Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Thomny

Pages: [1]
1
Sussex / Re: Wedges Camp
« on: Sunday 10 March 19 21:02 GMT (UK)  »
Here is a list of teachers from the time I was there:
Headmaster Mr. William Booth; Deputy Headmaster Mr. Wood; Mrs. Wood; Mr. Matthews; Mr. Morris Chalk; Mr. Wheeler; Mr. Stanley; Mr. Felstead; Miss Shoreland; Mr. Les Bolton, (Bully Bolton); Mrs. Bolton; Mrs. Campbell; Miss Dixon, Mr. Banyard.

Thomny

2
Sussex / Re: Wedges Camp
« on: Thursday 07 March 19 04:08 GMT (UK)  »
Some more reflections on my stay at Wedges: Mr. Chalk (Chalky) kept canaries in a caged in section of the front veranda of dorm 6, he brought them and took them away again at the end of each term.

During my first term I remember going on a walk to Five Oaks and getting lost on the way back again. When I did get back, the entire school had finished their evening meal and were in watching the film. The teacher who discovered me wandering back said they were just about to send out a search party for me. The thing is, where I lived in Portsmouth we didn't have a lot of opportunity to see so much woods and forests and Wedges presented many opportunities to do a little exploring. Some of the hikes we went on were really exhilarating. One teacher (name forgotten) would tell us  stories he experienced whilst travelling in Europe to places like Mount Vesuvius & Rome. He knew a fair bit about volcanoes.

Thomny


3
Sussex / Re: Wedges Camp
« on: Tuesday 05 March 19 23:49 GMT (UK)  »
One unique feature of Wedges was their education system. The day after arrival, all the pupils would sit for the same exam in order to find out their education level. Then the following day they were placed in classrooms according to their marks. This would mean that younger students would be combined with older ones in almost every class. It had to be done this way as neither the school nor the pupil knew whether they would be coming back for another term, let alone another year.
So, after spending two years at Wedges, I was in a completely different zone after returning to my regular school. It took another two full years for me to catch up and come near the top of the class.
What many of us enjoyed was the Saturday evening film night, sometimes there was a film in a series, each one being complete with a little girl called Angela as the star. Another program was the Sunday night TV show Mr. Left & Mr. Right. There were two white gloves on a black back ground showing us how to make origami models. After each one, everyone wanted to try their hands out at making them. This was a very different type of TV. It was a box that projected the film onto a screen.
Mr. Stanley was the art teacher, he also taught pottery. I remember one boy made a beautiful swan in his pottery. His hands seemed to put it into shape effortlessly.
I also remember people saying that Mr. Booth wrote nature articles for the “Eagle” comic. I was never in a position to see any of these and all of the searches for even the magazine on Google have been fruitless. I had seen it in the newsagent as a child but never had the money to buy it. So, if anyone has even one copy of Mr. Booth’s nature articles – it would be a pleasure to read.

Thomny

4
Sussex / Re: Wedges Camp
« on: Monday 04 March 19 20:57 GMT (UK)  »
I too attended Wedges School for six consecutive terms starting with the last term of 1953. I also have a class photo with Mr. Felstead the teacher in the pic. A cook was leaving and took the picture on her last day and sent a copy for all the students in class. I also will never forget what someone referred to as "Bully Bolton". One morning I never heard the breakfast bell as I was in the forest down by the lower field with the swings. When I realized I was late and charged up to the dining room all out of breath, Mr. Bolton smashed his hand against my head and sent me flying across the floor. It took a little while before I could stand up. Apart from that I did enjoy the school as there were some very good teachers there. How about Mr. Matthews who taught woodwork and "Old pop Wheeler" whom Mrs. Wood made a song about: "Old pop Wheeler's got a puncture in his tire and he mended it with chewing gum". Would like to hear from anyone who was at Wedges during any of the six terms that I was there. I was in Dormitory 5 for 2-3 terms and Dormitory 6 for the rest of them.
Thomny

Pages: [1]