Dear Denyer-s
Strange it is how ones memory plays tricks.
Wonder why I have always remembered Cookham as where the School was Jean attended?
Cannot ever remember her going to or from school?
We went to the School right in Bourne End itself.the Homestead was not a school 1945-47
a shop that sold buns opposite it.
On Fridays it was woodwork class & the school for this was somewhere the other side of Loudwater.
I detested woodwork so most times never attended, instead played on chalk hills, got covered in chalk so possibly got a hiding when I returned home.
Its worth noting that corporal punishment was the norm at that time... The cane or ruler at school; The belt & cane in the home.
I guess it was required to keep a mob of unruly boys inline.
and we were unruly at times...
I remember with others breaking into launches tied up on the river bank & throwing what was most likely expensive stuff into the river,
Then a common pastime was to try to derail the Marlow Donkey... Thankfully we never succeeded.
Sadly most of us there knew we were unwanted so to speak, so our antics reflected this.
Jean might remember her aunt bred dogs; spaniels I think.She might also remember the small island not far from the back veranda & most likely the smelly cesspit alongside.
On Friday`s I worked in a butchers shop making sausages, Stanis worked in the Chemist shop.
some of the matrons rules were strict...
One was we couldnt put our hands in our trouser pockets, they were sewn up.
Then after church on Sunday we had to drink Cenna pods...So spent very painful moments on the toilet seat the rest of the day.
I wrote a few years back some notes on living at the Homestead.
If Jean would like them I could send by email... providing of course there is an email address, we could compare notes so to speak.
For sure some of my memory is distorted, I was just 11 yrs old when I went there and 12 1/2 yrs old when I left..
I would also like to see some of the photo`s if possible.
I live in WA Australia so there is no chance I could pop over.
I would say Reene was the matrons sister, there was no one else there while I was.
cheers Don McDouall