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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 7 8<br />
little about us. The Internet is certainly helpful in spreading the<br />
Good News about our Association, and I am always delighted to<br />
read about the fun and joy generated by the numerous year<br />
reunions that have been taking place. Such reunions are clearly a<br />
good source of membership, and I would encourage you, if your<br />
year group has not already organised a reunion, to make every<br />
effort to do so as these reunions will sustain and enhance our<br />
future numbers.<br />
It has been a privilege and great joy to lead the Association<br />
through 2013 and into 2014. Roger Melling will be taking over<br />
the baton from me on March 28th, and I wish him an equally<br />
enjoyable and successful year.<br />
Finally to you and your families, may I wish you many blessings<br />
in the year ahead and may God grant you much happiness and<br />
good health 'till time shall bring all of us home!'<br />
David Sheath<br />
LETTER FRoM THE PRESiDENT<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
12A Bolton Crescent, WINDSOR, Berks.<br />
23rd December 2013<br />
I recently had a Christmas Lunch with my Uncle Ron (who is in his early 80s) and he passed on to me two original<br />
cartoons by his friend (ex Stationer) Frank Dickens that Frank had given to him before he went on to become the famous<br />
cartoonist BRISTOW. Though my uncle did not go to Stationers' he had a number of friends who did. They were<br />
members of the Unity Cycling Club. He is in regular contact with Brian Houghton, who is the President and Secretary<br />
of the Unity Cycling Club. My uncle tells me that Frank Dickens (his full name was Franklin William Huline-Dickens),<br />
is now 82 andd still unwell in a care home in Wantage. Two other ex Stationers' friends were Arthur Pizzey and Peter<br />
Holland. He has lost contact with them and I was wondering if anybody has any more current information about them.<br />
Arthur, I understand, lives in Somerset and took up sailing, becoming Commodore of his local sailing club. Peter Holland<br />
did his National Service after leaving Stationers' in the Airforce with Frank Dickens and my uncle. Brian and Arthur<br />
did their National Service in the Army.<br />
Attending the O.S.A, Carol Service at Hornsey Parish Church, St. Mary's with St. George in early December, gave me<br />
the opportunity to return to Hornsey for the first time in some thirty years and visit the places that I knew so well when<br />
growing up as a boy. I had been confirmed at the age of 11 in the Parish Church of St.Mary, Hornsey, so was interested<br />
to see that it had since been demolished. All that remains apart from the gravestones, is a large tower.<br />
I was very impressed to see how Muswell Hill Broadway and Crouch End had changed; full of restaurants, bistros, coffee<br />
shops and boutiques. No wonder it is a very popular area for house hunters, with house prices at a premium no doubt.<br />
I noticed that one of my former schools – Crouch End Junior – was no longer there and had been replaced by a very<br />
modern housing estate. Hornsey YMCA, where I joined the Youth Club at the age of 10, was still there, though the front<br />
entrance had been moved. I passed by Rokesly Infants and Junior Schools and they seemed pretty much the same though<br />
with a lot of extra security fencing and gates. I travelled on to Mayfield and Denton Roads to see what had happened to<br />
the old school site. The school wall along the side of Mayfield Road was indeed very much the same but I had not<br />
realised that much of the site had been developed for housing leaving only a small park where the terraces used to be. I<br />
also passed by the new Hornsey High School (now Hornsey School for Girls) which has been relocated only a few<br />
hundred yards away from its old site. I am not sure when this happened. (Stationers' took over the Hornsey High School<br />
building in 1971, when the Girls School moved to Inderwick Road. Ed.)<br />
I finished my tour down Memory Lane by going<br />
to see the houses where I used to live. They were<br />
all still there – Mount Pleasant Villas, Glebe<br />
Road, Connaught Road, Stroud Green, and finally<br />
Northview Road. How congested all these roads<br />
are today. All those lovely memories of playing<br />
cricket and football in the streets with my friends<br />
from the neighbouring houses – something which<br />
would be impossible today. All my school chums<br />
have since moved away from Hornsey - many to<br />
the leafier glades and less densely populated<br />
districts outside London. However, Hornsey still<br />
seems to have much to offer and I thoroughly<br />
enjoyed my return.<br />
With very best wishes for the New Year<br />
Yours Sincerely<br />
David Sheath<br />
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