Shortly after the war, my mother, Doris Randall, did a bit of supply teaching at the old school in Mellis, filling in when Mrs Fuller was on maternity leave.
In the toy box was a very tatty doll with one hand missing and holes in its legs with wood shavings falling out everywhere, due to the attentions of a resident mouse.
It had very little hair and was altogether in a bit of a state.
However, it had a beautiful face and I fell in love with her. I had just been reading Kipling's Puck of Pooks Hill, so I christened her Una.
My mother was about to finish her stint so there would be no more visits to the school and I would not see Una again. I wanted that doll.
There were no dolls about at that time, but I had a composition doll and somehow negotiated a swap.
The school gained a comparatively new doll and I had the remains of poor old Una.
My father made her some carved wooden arms and my mother made some stuffed legs.
I treasured that doll, still have it, and in later years restored her to her former glory, with bisque arms and legs and a blonde wig.
She was worth the effort as the head was an Armand Marseille model and apparently quite collectable.
I also did a short stint in the new building when I had aspirations to become a teacher; sort of work experience 1950s style.
My mother taught children to knit but was better at crochet than knitting but I am glad she passed the craft on.
Mrs Avery, headmistress at the old school, was my aunt.
- Read readers' Mellis Memories in full here:
Lauren Fox - School in the 1990sDawn Francis - Mellis in the 1950sArnold Garnham - Schooldays in the 1940s and 50sValerie Grose - The Railway Hotel and village lifeSuzanne Lawrence - 1994 nativity playJoy Mathews - The old school dollWhat are your memories of life in Mellis in the 1950s? Did you attend the old or new village school? Write and tell us: Mellis Memories, Diss Express, Mere Street, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 4AE or email editorial@dissexpress.co.uk
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