Lesson 4: Nanny Greenteeth lives in the canal.
In the 1930s it did not matter where you lived, everyone walked to school.
Thankfully my daily hike to Buxworth School along the canal was made with my Auntie Emma, who lived with me and was also a teacher at the same school that I attended. After the passing of my mother, I lived in a house with my father, Uncle Law, Aunt Polly Pot, and Aunt Emma. It was not unusual for many different branches of the family to live in the same house together and I was glad of the warm female influences. In the evenings I would wait for my father to return from the cotton mills in Manchester, for dinner and to tuck me into bed. I suppose in a way, I was raised in a loving community rather than by two parents.
The biggest love of all in the house was Auntie Emma, who was put on this earth to be a teacher. She spent an extraordinary amount of time with me. She wore round spectacles that were gold tinted and on most mornings, she’d let me comb her hair until it was as shiny as silk. Some people have a natural way with children, a kindness and ease that makes them perfect for the teaching profession and my Aunt was that person. We played constantly. I adored her. So in fact did all of the children that came under her spell. When I saw her at school, I could barely believe how lucky I was that she lived with me.
Only years later did I learn of that sacrifice that she had made. As women of the time were expected to leave their profession upon marriage, she chose to concern herself only with her work. It saddens me that she could not have done both. She would have been a wonderful mother.
The only time she ever disappointed me came during the one year I was in her class.
“Sheila,” she told me as we walked towards the school on the first day. “I just want to tell you before we begin, I have a wooden class doll called Angelina. Each weekend, one child who has been very good during the week, gets to take Angelina home.”
“Will I get to take her home if I am good?” I had asked her.
“I think not,” Emma replied, much to my disappointment. “The other children know I am your Aunt, and that you live with me. I don’t want them to think that I play favourites.”
“But when will I get to play with Angelina?” I asked, struggling to hide my disappointment.
“You are my niece, and my favourite,” she added, “and you can play with her in the summer.”
That was the end of the matter.
Our walk along the canal each day was quite dangerous. Barges bringing cotton to the mills were dragged by large horses on the towpaths, and we had to make sure we steered well clear as they came lumbering down the canal with the barges being pulled in their wake. Being quite a willful young girl, I would often run ahead and as I did so, Aunt Emma would always yell from behind me,
“Remember Sheila.” She’d pause just long enough until I stopped in my tracks, and turned to face her.
“Nanny Greenteeth lives in the canal.”
Well, fancy that.
This always made me giggle because it sounded so silly, but Emma always liked to remind me of the story and I never forgot it.
“Don’t get too close to the canal edge” she would say almost every morning, “Nanny Greenteeth is always waiting to pull you in.” While I was pretty sure this Nanny Greenteeth was part of Aunt Emma’s delicious imagination, I could never be too sure. Just to be safe, I was careful not to venture too close to the edge, which of course was Aunt Emma’s clever plan all along. Sometimes though, many years later, I still find myself looking at the canal and wondering about old Nanny Greenteeth down there.
She hasn’t got me yet.
Good stories always stay with us like that don’t they, and the best teachers are always wonderful storytellers. Auntie Emma had that magical quality of being able to provide the world with a little more colour than maybe it really had. It was a wonderful quality, that reminds me of an ethos that I have always lived by. If we want to find a way to a child’s imagination, we sometimes first have to show them our own.
Lesson 5: A book is the best way to a good night’s sleep, March 17th
Lesson 4: Nanny Greenteeth lives in the canal
Sharing this with my special aunt <3
Reading these stories is such a fun way to begin a Friday morning! :)