HUNDREDS of teachers and thousands of pupils have passed through the doors of Merkinch School in the 31 years since Keith Mackenzie became janitor in 1968. Keith retired recently, due to his health, but he still enjoys many memories of the drama and fun of school life.
Originally from Hilton, Keith himself attended school at the Crown, where one of his masters was Mr Charles Macintosh, the first headmaster he worked for at Merkinch. He recalls standing at the school door with Mr Macintosh who kept a belt over his shoulder under the jacket of the dark green suit he invariably wore, in order to mete out instant punishment to latecomers. The only other two heads during his time at Merkinch were Mr Murdo Campbell, and the present incumbent, Mrs Sheena Morrison.
Keith’s appointment to Merkinch followed his apprenticeship as an engineer and a spell in the Water Board. But he knew something of the job, for his late brother Gordon had been janitor at Drummond School.
He also knew something of the school, for as an apprentice with Fraser McColl's he helped install the heating in the corrugated metal-roofed wooden “huts” that served as classrooms for a while. And he had learned to drive in Merkinch school playground...
Changes in conditions at the school are dramatic since those days: in the late '60s there were only outside toilets; floors were wooden boards instead of carpeted as they are now; and classes had around 40 pupils, who brought their own pieces with them instead of eating crisps and sweets.
One of the janitor's duties in those days was to summon the children by ringing the big outside bell, long since silent. Besides lateness, another regular misdemeanour that earned the belt was pinching pies and pastries.
The former militia barracks next door was Telford Bakery, run then by a Polish gentleman called Richard Bartniczek. Once baked the hot delectables were put outside to cool, and the delicious aroma was just too much temptation for some boys and girls.
“As the kids came through the yard they would help themselves,” says Keith, “and the headmaster would be waiting to catch them with their pockets full of pies.”
Life was not all fun and games for Keith, though. On one occasion in the early ’80s he had a close call when he interrupted two young men who were trying to jemmy their way into the dining hall. Suddenly he was hit in the shoulder by a bolt from a crossbow.
“Half an inch lower and it would have been my heart,” he says.
To add insult to injury, when the police arrived the police dog went for him as he slumped by the wall. Keith is still numb in his forearm and hand from that incident. On another occasion he was slashed by someone breaking in.
One of Keith's great delights was the school football. He can recall dozens of the young players and how well they played in their various positions - “Stuart Golabek and Ali Ridgers (who now play for Caley Thistle), Roddy Davidson, young George Rogers (a fantastic midfield player), Dougie Dyce at back would have stopped a bus, Garry Urquhart (son of Thistle goal stalwart Murdo)…” And so on, too numerous to mention here. “We had some fabulous teams in those days,” Keith recalls.
“Those days” also involved Keith cycling up to the education authority headquarters in Glenurquhart Road every day, hail or shine, with the dinner money and the outgoing mail and fetching back the incoming post. Except on one occasion when someone went off with the dinner money and hid it in the toilet... but that's another story.
One of Keith's regrets is the fate of the school Roll of Honour in the old gym hall naming school duxes and sports champions, all beautifully done in gold leaf, which was unceremoniously painted over in some refurbishment. “That was criminal,” says Keith.
Though he and his wife Jean - who is school secretary at St Joseph's - are looking forward to moving soon, he knows they will miss the children.