mr Penny have a talk to find out what the trouble was about.  The Headmaster looks very cross and we think he will cane the boy.  Later on we see the boy and he is still crying, and some of the boys say “Who is in charge now? We told you so”. 

So at last it is my long awaited birthday, and my Mum has sent me a nice birthday card and in it she says “It won’t be long now and you will be home for good!”  Some of my friends pick me up and give me fourteen “bumps” and they also say “Not long now Knighty and you’ll be going home!”  They also say that they will miss me as they have known me for a long time.  So I am definitely on the countdown to leaving now, although I do not know exactly when that will be; I can’t help thinking that this is all because I would not go to school all those years ago.  Maybe that school and teacher is not even there anymore.  I am finding it hard to sleep because I am thinking about leaving so much.  I am waiting to be called to go to the tailor’s shop to be measured for my suit because then I will know that I do not have much longer to wait. 

There is a rumour that one of the new boys has run away, but if so he will soon be caught and then he will have the cane or towse and have all his marks stopped.  In all my time here I think I can remember about ten boys running away, and they have all been brought back and then they have said it is better here than outside.  It is nearly the end of February and the weather still very cold and it is windy but dry.  The first day of March arrives and I am wondering if I have been forgotten, I have been here longer than any other boy has ever been and I wonder if they think I am now one of them!

Today the Headmaster comes round and reads out the new work list which says which boy shall work where, one or two that have been chosen to work on the farm are not very happy about it, and say that the smell of the animals will make them ill.  One boy has been chosen to work in the bakehouse, and he is very happy because he thinks he will be able to eat as much as he likes!  I think he may get a shock when he starts!  Still if he takes an interest it may be useful to him when he leaves Stanhope.  We don’t know if Mr Hooper can make pastry or fancy cakes because we do not get them to eat here.

There is another romance for one of our teachers, with one of the maids, Miss Ada, she is very pretty and when Mr Hurst is on duty and they meet she blushes bright red. 

We understand that there is to be a football match on Saturday which is very unusual, and we wonder who is going to play for the school.  Our teachers don’t seem to be very interested apart from Mr Wilkins the woodwork teacher and Mr Lawrence our P.T. instructor.  The game is against Shadowhurst, and it is a very cold and windy day.  The football pitch is sheltered by a row of poplar trees and some pieces of hedge, and we can stand under the hedge to watch.  The first half passes with no score.  When the teams come out for the second half the boys are all enjoying playing and we are enjoying cheering them on, then all of a sudden the opposition score.  Some of the boys are arguing about the goal and don’t notice that Stanhope have scored!  The score remains a draw and we have all enjoyed the afternoon, but are looking to going up to the playroom where it is nice and warm.

It is now the 10th of March and I am very worried that I have still not been told to report to Mr Hotson the tailor.  The days are all the same routine until one day when we are in school doing our work my name is called and I am told to report to the tailor’s shop!  I am measured for my suit and of course I feel much happier now.  Some of the boys ask how long I have been at Stanhope and when I tell them they do not know whether to believe me or not, and when I say that I was sent here just because I would not go to school all those years ago there is an argument over whether this could be true.  I am counting each day now, and when April arrives I am getting anxious again because I have not been called back to the tailor’s shop, I wonder whether they are going to keep me here until Easter.  I shouldn’t wish my life away but I long to get out and go home.  The longer I stay here the more savings I will have in the school bank.  I have been here so long I think that I must have quite a lot, I try to remember what I might have broken and have to pay for, and all that I can remember is the bakery skylight, and that was a long time ago.  I spent some money when we went to Dymchurch each year, and about twice in the tuck shop here. 

In the second week of April I am called to the tailor’s shop again and this time I am able to try on my suit, it fits very nicely and it is grey with herringbone stripes and of course it has long trousers.  I ask Mr Hotson when I will be going home and he says “Just a few more days” and “Do you like your suit?”, to which I reply “Yes Sir, thank you very much”.  He tells me to look after it and it will last me a long time. 

The days pass but today is different!  After breakfast we are all on parade ready for the Headmaster to come and inspect us and when he gets to me he stops, this worries me (I nearly wet myself) but he says “Today you are going home, may I wish you good luck; behave yourself and give my regards to your parents and family”. After he has gone and the other boys go to their classrooms or work I run down to the tailor’s shop and in no time at all I am dressing in my suit, I am rather excited and have to go for a wee before I have finished dressing, Mr Hotson says “Hurry up or you will miss your train”.  I am soon dressed and go to see Mr Steele to see about my savings, and he looks at me and gives me just one shilling!  Surely this can’t be right after all this time?  I haven’t time to say anything to him because I have to rush to catch my train.  I get back to the tailor’s shop and Mr Hotson is waiting, he tells me to put my hat on and I find that it is one like old men wear at work!  I have my case holding my spare clothes and work clothes and boots and away we go to Ashford Station.

Once we are out of the school grounds I stop and put my case down and turn towards the school and give a little wave and the tears start to fall.  I say “Thank you Stanhope and all the staff for looking after me for all those years, Goodbye Stanhope!”

Richard Charles Knight (Number 54)