OSAmag78

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