Voices from the Forest
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Life in the Forest
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Professions and Public Service
Edna Hicks followed her older sister, Ivy, into a teaching career, and later taught at Woolaston Primary School rising to the posItion of Deputy Head. Here Edna describes placements on her teacher training at Stockwell, London in 1937 and the basis on which teachers were allocated to schools - and the relative levels of remuneration.
After her parents retired to Woolaston (where her mother grew up) Edna was offered a job at Woolaston Primary School. Here she describes how she negotiated the terms of the job, her first year of teaching there in 1946, and the impact of her grandfather's picture on the wall as founder of the school.
Sheila Llewellyn taught in Birmingham and Gloucester before returning to the Forest, remaining at Walmore Hill School until her retirement. The process of getting a job involved interviews by school governors. In the early 1960s competition for jobs was not always a level playing field as Sheila explains, and describes what "Forest Governors used to be like…."
Nigel Isaac embarked on a career in the police service at a relatively older age of 29 years and encountered strict discipline and training. His rural farming background and the challenge of marching brought him some ridicule from the training officer but he passed out with honours.
​Nigel's first posting was to Lydney where he learned to walk the beat. Communications pre-radio were via public telephone boxes and he describes having to receive messages at prearranged times. Whilst some constables did not like the long walks, Nigel enjoyed them.