OSAmag78

T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 7 8
Martin Brown reminisced with
Tony Moffat regarding an event
when they were at Holloway
College for their "A" level biology.
Tony insisted that Martin should
stand up and repeat it to the
whole group, much to our
amusement. Martin did promise
me, on our way home, 3s 6d not
to print the story in this article.
However, Martin, I'm not sure
you'll now be able to persuade us
all to get up next year and tell a
story of Stationers' days. How
could we follow that!
Before people started to leave we
broke into song again with a
good rendition of the composite
verse. As I left at around 6pm (I
think) there were 4 hardy souls
left at that time.
Roger Engledow
Those present: Martin Brown, Roger Engledow, Doug Fussell, Bob Harris, Tony Hemmings, Mike Hiron, Ray
Humphries, Graham Ling, Tony McKeer, Roger Melling, Tony Moffat, Richard Phillippo, Geraint Pritchard, Brian
Simpson, Ian Smith, Roy Stevenson, Bob Townsend, Mike Weatherly, Peter Weeks, Andy Wick.
REuNioN oF 40 YEARS – 1973 iNTAKE'
On Saturday 21st September 2013, a small group of the 1973
starters at Stationers' met in Mayfield Road opposite the former
St. Luke's Church, forty years on from the month of September,
1973. A walk into Stationers' Park brought one to the Fourth
Terrace, no longer looking like a sloping area of tarmacadam
with numerous football pitches up and down the slope, but today
an area of trees, grass and footpaths. It was possible, along a
narrow path to reach towards the site of the Lower School
Building, taken over from Hornsey High in 1971 when Hornsey
High School (now the Hornsey School for Girls), moved lock,
stock and barrel to a brand new building in Inderwick Road. At
that time Stationers' took over Girls' Building in Weston Park as
the Lower School from that year, for years one and two as
Stationers' had increased to 1000 pupils. This building also had
more modern Science Laboratories than the Upper Building, as
pupils who attended Stationers' pre 1970 will know the Upper
Building as the Stationers Company's School. Chemistry was
taught on the Lower School site and Physics remained in the
original laboratories in Mayfield Road. Art was also taught in
tthis building as well as Technical Drawing. There was little
vestige of the original Girls' School on our visit, as facing
Weston Park is a block of flats, known as Abyssinia Court,
named after the former public house in Inderwick Road where
one or two small roads in Hornsey Vale once existed. These flats
cover the gardens that once were sited in front of the Girls'
School. A new Primary School is also on this site today facing
Denton Road. Only the Gym from the Lower school survives to
this day.
Retracing our steps southwards, again passing behind the edifice
that once was St.. Luke's, we made our way back into the Park
and went up the hill as far as the houses that stand on the former
site of the Upper Building. The exit from the Stationers' Park
was made by a gate into Denton Road below the position of the
Huts for third year forms. The high wall used for playing fives,
going up Denton Road was still standing as before, having stood
the test of time without being demolished as a reminder of the
eastern boundary of Stationers' Company's School. The walk
was made up the steep part of Denton Road observing the
position of the Gate immediately below Room 22 in the tower
of the 1939 extension added on to the original 1892-1894
building. Here was the entrance for those pupils who came on
the 8.05 from Potters Bar and walked from the station along the
Hog's Back, a walkway banned in later times. It was also the exit
for those on late departure at the end of the school day because
they had been detained in Room 15 with 'Gus' Thomas, for an
extra forty minutes for some misdemeanour; often more minor
than major as sometimes detentions were doled out like confetti!
perhaps to keep JHT company.
Continuing our stroll up to Ridge Road, we turned right and on
the flatter pavement reached in a short time the top of Mayfield
Road. The Amann Family lived in Number One. I believe father
and son had attended Stationers' and Charlie Street and his wife
lived in Number Three. Besides being the caretaker for the
School, there was a time that Charlie was the Staff Goalkeeper.
Houses stand on the site of the School Entrance and the whole
of the site of the original 1894 School. However, the brick wall
hiding the Rifle Range is also still standing, which brought us
back to the starting point in Mayfield Road. The difference
today from yesteryear, is that vehicles are parked nose to tail on
both sides of Mayfield Road from Weston Park to Ridge Road,
with one lane in the middle and very little opportunity for two
cars to pass each other anywhere than at each end of the road.
It was an interesting pilgrimage but even for those who left in
1980, it was thirty three years ago, and for me there was little
nostalgia as I had seen the destruction of the fabric and the brick
and concrete being actually demolished in the 1980s. It had just
left me cold on that winter's day seeing Room 16 open to the sky
as the building was torn apart by the swinging battering ram.
(Robert Baynes Book on the School). Today, was a reminder of
what had taken place there for hundreds of Stationers' pupils
over the period from 1894 to 1983 and most of them have much
to thank their alma mater for the education they received within
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