Our Comment: Thanks, Stephen. Of course, we get a lot more hot air in Britain because we have lots of parliaments - in England, Scotland and Wales. Sadly, we don't yet have names like "beehive". So, perhaps, we could invent a few.... The Bagpipe (Holyrood, Scotland), The Gas Leek (Wales), The Chapel of Rest (House of Lords) and The Gas Bag (House of Commons). ;-)   

Our Comment: Thanks, Graham. It's strange how snow in Whitstable catches the imagination all around the globe - even for people who have 5 times as much snow in their home towns. Some years ago, someone wrote from Canada to say how much they appreciated seeing a White Whitstable. They then explained that they had been clearing snow off their roof because it was in danger of buckling their rafters. I suppose it all comes down to a touch of nostalgia and the fact that snow is so short lived in the old town.  

During today (6/2/12), we had a bit of a thaw and this started to make it all look a bit messy before temperatures dropped below zero in late afternoon. However, apart from on main roads, there is still a white covering everywhere. Four inches is going to take a few days to clear completely. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Robbie. I'll have to leave the Dickens question for our proper historians. However, I do seem to recall a Visitors Book discussion that linked Dickens to Vine Cottage in Island Wall and it seemed to involve an outside toilet. I wonder if it was the inspiration for Hard Times? 

I will see if I can find that VB entry. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Yvonne. I am glad I didn't wake you up!!!! The camera is a Pentax Kx - an entry level SLR that, for me, matches the Canon and Nikon equivalents. You can get whizzy with it but all the shots on 5 February were taken with it set to "fully automatic" or a simple "night setting". It's then just a case of "point and click". I am afraid I am not really into the science or art of photography.... so I won't be taking any shots of "seagulls on breakwaters". ;-)

Our Comment: Thanks, Chris. The cold weather is fine for a few days (particularly over a weekend) but we are told that it could last several weeks. Of course, it's not just the UK that is suffering. Central Europe is experiencing incredibly low temperatures and snow has even reached Mediterranean locations such as Rome and Majorca.

Funnily enough, braving the elements at 5 am wasn't as bad as it sounds. When snow falls, there is often a slight rise in temperature. With the wind abating, it really was quite pleasant. It was also nice to be able to walk around free of traffic and noise.

One of the reasons that I don't take as many photos as in the past is that it is difficult to capture scenes free of parked cars, skips, estate agent boards, wheelie bins, upturned litter bins, scaffolding or disintegrating roads. At least the snow removed or masked some of this stuff! ;-) 

Our Comment: Thanks, Barbara. I gave up listening to Clarkson years ago... so I am not sure what he has been saying about the Isle of Sheppey. My main problem at the moment is gearing up for the massive showdown with the Scots when we finally get to discuss the makeup of our big island rather than how a referendum should be arranged. Alex Salmond (SNP) is about as effective as a bagpipe in a vacuum. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Bob. I can't believe youngsters today. They seem to have plastic sledges. What use are they? Back in the 1950s, we had "home made" wooden ones with steel strips on the runners. Boy, did they zip down Duncan Downs at a rate of knots.

Our Comment: Thanks, Terry. We do get more snow than some counties - probably because we get some continental influence. However, we don't get what we used to get. I seem to recall winters in the 1950s when snow came above the top of wellies.

PS Why don't people make Moon Boots anymore? They are so warm and cosy but mine are about to give up on me!!!  

Our Comment: Thanks, Anthony.

Our Comment: Thanks, Tony.

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. You can take the "headmaster" out of the man... but you can't take the man out of the headmaster.

Our Comment: I tell you what, Michael. Thanks to my involvement with Simply Whitstable, I have become absolutely brilliant at TV quizzes!!! For example, I can name all the state capitals in Australia!!!! However, I did come unstuck the other day when a quiz posed the question..... "Which country has a parliamentary building called "The Beehive". Now why didn't you rotten lot in NZ tell me in advance? ;-)

I am now off to find Kentucky on a map!!! I have to keep up with these things, you know!! ;-)  

PS If anyone is wondering what NZ's beehive looks like, imagine a Dalek standing in a hole.... or visit the relevant Google reference by clicking here .

