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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 of tanks was held up and it transpired later that two enemy 'Panther' tanks, thinking that it was one of their retreating units, joined the column, but were soon knocked out by an infantry man with a 'Piat' anti-tank gun. Dusk was approaching when the leading tanks ran over mines set by the Polish Airborne, but happily there were no casualties. We dismounted and spoke to the Polish troops who gave graphic accounts of their recent hand-tohand fighting and how they swam across the river when outflanked. The village of Driellay was opposite to where the British 1st Airborne had landed. We found a billet in a deserted house with a cellar next to the embankment. During the night the area came under heavy shelling so much of the night was spent in the cellar. The next day an attempt was made to get a DUKW - a 'Duck' or an amphibious truck into the river but the operation was abandoned as it became bogged down in the soft mud of the riverbank. That night I spent the small hours of the morning on guard. I wandered from the house to stretch my legs. When I was in the middle of the road a star shell turned the pitch black of the night into day. I stood stock-still feeling very exposed and hoping that I would not be spotted, but it soon went out and the night returned to peace and darkness. During the day we watched 'Dakota' aircraft, flying nose to tail and very low, dropping supplies to the beleaguered Paras on the other side of the river. We received instructions to take a Polish Brigadier back to Nijmegen. That meant going straight back along the road we had come along, with the possibility that it was under surveillance by German troops. We put the Brigadier in the eo-driver's seat, which was vacant, and commanded by the Troop Leader, went hell for leather down the road. Unfortunately fallen overhead telegraph wires that festooned the road caught the commander across the mouth, knocking out some of his teeth, but we pressed on. After arriving at Nijmegen with the Brigadier we were told to go back along the road to Driel. Next morning we attacked towards Arnhem along the top of the embankment, but had to withdraw because of the heavy enemy opposition. General Horrocks, XXXX Corps commander, went up the church tower at Driel and decided to abort the operation. We went south of Arnhem to what was described as 'the Island' and harboured in an apple orchard. When we were leaving the house we had been staying at Driel, the Troop Leader warned everyone that the clock in the china display cabinet was not to be looted. I forgot my small pack and had to go back for it. Exiting the house I noticed that the clock was very conspicuous by its absence. 4th Troop survived Operation Market Garden relatively unscathed, but our luck did not hold. By November our tank had been destroyed by enemy action, the other surviving tank destroyed, another of our comrades killed and four wounded including myself. 4th Troop ceased to exist. Hugh Cecil Newton 1933-41 The Stationers' Crown Woods Academy It was a real pleasure to see such a large turnout of Old Stationers at the formal opening of the Stationers' Crown Woods Academy (SCWA). Some were surprised at the level of the turnout, but others understood the strength of feeling that still exists about the closure of our school and the need to see at least some of the values, experience and, yes, traditions that we have amassed in our lives, shared with the next generation. Having been involved on the edge of the process to form and fund the new school, it is very clear to me that the Stationers' Crown Woods Academy has a great chance of being one of the most successful schools in the country. It has ambitious goals, great leadership, good governance and solid backing from the educational authorities that oversee and manage it. The Stationers' Company has committed to providing not only significant financial support but also professional guidance and direction. There may not be much of an opportunity to catalyse support for either Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspurs, but the students are already receiving broad support and encouragement from members of the Stationers' Company as far as their future careers are concerned, particularly in those industry sectors benefiting from digital technology. From recent feedback, it is clear that this form of help is being well received and there is a massive opportunity for the OSA to play its part. The age gap between Old Boys and young students is not blocking progress. We have so much to give in the form of our time, ideas, contacts in the work place, donations of equipment and, of course, our money to be spent on specific projects. The first in-kind donation in the form of photographic equipment has just been made and I am proud to say it has come from an OSA member. One day, I would like to see the SCWA organise an Old Pupils' Association along the lines of the OSA, the re-emergence of our school's Cock House Cup to recognise success within the new school, the singing of a school song which embodies the ethics of determination and friendship as ours does, frequent visits by OSA members to the new school to assist in projects, career guidance and, maybe, shared sporting activities(?). Everyone who attended the school opening was stunned and moved by the singing of our school song at the end of the ceremony. It demonstrated the unreserved support for this bold endeavour by those who stood on the school platform and sang. We have so much to give and there is a school out there that is ready to welcome and receive our support, in whatever form it is offered. Tony Mash 18
