NAIRN
MOVING AGAIN
I moved to Nairn from Shetland in 1957. This is me aged 11 in my final year in primary school. In a strange way I never felt I completely belonged there, as I pronounced Nairn as it looks, while the locals pronounced it ‘Nern’. Although I spent many happy years there, I always felt as if I was an incomer.
Sylvia Randall aged 11, Millbank Primary School, Nairn, P7
When I arrived in Nairn I had huge gaps in my general knowledge. My life in Shetland had been fun and rewarding, but I fear looking back that the teacher must have missed quite a few days because of adverse weather!
Primary school in those days was very different. I remember one very scary teacher in P6 called Miss Bryce, who gave us tests on all subjects, including nature study. If anyone failed a test they were subjected to being given the ‘strap’ on the hand! There would often be a line of pupils awaiting their punishment. I always passed the tests without difficulty… apart from nature study. Looking back, I assume this was because there was a distinct lack of trees and flowers both in John o’ Groats and Shetland, so my knowledge about these was abysmal. Thankfully, by some fluke, I just managed to scrape through, and avoided the dreaded strap, of which I was genuinely terrified.
Using the strap was a common method of keeping control in those days. My P5 teacher was a lady called Miss Macpherson, who was of very small stature, but had a voice of thunder. You could hear a pin drop in her classroom. She was so small that she stood on a chair to give the strap. Those fortunate enough to escape this punishment would look on horrified. It looked so ridiculous that it was difficult not to let out an embarrassed giggle, but to do that would have resulted in a very painful end such as a visit to the Headteacher, Mr Stark. No one wanted that, for sure.
After a mediocre start, I began to show promise at school through primary, and passed the 11 plus exams with flying colours, resulting in my being placed in class 1A2 in Nairn Academy. This meant I studied two languages, French and German, both of which I loved.
“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
Oscar Wilde”
I never felt very comfortable with the social side of school, but I loved learning, especially in secondary school. My love of English came from my English teacher, who was so enthusiastic about the subject that I felt inspired by the world of literature and all the joys it had to offer.
In 1967, when my brother Ian was in S5 and I was in S3, our claim to fame was that Ian was the Dux of the school while I was the Junior Dux. Considering we came from a family with no formal education, I suppose this was quite an achievement, but we seemed to take it in our stride. Ian and I paid a very nostalgic visit to Nairn in 2019, going to the old haunts of our schools, church and two houses we had lived in.
Here we are outside Nairn Academy 52 years on…
The little church we attended, then called Crescent Road Hall.
My family attended a small church called The Crescent Road Hall. They were such a friendly, caring group of people, always looking out for each other. One of the congregation, called Mr Ness, would ask us round for supper after the Sunday service. He was a dedicated philatelist, and Ian and myself were fascinated to look through his huge collection of stamps.
17A Simpson Street, our first home in Nairn.
This was our first, small home in a narrow street. There was only one car in the whole street, owned by a Polish man. Having a car was very much a novelty then, and we were fascinated by him out washing his car every week without fail. I was friends with his daughter Virginia, who I walked to school with. We never entered each other’s houses, but simply stood outside the window and called out for each other by name. My mother was friendly with the neighbour across the road, and every morning around eleven, she would put the teapot in the window so her neighbour Mrs Ross would know it was time to come for a cuppa and a chat. The amusing thing was no matter how friendly they became, they still addressed each other by Mrs - no first names allowed!
The back of our next house, 2 Grant Street. The present owner was kind enough to show us around.
When we moved to Grant Street we were able to convey our furniture from one house to the other in a wheelbarrow. We thought the new house was a mansion compared to Simpson Street as it had an indoor toilet and a separate kitchen…luxury! my brother’s best friend lived next door and they had fun communicating with each other by means of walkie talkies.
Me outside my first infant school, Fishertown-Links Primary.
We lived on the edge of the fishertown, and this is my first infant school. It was so interesting to see it was still there, directly opposite our home at 2 Grant Street.
Our visit to Nairn was even nicer because Ian and I both had one of our grandchildren with us, Ella, Ian’s granddaughter and Andrew, my grandson. I’ve added some photos taken throughout the day, on the train, in the street and at the beach.
