I was born on 8th April 1917 during the First World War, my father was away with the Allenby’s Army fighting the Turks in the Middle East. I entered Aldenham in the Christmas term of 1930 and left after the Lent term of 1935. Previous to that I had been to a Pre-Prep School in Mill Hill which involved at the age of 8 or 9 walking to a place called Kelly’s Corner which meant going under the Viaduct at the Northern tube line going to Mill Hill East which is now a large roundabout and taking a bus from there going up the Mill Hill Ridgeway and going down the other side.
During the General Strike my father took me on his bicycle to the Secretary’s Corner and I walked. I always managed to get a lift so in fact I arrived at school in better time than I did when there was no strike. After that I went to a Preparatory School in Whetstone, travelling there by tram, particularly useful in the thick fogs we used to get as it was the only means of travel. In the summer I would cycle using the side streets as there was no 30 mph speed limit in those days.
Aldenham at that time was relatively small, about 245-50 boys in 4 houses, Gilbert’s, with Allsop’s next door, and Paull’s and School House. The 3 other houses had about 45 boys each and School House 90 divided into Odds and Evens. There were also 6 Day boys which was laid out in the constitution of the school. Gilbert’s House had 3 dormitories each with 15 beds in and a bathroom with 3 baths, behind which was a duck board with toilet facilities. Down the middle of the bedroom dormitory was a wooden bench thing with 15 white china basins with 15 china cups for cleaning teeth and somewhere to put the soap. At each end there were cupboards to put clothes.
On the ground floor there were 2 common rooms, a Lower for boys up to the 4th form and an Upper for 5th and 6th form boys including the prefects. No studies in those days. The room consisted of 5 tables with bench seats each side, a row of cupboards at one end which had your personal effects (additional food, whatever). Along one wall were bookshelves where school books were kept. At the middle at the back was a fireplace which was the only means of heating – one tended to get very hot in front of the fire and rather cold elsewhere. In the Upper classroom there were 3 tables with benches beside, one for 5th and 6th formers and one for 6th and Prefects. In both rooms there were radios so that you could listen to, for example, the tennis with Fred Perry winning and Henry Hall with his band. There was also a small room (which I believe is still there) for quiet study or reading and also if you needed where the sub-matron could give you codliver oil and water extract or other such medication. The changing rooms are the same as today with wash handbasins, the lower one had showers and at the bottom end were a load of cubyholes which could be opened from the back by the person who cleaned them, where shoes could be kept. Normally you used slippers in the house. The toilets were outside, open to the elements which meant that often the water froze up in the winter time even though the pipes were lagged. They also tended to be only cleaned when there were visitors going round the house!
The routine day was as follows:-
Getting up at 7 O’Clock with bell ringing and usually by the assistance of the Housemaster (Mr Gilbert, an OA himself who had gone on to Cambridge for 3 years and then returned to the School). The Matron was Miss Swanson who had also been there a very long time and when she retired in about 1934 he married her as they went into retirement.
Having got up at 7 every boy had to have a dip in a cold bath. Usually the Prefect of the dormitory went in last and the water was somewhat warmer than the first lot.
The windows were always left open in the dormitories and you were not allowed to close them unless it snowed on you. I can remember one occasion when this happened.
After getting dressed we went to prayers in the old chapel, back for breakfast which consisted usually of porridge, a rasher of bacon and fried bread with butter or marmalade. If it was pouring with rain we had prayers in the houses.
Then off to school taking your PE kit with you. At about 11 O’Clock when the bell rang you changed into your PE stuff and did PE for about 15 minutes, and then changed back again.
The Tuck Shop consisted of a green shack at the top end of the cricket field near the quadrangle. There was no 6th Form Common Room or Shop then. Afterwards back to school and then stop for lunch at about 1 pm which was quite good really. The dining room which was down the passage consisted of two long tables, with benches and you moved up and down each day, moving up to the top and starting at the bottom again. The top table had chairs for the housemaster and the prefects etc. You were waited on by maids (we called them skivvies) serving you from the top downwards – by the time that the bottom one had been served they would come round again with second helpings.
Then it was off to school or to pray. In the wintertime it was house games on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 2 – 4.30 pm followed by school afterwards. In the summer it was school first then house games until teatime. For teatime it was rather a full meal with bread, butter and jam or you could ask for boiled eggs, additional butter and jam. Prep was 7 – 8.30 pm, followed by a cup of cocoa, prayers in all the houses standing by all the tables with all meeting in the Lower common room and then the junior boys went to bed. There were hot baths about once a week. The hand basins and tooth mugs were filled with hot water and everybody washed in them, but I must say that because the windows were opened throughout the year, often the basins were frozen in the morning. One often had to put ones clothes on top of the bed for additional covering, although we did wear very thick pyjamas. Talking of clothing, this consisted of a black coat and waistcoat, striped trousers, white shirt with a detached stiff collar and black tie and shoes. The school prefects were allowed to wear grey trousers. There were three buttons on a coat and juniors had to have all three buttons done up, no hands in pockets when you walked. As you progressed up the school these rules were relaxed and finally as a prefect you were allowed to have your coat open and could put your hands in your pockets.
