My form teacher, 11-14
Mr Matthews was an ex-prison officer, divorced without custody, and had a son the same age as us. He was a great mix of friendly funny, and diciplinarian when he need to. He used to take 5 selected boys on a 2 week trip to either Wales or Cornwall every summer holidays....... in his Ford Capri..... on his own!!
Yes I know what that sounds like these days!!! Dodgy old peado takes little boys on his own personal sex-abuse trip every summer!...... But it wasn't!!!

I realise now, that he was very careful who he selected, and considered the personality mix quite carefully. The result for us was that we had two weeks of wonderful holiday where we basically ran wild, and did whatever we fancied! The only rules were to not get arrested, don't destroy anything belonging to him or the house we were staying at, and not to kill or maim ourselves!

What did he get out of it? Well probably the only two weeks of holiday a year away from his home, and a chance I think to do the things he missed doing with his son?

I reckon it would be virtually impossible to do that now, which is a shame, but times change I guess. My parents didn't do much holidaying with me, and those few trips with Mr Matthews meant a lot to me, and I remember so much about them even now!

Cheers Mr Matthews!
(verynaughtyboy, Wed 23 Mar 2011, 15:36, Reply)