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Part 4: The Best Years of Our Lives (Page 1 of 3)

The village primary school was excellent, in the best traditions of the Scottish system. Its success was, of course, due to the competence and dedication of the teachers, rather than to flashy equipment and novelty theories of education.

Hundreds of Fyvie children learned to read and write under the firm but kindly eye of Miss Grace Leslie, and I can still smell the mixture of chalk dust and the oilcloth of the Janet and John posters in her classroom. The rooms in the old building (now demolished) also had open coal fires, which added a certain something to the atmosphere.

After a year of good grounding we were passed on to Mrs Munro, who commuted into the village in all weathers, I think from Oldmeldrum. Mrs Munro was a quieter personality than some of the others, but even so little nonsense was planned and none permitted. She was followed by the imposing figure of Mrs Mitchell - not only a strict disciplinarian in her own right, but with the unspoken backup of being the wife of the headmaster John S Mitchell. This latter personage was a real dominie in the A J Cronin tradition, and was regarded with serious awe by most in the primary years. Mrs Mitchell was followed by Mrs Harper, another teacher with strong views on keeping children in order and in their place. Primary 6 was split at the time, with the girls staying with Primary 5 and the boys joining Primary 7. As a result I had the great good fortune to spend two years under Alastair Milne, who was only there for a short time, gaining teaching experience in the field before moving on to a career at senior levels in education psychology. His shrewd application of modern teaching methods, and his natural rapport with the children, made him an outstanding teacher. 

As far as I recall, in 1950 all the secondary school classes, up to the age of 15, were in the old school building along with the primary classes. It must have been a tight fit, to say the least. The new school buildings on the other side of the road were constructed before 1956, but I cannot remember exactly when. I do know that it provided a much improved environment for the secondary years, as well as a good-sized hall/gymnasium for school and community activities.There was no separate library as such, but a stock of books was accessible at the school and frequently changed by the travelling County Library system. This was a wonderful source of "easy-reading" fiction, and it was from there that I discovered with delight the likes of Conan Doyle, P G Wodehouse, Neville Shute and Agatha Christie.