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. Was your oral conducted by Dr Jekyll.... prior to you meeting Mr Hyde on your first day? ;-)

Our Comment: Welcome, Anthony. I am sure most of our older readers remember Tankertons Rustics. The company operated down at the North West corner of Westmeads rec - making garden fencing, sheds etc. I seem to recall that they had a large, open air, creosote pond into which the wood was dipped. A couple of my neighbours worked there - Barry and Malcolm Dunn.

Your house must have been the big white one that took a chunk out of the rec. It was surrounded by  a high fence and hedge. Behind the fence was a large border collie.

Keep visiting because you may get some Tankerton Rustic and other relevant memories cropping up from other people. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. The Butler Education Act is briefly described in our history of Sir William Nottidge School (click here). It did several things....

• It separated junior and senior education with the split implemented at age 11

• It established a tri-partite system of free (ie non-fee paying) senior schools - Grammar, Tech and Secondary Modern

• It introduced testing at age 11 to channel pupils into schools most appropriate to their skills and abilities

The whole scheme took some years to implement and progress varied considerably between the three senior school types. This was because not all the required schools were available at that time. Secondary Moderns were a totally new idea and had to be built from scratch. In fact, the Sir William Nottidge Secondary Modern didn't arrive until 1952. The Tech schools never arrived in great numbers at all and eventually became the forgotten facility due to lack of investment.

Grammar Schools were the first to adhere to Butler's vision. This was because the schools already existed and could, therefore, be incorporated quite quickly into the new "free" State system. I now understand that the Langton ceased to charge fees on 1 April 1945. Towards the end of 1945, it started to accept pupils from both the Canterbury and Kent Education Authority areas based wholly on aptitude and ability.

I suspect that your entrance to the school would have been under these arrangements, Brian. It seems to me that the exams you sat were an early form of Eleven Plus rather than a scholarship in the original sense of the word. However, by the time I took the Eleven Plus in 1959/60, it had become much more of a short IQ-type test rather than an academic one.

The whole set up achieved partial success. It enabled people from any background to enter the academic world of grammar schools and universities. However, things went badly wrong in some respects. Rather than directing kids into schools that suited and could develop their individual talents, the Eleven Plus became regarded as three tier system of success (grammar school), partial success (Tech) and failure (Secondary Modern). That was wholly wrong.... and it was made worse by the fact that children were never properly re-assessed as they progressed from age 11 to age 15. 

It wasn't all good for Grammar Schools either... because, in many cases, their buildings were old and decrepit. It was some time before many of these establishments gained new school buildings and facilities.

On a personal note, the whole set up sent me into a 7 year identity crisis at the Langton!!!! It's an interesting case study and it all started at Oxford Street Boys School. My dad was a bright guy who worked as railway shunter. We had two books in the house - a book about General Wolfe (which no-one read) and the Enquire Within (which everyone dipped into at times for out-of-date information)!!!!! It was a good upbringing but not an academic one. The Oxford Street school gave me a solid grounding in the three Rs (but not much more) and the teachers told me that "at best I might go to the Tech".

Then came the Eleven Plus IQ test. Not only did this send me to Grammar School, it placed me in the A-Stream at my first choice school - the Langton. My mum panicked when she saw the list of stuff that had to be bought from my dad's weekly wage of £10 and she didn't understand some of the descriptions of the equipment!!!! (What the hell was a vesper? Was a straight edge a common old ruler?)

When it all started, I struggled badly. I was way behind other pupils in academic subjects and, of course, I couldn't compete with their boasts that their dads were managers, teachers, architects, vicars etc etc. 

By the fifth form, I was competing on reasonably equal terms academically... but NOT in terms of social status. I remember one boy putting me down over my so-called "cockney accent". But perhaps the greatest "put down" came in the lead in to A-Levels. We had to complete our applications for university but these had to be checked by teacher in an open queue of pupils. To my personal shame, I dreaded it because I had become ashamed of my dad's occupation and lack of income. Shortly before the ordeal, I overheard two rather snobby pupils discussing their applications and one said... "Wouldn't be awful if you had to say that your dad was a dustman". 

At that moment, I tore up my application.... whereupon, apart from giving me some forms to join the armed forces, the Langton washed its hands of me!!!!!

The point I am making here is that Butler's vision needed more than free education, new school buildings and Eleven Plus examinations to succeed at any level of the tri-partite system. It needed sensitivity and understanding.

