| Description | An interview with J.P.Anny RICHARDSON, a married woman with one son, one daughter, who is a Retired teacher, born in Kent and now living in Birmingham. J.P.Anny RICHARDSON’s father was a Farmer, born in England and her mother a Housewife born in England. In the interview, she talks about …
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2” …I was born in 1937 in Canterbury, in Kent…
16” From farming family. Her father left when she was 1 year old, they had to move out of the farm.
1.11” …the War started when I was 2 and I remember it vividly…planes coming over…crashing…gunfire…
1.50” Story about her mother putting her in a pot when the bombing started with the lid on because they didn’t have an air raid shelter. Story about being hit by bombs.
3.04” Remembers watching the Battle of Britain.
3.48” Sheltering in the school air raid shelter.
4.49” Rationing.
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25” In those days there wre a lot of families without fathers because they were away at the war…quite a few of my friends had lost their fathers.
38” Feelings about not having her father there.
1.57” Went to a convent, did her ‘O’ levels and went to Art College.
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3” It was 1954 when I went to Art School in Canterbury.
9” Memories of Art College, a ‘vibrant period.’
Story about copying the latest fashions.
2.14” That’d be about ’57 I think, when the sack-dress came out.
2.25” Got a grant to study.
3.40” My social life was very exhausting, a lot of parties, a lot of jazz clubs…
Memories of Jazz bands and going to London clubs.
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1.06” I think sexually we were quite experimental… I don't think anybody disapproved of relationships, although you didn't always talk about the things you got up to. I think it's much more open nowadays.
1.23” You just had a lot of boyfriends… one would say fairly loose, I mean this was the 1950s.
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3” Disadvantaged by having a German name; wanted to go into dress design but most of the designers were Jewish. Started teaching in Birmingham. Disapproval of everyone that she was going to Birmingham.
1.47” So I came to Birmingham and I started in January, 1959…
2.08” Found digs in Handsworth, paid £28 a month. Worked in a school in Sheldon, then in Erdington.
4.08” Then sent to a school in Handsworth.
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38” This was ’59, ’60, ’61, the start of the teddy boy era, so a lot of the boys had thick soled shoes and DA haircuts and draped jackets…
57” Describes the reasonably good behaviour of the boys she taught.
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2” I taught at…Secondary School from 1959 to 1968.
14” Changes in the school, more black pupils.
38” At first it was just one or two in a class and then about '63, '64, it became about half the class
50” Caused ‘problems-’ the school down the road sent them to her school because they didn’t want them. Some hadn’t been to school before, not ‘ready’ for school, discipline problems.
1.57” Arrival of Asian pupils, quite a few fights between Black and Asian pupils.
3.07” Story about an Asian pupil she was friendly with who ran away to London to avoid an arranged marriage.
3.51” Story about a talented Art pupil who wasn’t used to wearing shoes.
4.56” How the school adapted to having pupils from different countries. In Home Economics, pupils cooked meals for the staff once a week from their own countries.
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50” Story about people not coming to the drama evenings, dance and singing from different countries.
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Memories of teaching Art, talent of Asian children she worked with.
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Education, Drama…conducting plays on desks because there was no stage.
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Late 60’s, talks of qualifications, CSEs.
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…I got married in 1962.
49” Lived with husband’s mother, saved for a deposit on a house and moved in.
2.03” …I remember we decorated two rooms by the time Tim was born in 1968.
2.53” …and then, 18 months after Tim was born, Emma was born in 1970.
4.39” Worked part time so she could be with her children, although thinks it hampered her career.
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09” 1958, Effect that part time teaching had on her career…left position of acting senior mistress and never regained as higher position as before.
1.17” Discusses combining part-time work and raising children.
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5” The changes in education from…1959 to when I finished, 1998 were quite amazing.
23” Less pressured teaching environment. More forms, inspections, meetings.
2.56” It was like a slow bicycle ride - it got faster and faster and more uphill towards the end…
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3” I think the greatest changes that have taken place in the last 8 years to 1999.
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Experience of teaching remedial children, and the pressures of inspection. Resentment at being inspected. More detailed reports.
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In 1994 we had the first inspection.
7” Preparation for the inspection.
1.28” The inspection itself took 4 days & there were 8 inspectors & everybody was in a terribly high state of tension.
2.04” Report then presented to the school.
2.36” One of the inspectors applied for, and got the job as Head Teacher. Much harder work for the teachers. Mock inspection.
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Preparing for the real inspection.
39” …we had the next inspection, and that was in June and again, that was horrific, it really was.
57” System of grading lessons. Got a lesson scored as below standard.
2.37” Resistance from teachers, although scared they’d loose their jobs and wouldn’t get a good reference.
3.48” She was a Union Rep.
4.12” Bad affect of inspections on pupils.
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Re-start, background interference.
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4” Experiences of being a Union Rep. Fighting for breaks for teachers.
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Disadvantages of the Literacy and Numeracy Hour. Too rushed.
2.16” …I also started the Numeracy hour in September 1998.
2.53” Greater flexibility before.
3.22” I don't like being told how to teach because I think after…38 years in the classroom I knew what worked, in fact I know what worked…
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5” Became more stressed, everyone taking more time off, early retirement, etc.
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I retired December, 1999 and I think it’s the best thing I’ve done…
12” Story about realising she was free.
1.35” I became a JP ten years ago.
1.44” Reasons for becoming a JP, experiences of working in the courts.
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2.32” Faith in the system.
3.28” Feelings on womens’ rights and her own experience of being disadvantaged as a woman, failure to get secondment.
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10” …I think being a J.P.… I feel a great independence…for women… I feel I've done it on my own...
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3” I came to Birmingham in 1959 and in those days it was quite black, dirty, it was… quite sort of grimy…
30” Not much to do for young people.
1.31” Nowhere to eat after 8 or 9 o’ clock.
1.40” Taking her children to the theatre, Cannon Hill Tulip Festivals in the ‘70’s.
3.13” …then about the ‘80’s, thing started to move, buildings started to be cleaned up, but it was still lack of money I think.
3.25” Started pulling down a lot of buildings, started taking photographs.
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With the photographs I took in about 1990, 1991, I went in for a competition…
Had a book published about Birmingham.
1.24” …my book was published in 1995 and it’s called Looking At Birmingham. |