Do you remember the days when you could do something like this?

This photo was taken in June 1960, so I had just turned eight years old then.  Look at those spindly legs.  If they were any thinner, they'd snap.  But that didn't stop Mr Fraser (my class teacher for the last two years I was at junior school) when I misbehaved (which was often!), calling me out in front of the whole class, making me bend over so I almost touched my toes, then, after he'd pulled up the back legs of my shorts as far as possible with one hand, smacking as much as he could of that now exposed tender bare flesh of mine with his other hand so hard, every time he did it I could barely hold back my tears as I limped back to my desk when it was over.  Didn't 'arf sting!

And in front of all the girls in the class as well.  We boys - and it was only us boys he smacked in this way - all made sure we were facing the class before bending over if we weren't wearing underpants that day!

There were no hard feelings from me, though.  Mr Fraser was a great teacher, well respected by everyone, and I liked him - all us kids did - despite his smacks, painful though they were.  It was being in his class for those last two years at 'Grange Council' that helped me more than anything to pass the 11+ and get into Cardiff High School.  I owe him a tremendous debt, as do the many other kids at Grange Council he taught over the years.

If you wish to see an enlargement of this particular picture, then please click on it.