Do I regret not going to uni? Not really... but I do regret temporarily disowning my super parents. Fortunately they never knew and, hopefully, I repaid them in the years that followed as I found my own way without the Langton and learned to appreciate people for their extensive merits. Throughout it all, I maintained good friendships with my mates at the Nottidge. This is why I probably feel more affection for the Nottidge than the Langton. I like to think that it also helped me to appreciate all people for what they offer to society. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Phil. Can anyone confirm that the Honours Board is still located in the entrance hall and still contains the full list of head boys?

It would be nice to locate that book. I would be fascinated to know what uniform the school used in the 1940s and what the school buildings looked like. By the time I joined the Langton in 1960, the old school building had been demolished to make way for the massive Riceman's department store. Many of us watched Ricemans rise from the ashes while we were waiting for the No 4 or No 5 bus. There was great excitement when it finally opened. Of course, it has now, itself, been demolished - replaced by the extensive Whitefriars shopping centre.

Your comments on the Langton are fascinating because they reverse things quite a bit. I should also mention that, although the school was "fee paying", it did take scholarship pupils - including some of our readers.

PS Did the Langton become "free" immediately after the passing of the Education Act... or did it take a few years to implement the new system. I have a feeling that some of our Langton readers of the late 1940s might have been scholarship pupils. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Terry. One of Chris Rieu's greatest assets was that he was a deep thinker with a great sense of fairness. He would take a problem away and mull it over before committing himself to a decision. For the most part, the outcome was ingenious, progressive, just and pleasantly surprising. The Langton gained enormously from this. However, on occasions, his thinking went too far and the outcome could be over-theorised, somewhat bizarre and even just plain ol' "wrong". This is why I often refer to him as "enigmatic" and "difficult to read". Kids do "ingenious", "progressive", "just" and "pleasantly surprising"... but don't necessarily understand "bizarre" or "wrong" much beyond labelling it "bonkers". ;-)   

Chris always seemed to have an inner turmoil that left him struggling with and, sometimes, fighting his own thoughts. One incident has always stuck in my mind. I had started the school football season well in 1966/67 and put in some good performances in the first two matches - against the large grammar at Bexley and near neighbours Faversham GS. However, I received a serious ankle injury ( tendons) in the latter game and it collapsed on me again a week or so later in the Kent Schools Trial held at Borden Grammar (Sitingbourne). Canterbury hospital strapped it all up with a massive sticky plaster from toe to knee. However, because most of our good footballers had left at the end of the 5th year, we were short of players and I carried on playing  - putting in some very modest performances amidst the pain! To be honest, that 1966/67 1st XI was the worst football team I ever played for and that was my worst ever season. 

At the end of the term, Chris objected to me getting my school colours. It seemed fair enough and, whilst initially disappointed, I accepted it. However, some of the other players and, possibly a teacher, had a word with him and he changed his mind. I never felt happy about that and didn't bother buying a school colours tie. Chris spotted this and ticked me off.... to which I replied that, as I hadn't been considered for my colours in the first instance, I didn't feel justified in wearing them. His reply was..... "There are enough moral issues around this place without you creating another one, Taylor". Even today, I wonder what those moral issues might have been. In the meantime, I never did wear a colours tie!!!!! Sporting dignity wasn't the personal monopoly of head teachers or the old! It belonged and belongs to everyone. So do injuries.... because, after retiring from the football pitch, the tendon problem swiftly returned as muscles became less utilised and I still hobble around to this day. ;-)

Our Comment: Many thanks, Ian. I wouldn't worry too much about the Langton stuff in the Visitors Book. There is plenty of space for all subjects and people can skip past headings that are of no interest to them.

I had forgotten the staff involvement in the Tory Film saga. I seem to recall that they kept quiet in the lead in to it all and then "went public" after the boys kicked off.

You make an interesting point about the Langton becoming "non-fee paying" after the Education Act of 1944. As I said, I reckon the school went through a bit of an identity crisis in the 1950s and 1960s. Chris Rieu seemed to have ideas for a new order but, like you, I do wonder just how much conflict there might have been with a Board of Governors and an Old Langtonians Association that were deeply rooted in the old fee-paying era.

