TULSE HILL SCHOOL Website

From Andrew Hirschhorn (or I may have been Wolfeld at that time -more of life's unexpected tricks)

I have only just discovered the website etc. I was spectacularly unfocussed and academically unsuccessful at Tulse Hill from 57-63, in Dickens House, and although I don't have an encyclopedic memory I do remember Mr Lovelace (sic), an inspirational English teacher Mr Welch (?), school plays -one of my mates was Ken Cranham, and I am still in touch with Duncan Longstaff and Dave Barr, both of whom were in the same year. My younger brothers Jan, Steve and David also attended the school .

After a v varied career which involved 9 years at university, (where I went as a mature student on the recommendation of Martin Goffe, another old boy who when last heard of was a head Teacher), journalism, teaching, electronic engineering and writing, I've ended up as Head of Screenwriting at The Northern Film School in Leeds......which just goes to show that life rarely progresses in the direction one expects.....

Anyway, I am v busy at the moment (my first feature screenplay has been optioned, and I have a v tight deadline to meet) but having just been alerted to your website by a note in Christmas card I felt I had to break off from boring re-writes to (superficially) explore history !

From Roger Buckler

Hello Lads,
Been meaning to send my memories of T.H.S. and Wren House pics circa 1959 of the old school for ages.

I started as a second year pupil on the very first day of T.H.S., which opened September 1956, having come from Santley Street School for Boys where most of the teachers were only concerned with keeping the boys in order by dishing out really vicious canings rather than any form of education. To some extent I can understand the teachers attitude as there were daily fights in the playground and classrooms were always a riot. Mr Lovelace was the headmaster who later became deputy head of T.H.S. (I had a lot of respect for old Froggy Lovelace.)

So you can Imagine my first day at T.H.S. was like arriving in paradise.

I think my first form was 2T6. And I remember going to a classroom on the first floor which was technical drawing which I enjoyed. The teacher was a tall elderly man with white hair who was always very elegantly dressed in grey or navy suits. (He stopped the class one day and pointing at me as I was sucking on a pencil, he said "you boy, the previous pupil had that pencil up his nose") I have never sucked a pencil since.

My parents like many others were working class and had to purchase the full school uniform (the badge was part of the jacket) so you could not purchase a cheap blazer, this also included P.E. kit, football kit, all in house colours, plus workshop overalls and many more items our poor mums and dads had to pay for.

There were only two school outfitters locally where you could purchase all the above items for 2000 boys. The c.o.o.p. in Norwood Road or the headmaster of T.H.S. a Mr Thomas who had a son, who owned a school outfitters in Herne Hill Road opposite Brockwell park .

We all admired Mr Thomas' brand new British racing green Jaguar. Only wealthy people had that in 1956!

THINGS I REMEMBER.

Nobby Clarks the newsagent in Elm Park Road, where you bought a fag for twopence or a frozen Jubbly.
The fish and chip shop in Upper Tulse Hill Road. We would spend our dinner money stuffing chips in a hollow bread roll and smoking a 2p fag.

There were also the delights of Dick Shepperd School and Brockwell Park.

Unlike Santley Street, our canings seemed to be more justified and were generally more accepted as a just punishment for the offence.

Mr Skipper was the head of P.E. and if you were caught wearing underpants under your gym shorts he would give you six whacks across the backside with a slipper...... we never understood the reason for this???

Mr Hann was our house master. A totally pompous man. He used to park his Hillman Minx car at school, having travelled with a pupil sitting in the passenger seat, Mr Hann would then park the car then wait for this poor embarrassed boy to get out of the car to come round and open the drivers door for him. (where is that boy now?) Perhaps our Mayor!

The workshops were excellent and to this very day I use the knowledge learnt then for my D.I.Y at my home.

We all looked forward to the weekly trip on London red buses to playing fields at Ewell for football but the highlight was when we returned to the parked waiting buses. We would all go upstairs to rock the bus to try and make it fall over.

Disputes were generally sorted out behind the bike shed after school, where the teachers left you alone.

For some reason?? my modern language course was German. The teacher was a very nice man (wearing glasses with a moustache, front row of Wren House pic) to this day I only know two words of German. However this resulted in me going on a school journey in April 1959 to a village on the Rhine called Boppard. At the age of 15 this was the most beautiful place I have ever been and I resolved to return one day. This I did in 2006 for our 40Th wedding anniversary. It is still a beautiful place.

It is so long ago and the only names I can remember are: Brooker, goalkeeper Wren House (his dad owned a greengrocers in Mitcham).
Peter Newman from Clapham, his dad was a docker,(Millwall docks) John Steadman, lived in block of flats on Brixton Hill, on the left just before Town Hall. Peter Brown, lived up side road halfway up Brixton Hill. Also Sammy Macdonald, a lovely West Indian boy who I believe was a South London Schoolboy Boxing Champion, a really nice guy. Dr Wolf, head of music (he had a huge american car) and Mr Moon his assistant, a great character. There was also quite a few lads from the Jewish orphanage in West Norwood, child victims of the second world war. (I was invited a couple of times to tea there by the lads and made very welcome) Although at the time I did not fully appreciate their circumstances.

Finally I would like to say the concept of Tulse Hill School was brilliant and was good for me.

Roger attended THS 1956-1959 (Wren House)

Roger sent in a great house photo of Wren House from 1957

From Peter Beckwith

LOWER HALL 1956

When the School first opened there were Eight Walls evenly spaced along the length of the Lower Hall. Each Wall was painted a 'House' colour, and Coat-hooks were attached to the Walls. Duffle Coats were all the rage in those days and many were reported missing from their pegs at the end of the school day. Eventually Duffle Coats were banned from School.At Morning Break, milk crates containing 1/3 pint bottles of Silver Top were stacked by these walls, and milk monitors would supervise distribution.The walls were eventually demolished after one collapsed, reportedly causing a fatality.

ARTHUR CLARK’S 1957

A popular sweet shop at Elm Park, at the top of Leander Road. Single cigarettes were sold to the kids if they fancied a smoke.Penny and Tupp'ny drinks were made-up in old sauce bottles. We'd get money back if we returned the empties. Arthur Clark’s pioneered the 'Frozen Jubbly'. Outside the shop was a YZ chewing-gum machine, which would deliver TWO packets of gum every fourth penny or, 'When arrow on handle points forward'. We would always examine this handle when passing-by.Happy days!!

