Leith Academy

In August of 1946 I began life at my new school decked out in the Leith Academy uniform of blue blazer and grey flannel short trousers. Teachers in those days relied upon the leather tawse (usually known as the belt) to keep good order and encourage hard work.

Mr Garrigan, our mathematics teacher, possessed two belts that he nicknamed ' Aunt Matilda' and 'Emily the Snake'. Emily had been cut away at one end to represent the forked tongue of a serpent and the leather had been painted to resemble a snake. When he called you out to receive your punishment, Mr Garrigan gave you a choice of belt. Unfortunately, he would invariably choose to use the one that you had rejected. However, choosing the one you would not want usually resulted in him going along with the choice. You could never beat him.

Standing before him, trying not to tremble too much, you saw Garrigan lashing at his desk with the selected belt. The whiplashing leather put the fear of death into you. You then had to stand supporting one hand with the other and watch in terror as the tongues of the belt lashed down across your fingers and palm. Even after all these years I wince at the memory of the intense burning pain as leather struck flesh; it was was excruciating.

Mr Bathgate was another corporal punishment enthusiast. A red faced individual with a mouth that earned him the nickname of `rubber lips', he was often the teacher in charge of the main school doorway as we entered first thing in the morning from the playground. All pupils of the first three years had to assemble in their class lines before entering the building in an orderly fashion.

These lines were controlled in the first instance by sixth year students. These seniors had the power to enforce punishment on miscreants by the imposition of `lines`: the writing out of a convoluted sentence a specific number of times in your neatest handwriting. If you failed to complete this tedious and pointless task by the following day, you were reported to the teacher in charge, Mr Bathgate. He would belt you until your palms were red and raw and demand that you complete the sentence as required.

If the senior considered that lines were not a sufficient punishment for your offence you would be withdrawn from the line-up and made to wait while your classmates entered the building. Then you would follow Mr Bathgate to his classroom where he would administer a sound belting.. This in turn meant you would be late for registration in your own class, which as often as not resulted in a further dose of the belt.