When I talk to some Old Langtonians from my schooldays, I get a very different picture from the one that I recall and have since mused over. I even wonder if Specsavers now do a natty line in Rose Tinted spectacles!!!! ;-)

I also wonder about Chris Rieu's role. Perhaps he was more "Gorbachev" than "Yeltsin" when it came to introducing the Langton's very own glasnost (openness), perestroika (restructuring) and demokratizatsiya (democratisiation)!!!!  He bravely opened the door to change and progress but was he uncertain about how far he wanted or would be allowed to go? 

Ultimately, did his own background (firmly rooted in the environment of the public school system and his own specialism of the classics) act as an anchor to the chain of progress. Was he also constantly looking over his shoulder at the raised eyebrows of the establishment? I guess we will never know the answers. I would love to have interrogated him about 20 years ago!!!!! I had so many things to say and so many questions to put to him if we could finally have met on a level playing field!!! I would have enjoyed that!!!! One thing is certain, however. He wouldn't have remembered who the hell I was!!!! ;-) 

Our Comment: Thanks, Michael. Yes.... the Sportsman has worked hard to establish quite a culinary reputation and now holds a prestigious Michelin star rating.

It's certainly a far cry from my childhood days of the 1950s. On a sunny Sunday evening in summer, our family would cycle out there and have a drink and a packet of Smiths crisps (with blue salt bag) on the grass outside the pub. My dad would have a "half of mild", mum would have a shandy (made with light ale) and we kids would have a bottle of Star with a straw. You don't see mild and light ale much nowadays as lager has overtaken them. And, of course, you don't see Star (of Essex Street) soft drinks either.

Our Comment: Thanks, Terry. Your comment, "I am not sure that the school would have wanted parents, governors, etc. shoaling round on a tour of inspection whilst the school was open for normal purposes!", brings back some memories of an incident some time around 1964 and I wonder if any other Langtonians remember it.

It started when the headmaster (Chris Rieu) announced in assembly that a camera crew would be visiting the school during normal hours to produce an election advert for the Conservative Party. He explained that the new school was built during the time of a Tory government and that all political parties tended to want to outline their achievements if they could identify any. He didn't express a view either way on the process.

Anyway, a certain element of the pupil population took exception to being filmed by a political party of any persuasion and organised a running guerilla war with the camera team. This included anti-Tory messages scrawled on blackboards and a refusal to appear before the camera. Although the demo was fairy confined and I never actually witnessed any of it, the camera crew withdrew and, as far as I am aware, the film was never made. We all awaited the backlash from Chris but it never came. He arrived in assembly and simply said that he respected our right to privacy and our non-political stance. He added that it would have been different if the school buildings had been filmed at a weekend or during the school holiday.

The school certainly wasn't a hotbed of radical socialism. In fact, it run its own general election at that time (in order to accustom pupils with the processes of democracy) and, not surprisingly, the Conservatives won by a substantial majority!! Looking back, I wonder if Chris was  unhappy about the filming but had the whole thing imposed on him by the Board of Governors.

Trying to gauge the likely reaction of the enigmatic Mr. Rieu was always a tricky business. When I was in the sixth form, Chris decided to make a change to the annual inter-house Cross Country competition. Rather than selecting a small team of runners from each house, he had the "jolly wheeze" of sending everyone on the run. Older boys decided to rebel by wearing fancy dress - something that Chris seemed to enjoy as an "even jollier wheeze".

When the gun went off , the keen guys all shot off along the declared route. However, a large chunk of older boys (me included) marched across the field whistling "Colonel Bogey" and disappeared through a hole in the hedge. This took a good quarter of a mile of orchard and farmland out of the simultaneous equation. The gym teacher (Mr Marks) spotted the Great Escape from the distant cricket pavilion and started the chase. We broke into a full gallop and turned into the Nackington Road where a beaming Chris Rieu was standing at the first check point. He was also a very puzzled headmaster because we were vying for first place with one of the county's best runners (ie Davis) despite the fact that we had the handicap of wearing fancy dress. 

Apparently, his mood soured when  Marks arrived to give him the lowdown. That verbal report obviously slowed Marks down and we managed to get ourselves around a bend in the road where we decided to make another unscheduled detour through an orchard. As a result, Marks didn't catch us until we had passed through the farm yard and were approaching that horrible valley and wood. He held us back until everyone had gone past and then let us go... whereupon we hopped over a wire fence and crossed the valley at a different point - knocking another mile or more off the course.