YOU BOY...Where's Your Cap? 1957

It seemed that the most important School Rule was to WEAR YOUR SCHOOL CAP. Headmaster Mr.Thomas would sometimes cruise the local streets at lunchtime in his car, in order to catch boys who didn't obey.

DIXON OF DOCK GREEN. 1957

I remember the School being visited in the late 1950s by Author and Playwright Ted Willis. Ted Willis wrote the Screenplay for the Film 'The Blue Lamp' which introduced PC GEORGE DIXON OF DOCK GREEN, played in the Film, and later on TV by Actor Jack Warner. After listening to a long lecture on 'Becoming a successful Writer', Ted Willis (later Lord Willis) asked the Hall if anyone had any Questions. There was an extremely long silence before one boy raised his hand to ask.....'On telly, is it REALLY Jack Warner whistling that tune? Everyone fell about laughing!

Schoolmasters I remember from the late 1950s:

Mr.Tucker (English), Mr. McAbe (English), Mr.Todd (R.E), Mr.Loveless (Dep.Head), Mr. Hann, Mr.J.C.Davis (Physics), Mr.Rivers (Biology), Mr.G.W.Davies (P.E), Mr. Nyham, Mr.Atherfold, Mr. Corney (Latin), Mr.A.J.Hall (Temple Housemaster), Mr.Cromwell (Maths), Dr.Drummond Wolfe(Music), Mr.Moon(Music), Mr. Thorne (Drama), Mr. Harris (Woodwork), Mr.Shelley (Head of Lower School), Mr. G.K.Greene (Head of Upper School), Mr. Tricker (P.E), Mr. C.Thomas (Headmaster).

Andrew Jackson - Tulse Hill memories 1957 - 1962

I attended Tulse Hill School from September 1957 until July 1962. The school had opened the previous year and was the second of the new large comprehensive schools built by the London County Council that were comprehensive in their system of education and large to cater for the post-war bulge in the birth-rate that occurred in 1946 and onwards. The first was a new girls comprehensive at Kidbrook, near Eltham.

Although I lived some distance away at the border of Streatham and Norbury, and probably technically outside of the catchment area for the school (I can't recall anyone living further out in that direction than me), my parents were determined that this was the form of education that they wanted for me. As I hadn't done well enough in the 11 plus exam to make grammar school, Tulse Hill's new comprehensive schooling was thought to offer much more than the Secondary Modern alternatives. At that time they were probably right.

My mother went to a pre-school meeting when things like the house you were to belong to were decided. I remember clearly saying that I didn't care what house I went in so long as it was a nice colour. She thought that Brunel, being an engineer, would be good for me, and didn't appreciate the indignity for an 11 year old of wearing pink.

On the first day, new entrants arrived later in the morning than normal starting time and we all assembled in the Great Hall for allocation to forms. (the public school word "form" was used, not "class" which reflected the headmaster's aspirations for the school). We all had brand new uniforms and the less worldly parents had stuck rigidly to the specification sent out by the school - blazer, grey flannel trousers, white shirt with separate collar, school tie and cap, all from the school's "official" suppliers. There were a couple of boys whose thoughtless parents had sent them in short trousers.

The separate collars didn't last long but great importance was placed on cap wearing. If you were spotted outside school in uniform but not wearing your cap, you got a detention. In 1957, the house identifier on the cap was the button on top that was coloured to indicate your house. Later, (1959 or 1960?) this changed to the coloured panel at the back. This meant that for Brunel house at least, old style caps became much sought-after to avoid the hated pink triangle. The house colours were:

Blake – Light Blue
Brunel – Pink
Dickens – Green
Faraday – Black
Temple – Yellow
Turner – Maroon
Webb – Grey
Wren – Brown

Faraday house colour was originally black (not very effective on a black cap) but changed to royal blue later on.

The house colour was also used on sports shirts (imagine the discomfort of Brunel house footballers in pink shirts with white collars & cuffs), the regulation school V-neck jumper which was grey with house colour round the V, and the official school scarf which was made of consecutive stripes of black, white and house colour. Around 1960 it became the fashion in school to wear a scarf all year round no matter how hot the weather; this was partly because the scarf actually made a useful covert weapon. Two people held the scarf at each end and twisted it into a single tight strand. It was then grasped at the mid point and the ends brought together whereupon the whole thing twisted up to form a useful flexible cosh. I had prevailed upon my mother to knit a scarf out of more robust materials than the official one and mine was almost 5 feet long and made of double quick-knit. I still have it.

As first years we were greatly impressed that at least in the early days, all the teaching staff wore formal gowns and the head, his deputy and some heads of departments wore the traditional mortarboard around the school. It certainly gave a public school image. The gowns had a sort of loose sleeve which certain masters (note: masters, never teachers) used as a light cosh. We always thought that some of them had extra weights added for additional effect.

The first two years were supposed to be a basic general education and I started off in Form 5, then quickly moved to Form 6 because that form did music which I wanted to do. In the second year I was in 2G2 (G = General) and in the third year went to 3A4 (A = Arts). This wasn't right for me and I transferred to 3E1 (E = Engineering), thereafter staying in the engineering stream through 4E1 and 5E1. There were other streams, the B (for building) and L (Latin or Languages) if I recall. For some reason the form you were in dictated which foreign language you studied, either French, German or Spanish. I don’t recall there being a choice. At that time the minimum school leaving age was 15 so the less scholastically proficient often left at the end of the fourth year.

After the fifth year, there were opportunities to continue education for a further two years into the lower and upper sixth although I think that the two were merged into a single sixth form by about 1960.

We were all required to learn the school song by heart and it was sung on appropriate occasions. Others have written about the origins of the school song and I agree that it was Dr Wolf who composed it. There was a somewhat risqué alternative version of the words of which all I can remember is:
As we look back and consider
All the homework left undone

School life.

The school day always started with assembly, which was mandatory for everyone except some of the odd religious devotees who stood outside in the lower hall. The whole school stood in the Great Hall and assembly was usually conducted by the Headmaster and comprised singing hymns, a bible reading by one of the prefects and the reading of school notices etc and typically, complaints about pupils from the surrounding district.

The school headmaster, Mr Thomas was a rather remote, authoritarian man who most of us only ever saw on the stage at morning assembly. It was rumoured that he had been turned down for a headship at Dulwich College and been given Tulse Hill instead, which accounted for the public school style of organisation. He had a formidable reputation with the cane and dealt with really serious infringements or cases that were escalated by the various heads of school or department. He was also an excellent teacher when necessary although his vision of creating a virtual public school in Tulse Hill with boys from that area of south London was unattainable in practice. I did see the compassionate side of him because he had the unenviable job of breaking the news to me that my father had died.

