When Gervase Marson first started teaching at Gilbert Institute 54 years ago, Bermuda was a very different world than it is today.

The cedar trees had just died off, his house had no running water, and racism was a way of life.

The Royal Gazette spoke with Mr. Marson recently in honour of the Paget school's 75th anniversary.

Mr. Marson, now 88-years-old, was a teacher at the school until the 1960s when he became principal. After a number of years he then went back to school to get a Masters degree and then joined the Ministry of Education. His daughter-in-law Marlene Jantzen now teaches at the school, carrying on the tradition.

"I arrived in early September 1954 and I have never forgotten my first walk across the playing field to the school," said Mr. Marson. "The grass was coarse and dried up in contrast to the soft green grass I had left in Staffordshire, England, and there were crabs everywhere.

"As we arrived at the school they were scuttling from the path in front of us and even appeared to be waiting at the door to go in."

He said the children in school would frequently pick up crabs in the classroom and take them back outside. Outside, the students also took great delight in evicting crabs by putting a straw down the crab hole.

Mr. Marson and his wife Ricky decided to move to Bermuda after several wet summers in England after the war. After serving as a paratrooper during the Second World War, Mr. Marson returned to England to teach in his home village.

The couple like to camp, but after one particularly disastrous camping trip when the stream they were sleeping by suddenly became a river in the night, they decided to look for some place warmer to live.

After replying to a number of ads it came down to Alberta, Canada or Bermuda, and they chose Bermuda.

"I knew nothing about Bermuda," said Mr. Marson. "In fact, before I arrived I imagined my school as a grass and palm thatch hut among the coconut palms on the seashore. I was a little disappointed to find what looked like a quaint stone built cottage in a large garden.

"The school had been designed by the late architect Wilfred Onions and was intended to look like a Bermuda cottage. It had whitewashed walls inside and out and had dark green push out blinds.

"The first and previous head, Marianne Porter Smith was a great gardener and the children, virtually all Portuguese, had created a beautiful collection of shrubs, trees and flowers.

"At this time the dead cedars had mostly been removed and fresh plantings of Casurina, ebony, pride of India, Poinciana and other exotics had just been planted."

Unfortunately, the Marson's early years in Bermuda were a bit of a struggle due to low teachers' salaries.

"I was earning £11a week in England and here I was earning £16 a week," said Mr. Marson. "When I was in England, this seemed a good increase.

"But they warned us that my wife would have to work in order to make ends meet. When we arrived our rent alone was £30 a month."

The Marsons moved to a rural area in Paget in the location of what is now Riviera Estate. At the time there was just one other family, the Darrells, and their cottage had no furniture, running water or electricity.

"It was basically, just four walls," said Mr. Marson.

To make ends meet Mrs. Marson got a job as a bank teller, and Mr. Marson worked on weekends in the Bermuda Bookstore, and also tutored and did some football refereeing, among other things. The couple also took to selling homegrown vegetables to bring in a little extra money.

"It is not often appreciated what an experience it is to burn your bridges and set off for a new country with a different culture and values," said Mr. Marson. "Our first day in our new home, my wife ordered the groceries from the most expensive place in town.

"They delivered them which turned out to be 10 percent extra. My wife broke down and cried when she saw the bill.

"She said 'there was no way we could survive here'. Eventually, we found the cheapest store in town and bought Saturday night bargains from Everybody's Market on Front Street.

"This included picked over fruits and vegetables, dented tins and so forth."

At Gilbert, Mr. Marson taught two different grades in the same room.

"This required a lot of homework and planning on my part as I always had to have work prepared for one class while I was teaching the other half," said Mr. Marson.

At Gilbert, all the children took part in gardening lessons, growing flowers, vegetables and shrubs.

"As I understood it the school was to accommodate the pupils from the Dudley Hill School, from the government and pupil fees," said Mr. Marson. "It was a vested school.

"The school had been founded to teach Portuguese students who could not gain admission to the other white schools and whose parents were not happy about sending their children to the black schools.

"In those days children did not have to start school until they were seven years old and could leave when they were 13 although most did start at five years old and left after 14 or went on to a secondary school, usually Dellwood," said Mr. Marson.

The school had been built for 90 pupils but in 1954 contained 120 students.

"And the numbers were increasing all the time," said Mr. Marson. "The school buildings were just the old block on the school grounds on the right as you enter.

"There was some room with a folding divider for assemblies and comprised infants one and two and there were three other rooms."

The traditional grey school uniform was just being introduced when Mr. Marson arrived.

For the Marsons coming to Bermuda also marked their first experiences with racism.

"Many of the school's problems were tied up with racial attitudes of the time," said Mr. Marson. "When I arrived in 1954 I don't think I had any ideas or feelings on this issue as I had never been in contact with blacks in England.

"I suppose the first time I became aware of the underlying tensions between the races was at the time of the Bermuda Hotel fire.

"I was in the Par La Ville Park watching it at night along with hundreds of other people and I remember being disturbed and a little frightened to hear black youths laughing and saying they would burn down all the other white establishments. As far as I know, arson was not the cause of that fire."

Racism was also obvious when it came to teachers' salaries. "Salaries were insufficient for us to live on without having other sources of income and I suppose many of us frequently complained to people who could have some influence," said Mr. Marson. "My wife was asked to keep a record of our expenditures for six months and she recorded every penny. This was done on behalf of the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Education who said he was going to try to do something about it.

"It was agreed by many authorities that the salaries were insufficient but the authorities said they would have to raise all salaries and blacks did not warrant any higher salaries.

"I was not at all surprised when a move to raise salaries in parliament was defeated and that the people who had agreed with me on the need for much higher salaries also voted against the motion."

Mr. Marson did 10 years at Gilbert Institute as a principal. Then he went abroad to get a masters degree. When he returned he was told that the school would be closing soon, so he went to work for the Department of Education.

Gilbert Institute did not close. This year it celebrated its 75th anniversary. There were a number of celebratory events including a reunion for all former students, teachers and friend's of the school. There will be a fun fair on June 21 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. It will include majorettes, Gombeys, clowns, fun castles, and games.