Ghost Hunting

As you may know from earlier blog posts, I love ghosts and the thought of the spirit world being all around us. I am also a bit of a family history geek and love researching the past from a family perspective, not learning loads of dates and facts that history classes were famous for.

I had the perfect opportunity to explore both on Friday. A student we have on placement at the school spoke to me at lunch in the staffroom on Friday asking if we had historic records for pupils going back many years. We are an old Victorian school which opened its doors to the city in 1892 and are lucky to have all the original school documents, log books and registers going back to the opening day. Amazingly, over 560 boys registered for the school on it's opening day in 1892.

Anyways, back to the story .... She (the student) had been to visit a medium with her mum the night before and had been gobsmacked at the information that the medium had shared. A great deal of it was personal information that very few knew about and this made her a little freaked out! The medium then interrupted to say that a young boy was trying to pass a message and then started to give loads of details about my school and it's past etc etc.

This young lad was called Daniel whose surname started with a W, and he apparently loved school and loved being in our school when he was a pupil. He hated the huge, heavy wooden doors but was really happy there and remains in the school to this day. He apparently died at the age of 12. He follows the student around the school at the moment, looking after her, and was telling the medium about incidents that had happened during her placement.

She was a little worried about this now because the medium had come up with this boys name which made things a little too real for her.

I jumped at the chance to investigate and after school on Friday we started to look through the original registration documents for all the children. We came across one pupil called Daniel whose surname started with a W. He was born on the 19th of June 1894.

Then came my family history enthusiasm! I have been searching the online documents and census information to find the boy and have currently drawn a blank!!! I am so disappointed and if truth be known, a little jealous of the student. I know that sounds a bit weird, but I love the thought of the spirit world and would love to think that a child from the schools past, who loved school, was looking after me when I was in the building.

I have many more school records to trawl through on the hunt for Daniel as this register only goes as far as 1912. I'll let you know if I find him :o)

Whatever Next?????

Well, technical problems over, thought I had better touch base with the blog and bring myself up-to-date!

It hasn't been an easy couple of weeks - back to work for a start after two glorious weeks of sunshine and heat. My bloody office was 26.5 degrees last Monday! Now that wasn't the best start and I had a service manangers visit too! Lots of crap over the Easter Holidays and it all hit the fan when school started and we've been clearing up the pieces ever since.

The ongoing saga of my poor dad continues! He was supposed to be getting out of hospital 2 weeks ago but there was a further complication and he was straight back to the ward. He had an infection and was sent to the high dependency unit AGAIN and now ... after being in hospital for 9 weeks he has MRSA and is back in isolation! One good thing that has come of all this ..... my dad's side of the family have started talking again. There was a rift in the family and some of his sisters and brothers stopped talking to each other some time ago. This, and the sad death of his younger sister seem to have the 'clan' chatting again!

It hasn't been all gloom and doom though ....

I was visiting my Godson .. he is 7 years old now and a gorgeous, kind, loving wee star! I met him and his mum when I was doing a bit of shopping and he asked when I was coming to visit - we arranged a time and he had apparently been bugging his mum, "How many sleeps?" for the full week till I arrived hahaha I love that!! I only have 6 more sleeps till the next weekend :o) LMAO

I was invited to my previous school to see their musical performance of The Pied Piper of Hamlyn. For a group of primary school kids, their performance was excellent and very professional! The main cast members and singers kept the packed audience enthralled, I was sitting, foot tapping to the music and huge smile on my face at their performance - A huge pat on the back for them and the teachers involved. I was so proud of all the kids and still miss them all. It has almost been a year since I moved to my new post in another local authroity but you can't work in a school for nine years and not become attached to the pupils, teachers, staff and families - it was GREAT to meet them all again.

Right I am waffling a load of guff now and this has turned out to be a bit of a boring post so I shall stop! I may be back later today with more rantings of looney as I am supposed to be painting and decorating downstairs but really can't be bothered with it now that I have started!

The holidays are HERE!!!!

3pm ... school bell rings and the satff carpark was cleared before the kids had even left the building - that is how much we in the teaching profession regard our precious holiday time!

I know there will be comments about 13 weeks of holidays every year ... BUT ... those not in the know think we start work at 9am and finish at 3pm ... OH HOW I WISH this was the case. I am in my office most mornings before 8am and never usually leave before 6pm - except the last day of term when I disappear pretty damn quick.

2 weeks of peace and quiet - teaching has had a contraceptive effect on me ... I can hand them back at 3pm to their parents ..... but I certainly don't want to have them running about my house too .....



anyway ... I digress (again)

EASTER HOLIDAYS .... do you remember painting boiled eggs and rolling them down a grassy hill in the garden or local park??? Here's a wee funny (well, I found it funny anyway)