The deputy head, Joe Loveless, was a big imposing man who used to teach maths. He was a strict disciplinarian but did tend to be more relaxed with older classes. On one memorable occasion we managed to divert him from a double period of maths to a detailed lecture on hand grenades. The head of lower school (i.e. years 1 & 2) in my time was Mr Shelley. Mr Forbat was another maths teacher; a diminutive man but a strong disciplinarian who stood no nonsense from anyone however big. He was known as "The man with the golden hand" because of heavy nicotine staining.

It was sometimes possible to negotiate a mutually beneficial arrangement when there was complete incompatibility with what was being taught and the interest of the pupils. For example, in Religious Education, we came to an arrangement that it was better for some to sit in the back of the class and sleep or have a crafty smoke while those who were actually interested sat at the front.

The school had a public address system known as the Tannoy after it's manufacturer, with a loudspeaker in each room. This was used to signal the time to change classes by "The pips" and also to broadcast announcements and to summon people. I can still remember the dreadful sick feeling of hearing your name and being summoned to the head of school's study when you knew that you were going to be punished. The Tannoy was designed to relay radio programs to classrooms but I don't recall that ever actually functioning. The control room for the system, containing the amplifiers and equipment was located at the great hall end of the lower hall.

Music was greatly encouraged in the school and other contributors have related the story of the school organ and the headmaster’s preference for that over a swimming pool. There was a school orchestra and also a school military band. For reasons that now completely escape me, I took up the French horn which was a rather ungainly instrument in a peculiar shaped case to lug backwards and forwards to school.

The great thing about the school as far as I was concerned, were the workshops which were superbly equipped. The idea was to give pupils practical skills that would enable them to get a job and earn a living after leaving school. In the engineering shops, there were lathes by Colchester and Boxford, milling machines, pillar drills, automatic saws - everything to teach practical machine tool skills. There were also facilities to do metal casting in aluminium, a forge and welding equipment. The metalwork master was a Mr Wheeler who always wore a grey dustcoat. He was a perfectionist and patiently taught me skills that I still use today.

There were also woodworking shops and if I remember, woodwork was done for the first two years or so, then we moved on to metalwork - at least those in the engineering stream. The people in the building stream had the use of workshops where practical things like brick laying and plastering could be learned and practised. There was a co-operative relationship with the Brixton School of Building for more advanced work. I remember being persuaded to take an engineering exam called the London Assessment of Engineering Studies. The practical work for this involved making and finishing a piece which I later realised was a 1930's Austin cable brake adjuster; a 1934 Austin Ruby being my first car.

The gymnasium block was a place of torture to the less physically able but like the workshops, very well equipped compared to the facilities in other schools. The head of PT was a Mr Tricker who was famed for his skills in administering unofficial punishments with a plimsole. Each gym had a communal shower that you had to endure, even if you could just get away with running through it. Naturally, boys matured at different rates and the early developers of pubic hair were much envied. One chap attempted to feign maturity by applying some sort of dye to his initial blonde fuzz, only to suffer ridicule when it streamed down his legs in the shower. Another boy who had better remain nameless had the party trick of stuffing his genitals away (I never was sure exactly where they went) so that he looked like a woman. It was quite important which "tribe" you belonged to; the "roundheads" who had been circumcised, and the "cavaliers" who hadn't.

Formal sex education wasn't even thought about in the late 1950s but the self- teaching variety was widely practiced by the circulation of information of varying accuracy and the inevitable comparisons in the showers and the toilets. Every form had its compulsive masturbator who sat somewhere at the back and it was fashionable to have a large hole in one trouser pocket to facilitate what was known as "pocket billiards".

Although the term "safe sex" was 30 years into the future, in the 4th and 5th years it was absolutely essential to your credibility to carry a condom in your wallet although the vast majority never got the opportunity to use it in anger. Strangely the word condom was never used; it usually being referred to as a "French letter", "rubber johnny" or usually, just as a "johnny". Another name for it was a "dunkie" named after a brand of doughnuts.

At the far end of the gym block, an architectural design blunder had produced a square area that was partly out of sight from the main school and the terrace and which gave a clear view of anyone approaching from across the quad or round the back of the gym block. Consequently, this was a safe area to indulge in any nefarious activity and was universally known as Smokers Corner.

Across the quadrangle (not playground) from the main building were the cycle sheds. Apart from their intended use, this was the accepted place where disputes were settled and fights organised. An altercation in the main quad would quickly attract the cry of "Bundle!" and the attention of the staff or prefects so the cycle sheds offered a more discreet venue. The end of the school day was the accepted time for this and gave rise to the chilling challenge of "Cycle sheds, four-fifteen". It was a matter of honour to turn up even if you were terrified of the outcome, and there was a code of conduct that only the belligerents actually fought and supporters were there to encourage and ensure a fair fight.

There was a craze at one time for producing self-induced hyper-ventilation until you passed out. This got to be quite a problem and severe warnings were issued.

Gambling for pennies was often practised with pontoon schools on the terrace particularly popular and various versions of a game called Up the Wall where the winner was the one who's thrown coin ended up nearest to the wall. Traditional schoolboy games like marbles, cigarette card trading and playing, and conkers were generally only played by the first and second years. Conkers were actually eventually banned because of wrist and hand injuries.

A huge craze of around 1960 was Scoobydoos. These were kits of very small bore (0.5mm) coloured PVC tubing - rather like wire insulation - which you wove into various shapes to make ornaments for key rings or any personal possession.

Around 1959 - 60 we started getting large numbers of immigrant children, mostly Caribbean, entering the school as a result of the large scale immigration then being encouraged by the government to supply labour for the menial and low paid jobs, and Brixton was a cheap rather run down area where affordable accommodation could be found. To be honest, at the time we detested them and the early arrivals probably had a fairly rough time of it until their numbers built up. One notable exception to this was a very large bloke called Athur worry who was an excellent athlete and who had the size and demeanour to deal with any discrimination or bullying.

