William Torbitt School Website for Former Pupils and Staff

The entries are listed in date order. They each have an ID number but don't worry, it's only there so that you can refer to the original entry if you wish to mention it in a reply. Move through the entries using the Next/Previous links.

To post a new entry to the board simply click HERE

PLEASE NOTE: Memories are not added until authorised.
They cannot be edited so unless they are clean and inoffensive THROUGHOUT they will not be shown

229 memories, showing 221 to 229

<First

<Previous

Memory No. 9
From:
Mark Richards
(@WT Staff)

Eileen Riches as an exceptionally keen paintbrush monitor

Pamela Dunn’s shoes

Trying to keep at least half a step ahead of Graham Pfaff, John Beard and Ann Pumfrett who found quadratic equations so simple

Everyone – including their handwriting styles and various abilities

Susan Adams’ father entering the classroom in his police officer’s uniform to take her to the dentist and pretending to have come to arrest Geoff Gillon [Never forgotten by Geoff Gillon]

Miss Boot coming into the classroom on an "inspection" and Mark having commented on Geoff Gillon’s work, she asked, " but can he spell 'separate' ? Geoff obliged and Miss Boot, beaming, swept from the room like Lady Bracknell.

Memory No. 8
From:
Margaret Paul
(@WT )

Cycling proficiency tests in the infant's playground

Falling over in the corridor and cutting her eyebrow on the metal shoe racks under the wooden benches

Memory No. 7
From:
Ken Aston
(@WT Staff (deceased))

There was a large untidy hole on the field near the dining hall and I learned that it was a hole the staff had dug several years previously for a fish pond. Digging the hole was easy but no-one knew how to proceed and the project had been abandoned. I offered to complete it (with some professional help I knew I could get for free!) and in the end a really good fish pond resulted.

A cloakroom became redundant and Tom Cowan wanted it converted to a library. The Managers approved the idea but turned it down on the question of cost - Ł280, a lot of money then! Tom asked if we could do it ourselves and, if so, how much? He took my class for an hour while I measured up, phoned suppliers for quotes for timber and shelving, brackets, rawplugs etc. I went back to Tom and told him that if he would stay with me for two evenings, we could do the complete job and we did - for Ł15!

I remember that Tom Cowan had played football for Luton Town and it was my pleasure to play alongside him in a couple of matches against the School XI. [I remember Mr Cowan's huge football boots - GG]

Memory No. 6
From:
Janice Archer
(@WT >1959)

I have a really strong memory of our class being allowed by Mr Richards to listen to a radio broadcast designed for secondary school students that came on right after our weekly? broadcast on nature study (about which I and some of my friends I know filled whole exercise books). It was a reading, dramatised I think, of Thornton Wilder's 'The Bridge of San Luis Rey, a study of why the people who died when a bridge collapsed happened to be there. It made a huge impact on me and I've never forgotten it. Mark has no recollection at all - does anyone else remember this?

Playing in the park with Pat Dixon and Anne Sheerin

Crying all night and having my first, as I remember, real feelings of jealousy after Pauline Jennings told me she'd bought Shadow, my favourite pony at the Aldborough Riding Stables

Penny crisps, from the off licence? (what was the sweet shop next door we used to go to otherwise called?) that I seem to think were banned from the school at one point(!) because they left grease stains everywhere

Really missing Awena Parry when she left

Memory No. 5
From:
Rita Tucker
(@WT >1959)

John Fairweather singing "Daisy ,Daisy"

Ian Parks’ mother’s shop [Janet] on fire.

Memory No. 4
From:
Pauline Kendall
(@WT >1959)

My painting of a helicopter gracing the dining hall

Being awarded 6d by Mr. Cowan for correctly answering a question . I bought a "scooby–doo" with the money Carving a block of salt

Memory No. 3
From:
Geoff Gillon
(@WT >1959)

Needlework classes in which the boys participated – some of the cross-stitch work such as "Duchess sets" is still in use to this day.

Dianne Bowering’s dislike of jam pie.
Nicholas Holmes having been to the cinema to see "THE CRUEL SEA "- or was it "MOBY DICK " ? This was discussed in class by Mark Richards.

Pauline Kendall operating the gramophone for the background music for the school play "The Informer "

Being given as a class, a sheet of A3 paper which we daubed with paint of many hues and then we were challenged to produce the maximum number of feathers using a template provided ultimately for an Indian headdress. The title of chief was awarded to Geoff Gillon for squeezing the most out of the sheet.

Barbara Sidwell’s agility during P. E. –the teacher commenting on her being able to rock on her tummy.

Barbara Sidwell’s painting to which Mark Richards applied the title " la belle dame Sans merci "

Mr. Cowan making a present to Geoff Gillon of one of the props used in "THE INFORMER " a length of bamboo passing as a blowpipe having been brought back by Sir Francis Drake from his travels. There’s a certain irony in this in that he had used a somewhat thinner length of bamboo as an instrument of punishment on Geoff Gillon on earlier occasions. [Geoff still, unsurprisingly, has this piece of bamboo ]

Alan Nicholls using his 1d bus fare to purchase a lemon on the way to school. He kept a pin in his lapel with which to pierce the lemon and sucked on the juice on his walk to school. [to this day Geoff similarly carries a pin but for different uses ]

Geoff Gillon’s still life painting being given the title by Mark Richards "Separate Tables" – a prominent literary work of this era.

Swimming lessons at Ilford Baths – in particular the coach journey. Many of the boys contrived to get on the right – hand side of the coach to ensure a good view of a nude bust in the upper triangular window of the house at the end of Aldborough Road South. More than 40 years on that bust is still there ! This bust may be regarded as something of a land – mark; it is a replica of the Venus de Milo and was purchased in 1919 by Mr. Cook, father of the present owner of no 93. He had brought it home, wrapped in paper and string on a tram. The shaking of the tram caused the wrapping to fall away; other passengers looked aghast and red-faced Mr. Cook alighted and walked the rest of the way home. The bust has remained in that window since 1935 !

Pauline Kendall’s ballet shoes

Anne Sheerin’s painting entitled "Dam & Foal "

Kay Emery’s pose – one hand clasping her arm behind her back – a pose on which the teacher commented.
Visit to the Hunting Lodge and High Beach – at least two classes went on this trip. Terry Turner, from the B class found a toad in Dick Turpin’s cave and brought it in to the cafeteria!

Painting by either Francis Ives or John Beard of a German soldier grasping his rifle – Mark Richards commenting on the way the hands had been portrayed and telling us that the human hand is a most difficult subject to capture well.

Poetry with Mark Richards – in particular "Meg Merrilees " and Song of the Western Men, the one about Trelawny and the 20,000 Cornishmen. Special attention was directed towards Philip Taylor who hailed from Cornwall.

Memory No. 2
From:
Martin Eady
(@WT >1959)

Anthea Hay bringing her record player to school for end of term party

Memory No. 1
From:
Susan Adams
(@WT >1959)

Dianne Bowering’s reaction to the news that she had passed the 11+ -running along the corridor towards Mark Richards exclaiming "I’VE PASSED, I’VE PASSED!"

Farewell and Thank You gift of cigarette case [with built-in lighter? ] to Mark Richards. He even lit one up from it in our presence! [Susan did the collection]