School Days
Schooldays
Margaret was a pupil at one of the primary schools in Barrhead and this photo shows her with her fellow classmates. Margaret is in the second row from the front, fifth from the right. We have some of her school jotters with her compositions marked with comments from her teacher. As you can see her handwriting was very fancy but neat, yet her teacher often criticised it for its untidiness. In this composition Margaret has given it the title "My Future" and talks of how she would like to be a postmistress when she grows up. It is very sad to think that she died of scarlet fever very soon after writing this piece.
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Transcript of 'My Future' by Margaret Gibson, age 10, written on 25th January 1932, one year before she died:
"In my future life I think it would be nice to be a post mistress. There are always lots of people coming in and out of a little seaside post office. You would be kept quite busy and would have many a chat. A postman would be trotting back and forwards and perhaps a telegram boy or an odd job boy. It would be lonely in winter, but what of that! A nice warm fire in the room behind will keep you company. I once heard a postmistress say that if she is busy she is happy. To make toffee is a good pastime or to sew or knit and many others. You could have a class for big girls at night when the work is done. Occasionally your sleep will be disturbed with a telegram coming which has to be delivered at once."
This is a press photograph of girls from Barrhead High School performing the Fan Dance during an interval in the Sports Day programme at Dunterlie Park, 1933. Jean Gibson, Margaret's elder sister, is 3rd from the left in the central group.