Room 804
This room has special memories because it was our form room for two years. It was built as a lecture theatre sloping up to the rear with a chemistry demonstration bench at the front. We had our morning and afternoon registrations in it before going on to other rooms for lessons but did have some lessons in the room as well. On one occasion, my mate John and I had spent a lesson making a contribution to posterity by inscribing our names into one of the desk lids with pen and knife, oblivious to the fact that this made identifying the culprits fairly easy. We were caught and the head of department (a Mr Kidd) was summoned. As the lunch break was imminent, we were instructed to report to his study after lunch for punishment, which inevitably meant a caning. During the lunch break we removed the desk lid, ran it through the planing machine in the woodwork shop, re-polished it and had it re-installed before the appointed time. We didn't get punished.

Another memory of 804 was the hole in the wall project. This was made in the internal wall to the corridor by the seat in the back row corner position and over a term or so, a hole a couple of inches diameter was bored by hand through the inner and outer skins into the corridor. On returning after a holiday we found that our hole had been repaired so we had to start all over again.

The chemistry laboratories on the sixth floor gave the facility for performing practical experiments and had benches equipped with sinks, water taps, gas taps and power outlets. One form, by heaving on one of the benches managed to fracture the gas pipes, which resulted in the school being evacuated.

Discipline.

The school had a two-tier system of prefects who were supposed to exercise control in the absence of staff. House prefects only had jurisdiction over their own house members and they wore small oak leaves under the school badge to indicate their status. Promotion could be gained to school prefect with wider responsibilities and powers and large oak leaves. At the top of the tree was the school Head Prefect (or was it school captain?) who in the early days at least, wore a sort of waistcoat length "gown" and was given almost staff level privileges.

There was an escalating scale of punishments employed by teachers ranging from the traditional lines
(I must pay attention in class 200 times), detention after school in the Great Hall to the application of the cane by school or department heads of one to six strokes on the buttocks. For me this produced, in addition to the basic pain in the impact area, a strange sick feeling in the throat that I can still recall. Some masters were believed to deliberately hit low on that very sensitive part at the top of the thighs. Some masters preferred to cane on the hands. Extremely rarely, someone would be expelled.

Although form masters did not administer canings, unofficial punishments were quite common using slippers, rulers or hurling missiles. Usually this would just be a piece of chalk at an inattentive student but on one occasion one teacher got so wound up that he hurled a wooden board rubber at a chap called Jim Smith, hitting him on the head with such force that blood was drawn and he was knocked silly for a while. We all judged that this was going too far and the teacher concerned was sent to Coventry by the whole form until he was reprimanded by the head of school. Another master's favourite method was to rap you across the knuckles with the edge of a ruler.
The first time that I got caned was a couple of months into my first year when I was caught doing some unofficial artwork on a desk lid. I got caned several times after that during my time at Tulse Hill so I must admit that any claimed deterrent effect must be arguable.

There was a medical suite and sick bay on the ground floor of the admin block and apart from sickness cases, routine medical examinations and various inoculations were carried out there by visiting, usually female, nurses. On occasion, the excitement of pubescent boys having a medical in the presence of females would become visibly obvious and this was frequently dealt with by a sharp rap with a wooden ruler.

Extra-curricular activities.

There were many after-school activities ranging from chess club, photography club, orchestra and military band, cadet forces, dramatics, gym club, and even a branch of the Hayley Mills fan club.

My best mate John Hercock and I were stalwarts of the school dramatics from 1960 -62 partly because we had discovered that involvement in this could get you out of various lessons. Between us, we did the lighting and production functions for many house and school plays. The stage in the Great Hall was equipped with a semi-professional lighting board by Strand Electric and a good range of lights and fittings. When required, additional lights such as flame effects, additional spotlights etc. were hired from Strand. On one occasion, we were rigging a lighting set on a support bar above the middle of the Great Hall and a 250 Watt spotlight fell to the floor smashing the support bracket. To cover this up we cast a replacement in the workshops and never heard any more about it.

Some school dramatics brought the need for female parts, which were filled by girls from Dick Shepherd school, which was a particular fascination and treat for us. Apart from actual plays, a school revue was produced which was the opportunity to be rude about staff members and school institutions under the guise of satire. There were concerts by the school orchestra that were attended by parents and I remember the disillusionment of my mother admitting later that they were actually pretty awful.

John Hercock and I also ran the school milk supply. Every pupil was entitled to 1/3 of a pint of milk a day (until stopped by Margaret Thatcher while minister of education in the 1970s) and we got ourselves appointed as milk monitors which involved doling out the bottles in the lower hall during morning break. This necessitated absenting ourselves from lessons in order to prepare for this, which of course was part of the attraction. The crates of bottles were delivered in a huge stack outside the admin block and in winter it was common for the milk to freeze so a good scam in cold weather was to stack up a supply of bottles on the hot pipes in the coat hanging area so that warm(ish) milk could be supplied to friends or for an appropriate consideration.

The school had two very active cadet units - 23 (City of London) Company, Royal Fusiliers, Army Cadet Force, (which after an army re-organisation in 1965 became 74 Company Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, SE London ACF), and 2314 squadron Air Training Corps.

The army cadet unit was formed in 1957 or 1958 and initially had no facilities at all. Uniforms and kit were stored in classroom cupboards and the armoury, complete with an allocation of first world war vintage Lee Enfield rifles and a couple of Bren light machine guns, was two huge steel chests located in the apparatus storage area of gym No 1. The first Officer Commanding was Captain J E "Jerry" Hall who taught German in the school and was himself of German origin although he had served in the British army during the war, and had a rather thick accent. He always pronounced his Vs as Ws so we always climbed into a weehicle werry qwickly. A Lieutenant (later Captain) Coleman later succeeded him. After a few years a purpose-built hut housing both cadet units was built on the end of the cycle sheds. The unit was well supported by the Royal Fusiliers TA units in Streatham and Balham who used to send over drill sergeants etc. Strangely, we had nothing to do with the TA centre almost opposite the school because that was on the other side of the army's administrative boundary and was in the County of London while the school counted as being in the City.

Fellow cadets in the unit included "Ned" Ludlow who remained with the unit for many years afterwards as an adult instructor, Dennis Chandler, Roger Biggin, Bob Delamare and Brian Wellsman. There were regular weekend camps - my first one in December 1959 was at Warren Camp, Crowborough. The Guards depot at Pirbright and a camp at Vange in Essex were also often used.

A fortnight's summer camp was held every year during the school holidays. In 1960 it was at West Tofts camp in Thetford, Norfolk. 1961 annual camp was at St Martins Plain, Folkestone and we travelled down on a special troop train from Waterloo. In the summer of 1962 I spent the fortnight with the Army Catering Corps at Aldershot learning the basics of cooking which was a slight surprise because I had applied for a course on basic armouring skills.

