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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 wife and I find ourselves back in London (approximately twice a year) we always find time to catch up with them both. Finally I was intrigued by the letter from Leslie McBride Singleton a) because he began at Stationers' the year after I did, and b) he had fond memories of Johnny Gore just as I do. It seems his memory is also indelibly printed on your consciousness as indicated by your reference that followed. I don't have Leslie's address but if you can provide one I will happily email a pic of the red book to which Leslie refers. Clearly I'm not prepared to part with the book itself as it is one of the few Stationer's possessions that I have. Sadly my red book does not have the distinction of a gold crest but it was definitely given to Latin students in preparation for O Level. Gore's instantly recognizable red scrawls are in evidence everywhere throughout the book, some marks better than others of course. I would be very surprised if anyone has a spare copy to part with therefore an emailed pic may be sufficient to satisfy Leslie's curiosity. Best wishes Dave Gordon 1957-1964 FROM MY ECCLESIASTICAL Dear Geraint CORRESPONDENT IN THE NORTH peterkmills@talktalk.net 13 October 2014 Many thanks for your updates on your travels – recently received. Here in Haxey and the Parish Church in particular, we were joined about 3 years ago by a couple, Eileen and David Owers. I discovered yesterday that DAVID OWERS had been a pupil at Stationers'!! The only guidance I can give is that David is 79 – and which should help you to approach the records. I will be loaning him the publication you delivered when you called – but when I mentioned the 'Wakefield experience' he was of course aware of the bones of the situation but not of the history of Stephen. Regards Peter Mills Peter Mills, I have known for very many years since he and his wife arrived in Llandegfan, near Beaumaris in Anglesey as the Postmaster in the Post Office in this village many years ago, where my mother had lived since 1973. He was very much involved in the Church in Wales and became my 'adviser' locally on Church matters in the Principality. Then, when he moved to Haxey, near Doncaster, Peter continued to keep me advised, now on Church of England matters, especially as he was aware that the former Bishop of Wakefield, Stephen Platten, was a Stationer ever since he was appointed to become the Bishop. Consequently, Peter has always kept me up to date on much of the major developments and changes in the Church of England and sent me much of the documentation as both he, and I alerted by Peter, kept me updated on a major change on the bishoprics of West Yorkshire. Thus, through cuttings in the Church Times I was able to provide a comprehensive understanding without precedent, of the process of amalgamation of three bishoprics to only one, in the Church of England. Thank you Peter. [Please see Magazine Number 79] Hello Geraint, johnbathurst@sympatico.ca 20 th October 2014 As LES HUMPHREYS (1952-1959) states in 'The Old Stationer No 79 (p 29), he has been unable to persuade me “to stump up a membership”. I have also eluded similar societies, e.g. Northampton Engineering College Alumni and the RAF Association. As usual, Les kindly lent me his copy of the magazine. Finding some interesting stuff therein (notably contributions by JOHN WARD 1958- 1965 and JOHN AANONSON 1960- 1967) prompts me to offer a few rambling comments. However, as a 1938-1943 dinosaur and Wisbech veteran, I doubt many readers old enough to care a fig about them. In 1938, to handle increasing enrolment, construction of the School's wing was underway. First Formers were being temporarily accommodated in classrooms at a decommissioned girls' school of Victorian vintage located on the west side of Oakfield Road, near Addington Road. That meant a trudge back up to the main school for gym, the library, classes such as woodwork and art, army cadet corps parades, and in cases of serious misbehaviour, a chat with 'Josh'. Around the corner in Stapleton Hall Road was St. Aidan's Secondary School where, conveniently, my girl friend was a pupil. She, too, was at Wisbech. We bonded at Muswell Hill Junior School, better known as 'Tin Pot School' (p 22) due to the corrugated-iron cladding of its walls and roof. Built as a WWII temporary school, it remained temporary throughout WWII and then survived two more decades before preceding Stationers', St. Aidans and Hornsey High – where my sister went – into oblivion. (I warned you about this rambling). My attached photograph, taken in the spring of 1939, shows Form 1A of the 1938 intake. This comprised of boys surnames with initials A-H while those in Form 1B were I-Z. Many of the younger OS will remember the above KEITH HEWETT as their schoolmaster while PETER BULLEN needs no introduction. I suspect that COTTRELL was HARRY'S brother GEORGE COTTRELL (p 25). PETER ASKEY, a dry humorist, was reputedly a son of the famous comedian Arthur Askey but in fact he was not. BARRATT and DAVENPORT were our two brightest brains. Also somewhere in the picture were AKERMAN, ANGWIN and BRADLEY. My friend LEO GATFIELD was later at