PUPILS at New Marston Primary School in Oxford took it in turns to do odd jobs around the classroom.

Eamonn Woodley, who was at the school in Copse Lane from 1958 to 1964, remembers the days of the milk and ink monitors.

In a booklet of his memories at the school, he writes: “Each desk was fitted with an ink well and these were filled by the ink monitor from a large bottle stored in the classroom cupboard.

“Almost everyone used a fountain pen for their best work. The pens would be refilled from the ink well, often a messy process.

“The milk monitor helped make sure everyone got their third of a pint of milk at break time – a job that had a bonus.

“The monitor was the first to partake of any seconds. Often on hot summer days, when the milk was likely to curdle, there would instead be a delivery of bottles of orange squash – lovely!”

Mr Woodley, who lives near Princes Risborough, recalls: “The duties undertaken by older pupils were often on a rota system.

“They involved various tasks such as collecting the mail from the postbox at the gate and delivering it to the secretary, pencil sharpening and blackboard cleaning.”

One end-of-school-year ritual, in the last week of the summer term, was the removal of desks into the school yard for cleaning.

“We would be given scrapers to clean the chewing gum and other unmentionables from the underside of the desks. With the aid of scrubbing brushes and detergent, the pine desks would be cleaned of the year’s ink and grime.

“Sometimes, our parents were asked to provide dusters and polish to finish the desks. I well remember the smell of furniture polish.

“The teacher would instruct us to clean the desk as we would like to find the one we would be using next year.

“The most poignant desk-cleaning operation was when we were in our last year – we all knew we could soon be moving on.”

More of Mr Woodley’s memories soon.