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 CORRESPONDENCE 65 Glemsford Road STOWMARKET IP 14 2PW 27th July 2014 Dear Geraint Thank you for your card – great to hear from you after all these years. I am home from hospital now after a 6 week stay and concentrating on my recovery which will take a few months. Progress is slow but positive. You asked about years at Stationers'. I was there from 1959-1964, following my brother Barry who was there 1955-1960. As you said, I was a keen footballer for the Old Boys and played occasionally for the cricket team. I got married in 1972 and moved out to Bletchley (now absorbed by MK), then to Chelmsford and to Stowmarket in 1982. The only contact I have with contemporaries is Pete Jarvis, 1962-1968, although he was not in my year (he is younger than me!) but we became friends playing football at Barnet for many years. Pete and Mad our son's godparents. Thanks again for your card, it was really appreciated. Yours sincerely Graham Eldridge Geraint peterlack@blueyonder.co.uk 27th July 2014 There seems to be misunderstanding concerning the background to the SCS closure. Sadly, it stems back to the Company's financially necessary but unforeseeing decision to opt from 'Voluntary Aided' to 'Voluntary Controlled' Status. While 'Voluntary Aided' the School could not be touched; once it was 'Voluntary Controlled', Haringey LEA from 1967 had total power of decision. When secondary numbers reduced, Haringey needed to close a number of secondary schools and chose SCS, less I suspect for political reasons than because for the building's age rendered it the most expensive to maintain. We must remember that Hornsey County School was shut down in the early 1950s and Tottenham Grammar later followed, although of the latter there still survives 'The Tottenham Grammar School Foundation', which disposes of its funds to chosen educational good causes. Keep up the fine work. Peter Lack 1947-1955 Peter is quite right it was the Company's decision which started as a statement made by the Company in the early 1940s and rumbled on through the 1950s and into the final decision being made by the Company in the early 1960s against the strong advice of S.C.Nunn, Headmaster from 1936-62, before Robert Baynes was appointed in 1962. Remember the Company sold a building on Ludgate Hill in 1956 for £650,000 with the reason given to support a school in Hornsey. They would have to find a maximum of £25000 out of a cost of £100,000 for the new laboratories, with Middlesex County Council finding the rest! £25000 was a figure of less than 4% of the sum of the £650,000 received for the sale on Ludgate Hill. Tottenham Grammar became Somerset School and with 150 less pupils and an academic record much inferior to Stationers' was allowed to survive! Ed. Hi Geraint p.jam.jarvis@hotmail.co.uk 27th July 2014 Am forwarding herewith (I hope) a good picture of a building many OS will be familiar with. It was passed to me by one of the ladies at the BBCC who is a bit of a local (Enfield) history buff and who thought we might be interested. It was provided by Constance Webb. Best regards Peter Jarvis This was used by all pupils at Stationers' Company's School from 1942 till the School closed in 1983. One of the final football games played at Winchmore Hill was the Stationers' Former Playing Fields Pavilion at Winchmore Hill Staff Team against Enfield Grammar Staff just before Easter with a pupil of Enfield Grammar playing the 'Last Post' in the centre circle of the 1stXI pitch. This was one of five football matches played in that Festival of Football Week arranged by Marsden Hubbard, Head of PE at Stationers'. Ed. richard.braithwaite@manchester.ac.uk 28th July 2014 Dear Geraint I note a couple of references in the latest Old Stationer to Ashford Avenue, a short cul-de-sac which projects into Priory Park. This brings me to a vivid memory of an occasion when I was a third former at the School in 1944. I was in the garden of our house in Wolseley Road, near the top of the hill, with a good view of the Lea Valley across Hornsey and Wood Green. A loud staccato noise like that of a motor-bike without a silencer announced the arrival of a cruise missile ('V1', 'doodlebug', 'flying bomb'). I watched it come in from my right, then tip over and dive steeply to the ground. It exploded with a vivid orange inverted bowl-shaped flash, followed by a rapidly rising mushroom of black smoke with bits of debris whirling about. This V1 was the one which landed in the very centre of Ashford Avenue and destroyed most of it. All that was left relatively undamaged-looking were the four houses at the corners of each end of the Avenue. Those who lived in the rebuilt houses years later might be particularly interested in this memory! Best wishes, Richard S.W. Braithwaite. 19
Page 1 and 2: No 80 /February 2015 The Old Statio
Page 3 and 4: T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o
Page 17: 70th Anniversary of Operation Marke
Page 35 and 36: WHY WE SPEND NEARLY HALF THE YEAR I
Page 39 and 40: My first excursion to Norway was pr
Page 45 and 46: PETER BULLEN 1927-2014 A Service of

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