On Fridays it was Officer Corps Day and you had to dress in your uniform, including putties (like a bandage on your legs) before going to morning prayer and chapel. At about 12 O’Clock after lessons you then assembled for drilling session after lunch, followed by various other activities including training in the martial arts during the afternoon.
Sunday, we got up a little bit later but there were classes in the lower classrooms at the bottom of the school beyond the school house changing rooms. These were mainly bible studies – I remember particularly Mr Allsop’s bible study when he got us to learn the 120th and 121st Psalm, parts of which I can still remember, before going into Chapel. After Chapel we went to lunch. If you were on an Exeat you could leave after Chapel (allowed 3 times a term), to be back for Chapel at 6.30 pm that evening. There was no exception to that rule unless special permission be given. I did come back late once because I was with a friend whose car wouldn’t start but fortunately they went straight to the headmaster and explained that it wasn’t my fault but theirs. The evening was fairly free.
Once the junior boys had gone to bed, the senior boys all from the same dormitory would be able to play games or have additional food which might consist of Libby’s peaches or apricots with Kellogg’s cornflakes topped with a good wollop of Libby’s condensed milk – really gooey and gorgeous mass for hungry boys.
As far as the buildings were concerned, the Library and the Armoury were there with tin shacks beyond which held the batton and some rather odd things and beyond that were the Science lab, the Fives courts, with the rifle range beyond the swimming pools behind the Armoury. The swimming pools, owing to a problem with the water supply to Letchmore Village, were only filled once a year so that towards the end of the season they became rather green and not very clear. Swimming was done not only in each house but as an activity. My form went in each day, no matter what the weather was which resulted in my getting varicose veins in my throat and nose which had to be cauterised which may have decreased my enthusiasm for swimming!
Sport consisted of the usual Football, Hockey and Athletics. In the summer there was Cricket, Swimming and Tennis and there was Estate Work for those of us who were not particularly good at games. We levelled the long jump beside the main football grounds. Beyond that there were two football pitches with an extremely steep slope. With a mixture of sandy and clay ground this was a mammoth task and there was a railroad set up with four points for the digging. If you were able to get there early enough the first 8 people were able to run the trucks and I and another fellow called Cantelow managed to do this. It meant getting out of lunch as soon as possible, changing quickly and then dashing down to the ground. The clay and earth was dug out and put onto trucks which we would pull down using a rod of 2”-3” in diameter jammed against the wheels as a break. If it came off the rails the paid workers were not amused. This operation was repeated.
In those days there was no cross country running. Normally if you didn’t play sports you could go for a run on your own and people used to go in all sorts of directions. I often went to the railway line running between Borehamwood and Radlett and as late as possible tore back. Others who weren’t so energetic, didn’t. When Riding came after Beck he said “I don’t want my boys walking through the fields in running clothes with their hands in their pockets.” One then had to go for a defined run which really meant running around Aldenham Reservoir, about 4 miles, which you could do in about half an hour. Then you could do what you liked for the rest of the time. There was no inter-house cross country running because a boy had died some years before I went there. It was then decided to reinstate this and each boy had medical tests and we had the run and I’m glad to say that McGill’s won and I have a photograph showing the team including myself winning this cup after it had restarted.
For the OTC we had a band consisting of a big drummer wearing a leopard skin, white gloves etc. followed by 4 kettle drummers then the bugles. At the front was the man with the stave, usually a tall boy who could throw and catch it as required. Eventually as I got taller I graduated into becoming the big drummer. At Armistice Day services we used to have to line-up in the quadrangle and play the Last Post and then we would march to Aldenham Church with the band. Fortunately I didn’t have to carry the big drum all the way as I used to pass it back to one of the kettle drummers. Then we would march back. We also used to do other route marches, sometimes we had exercises in the park or the woods around. It was possible to take an exam to become an NCO.
School life was rather rigorous but I am glad that I went there and it was a valuable time in my life which stood me in good stead in later life. Unfortunately academically I did not do very well – I had had scarlet fever 6 weeks before taking my School Certificate so I didn’t get the credits I required. I went on for a bit but then decided to leave and went onto another school where there was a 6th Form where I got the necessary grades, took my pre-medical and went to the Royal Medical Hospital where I studied my dental course and was qualified in 1942. I practised for 50 years which was something I had always wanted to do.