A C Stewart School House 1934 – 1937
I remember that a cold bath, or rather a ‘dip’ was compulsory in the morning. Senior boys used to see how long they could stay in bed, and yet have a dip, dress and be down for roll call on time! I think the record was 8 minutes as they crowded in to the Common Room still tying their ties as the door closed.
I remember that we had a wonderful Geography Master called Mr Vasey who boasted that he never had a pupil who failed School Certificate in his subject. This was partly because he was a wonderful teacher, and partly because he had studied previous exam papers so carefully that, in the multiple choice questions, it was sufficient to study only two continents.
Another teacher was Mr English who taught French, and who terrified us all because if we made a mistake he would flick our ears!
On Sunday afternoons we would go for walks, and sometimes walked to the railway line (near Radlett) and place half penny pieces on the line in the hope that passing trains would flatten them out and turn them into pennies.
Our tuck boxes would contain our mother’s fruit cake, biscuits, tins of cocoa and any other goodies which we could persuade our parents to buy. The boxes and trunks would be sent “Luggage in Advance” by rail for two shillings and sixpence per item. On the station platforms in those days you could see braces of pheasants, and grouse, and hares, sent with just a label tied round their necks, but no packaging.