There were supposed to be nine or ten check points but we only saw about three. When we got back to the school, we played fair by owning up to our misdemeanours and disqualifying ourselves. The staff were beside themselves... which, if you think about it deeply, is the best place for staff to be in a close knit academic community. However, we expected Rieu to be more sympathetic to our "even  more jolly wheeze". He wasn't!!! Next day, all miscreants were summoned to the lecture room where he delivered a very stern lecture.... and told us that we had to do the run again. It was great because we missed more lessons and Marks had to come with us. I hated Marks... partly because he wasn't Tony Brimacombe and partly because he couldn't play football.

Mind you, even the Great Cross Country Escape didn't blow Rieu's gasket quite as spectacularly as the Great Prize Giving Fiasco. The Prize Giving was an annual event for which we were all herded into the west side of the hall while parents and dignitaries were herded into the the eastern side. Once settled, we all watched the "same old" people going on the stage to collect their same old prizes. At the end of it all, the head boy gave a yawn-inducing speech to enthrall his parents and the rest of us fulfilled our sole function in life by singing the School Song and National Anthem.

It all led to something of a rebellion with paper "order of ceremony" airplanes floating about and various comments made as the procession of teachers made their way to the stage. The School song, "Forty Years On When Afar and Assunder" was rendered with considerable disinterest and some of those that did bother to sing it amended the words to "Forty Years on With a Fart Like a Thunder". To be honest, it was "out of order" and quite disgraceful.

The next day, we awaited the backlash.... but it never came. For that matter, neither did Chris Rieu. The deputy head (Trotman) took assembly for an entire week and nothing was said. We thought Chris had emigrated..... but, finally, he deigned to appear. (C'mon down, my son....the time is right. Let's be 'aving yah). He explained that he had been absolutely furious but felt that it would have been unwise to speak in anger. (Why not? He had done it before!). He had now calmed down and wanted to detail his thoughts in a considered manner. One of his thoughts (delivered with a detectable "smidgin" of residual anger) was that "if we didn't like the school song, we should write our own new one before next year". 

In the week leading into the next Prize Giving, a somewhat irritated Rieu announced that we had been positively lacking in our song writing capability and no new song had been fothcoming. (What was he expecting? This was the Swinging Sixties and we were competing with Lennon-McCartney and Tony Hatch!!!!). As a result, he declared that the Prize Giving would end with only the National Anthem in B Very Flat Minor. At this point, a friend whispered... "And next year, he'll want us to write a new one of those".

To be honest, I preferred Chris Rieu when he was angry.... because his more thoughtful and tortuous rebukes were delivered with all the excruciating pain and anguish of a Malcolm Muggeridge lecture on the meaning of life. They lasted an eternity during which he stuttered, stumbled and paused his way through a carefully selected vocabulary without ever making eye contact with his juvenile miscreants. It was the academic equivalent of water torture with every drip, every word, every clause and every sentence being meticulously hacked out of philosophical granite before our very eyes and ears. Why didn't he select his words before making an appearance rather than rummage through the bowels of the Oxford English while exposed to an audience with a limited life span. ;-)  

What memories!!!!  Looking back, I just feel that the school was going through some sort of identity crisis brought about by the collision of pre-war tradition and post war enlightenment. At the time, I didn't give it much thought because I was going through my own identity crisis brought about by the Langton!!! I spent seven years at the school not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Assessments of schools are always going to be subjective. During the 1960s, I thought the place was a case of..... 80% excellent teaching, 10% bad teaching and 10%  tradition-inspired b******t. What made it a "good school" was that those ingredients and proportions provided a recipe that was marginally better than many other similar establishments in terms of generating academic achievement. ;-)      

Our Comment: I wish all problems could be solved on Simply Whitstable, Ron.... because we might be able to help sort out the Belmont squad. Heaven knows what's going on down there at the moment but the end result is a bit of a horror story. As you can see below, The Reds lie in 19th place  in the Ryman League Division 1 South...... 