university with me; we were also in the 93rd North London and, at Wisbech, the 2nd Stationers scout troops. The former was under the patronage of St. George's Church (p 21), our pre-war HQ being in the basement of the parish hall at the foot of Cranley Gardens, site of the present church. The hall was half-demolished by Hornsey's first 'flying bomb' on 16 th June 1944. Our temporary HQ was the gatekeeper's cottage of Grove Lodge, the mansion on the east flank of Muswell Hill that was a wartime hospital. There I did hospital orderly and fire-watching duties – the latter referring to incendiary bombs, not living room fireplaces. Also in the 93rd NL and 2 nd Stationers' troops were JOHN SHELDON, who lived on Farrer Road, and JOHN WILLIS on Wood Vale, both ahead of me at school. I recall climbing Snowdon with KEN WILLIS, the latter's older brother, also a Stationer and in the 93 rd NL. I was running the 93 rd NL cub pack in 1945/6, meeting at Rokesly School (p 18). One of the cubs was my brother, ANTHONY BATHURST 1948-1953, later also a Stationer. Our home was in Cascade Avenue, off Muswell Hill. Schoolmaster RODNEY NAYLOR lived three doors from us. (In the group photograph the juxtaposition of BACON and FRYER was doubtless unintentional). Ah yes – the Priory Road area, (p18 et seq). Starting in 1905 there were doubledecker trams running up from Turnpike Lane as far as the shops shown in the picture on page 21. Single-deckers continued up the west end of Alexandra Palace and its LNER branch line station. 24
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 Form1A in 1939: Front Row (7): Downton, Dickens, Bullen, ??, Gatfield, ??, Blurton – 2nd Row (10): ??, Askey, ??, ??, Hewett, Haynes, ??, ??, ??, ?? 3rd Row (8); Ball, ??, ??, Bacon, Fryer(?), Davenport, Cottrell, ?? – Back Row (9): Barratt, ??, ??, Archer(?), Anderson(?), ??, Bathurst, ??, Barrett The twin tram tracks were an open ballasted railway, with an adjacent handrailed footpath, along what is now Alexandra Palace Way. In those days motor vehicle access to the Palace from our side was via the road leading to the former race track (p 22 and map on p 17). There was a similar tram service from Wood Green to the east end of the Palace near the boating lake (p 22). My mother would relate that , as a boy, I informed her that I was going to be a tram driver when I grew up – so that when shopping she could ride on my tram. Alas, in 1938 London Transport (anyone remember what that was?) decided to abolish the trams, at the same time introducing a new-fangled flat-fronted single-decker bus that – gasp! had no conductor to issue tickets. My youthful career aspirations thus cruelly thwarted, I had to make do with studies at Stationers' and London University followed by a life in international Civil Engineering. Having been retired for more than a quarter of a century and outlived three wives, I continue to reside in French Canada (a tip of a hat to 'Beaky' DAVIS) with several bunches of kids, themselves in or near retirement, and a lady friend , all within close range. Sincerely John Bathurst 1938-1945 Not so much rambling as inaccurate, as Muswell Hill Junior School moved to the site of the former Muswell Hill Railway Station and Hornsey High School which changed its name to Hornsey School for Girls on becoming comprehensive, moved to a new site in Inderwick Road N8. Both of these schools have survived to this day! No case of oblivion here! Ed. Dear Geraint ianbrjones@msn.com 10th November 2014 This issue wads of particular of interest to me. For one thing, it was a pleasure to read about Old Stationers' who started school in 1938, as that was the year in which I too joined the school. Also I enjoyed John Aanonson's carefully researched article about Priory Road, not because I ever lived there – I lived throughout my years at the school in Rokesly Avenue and my route was to cross Tottenham Lane, shown as the A103 on the map on page 17, and continue up Nelson Road until turning left on Weston Park and finally up Denton Road. At weekends however, I would regularly walk our dog through Priory Park and out to Priory Road between the tennis courts so as to reach Alexandra Park grounds where she could enjoy a free romp. It was in the pond to the east of the Palace that I taught her to swim or rather revealed to her that she was able to do so by throwing a stick for her to retrieve progressively further away until she was out of her depth. Once we lost each other and I finally gave up in despair to find on returning home that she had somehow managed to find her own way back and to gain entry by scratching on the front door. Turning now to JOHN IVEY's letter about Muswell Hill, I can confirm that it was indeed he who kindly treated his class to an early morning swim in Hornsey Open Air Pool. I was one of the recipients. Although I find it now hard to imagine how I found the energy to do so, I used to swim there regularly before school during the summer months. Kind regards Ian Jones 1938-1945 6140 Topsail Road, Lady Lake, FLORIDA 32159, USA bobpatten89@hotmail.com November 14th 2014 Hi Geraint, If there is a shortage of reunion pictures for edition number 80 next year, the 25
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