Parades and training were twice a week immediately after school and it was normal practice to travel to school in cadet uniform in the morning and wear it all day at lessons. In the late 1950s, National Service was still in place and it was quite usual to see men in uniform all over the country so it wasn't considered strange. If we were away on a weekend camp it often wasn't possible to get back into the school so it wasn't unusual to take your rifle home with you on the Sunday with the instruction to "bring it back on Monday and it had better be clean!"
A 15 year old in battledress getting on a 109 bus on a Monday morning with rifle slung over his shoulder didn't even rate a comment. Coming back from annual camp in 1961 we travelled from Waterloo to Stockwell on the Northern Line complete with rifles and one guy cuddling the unit's BREN light machine gun. Probably not recommended now.

It will surprise many that it was not at all unusual in those days for pupils to take to school knives, bayonets, ammunition and even on at least two occasions I can recall, actual firearms. There was quite an underground trade in the school buying and swopping war relics and militaria (it was only 12 years since the end of the war) but the main thing was that it was a collector's fascination with objects. No-one ever thought of using these things as weapons. On one occasion a No 36 hand grenade (an inert one) was bounced down the steps of the lecture theatre in room 804 causing a bit of consternation to the chemistry master Mr Whitney.

In Brixton Hill was a government surplus store called the Tarpaulin and Tent Manufacturing Company which was housed in the former Clifton cinema. At one time they had bought a consignment of scrap STEN sub-machine guns from the government that had been cut up by the army before disposal. However, it turned out that the separate parts had been all sold together and some inventive soul had bought a load and welded some back together again. There was also a firearms dealer in Acre lane above a sewing machine shop.

Although the school had excellent gymnasia, there were no facilities for field sports or swimming (the headmaster had somewhat controversially decided that the school organ was a more important project than a school swimming pool) so for football, rugby, hockey etc we were transported out once a week to Priest Hill playing fields at Ewell. If the weather was bad or excessively wet, the sport became cross-country running which we all hated. To make the mass move out to Ewell, a local transport contractor called Margo’s of Streatham was employed who used pretty clapped out coaches, ex-London Transport RT type double decker buses and even the odd 1930s STL type on occasion. They operated from a yard at Streatham station. One of our favourite ways of relieving the boredom on the journey was to swing our combined weight on the top deck making the bus sway violently which used to upset the drivers no end. The swimmers were similarly bussed out to New Cross baths.

Outside school.
Bunking off was a popular pastime for everyone and one of my favourite activities on an afternoon "hopping the wag" was to go down to Streatham Ice Rink on a Wednesday afternoon and watch the ice hockey team practising. The bowling alley in Streatham Hill (formerly the Gaumont cinema) was another attraction where a daytime game was only two shillings (10p). I used to wander around a bit as well, going as far as Wimbledon to ride on the trolleybuses. In fact it was probably the interests in the school plays and the cadets that kept me at school at all.

Down the road from the school back gate in Elm Park was the fabled Arthur Clarke's sweet shop (known to everyone as “Arfur's”) where the day's dinner money was considered better spent on penny drinks (tasteless coloured fluids made up in the shop and sold in un-sealed bottles) and single cigarettes at tuppence each. For actual food, there was a bakers and a chip shop in Upper Tulse Hill and the idea was to buy half a loaf, eat or discard the dough bit then fill the outer shell with chips. Further along Upper Tulse Hill at the Brixton Hill end was another small sweet shop known to us as "Mums".

Great efforts were made to keep us all inside the school grounds during the lunch hour and a system of gate passes, checked by prefects, was used to try to enforce the containment. Naturally, this was a challenge to all and many ways were found to get in and out as we pleased.

About this time, Jubblys were launched on the market. This was a cardboard Tetrapak full of orange drink however most retailers used to freeze them and sell them as large ice lollies. This is the real origin of Del Boy's "Lovely Jubbly!" catch-phrase in Only Fools and Horses. The TV jingle went: "Lovely, Jubbly, Lovely Jubbly Orange Drink"

Once we discovered alcohol, a favourite (and affordable) tipple was a strange fortified wine called Green Goddess that we used to get from the off- licence on the corner of Maplestead Road. In the fourth and fifth years, I seem to recall spending a surprising amount of time for a schoolboy in The Chestnut, especially when staying late for school play purposes.

Up until about 1960, the area opposite the school main entrance in Upper Tulse Hill and stretching as far over as Christchurch Road and bordered by Roupell Road, was overgrown waste ground with ruined foundations in it. It was typical of the bombsites that still littered London at that time and it was known locally as Birds Paradise. Naturally, the area was strictly off limits to everyone which made it irresistible. One lad with a bent for chemistry who was known to everyone as "Prof" used to delight in manufacturing explosives using basically Sodium Chlorate weed killer, sugar and Jetex fuse from model shops, and "Birds" was his favoured test range. I recall several explosive demonstrations being carried out by him.

Changing the mixture to include flowers of Sulphur and adding a bit of Magnesium produced a bright yellow flare and one suitable dark winter afternoon, a tobacco tin of this mixture suspended from a home made parachute was launched from an eighth floor window. As the device landed just in front of the admin block doors it caused quite a fuss.

Another favourite wheeze was to manufacture a crude version of Ammonium Tri-Iodide out of household chemicals, which produced a brown sludge that was dried out on blotting paper. When it was dry, this was an extremely sensitive explosive so the technique was to place a small amount in a damp state under a desk lid or leg and allow it to dry completely. Any movement or pressure on it then produced a sharp bang.

On the school boundary in Upper Tulse Hill and almost opposite the TA centre was a large house that was popularly believed to be a home for unmarried mothers.

School journeys were popular and there was quite a competition to be chosen to go. Ones that I remember going on were to Staithes in north Yorkshire in 1958 or 59. This was to what was basically a wartime army camp and still equipped with double decker bunks in barrack blocks.

In 1960 I went to Arles in the south of France; memories of that trip are travelling down through France on a train called The Mistral and sleeping in the overhead luggage racks, being grounded for climbing out on to the roof of the famous bridge at Avignon and walking across the top, going to a traditional bullfight and the wild horses on the Camargue. I palled up with a lad called David Bendry on that trip.

