I left Badsey School over seventy years ago, and was very happy there. One particular day in 1955 sticks in my mind more than any other, and I doubt if any of the pupils or staff who witnessed what happened could have ever forgotten it either.
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Different Class
Keith Thomas raised a jackdaw chick,
And with the help of brother Mick,
He hand-reared it, fed it worms and such,
So it came to love him very much.When it fledged, it never flew away,
Bur next to Keith would always stay.
It treated him just like its mum,
When he called it, it would always come.A nicer bird you never saw,
A lovely pet, that tame jackdaw.
When he spoke to it, it answered back.
Always with the name of 'Jack'.The school holidays being at an end,
Keith went back to school and left his friend.
He shut him in the coal house, then,
When home he'd let him out again.Our classroom overlooked School Lane.
It was boring history, once again.
Then there was sniggering at the back,
At repeated calls of the name 'Jack'.Then there was a big 'to do',
As a black bird through the window flew,
And landed on young Keith's fair head.
A nature lesson now, instead!How it found the School, we never knew,
All the way from Horsebridge Avenue.
Girls screamed, boys began to cheer.
Teacher felt authority disappear.I think perhaps I ought to mention,
Jack loved having all that attention.
Missing our heads by just a fraction,
Encouraged by our loud reaction.He circled round a time or two,
On to a bar beneath the ceiling flew,
Resisting all attempts to get him down,
Our teacher wore a worried frown.Jack added to our teacher's stress
By dropping a white runny mess.
It didn't quite hit him, if it had,
He might have gone completely mad!The lesson was a complete ruin,
All attention lost since that bird flew in.
Then someone spoiled the fun, how absurd,
Shouting, ”Sir, that jackdaw's Keith's pet bird!”“Keith, call it down and take it out!”
We heard our harassed teacher shout,
Then Keith removed his pet and teacher's fears,
To lots of clapping and loud cheers.Desks cleaned up of feathers and lime,
Windows shut up just in time,
When tap tap tap with beak on pane,
Jack was trying to get back in again!There he stayed, right until the final bell.
“Look this way!” Mr. Hunt would yell,
But we completely lost all concentration,
Much to our teacher's agitation.When we all came out through the gate,
Jack dived down at such a rate,
Landing gently on his master's arm,
After all that chaos and alarm.Believe it, or believe it not,
Most history facts I soon forgot.
But that day I'll remember for evermore,
Thanks to that cheeky, tame jackdaw.
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Despite the fact that Keith Thomas only lived in Evesham, I hadn’t seen him for getting on for sixty years until we met in The Trumpet in Evesham a few years back. His brother,Mick, who still lives in Badsey, had given him a copy of the poem.
At school, Keith was always interested in nature and wildlife. We had a nature table in the classroom, and he was always bringing in all sorts of bits and pieces to display on it, some quite gruesome objects amongst them!
He told me that after he left school, he came across our former headmaster, Maurice Harvey, who said to him: ”Yes, Thomas, I remember you. And I also remember that bloody bird!"
Brian Smith, May 2025