Although the pigs had gone before I attended the High School (1973-77), I remember the peacocks clearly. They were the constant soundtrack to my very happy time at this school, and even now when I hear a peacock it always reminds me of being at Belvoir. Happy days.

I think the two girls are Denise Broad (who lived on Keel Drive) and Donna Taylor (who lived next door)?

I clearly remember (1960-1963) the pig stys and having the duty to feed them their hot swill and mucking them out. We took it in turns. One large pig was quite aggressive and used to bite the yard brush leaving teeth marks. Cleaning the pig sty out without getting bitten was difficult. The vet came to castrate the piglets and the bits removed were fed to the sow. One day we had to troop down to Taylors (the butcher near the Cross and Stocks) to see a large pig killed, scalded, shaved and bled before being butchered. I cannot remember if it was from the school or not. Later the joints were salted at the school and hung up in Mr Martin's classroom. We were given some salted bacon and it was very good. We kept hens in a deep litter building too and these had to be de-beaked with an electric device and then much later killed and plucked for Christmas. Frank - the caretaker/gardener looked after the peacocks which were in a large enclosure for some time before they were released. They made a lot of noise especially when they would not come down from the roof of the boiler house or the school roof. Mr "Spitfire" Martin used his "pursuader" quite often in our class. This was a large and heavy wooden sink cover which when swung energetically towards the buttocks of the naughty boy who was bending over a stool. It hurt. Frank was not allowed to let us use the large powered lawnmower but we did and on one occassion we could not stop it and it ran over a rose bed. I remember "Spitfire" Martin telling us that a weed is only a plant in the wrong place. Would school children today benefit from some these experiences?

Thank you for your detailed comments. We understand from Wendy Cross that her father, Frank Topps, was the caretaker/gardner at Belvoir High School at that time.