At Christmas 1961 we went on a skiing trip to Engi, Switzerland, leaving London by rail on Boxing day. We stayed in a hotel called Pension Hefti and I fell madly in love with one of the waitresses called Anita Richeart. There was only one English (actually it was American) record on the hotel jukebox and it got played to death. It was the first time that most of us had come across the continental duvet, which we found a bit strange. We were taught the basics of skiing and it was a brilliant school journey.

For most of my time at Tulse Hill there was an ongoing state of low-level war with the Strand school who we considered to be a load of snobs. On several occasions, grand fights were arranged that were usually foiled by the school authorities. In the winter, the usual thing was snowball fights, often with stones concealed in the snowballs. At lunch times in the fifth year it was the usual thing to go over to Dick Shepherd school to chat up the girls.

On your last day at school, leavers were expected to do outrageous and silly things. A chap called Ray Mead in 5E1 brought a huge bag of condoms that he'd obtained from somewhere (his father might have been a barber) and we used them as balloons to decorate our form room and other places. We held a ceremonial burning of school blazers in a dustbin on the top square in front of the school.

I don't recall anyone of my era going on to great fame although one lad called Brian Fielder became an actor and appeared in early editions of East Enders playing a policeman (I believe that he changed his name to Fielding for professional reasons).

For my part, after I left Tulse Hill I joined Post Office Telephones as an apprentice and stayed with what later became BT and its mobile telephone arm, Cellnet, where I ended up as Technical Support Manager for the Radio Access Systems group. I spent almost 40 years with the same organisation until taking early retirement in April 2002.

©Andrew Jackson 2006

From Tim Harrington

I came into Tulse Hill's Second Form when the school opened. I moved from Honeywell School because Tulse Hill was nearer my home. The teachers were good and the building superb. The size wasn't overwhelming; because of the size it gave you freedom; that wasn't abused. I went into the Technical stream, doing O-levels in T.D. and Engineering, although I later went on to do A-Level Maths in the Sixth Form.

What I remember most, perhaps because I wasn't a very serious scholar, were the Youth Hostel Trips we made. We hiked all over the country.

*Tim Harrington reminiscing in a THS magazine in 1981 at the time of the School's 25th anniversary.

From Mr S Sennit

The School cost £608,000 to build and £50,000 to equip. It opened a year late. The Daily Mirror carried a full page about the school in the first week, with a large picture of the first school captain, Roger Dixon. The first Headmaster was Clifford Thomas. He had been Deputy Headmaster at Dulwich College, but didn't get the top job when it became available. So he took on the job of Headmaster at Tulse Hill.

He brought many of the Dulwich College traditions with him - the wearing of Gown by staff and prefects, the names Great Hall and Lower Hall. The Deputy, Loveless had been Headmaster of Santley Street Secondary School - a school with a shocking reputation. He took on the Deputy Head's job. He and Thomas were poles apart and were never seen to be a team.

From Nigel Cromey

A story I will always remember. We had a soft teacher who could not rule the class. Before he arrived we put all his things, desk ,chair etc in the lift and sent it to another floor. It was some minutes before he went to sit down, his face went red - did we laugh, our backside went red as we all got caned. We would not dare now!!

*Nigel Cromey was one of the really early THS guys, having put his years in 1956 to 1960

From Dave Davies

It's odd how one thing leads to remembering other things you haven't thought about for 30 odd years. Reading about about Head Master Thomas and his public school background reminded me that one of the staff on a 6th form field trip, (after a few tinnies, or bottles as they were then!) told us that Thomas' ambition had been to be head of a public school. Having turned 50 years old and not having made it, he took the headship of THS and decided to create his own public school. Hence the house system, the prefect system, all staff wearing academic gowns when teaching, and 100%male staff (at least for the first few years).

The organ was also down to his public school vision, as the PTA, when first formed in 56-57, wanted a goal to work for and the general teachers/parents opinion was to go for a swimming pool, knocking down the wall between Gyms 4 & 5, and putting a decent sized pool in. Thomas wouldn't have any of it, being basically a non-sporty type anyway, and he insisted the school should have an organ. All fund raising for the first four years I was there went towards that **** organ, and it then took best part of a year to modify it from a cinema organ and install it. The only practical purpose I ever saw for it was when Thomas held his staff meetings after morning assembly, we all had to stay in the hall, and the deputy head of music under Dr Wolff, a young chap named Derek Moon, was usually deputed to entertain the assembled masses on the organ. He was a brilliant organist but didn't have much time for Thomas, so knowing that the staff room was only the other side of the hall wall, he delighted in really giving it some stick in the volume department, and used as his excuse that if he played quiet pieces, the boys would only start talking, so the answer was to make speech impossible.

It was of course also almost impossible in the staff meeting! Joe Loveless, Deputy Head in my time, terrified everyone in the school. The amazing thing was though, when I first went into the lower 6th, we discovered that Joe was down to teach us for a particular aspect of A-level history for the first term or two. We all had the usual reaction to coming under Joe's gaze, but when he took us for the first time I can still remember the shock of discovering his other side . When he was with 6th formers, he treated you as an equal adult to himself, and was actually a really good bloke, as well as an inspired teacher. Quite a shock when you'd been terrified of him for 5 years, but I think he realised that 6th formers were there by choice, not because the education system said they had to be, and he felt able to relax and enjoy teaching people who wanted to learn, and he was quite willing to have a good chat sometimes as well. He was also very proud of the fact that he was a direct descendant of one of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

The first School Captain was a lad named Dixon. The Captain had a waistcoat-type gown with grey facings, all the other prefects had blue facings on the gown and large oak leaves on the badge, whilst house prefects just had small oak leaves. The School's caps also had the house colour in the centre back panel. Most of the house names have obvious links to famous people, but the Webbs were obscure Socialist Victorian educators , and how they got in on the act will probably never be known. (Mike Stevens points out that the Webbs were - amongst other things - the leading founders of the Labour Party - maybe that solves the mystery?)

Teachers I particularly recall include:

Wyn Davies - the first head of history, and also school rugby coach, so I got a double dose! He was a decent bloke, and an excellent rugby coach and I think he had been capped for Wales in his younger days.

Leonard Corney - the first head of classics. The story was that during his career he had taught in every type of school there was including being a university professor, and when the THS comprehensive experiment came along he decided to round off his career by giving that a go as well. He had a short fuse, and eyes in the back of his head if his aim with a board rubber when he suspected there was something going on behind him was any guide. A good teacher as long as you didn't upset him - and he could actually hold a fluent conversation in Latin or Greek!

