1951 Roy Barker R.I.P.
I was at Mayfield Boys from 1947 until Christmas 1951. Mr. Bennet, a Welshman, was one of my Form Masters. Another Welshman, Mr. Davies, was a dab hand at administering the slipper for those minor misdemeanors.
I loved woodwork and had Mr. Stanford for one year before he retired. Mr. Marriot, who took over from him, used to cycle to school on a dropped handlebar ‘Claud Butler’ bike. He lived in a house that backed onto the Ilford Lane end of Barking Park. For P.E. we had Mr. Aston, a very tall teacher. Mr. Fankland started as a second P.E. teacher. I met my old art master, Mr. Goldwin, in the 1960′s when I lived in Hutton, near Brentwood, he was living nearby in Shenfield.
The old prefabricated classrooms come to mind, just inside the railings, by Goodmayes Lane. They were heated with old fashioned coal burning stoves, fenced off in the corner of the room. Those rooms could be very cold in winter. The newer prefabricated building housed the metalwork workshop where Mr. Saunders taught us to work with metal and plastics. One of his favourite sayings if you did anything wrong was, ‘I will drop on you from a great height’.
Some of my classmates from those times were, Derek Chambers and Arthur Poultney (both very good at drawing), David Cracknell, Owen Bristow, Brian Lock, and John Popplewell. We had two Peter Wilsons in our class and for the purposes of calling the register one was known as P. Wilson, the other P. D. Wilson. I met John Lock some years later when I went into his electical shop, in Green Lane. There was also Jeffrey Humphries, who I have since met a number of times as we were both Members of ‘The North Essex Caravan Club’.
If anybody out there remembers me I would be very pleased to hear from you.
Hi Roy,
I well remember you, being in the same class at Mayfield. Our first form-master was Mr Wade and the last in form 4L was Mr Ivey for those of us who were leaving in December 1951. I didn’t do too much work in that form as I seemed to be assisting the school secretary Mr Young most of the time in my capacity of Senior Prefect. I have a photo of you and I in a race on a Sports Day – I was in Wood House – were you in Park?
Yes I agree with you over Mr Davies and his use of the slipper. I well remember him almost hiding in the corridor watching us marching to the music room ready to pounce on any offender. John Lock was the form comedian and guaranteed to cause a laugh especially in the dining-room. Mr Buckley was our master in form 3 and our class-room overlooked the girls playground where I would peek at every opportunity to try and see my girl-friend Betty Youles. Mr Hicks to me was the epitome of the hard disciplined head-master stern but fair. I saw a different side to him however when he took us on a an excursion to the Festival of Britain in 1951. He was very relaxed and approachable and I really enjoyed the visit.
I worked in an office in the City when I first left school, did 3 years in the RAF, drove buses and tankers and did a short stint in the Essex Police before emigrating to Ausralia in 1964 and made a career in sales and marketing. Had a year back in UK in 1974 before returning to Melbourne. I live in the glorious Yarra Valley and come home to UK every 2 to 3 years. Was last ‘home’ in Sept/Oct 2010.
If any of our other class-mates read this would love to hear from them.
Best regards Peter Clarke
Hi Peter
Sorry to have left it so long getting back to you, I have only just checked the Mayfield website, after a very long lapse. It was lovely to hear from you, along with all you recollections of those days. I like you, didn’t do too much school work in form 4L, as I was helping to construct an extension to the stage in the hall, to make it deeper.
Incidentally I was in Field House, unfortunately not the most successful of houses to be in. I remember Mr.Buckley as a rather tall slim man with a rather large ‘Adam’s Apple’. I agree with you about Mr. Hicks, as you say firm but fair, I liked him very much, although I did fall foul of him once, I got the cane once for talking in class, in my early days at the school. Fortunately this did not prohibit me from becoming a Prefect in later years. I met him once after leaving school, in the car park near Bodgers, he was genuinely pleased to see me, and asked me what I was doing with myself, a very sociable man.
I was an apprentice instrument maker at a company, Kelvin Hughes, in New North Road, Hainault for five years. Then did my National Service in the R.E.M.E.as a vehicle mechanic, working on Centurion Tanks at the end, before returning to K & H, eventually becoming a Planning Engineer.
In 1970, I left the company and started working for myself and back to my first love, woodwork. I got quite busy so I took on a partner and we worked together until we retired in 2002. At our peak we had 20 employees working for us. Early on in our association we ran a Pet Shop, taking over the staff along with the shop, we ran this alongside our existing business for around 8 years.
Well I think that’s enough from me for now, I must keep my eye on this website rather more frequently in future.
My very best regards to you Peter, and thanks for getting in touch.
Roy Barker