Assembly Hall & War Memorial
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The photo is the Assembly Hall, cum Dinner Room, cum Gym, cum
badminton court, cum scout 'hut' and the venue for umpteen School Societies
and out of schooltime activities. The dais and lectern is where the
headmaster stood during assembly and where the head boy read the lesson
from. The wall tablets behind were the memorials to ex-pupils who lost their
lives in the two World Wars and the boards above recorded the university
honours degrees achieved by pupils from the school. Later achievements
were recorded on more boards, at the opposite end of the Hall.
The double doors opened into a corridor that led to the main
entrance (the large oak portal shown on the Christmas card last year) in
Bond Street. Off this corridor were A,B and C classrooms, the secretary's
office (Norah Mitton in my time, 1950-57) and the stairs up to the
Staffroom, Biology Lab, Art Room, L Room and the Book and Stationery Store.
A further corridor led off at a right angle by the secretary's office
towards the Head's office door, the Junior cloakroom and exit to the
playground or Bond Street. The door to D Room was just out of shot on the
left side wall the other side of the cupboard that can be seen near the
double doors. On the opposite, right side wall, the two flags were the Union
Jack and I think, the Scout Troop's standard. |
During my
time the piano stood between the double doors and the dais and was played by
Dickie Starling, the music master, and after his departure by Roy Perry, a
boy in my form. About a third the way down the hall, there were 4 or 6
climbing ropes suspended from the ceiling and secured in a bunch on the left
side wall. Further down on the left side was the beam apparatus, the box and
pommel horse usually stood in the corner at the front, right side, together
with a few coconut mats. All these obviously pieces of gym equipment used
during PE lessons.
At the far end of the Hall there was an exit on both side walls, one on the
left to the playground, the other to the garden, where the
prefabricated classrooms Q, R, S, T and Physics lab were, and the old
headmaster's house which contained the Library, prefects' and upper sixth
form studies and M and P rooms. The door to F room was on the back wall
together with a central corridor which led to the Physics lab/LVISc
formroom, the Chemistry lab and Ron Illingworth's G for Geography room which
contained a chair that defied the laws of gravity with regard to the angle
it could be tilted (by Ron) without falling over! – from Les Simpson
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On the high-res
photo, it is possible to discern names and dates - including George Cooper's
B.Sc (1924) and M.Sc.(1925) from Sheffield- Editor).... |
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