Phil Smith - the first head of geography, yet another decent guy and a good teacher.

Jim Railton - a PE teacher, and the School rowing coach. The rowing team used a boat house on the Thames and was quite successful. In the 70's I recall seeing Railton's name involved as coach of one of the University Boat Race teams, I presume he had left THS by then.

Peter Atherfold - head of maths early 1960's. An interesting person, convinced the best way to cure a cold was to put on multiple layers of clothing and go for a 10 mile run to sweat it out!

Mike Surman - another history teacher in the early 60's. Not long out of college, good teacher, nice guy, and a total rugby nut. Given that about 6 out of 10 of us in the A-level History group were rugby players, it was no problem at all to divert him onto rugby instead of history, much to his disgust when the bell went and he realised what we'd achieved, He said you bastards have done it again, haven't you? In retrospect, I can't say it was one of the greatest schools but it was certainly an experience and I don't think it did me any lasting harm!

* Dave Davies was part of the first full intake of first year pupils in September 1957. He was a pupil at THS until July 1964.

From Peter Timson

It’s been that long since I was at the School that I can’t remember which class I started In. I can remember that long walk on the first day. Whilst I can remember the route I cannot recall the names of the roads, with the exception of 2, Leander Road and Josephine Ave.

Like all of the others my mum had taken me to Thomas’s In Herne Hill. It was there that I learned what It meant to be In Brunel House!!!! pink!!!! To this day I still bear the mental scars of that cap with the pink segment on the back. My mum couldn’t afford the blazer and so bought one from Brixton and embroidered the badge on the pocket, this caused me a lot of grief That first day was the first time I had owned or worn long trousers.

Anyway back to the plot, the first thing to strike me after coming through the gate with my junior School pal Frankie Roberts [his name has only just come to mind] was the vast wall in the playground….. we were later to be told by Thomas that the playground was a quadrangle??? For an 11 year old all this was space age, I hadn’t been In a lift before Tulse Hill!

The form I was in, as I recall were all b, which later on denoted building. I can recall that fairly early on, a wall at each end of the cloakroom on the ground floor collapsed on one of the pupils and were subsequently demolished. The head of music was Dr Wolfe who drove a green? Chevrolet. Thomas I think had a Jag. The Head Master Thomas, considered the kids as inferior both socially and intellectually. Thomas was there only for the money and did not In anyway grasp, nor embrace the concept of the comprehensive School ethos.

Joe Lovelace the deputy head had adopted the, do It to them before they do It to you attitude, no doubt due to his previous position at Santley Street School. Santley street was the training camp for the SAS {I kid you not} It was said that the used 3 inch beam in one of the gyms at THS - which came from Santley Street - had been whittled down from 4 inch by flick knives.

The ultra modern TH School building had 4 lifts but unless you were going to the 5th floor or above you couldn’t use them, you had to go to the 5th floor and walk down There was a lad In our form who borrowed a Bren gun and barricaded himself In one of the gyms [allegedly] after the law arrived with bells ringing; he was talked out. The same lad also borrowed a flintlock pistol from The Tower of London on a School trip. [allegedly] bless him!

The teachers I remember are: 1. Bartlet -Technical drawing, a good old boy aka Frank. 2. Gabajeski -Maths, did for teaching what the titanic did for cruising. 3. Crow-Art, Introduced me to reading for pleasure, for that my eternal thanks - another good old boy. There was mention by a previous contributor with regard to an examination scam in the gym. If it was the same scam, it occurred as follows------the exam was the practical section of GCE Surveying 1961, whereby the examiner with the help of 2 pupils who were not sitting the exam used the gym to set up a dumpy level. The readings from the dumpy level were noted by the examiner and checked by the 2 pupils. The 2 pupils were then sworn to secrecy and one of them was dispatched to fetch the first examinee. On the return journey the readings were divulged - this was done for every examinee. Unfortunately the examiner reset the level at some stage and killed the scam. The scam was not done for any gain but It seemed the right thing to do. The curious thing Is that the 2 pupils assisting, were doing so because they had failed the mock surveying test and were then not eligible for the GCE. Those 2 pupils later went on to be surveyors. I know this account to be totally accurate as I was one of those pupils. The other pupil must remain anonymous!

*Peter Timson was at THS in Brunel House from 1956 until 1961.

From Harry Broadrick

Well, I never! a web site about my old school! I was there from 1956 - 1960. If my memory serves me correct , my forms were 1L1, 2L2, ART 3rd and ART 4th, I was in Wren House - depicted by a brown inset to the back of the school cap! So sad to see wasteland where the school once stood, but I expect the land is developed now.

For the life of me, I can't remember anyone except my pals from Tulse Hill Estate where I lived for 20 years, Jimmy Salter, Jimmy Reid, Harry Farmer, Donald Clark and my next door neighbour and best mate, Richard Farley. Two of my other neighbours, the Sharpling Brothers went to the Strand-PAH! Can't say too much about the Strand as my dear old Mum was a cleaner there for many years.

The only teachers I recall were the Head, Charles Thomas and the Dep. Head, Joe Loveless - Loveless by name, Loveless by nature! but he turned out to be not too bad. My Latin teacher and class master. Leonard Corney, was a small rotund fellow if my memory serves me correct. He did not stand for any fooling about and was an expert at throwing the blackboard rubber at you with precision accuracy, nice guy 'tho.

I lived in Purser House on the Tulse Hill Estate and went to THS from Brockwell Park Primary. As I could actually see my classroom in Brockwell PS from my front door, THS seemed an awful long way to go to school.

Some more recollections are coming back as I write. Clarke's sweet shop/tobacconists in a row of shops at the top of Leander Road / Elm Park - they would split a 10 packet of cigs and sell you one for 2d, we would take turns in buying a penny book of matches. There was also a post office, bakery and a pub on the corner (The Elms ?) - The Strand was a little further up Elm Park I think.

During my second year I sustained an injury to my leg which necessitated wearing a hard pink plastic brace which strapped on from my thigh to my ankle, it did however come in handy for spending PE lessons in the library! I recall that the leg always seemed to require this support on PE days, but was fine on the non-PE day's - Strange that!.

After school we (from Tulse Hill Estate) used to congregate in the Nirvana Coffee Bar at the bottom of Tulse Hill, opposite the skating rink, it was here that I fell madly in love with Janet from the hairdressers next door (he says, looking at a dark smudge on his arm which bore her name in my first tattoo).

