Scary Days at Hallcroft

Having read and enjoyed many stories about ‘Nunky’ Norvill of Bremrose School in the Derby Telegraph’s Nostalgia pages, I thought I would share some of my school memories. I went to Hallcroft Boys’ School, Ilkeston, starting in 1958. Being born in August I was one the youngest pupils. It was a case of fresh out of comfortable junior school into the totally different world of senior school.
My first sight of the headmaster came as we were gathered in the assembly hall. Everyone waited in semi silence, then the door opened and Mr Austin Nash briskly walked in, his black gown flowing behind him. The door slammed after him. By now there was total silence. His words left us in no doubt as to what was expected of us while we were pupils of Hallcroft and what would happen if we fell short of his standards. As 11- and 12-year-olds we were petrified.
I have heard Mr Nash described as an ‘educational visionary’. That may have been true but his pupils just saw him as someone to be feared. He was a strict disciplinarian, using the cane regularly. Jokes weren’t in his vocabulary. Even the staff watched their step.
My first seriously unhappy encounter with him came early on in my school life. I had been sent out of class for a very minor misdemeanour. Horror of horrors, Mr Nash walked by as I stood outside the door. “What are you doing there?” he boomed. I told him I’d been sent out. His finger beckoned me to follow him to his study where he administered a hard stroke of the cane on the hand.
He didn’t even ask me what I’d done wrong. The fact that I’d been sent out was good enough reason to punish me in his eyes. When I got back to the classroom, pain etched across my face, the teacher fetched me in and apologised. He said if he had known that was going to happen he wouldn’t have sent me out.
I knew from that moment, if I didn’t know already, that I had some difficult years ahead of me, even though I was far from being a troublesome pupil. It seemed to me that ‘Nashy’ was totally without compassion. You broke his rules – you got punished. No mercy. That even applied to staff. One teacher who had formed a ‘friendship’ with a girl pupil was instantly dismissed and ‘trashed’ in front of the whole school.
In one respect, the headmaster’s harsh regime was a comfort at times because there were some thuggish pupils who deserved to feel the full force of Nash’s law.
In my first year there was a school boxing tournament. It was never held again. I think the purpose of it was to give abused teachers the satisfaction of seeing at least some of their abusers take a pummelling in the ring. It bore little resemblance to proper boxing, which is about skill, dedication and discipline – this was just about punching your opponent senseless.
After a hard day at school, we often took a pile of homework away. It was no fun hearing your friends playing football outside when you had to stay in doing homework. Often you’d be struggling to complete it until ten o’clock at night. Then early next morning, kids would be begging others for answers in the cloakroom.
In those days telling tales was something you didn’t do, no matter how you may have wanted to. If you were harmed in any way, or if you were a witness to any incident, you kept your mouth shut. This often led to the whole school being punished if the culprit couldn’t be found. One day the school tuck shop was broken into. No one knew anything about it so it was closed.
During my time at the school, Hallcroft Boys and Hallcroft Girls were merged to form Hallcroft School with Mr Nash as head. This led to a slight softening of attitude by him as far as punishments were concerned, but he was still someone to be feared.
As well as teachers, school prefects could also hand out punishments (lines and detentions), and some of these jumped up sixth formers were worse than staff. There were others, however, who showed kindness and empathy, remembering that they were mere pupils not long ago.
Hallcroft didn’t have its own playing field – we had to walk down to the local recreation ground, half a mile away. When the opportunity came up to buy a playing field on land off Derby Road, Mr Nash got everyone fund-raising. One lad dared to say: “But sir, we’re doing all this work to raise money, but it’s going to take years, and we won’t be here to use it.” Mr Nash exploded in unprecedented rage at such a selfish declaration. Needless to say, no one ever dared to put such thoughts into words again.
Towards the end of my time at school, there was a particular incident I will never forget. It just shows how ‘Nashy’ ruled in everything – even the school football team. Hallcroft had a really good side and had reached the Stead Cup Final to be played on Heanor Town ground. Our goalkeeper was a lad called Kelvin Bonsall, who was really good – the Ron Springett of school football!
But Kelvin got himself a job and announced that he would be leaving school a few weeks early to begin his new employment. ‘Nashy’ was livid and did all he could to prevent this happening. When he failed, he took Kelvin out of the cup final team as a punishment. The games teacher just had to abide by this decision.
I was the one chosen to take his place in goal! Now I wasn’t bad, but I was nowhere near as good as Kelvin. We actually won the game and I was pleased to have played my part, not making any serious errors, although I wasn’t kept particularly busy.
At the full time whistle Kelvin ran to me and congratulated me – I was touched by that. He didn’t bear any animosity, unlike our headmaster.
Fortunately, there were some decent teachers and classmates, making life bearable. There were also some real characters among them, who you remember with fondness for the rest of your life, so it wasn’t all doom and gloom. However, the bad days seem to stick with you as the strongest memories.
Life at Hallcroft was certainly a learning curve. You learned who you could trust and who you couldn’t. And you definitely learned to think things through before you spoke or took any action. There were some happy times and some you wish you could forget. I don’t know if it was the same at neighbouring Gladstone and Ilkeston Grammar schools at that time; it certainly isn’t like that these days.
Most schools have anti-bullying rules in place and someone you can go to if you have a problem. No such thing at Hallcroft. You sorted yourself out.
One thing I can say: those pupils who were prepared to work were given a good education. Even those who were not successful in exams left with usable skills and common sense. They also learned a lot about the real world.
Some of Mr Nash’s sayings have stuck with me:
“If someone criticises Ilkeston, then they’re criticising you, because you’re part of it.”
“When things go wrong, don’t blame other people – blame yourself.”
“Aim too high rather than too low.”