Listen to my memories

La Sagesse School

I was born in 1947, August. My brother was born in 1950, by which time my dad, as I say was a solicitor, was qualified and he became very successful, my father. My mum worked with him in the firm at the beginning. Then she had us and did mainly voluntary work after that. For various Jewish charities. She also became a magistrate and was a magistrate until the retiring age of magistrates which was seventy.

I went to La Sagesse School from the age of five right the way through till nearly nineteen. I adored it. At that stage, it wasn't that long after the war, you see, in 1952 I went to school. I would have probably been the only Jewish child in our local state school. And you know, there was an atmosphere of fear still and nerves, you know, which is why a lot of us went to private school even though the parents found it very tough. But they were that, they were very nervous. You know, after Nazi Germany and all the rest of it. So I went Las Sagesse, a cousin went to Church High, you know, went to various places.

I was very happy at school. I loved my school, my best friends at school were not Jewish but I also had good crowd of friends who were Jewish.

There used to be a kosher dining room, like a kosher canteen, next door to the Jesmond Synagogue where all the schoolgirls, schools around the area, we used to go down there at lunchtime. We used to get the bus down, have our lunch down there come back again because obviously school dinners weren't kosher.

Click to listen