(* 10 pts deducted from Croydon Athletic for financial irregularities) 

That's just a couple of steps up from the two relegation places.... and, unlike last season's relegation battle, Whitstable's performances appear to be getting worse as we head towards Springtime. 

Despite changing their manager a few weeks back, they have achieved one win and six defeats in their last seven games. During that time, they have conceded 23 goals at a rate of over 3 per game. In fact, reviewing the season as a whole, they are very much the league's whipping boys as they have conceded 68 goals at a rate of 2.6 goals per match. In all fixtures to date, they have conceded "3 goals or more" on no fewer than 14 occasions. 

That new manager has brought in a few new faces but his squad has been decimated by injuries and suspensions. He hasn't had a chance to find a suitable blend or develop a system and the club now staggers towards the "sharp end" of the season without a settled team and without confidence.

Nevertheless, there is hope... because there appear to be two "EVEN WORSE" teams in the division -  namely Whyteleafe and Croydon Athletic. (NB I'll stick to just the two for the moment as Whitstable have recently managed to lose matches against a couple of other strugglers -  ie Burgess Hill (2-3) and Walton and Hersham (0-5)!!!!!)

Croydon Athletic are almost certain to finish bottom of the league. Just before Christmas, they were fined £7500 and deducted 10 points for a breach of rules relating to payments made to players under written contract. As a result, they now have just 2 points from 19 matches and have been "cut adrift" at the foot of the table. Worse still, their management team has left and all their matches are now being postponed by the league authorities.

For Whyteleafe, the problems are very much on the pitch. Their recent record is appalling. They have picked up just one point from their last ten matches - a sequence that includes a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Whitstable back on the 3rd of December.

So, Whitstable may not have to do too much to stay in the Ryman League. If they DO avoid relegation, they will almost certainly enjoy derby matches against Herne Bay once again. The Bay are storming away with the Kent League title and are destined for promotion. One thing is certain.... I DO NOT WANT TO LOSE TO THAT LOT NEXT SEASON!!!!!! ;-)

Addendum: Whitstable are away to mid-table Sittingbourne today and expect to have some of their senior players back from injury and suspension. Hopefully, this will be the start of a concerted effort to climb out of trouble.

Our Comment: Thanks, David. I am sorry you are having problems and I hope your email to the KCC gets a sympathetic hearing. I presume that you have raised matters with our local KCC councillors (Mike Harrison and Mark Dance)  and CCC councillors  for Harbour Ward (John Wratten and Phil Cartwright).

Obviously, I cannot comment on the detailed circumstances that you have outlined but I do have general worries about the proposed new town centre traffic scheme. By making the town centre one-way northbound and leaving Cromwell Road two-way, the latter will inevitably carry more traffic and much of it will be heavy goods vehicles. I also suspect that there are other residential roads that will suffer increased traffic volumes when they are not designed for it. This is going to arise from the closure of the northern entrance to the town centre and the pandemonium that will arise when everyone tries to use the diabolical southern entrance.

Inevitably, the location and character of certain roads means that they need to serve as through routes rather than just be residential. However, as far as I am concerned, such roads should attract special monitoring and special funding because they serve the whole community. I wish I was a bit more convinced that this is happening. Apart from Cromwell Road, other thoroughfares such as Railway Avenue, Belmont Road and Saddleton Road are an absolute disgrace. If I was a councillor in these areas, I would be ashamed.

In the traffic proposal plan submitted to the Canterbury Joint Transportation Board, the following statement appears....

"It is proposed that Cromwell Road should remain two-way for its entire length. Cromwell Road needs to have significant strengthening works undertaken before additional traffic can be routed onto it. At present the traffic calming that was constructed in the early 1990s channelizes the vehicle tracks and in places narrows the carriageway to single track traffic. Traffic modelling will need to be undertaken to determine the volume of additional traffic that is likely to divert to Cromwell Road before an assessment can be made of whether the traffic calming should be retained, or removed when the resurfacing works are undertaken".

I wonder if any wholescale "strengthening works" will now have to wait until someone gets around to sorting out the overall town centre scheme. That could take ages at the current rate of progress. We have now been waiting for a town centre scheme for half a century... and I do wonder if some people are hoping to retire before the latest plan is implemented and put to the test in the real world!!!! However, you have to admire the sense of humour of officialdom. In the early paragraphs of the proposal document, you will find this boast....