The whole of the summer holidays were spent in the swimming pool in Brockwell Park from near dawn to dusk. It always seemed to be sunny then, or is my memory playing tricks on me again! Strange, as some memories of the students at Dick Sheppards are crystal clear!

Alas, I have no reminders of those glorious days, no house pictures, no school reports, nothing - such a shame. I hated school for no obvious reason other than I had to go, and couldn't wait to leave. I now realise, like many I'm sure, that they weren't such bad days after all.

I left London some 33 years ago, spent a few years in Scotland and the past 26 years here in Northern Ireland. It would be great to hear from anyone who remembered me, but why should they?, I certainly can't remember them.

*Harry Broadrick was in Wren House at THS 1956 to 1960

From Jim Read

I was among the first group of pupils to attend THS on the opening day. I was an eleven year old starting into secondary school along with much older boys who were coming from various schools around the area that were closing down, one that I recall was Santley Street, so you can imagine I and my fellow students found it quite daunting both with the size of the school and the Masters wearing Mortar Boards and Gowns.

I played for the school football team of the time and was disappointed that no mention is made of football at all on your website.

I would like to tell you about two incidents that have remained in my memory over the years.

1. On the very first day we had to report to the assembly hall to be allocated classes and form teachers, as they called your name out you had group up and go, with what would be your form master, to a class room, I know this sounds stupid, but I cannot remember his name, you would think it would stick in my mind, but no, all I can remember was that to an eleven year old he was like a big bear of a man, with a big bushy beard and a very volatile temper. I can't fully remember if it was that same week or the following week but he nominated one boy in the class to collect the dinner money as he called the names out and ticked them off. At end of collection they both counted up their totals the boy collecting the money had 6d (old money you understand) less than the master said he should have. After numerous recounts the master lost his temper, picked the boy up and punched him in the face (and I mean punched). With his nose bleeding he was made to stand in the corner with his arms outstretched sideways. Needless to say he did not have a lot of trouble from his young charges as of that day.

2. A couple of years or so later, we were queuing outside the classroom door after the lunch break (we were not allowed into the classroom until a teacher was in attendance). One of the boys tried the door and found it was unlocked, for some unknown reason he went into the classroom and picked up the long pole used for opening and closing windows, came back out into the corridor with it then ran and hurled it across the classroom straight through the window. We were about six or seven floors up, the pole went through the window down into the roadway that led to the offices, hitting the Head of Lower Schools window (which was open) on the way. The whole class was locked in a Gym changing room until the culprit owned up. We were all given two strokes of the cane in an effort to persuade us to divulge who the guilty party was. It was only when we were threatened with a second round of caning that the culprit finally owned up.

I would also like to mention in regard to famous people, although on a lesser scale, the Head of Physical Training at the time I started at the school was a fellow named 'Skipper' who at the time was also Captain of Dulwich Hamlet Football Club, who at the time, were a famous Amateur Football Club (they were one of the first clubs to install floodlight football, even before most professional clubs). They are still in existence but, alas, not so famous these days. - ** OK, all you soccer guys, let's have memories and photos please!

* Jim Read was at THS from 1956

FromTony Brooks

As one of the earlier boys at Tulse Hill, I remember it with great affection and the discipline it taught. Who could have forgotten the math's teacher Mr. Forbat, 5ft nothing and every boy regardless of his size and background went in fear of him.

However, the person who wrote the school song was the one person who caned harder than the original headmaster Dr. Thomas and that was our beloved music teacher Mr. Moon. He told us he wrote the song in less than half an hour but it was one of his best works ever. How I miss those days and am sad at the way when Dr. Thomas died the school became a social experiment for liberalism and failed miserably.

*Tony Brooks was at THS until 1966

From Peter Clift

I went to Tulse Hill in 1959. The school was based on the public school ethic and in hindsight it's easy to ridicule that, but back in the 1950's the public school was seen as the ideal model. When it was built in 1956, it was part of the brave new world of education. An enormous 8 storey building which dominated the south London skyline. It was all new and exciting. Unfortunately, the planners dream was totally useless as a school. That's what I think now in 2001 as an ex-teacher.

As an 11 year old back in 1959 it was a new school that was huge. I survived the first 3 years. There were certainly some characters! Derek Moon the crazy music teacher who used to whizz down the slope into the car park in his ancient Rover! Who can remember him standing on a dustbin on the terrace blowing the whistle at the end of break? I still cannot believe that 2000 boys actually stood in silence when the whistle went! I didn't once, and got caned for it!

There was the English teacher, I can't remember his name, who would prowl the 4th floor corridor and put whole classes in detention! Some evenings he would have 6 or 7 classes in detention!. The good thing about growing up and moving up the school was that you could get little first year boys and stuff them in the masters' lift and send it down to the ground floor.

Life in the 4th and 5th year was much better, if only because you had learnt all the tricks and scives that enabled you to enjoy life. We even wrote our own school revues. Black and Blue and 'It's Not For Long'. Who can remember Chris Harbon the English and Drama teacher who looked like Bob Dylan. He had that Citroen 2CV that used to bounce down the road. A brilliant teacher who proved that you didn't have to be good at sport to show talent.

We used to slide off to the Hop Poles at lunchtime and spend hours over at the Greyhound at Dulwich in the evening. Some other names which spring to mind; Porter-Smith an absolute gentleman, John Enticot who always enjoyed a good joke - even when it was on him, 'Judy' Grinham who made social history such good fun, Pachitti the pottery master who left the kiln on during the holidays and reduced everybody's works of art to dust, and of course Lovelace. My last memory of him was in 1965. I had left school and went back one day. Wearing the Beatles hairstyle, which was common then, I strolled into the great hall. Lovelace swept past and said ' Get your hair cut boy'. Feeling proud and now brave I replied 'I've left now' . Without pausing he carried on his way booming 'I don't care, get your hair cut!' Oh those were the days!

*Peter Clift was in Dickens House at THS from 1959 until 1965

From Robert Bowden

My name is Robert Bowden and I was at THS from 1957-1961. I would be very interested to hear from anyone in my class or in the teams I represented i.e. sport-athletics-football.I was in Turner house under Mr.(Spinner) Edwards.

I was in forms 9,2G5 Art 3,Craft 4.My masters were Mr.Pete Chapman, Mr.Chris Rutt, the others the names fail me unfortunately.