The Grande Dame of Macclesfield education, Beryl Footman, was thrilled to be part of Living History when she gave pupils a lecture on her own younger days.
Talking to a packed lecture theatre at The King's School, the much-loved and admired Miss Footman, now 93, told young historians of the uncanny similarities between her life as a World War Two evacuee and the COVID crisis of modern times.
Headmistress at Macclesfield High School for Girls from 1963 to 1979, before becoming the Principal of Macclesfield College up until her retirement in 1989, Beryl told her young audience: "There are so many similarities. There was a war in Europe, just as there is now, so I was evacuated from my home in Dagenham in East London to Suffolk. I was only there for four months, but when I came back there was no school for quite some time and we had to be educated at home, just as you had to suffer in the last couple of years.
"The difference, I suppose, is you younger people have everything thrust in your faces. We knew there was a war in Europe, but only heard about it if we went to the cinema and watched a newsreel. What you children must think today with the wall-to-wall coverage, I can only imagine."
Beryl who still lives in Macclesfield is 'thrilled' to be remembered so fondly by her former pupils. "They come up to me in town and talk over old times and tell me just what I was like and how much they respected me.
"And I reply, that's the secret to maintaining a good relationship between teacher and pupils - mutual respect. If the teacher respects the child and cares for the child, the child will respect you back in turn. It's essential and one of the things I looked first for when I was recruiting my teachers. That and, of course, enthusiasm and knowledge of their subject."
"Beryl added she believed the key relationship between a teacher and child is exactly the same today as it ever was, but the quality of the facilities is so much better now.
Talking in the new £60 million King's campus on Alderley Road, she said: "I would have loved to have had all these facilities. This building really is fit for purpose for the 21st Century. But you know, we just got on with it. We had some old prefab huts at Macclesfield High School, which weren't much good at all, but we didn't let the children know and we just knuckled down. However, I would not have liked all the form filling and box ticking headteachers have to do today. When we had an inspection, the inspector would just come and talk to you, but now every aspect of the school is monitored to the very last detail."
Beryl also told the children what she had told generations of children before them. "Always question authority. Never simply accept what you are told. I used to tell my girls; 'I always think I am right, and usually I am, but, of course, even I might not be right every time. So, you must question authority and not simply accept what you are told.'
"As we can see from Europe today and Putin's aggression. Remember you are privileged to live in a democracy. So always vote, never squander that right. People are dying for that right at this very moment."
Lianne Hughes, King's Head of History, said: "It was a real treat for both students and staff to hear Miss Footman's stories of World War Two. Though she shared her experiences of evacuation and the Blitz, she was keen to impress on the students’ lessons in resilience, positivity and finding moments of levity as often as you can, sharing her memories with great warmth and humour.
"From a Politics perspective, it was also interesting to hear her admiration for the coalition government through the war, who continued to develop plans for social care and urged us all to demand that government continues to, not only function, but function at a high standard, regardless of circumstances."