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6 April 2009: Page 5

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Whitstable Boys School

The Whitstable Boys School (now Whitstable Juniors) in Oxford Street has always had a reputation for sporting performance and we have collected quite a few photos of its football teams. However, none date back quite as far as this gem kindly forwarded by Chris Nutten.... 

It is described as the "Oxford St Board School Football Team of 1914".  

As you will see from our school history page, the name "Board School" stems from the fact that the school was established by the town's Local School Board back in 1877. The title distinguished it from the many private and church schools in the area. 

"School Boards" were the forerunners of local education authorities and prominent local people were voted onto them by the electorate. The Education Act of 1902 abolished the boards and replaced them with county education authorities - in our case the Kent Education Committee. At that stage, many people started to call it "The Council school" and, even later, "The County" . However, some diehard locals refused to accept any form of change in terminology. Thus, even as late as 1914, they still used the title "Oxford Street Board School" even though it was technically incorrect by then.

Chris's photo is fascinating. Just look at the design of that football.... complete with banana skin leather panels! The striped shirts may surprise a few people but, as you will see from our "school team" page (click here to view), the striped design actually survived at the school into the early 1920s.

I also find myself looking at some of the pupils and allocating them to local families on the basis of facial characterstics.... but I won't publish my findings! At this late stage, I doubt that we will be able to name many of them but we ought to be able to come up with some ideas for the two teachers.

The teacher on the left looks like a teacher from any era... BUT the severe looking one on the right would be less easy to accommodate in a later era! Strewth he would frighten the life out of me and I wonder if he was the headmaster, George Kirkby. Kirkby was the school's longest serving head - occupying the hot seat from 1883 to 1923. However, I suspect that, by 1914, he would have looked somewhat older than the dapper gent in the photo.

Another possibility is that the teacher is a later headmaster.... Mr William Henry Metcalfe who ran the school from 1931-1935. The school's centenary booklet, Bell, Book and Boys, describes Metcalfe as "a thin man who sported a pencil thin moustache and often wore tweed plus fours and a flat cap". Was Mr Metcalfe a teacher at the school before becoming the "main guy"?

Once you have resolved these identity crises, you can address another problem. Where in the school grounds was this photo taken?   

Update on Another Boys School Team....

In our last Chat Column, Chris Nutten supplied an Oxford Street Boys School football team photo from 1928/29..... and named all the players!!!!.... 

Remarkably, we received quite a bit of correspondence about the team - 80 years after the photo shoot! Cliff Cuttelle (son of Charlie Cuttelle) wrote from Thailand to tell us that the players were wearing gold and black kit rather than the school's traditional red. Meanwhile, David Smith (son of Charlie's good friend Wally Smith) wrote from Middlesex to provide an even more remarkable story. David told us that 12 of the 13 players met up at the school for a reunion photo 50 or so years on. This is the photo of that reunion from his family album.... 

We believe that the players are in virtually the same positions as the 1928/29 picture.

The Endowed School? - But When?

To date, we haven't managed to collect a great deal of data relating to the Endowed Girls School but Ian Johnson may have started to put that right by contributing the photo below....   

I say "may" because neither Ian nor I can say categorically that it is indeed a photo of Endowed pupils. However, the gym slip uniforms look right and the photo may have been taken at the school's front entrance - behind Barry's hair salon in the High Street.

Anything that our readers can tell us about the shot would be most welcome. Can we come with a date and any names? 

Endowed School - 1950

That's the difficult Endowed question out of the way.... now for something that might prove a little easier. Chris Nutten has very kindly sent us this gem from 1950.....

It was obviously taken at the front of the school alongside St Alphege Church and Chris can name one of the pupils because his sister Pat Toby (née Nutten) is the seventh young lady from the left in the back row.

Now, I reckon that our lady readers should be able to name most of the particpants.

St. Alphege - 1947

The last time that we featured a photo from the St Alphege Infants school, it dated from the 1920s.... but, now, Chris Nutten has provided one that will be a little easier for our readers to describe. It was taken in 1947 and Chris starts us off by identifying his brother, Ronnie - fourth from the left in the back row.

The other names are up to you lot out there!

Comments on St Alphege - 1947

We have started to receive messages on the above item....

Westmeads Infants

Ian Johnson has sorted out some lovely old shots of pupils at a school that we suspect was Westmeads Infants. The first is believed to date from around 1926/27 and it comes with some information as Ian tells me that his mother started a list of the pupils. The list appears to have been produced during a discussion with one of her friends as it contains two sets of handwriting.... 

The location in the school grounds isn't easy to determine as the shrubs on the left have long since disappeared! However, after some thought, I wonder if it was taken on a small area of playground at the northern face of the school building with the camera pointing south. This would mean that Cromwell Road is just a few yards away to the left and the shrubbery later became the area of current day lawn between the school and the roadway. 

Ian's second photo (below) comes from the same era and it was obviously taken at the same location...... 

If anyone can name the children, please let us know. The same applies to the third photo below.....

The shot was taken at another section of the premises - probably along the eastern wall of the school in the area of playground that runs parallel with Stream Walk. This location is the same as that used for a photo contributed to our last Chat Column by John Wraight (click here to view). I know... because I've examined that black air vent on the right of both pictures..... and even counted the bricks between window frames!!!!

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The Argyle/Soderberg School....

As many of our readers will know, we have a substantial article on the Argyle School of Nelson Road (Click here to view). It was run by a wonderful character called Effie Soderberg and we now believe that it operated from the 1920s until the early 1950s. It appears to have started at the Methodist Church Hall in Argyle Road where it probably acquired its official title of The Argyle School. However, it later moved to Nelson Road and became more popularly know as The Soderberg School.

Our photographic record of the school has now been enlarged by a photo kindly sent to us by Chris Nutten....

It dates from the 1930s and shows Effie Soderberg on the left and her assistant, Miss Sutton, on the right. We can also name one of the pupils as the lad second from right in the back row is Chris's uncle, Ron Foad.

Our Thanks

Our thanks for the above material go to... .... Chris Nutten.... Ian Johnson... David Smith.... and Cliff Cuttelle. We will new set about the task of re-writing our School's section to incorporate the extra material.

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