Number 47

Warm milk and a stale Sports Biscuit served by a smug 'Monitor'.
Number 46

Plasticine.

The supreme pleasure of opening a new packet. No cross colour contamination, plenty of elasticity, yet to be shoved in noses, ears or chewed for a dare.
Number 45

Road safety in the big hall: ‘Any volunteers to be knocked down?’
Number 44

Popping out of school at lunchtime to listen to dial-a-disc or be terrified by Wearside Jack.
Number 43

Mary, Mungo and Midge.

Watched on your own in a freezing cold house when you were off sick from school.
Number 42

The Banda duplicator. Operated by a perma-smoking Technician in a mysterious little room.
Number 41

School glue
Number 40

Izal horror
Number 39

Taught in a portakabin on the playground while part of the school was condemned/flooded/burned down
Number 38

The custard jug
Number 37

The Bunsen burner.

Gas, fire, asbestos and classroom full of lunatics. What could go wrong?
Number 36

Coming home from school with your 'instrument' after joining the school band
Number 35

The rope: the humiliation of not being able to do it Vs the pain and broken bones of falling off from the top.
Number 34

Smoking in the bike shed

"But Sir, they are only Menthols"
"Ah, OK - be off with you" (not even confiscated)

Everyone on Embassy within a year. Then Park Drive, Senior Service, industrial strength roll-ups (later with filter discarded). Gone by 50.
Number 33

"ONE f*cking sausage?"
Number 32

The Overhead Projector (OHP)

"IT'S BACK TO FRONT SIR! IT'S UPSIDE DOWN SIR! THE END'S CUT OFF SIR! IT'S ALL SMUDGED SIR!"

The drama of the blown bulb.
Number 31

The language lab.

Now it's all hub. Then it was all lab.
Number 30

School holiday potato picking. £1 per day.
Number 29

The Duralex school milk glass

When dropped would either bounce or absolutely explode.
Number 28

The magnificence of a decades old graffitied desk.

"Every dog has its day"

Social history.
Number 27

The absolute ball-ache of book backing
Number 26

The ill-fated hockey experiment.

Worst mistake in the history of the school: let's play hockey like the posh kids. Essentially, weaponising lads with long-standing grudges. Mass brawl and multiple hospitalisations in the very first game. Hockey kit never seen again
Number 25

The age of protest. We talked about it. The lasses did it ✊
Number 24

Borrowing a school recorder.

Initial reassuring whiff of Dettol, followed by the horror of discovering a small reservoir of collective spittle in the head.
Number 23

The vault box. Nobody had got a clue what to do with it. Used exclusively for sitting on at school discos or hiding in.

Teachers appeared to be flummoxed as well: "Go go over it in an interesting manner".
Number 22

Getting vaccinated.
Number 21

The school cross country run. Staggering levels of cheating. One 'winner' got his brother to take him half way round on his Honda 50. Regularly got attacked with catapult wielding maniacs as well.
Number 20

The canvas school bag
Number 19

Menu: Mince, Cabbage, Potatoes, Semolina, Pears.

Often on the same plate.
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