Sunday School.

My atheist father and non-practicing, (at the time), Catholic mother believed that at some point we could make up our own minds about religion so didn't stop us from attending any religious ceremony should we wish to do so. The Catholic Church didn't have a Sunday School but I went to Mass regularly during my summers in Ireland so I was very familiar with it already. Curiosity made me try out every Sunday School in our smallish village, two Church of Scotland, one baptist and one 'happy clappy' for want of knowing its proper name. I became popular with the Sunday School leaders as I had a talent rote learning and would happily recite screeds of whatever scripture I was given, my singing voice on the other hand probably gave them nightmares but I knew every word of every hymn and belted them out with gusto.

One memorable Sunday I went home and shared the fact that I'd been 'Saved' that morning, no idea what it meant but I was a bit of a drama queen and quite enjoyed the fuss. My Dad gave me a lecture on critical thinking and not being afraid to stand away from the crowd. After that I got a bit bored with it all although I did miss the singing.

I remember that verse too Juliette you brought it all back to me, another one I remember Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, - happy days.

I went to Sunday school - fat lot of good it did me! I used to save half the collection money to buy a cream bun on the way back!

I think parents used to send their children to give them the privacy to make more children!

Every Sunday, as soon as the Billy Cotton Band Show began on the radio at 2 o'clock, we were packed off to the Methodist Church Sunday School. We were given 1d for the collection plate. I remember us sitting on little wooden chairs and singing hymns such as "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam' and "I Am H. A. P. P. Y.". I received several books for good attendance and one was Joseph and His Coat of Many Colours and another was Jesus by The Sea of Gallilee. They had very colourful stickers on the inside of the front cover with you name and the percentage of your attendance. Your attendance at Sunday School had a direct bearing on whether you'd be able to help carry the banner in the Whit Walks or not and, as it was the only time of year that we ever got new clothes, even us kids worked out that it was best just to suck it up. But the new clothes, from Sylvana, were never allowed to be worn except "for best".

Both my parents were regular churchgoers so my brother and I had no choice but to be there 3 times a day. Mum would put a casserole and rice pudding in the oven on a low light for us to come home to at lunchtime with a welcoming smell when we walked in. We lived at the seaside so after the afternoon Sunday school we went a walk on the prom in our Sunday best but were not allowed an ice cream on Sundays. It was a way of life which continued into my teens and I met my husband at the youth club.

Chewbacca, I went to Sylvana once with my friend and her parents. Where was yours? The one we went to was in an old mill in Oldham.

The one we went to, back in the 1950s, was in an old Mill in Ancoats, Manchester. About 4 floors of clothing, accessed by a terrifyingly rickety lift that frightened the bejaysus out of a 6 year old!

Another lapsed Methodist here
I am HAPPY
I am HAPPY
I know I am i'm sure I am
I am HAPPY

I am SAVED etc.
etc
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam
??To shine for him all day??

Hear the pennies dropping
watch them as they fall
Every one for Jesus
?He shall have them all??

Now Zachius was a very little man
and a very little man was he.
He climbed to the top of a sycamore tree
Our Saviour for to see.

These early learnt Sunday school Chorus's really stay in your mind.
Juliette That is what I though the words were. There must be more.
I wonder if the chorus's were generally Non Comformist or mainly Methodist things .

The Methodist Chapels I spent my childhood in were not that rigid. My father was the chapel steward for years doing the collections .
No one did hymns like Charles Wesley. Every one a really good sing along . Far more interesting and lively than most of the C of E ones I have heard.
Brass bands often warm up to Hymns and there is an expression about playing the hymns at "Chapel Speed" which is often faster than what to me appears to be rather dirge like C of E renditions.

Please add any more chorus's if you know any .

Was this the rest of the verse Nelliemoser?

^And when the Saviour passed that way
He looked into the tree
And said, "Now, Zacchaeus, you come down
For I'm coming to your house for tea"^

You're right, those little hymns stay in the memory for a lifetime.

Chewbacca, maybe I`m wrong, because that sounds just like the old mill we went to, complete with rickety old lift, so maybe it was Ancoats, not Oldham.

No playing out for us on Sundays! We went to church in the morning, came home for dinner and then my brother and I walked to Sunday school. I didn't realise until my adult years that this must have been so that parents could have the house to themselves and get jiggy. Sunday school proved good for me because there was a Sunday school teacher who realised I had a good singing voice and worked with me to learn songs to sing in church as solos. I think it was due to her that I began to have confidence in singing and this has been very important to me for all of my life.

My Dad was a chapel steward too Nellie. He also did the chapel newsletter and the plan. My Mother was the Sacrament steward for years too. They were happy childhood years!

"Only a boy called David,
Only a rippling brook,
Only a boy called David
Five little stones he took".

One little stone went in the sling,
And the sling went round and round,
One little stone went in the sling
And the sling went round and round.

Round and round,
Round and round
Round and round and round.

One little stone went up up up,
And the giant came tumbling down.

We all went to the village Methodist chapel, I thought to get us out of the way for a bit of peace! I liked the singing and the colouring pictures. We all stopped going when there was a big scandal about about one of the men and an affair with somebody's mother! My Mother was from Northern Ireland and I think it confirmed her belief that religion was evil having witnessed the Protestant/Catholic hatred in her youth.

My father believed we should make our own minds up but we needed to experience it first. He bought me a bible when I was 11. I still have it, falling to pieces and full of scribbled criticisms! Yes I am a very well informed non believer!

HildaJ That has rung some bells.

Oh my, brought back memories. We had to attend church twice on Sunday's as well as Sunday school. Hated it. All dressed up in Sunday best. Shows how much it did for me anyway. Like some others, I used to cream off a percentage of the money I'd been given for collection. I earned that money!! Just hated church and ss. When they open the book of reckoning upon my arrival at the Pearly Gates my section will be the length of a War and a Peace ???