For adults who had actually encountered corporal punishment during their schooldays, the motivation could be rather different.
They already knew what it felt like.
What interested them was whether an adult recreation could bring back the atmosphere surrounding those distant experiences.
One contributor explained that his interest was less about curiosity than about revisiting old feelings and memories.
This introduces a fascinating feature of nostalgia.
We do not remember the past simply as a collection of facts. We remember sounds, smells, rooms, clothing, conversations and emotions.
A familiar smell can suddenly transport somebody back decades.
The same can happen with an old school desk, the echo of footsteps in a corridor or the appearance of an object remembered from childhood.
Several adults therefore discovered that what affected them most was not necessarily the physical experience at all.
It was the ceremony surrounding it.
Waiting.
Being spoken to formally.
Seeing an old-fashioned classroom.
Remembering how enormous authority figures once appeared when viewed through a child’s eyes.
Of course, an adult recreation can never truly duplicate childhood.
The most important difference is obvious: an adult participating voluntarily knows that he or she has chosen to be there.
That fundamentally changes the experience.
Nevertheless, memories can be remarkably powerful things.
For some participants, recreating the atmosphere of another era provided an unexpectedly vivid reminder of a Britain which has largely disappeared.
