Thanks Miss Norton!

I came across this photo the other day. It’s of the Standard 2 class I was in at St Albans Primary School in Christchurch and taken in 1956 shortly after I arrived in New Zealand with my family from Scotland.

Our teacher was Miss Norton.

It was spring and she decided we were going to have a gardening competition. She gave each of us a packet of vegetable seeds which we were to plant in our gardens and said she would come to mark our efforts in the summer.

Up went my hand and in my still very Scottish accent said;

“Please Miss.”

“Yes Bryan?”

“I live in a flat Miss. We don’t have place to grow vegetables Miss.”

“OK” said Miss Norton “ l’ll come and have a look after school.”

And she did.

Later that afternoon she arrived on her bicycle at our block of flats.

We walked together around the outside of the flats until she eventually identified two thin strips of soil for my first garden. One was against a wooden paling fence and other was right up against the rear wall of the block.

“You can grow carrots along the fence” she said, “and here’s two tomato seedlings you can plant in that sunny spot right next to the building. Make sure you water them every morning and night.”

And I did.

The carrots were a bit of a dud. But the tomatoes – wow! What a crop!

I’ve forgotten what mark I got for my garden, but from that day to this I have grown fresh vegetables for my family all year round ; sometimes in buckets and bins, sometimes on bits of spare ground, until my wife and I managed to get into a place of our own and I could put in a proper vege garden.

I see our Minister of Education ( and former Reality TV producer) is introducing standarised testing because measurable performance is what matters- right?

I can’t honestly say I remember Miss Norton teaching me how to count; but I do remember her teaching me about something that still counts.

Thanks for the self-sustainability lesson Miss Norton. I haven’t forgotten it.

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