Orkney Image Library

Larry has contacted me to add Mary Watt in the back row, and surnames for Patricia Work, William Coghill and William Cardno.

that photo takes me too far back, reminds me of drawing the alphabet with my finger on a lid of a biscuit tin in sand.after she had checked it you gave it a shake and moved on to the next letter.

When I went to skool we lernt to rite with a bit of stone on a flat piece of stone. Than goodness for word processors now.

We would like to know if James Gibson had a relative who left the Orkney Isls in December 1929 to live in Australia. We would love any information.
Regards,

Ha ha my Dad you looks so happy

My sister, Elaine, in the back row eigth from the left. A retired teacher now living in Aberdeenshire. She recently lost her husband Davie Baxter.
Front row second from the right is our neighbour Magnus Shearer.

Hello. I'm currently on a path of redemption and reparation. Mrs Marion Kemp was my Maths teacher at Broomfield School, Leigh Park, Havant, Hants. from approx. 1979-83. I was a bit of a tearaway, i.e. a major disruptor of the class, but Mrs. Kemp, who studied Latin as well as Maths, obviously saw potential in me. My mates et al, found algebra, etc., as totally useless for their future lives while I said at the time, I don't think its anything to learn for future use, it's a test of your brain's ability to work complex stuff out. Needless to say, I was the only one who held this view. To this day (I'm now 58 yrs old) I very often quote one of many admonishments to the class disruptors which always started with my name e.g."Steven, Gary, Joseph, Lee!" or "Steven, Darren, Gary, Lee"; etc. Amongst many other 'mental health' problems I have, two are ADHD and autism, which makes so much sense now. Mrs. Kemp advised me and one other boy that, despite our possible ability to take the 'O' level, we'd best concentrate on the CSE. Your parents/guardian had to pay in those days to take an 'O' level if not directly eligible, as you no doubt remember, and my family were not what you could call 'flush'. Anyway, to my point, I would dearly like to know if the girl in the picture is my maths teacher from school, who put up with my punk rock behaviour coz she was, obviously, a kind person. I remember being the only person in the class who knew what 'Anno Domini' meant, which impressed Mrs Kemp. Sorry, back to my point, being diagnosed in my 50's as autistic, along with many other previously diagnosed 'mental health' problems which are still prevalent and life-long, I have often thought of my maths teacher, Mrs Marion Kemp (could be Marian) and would dearly like to know if she is still 'Alive and Kicking', as Simple Minds sang. Many apologies if this is not relevant to this site, but I often wonder if she is okay/alive/healthy, etc., as she had a huge influence on me which I didn't realise at the time e.g. D-E for effort on school report; A-B for ability; etc. Plus something along the lines of: "Steve makes up for his disruptive behaviour by way of his innate ability to charm his way out of rule-breaking situations". If it is the Marion Kemp who taught maths in, at the time, one of the largest, if not THE, largest council estate in Europe, with all the poverty and violence one can imagine in such an area, I would dearly like to know if she is still, hopefully, with us, if not for anything else than closure for myself and my multi-faceted brain! Hope I haven't wasted your time. I'm not sure if this is relevant to this site but I do hope that my info may be of some kind of value to this site. Thank you. Steve Stone, formerly Steven Stanley. Thanks.

Sorry can't help but will ask around as there is still a lot of us about.

Yes, Steve, I am still around and back in Orkney.