The proposed town centre scheme.... "provides an opportunity to ease traffic flow in High Street and improve the pedestrian environment in Harbour Street with less disruption to Cromwell Road than other schemes that have previously been discussed". 

Let me recap here. The scheme involves... landing Cromwell Road with extra traffic so that it can become the main "two-way" artery through the town..... subjecting it to major strengthening works.... removing or revamping its current traffic calming.... possibly upsetting its parking arrangements.... and probably causing a permanent traffic jam at its junction with Oxford Street. And this is the "less disruptive option". Heaven help Whitstable if the relevant authorities ever go "uncaring" on us and opt for the Full Disruptive Monty in the future.

When I see statements like that, I wonder if the authors have ever visited Planet Earth... let alone Urban Whitstable. There is also another issue that has me bemused. The penultimate paragraph of the document is as follows.... 

"These proposals have been formulated in consultation with a working party comprising Canterbury 4 Business, the Whitstable Chamber of Commerce, local County Members and Canterbury City Council. Wider consultation with residents, businesses and local organisations will be required so that any additional issues can be addressed.

Notice that it mentions "local County Council members" (ie presumably Mr Harrison and Mr Dance) but merely refers to Canterbury City Council rather than "local CCC councillors". So I'll ask for the umpteenth time....... 

1. Were Whitstable CCC councillors ever involved in the consultation?....

2. If not, why not?

3. Why is Canterbury4Business considered to be a major player ahead of others - possibly including local councillors? 

4. What options were discussed at the consultation meeting(s)?... AND

5. Where are the minutes? 

Can anyone provide an answer to these mysteries? 

In fact, it's difficult to spot much effective Whitstable representation on that working party and what there was was heavily biased towards the interests of town centre traders. If you tried visiting the Canterbury4Business web site, you wouldn't find too many obvious Whitstable participants beyond a representative from the Whitstable Chamber of Commerce - particularly at the time that the working party was active. Try visiting the Whitstable Chamber of Commerce web site and you won't find one.... because the Chamber hardly exists as a credible entity these days - possibly because the local business community can't even agree on the need for or location of a "Christmas Light Switch On" let alone such monumental things as a Whitstable traffic system. All this explains why we now share (and part-employ) Herne Bay's town centre manager in order to do what, many moons ago, the Chamber of Commerce did for both itself and Whitstable in general. So much for the creation of David Cameron's "Big Society" and a reduction in the "Nanny State"?

Amidst it all, I wonder just how much concern the so called "working party" showed towards the residents of Cromwell Road or, indeed, any part of Whitstable that wasn't called "High Street" or "Harbour Street". Yes.... the discussion document does say that local people and organisations would be consulted.... BUT that was AFTER the working party had discussed options in some private backroom and formulated a single solution. That solution was then offered to the Joint Transportation board so that a whole load of councillors from Canterbury, Herne Bay and "The Sticks" could deploy their expert knowledge of Whitstable in helping to make a decision on our behalf.

I don't envy you your task, David.  

Our Comment: Thanks, Ian. The relevant visitors book page can be viewed in a separate window by clicking here. The entries discuss participants in that fire brigade wedding of 1929 and some family links. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Garth. That ties in with the addendum to my reply to your earlier message and the photo of the furniture shop in Cliff Court's "Around Whistable in Old Photographs" (ISBN: 0-7509-0398-8).

Our Comment: Thanks, Garth. For the benefit of our readers, I have included a link to the relevant ebay entry (click here). 

I know nothing about A J Kirby's shop and the photo doesn't give many clues as to its precise location. However, it does look as if Mr Kirby converted an existing building when he set up his business and, at that time, there weren't many to choose from in the small hamlet of Church Street. As you say, the most likely is the Olde Forge. This was located alongside the lychgate on the site of modern day All Saints Church car park. My quick sketch below shows the approximate position...

(NB I am not sure if all the buildings existed at the time the forge was operating. It is possible that the current day vicarage was a later addition. Ivy House Cottage was demolished (circa the 1960s) to provide access to a new housing development - ie Ivy House Road).

If anyone has a copy of Cliff Court's "Around Whitstable in Old Photographs" (ISBN: 0-7509-0398-8), they can view the forge on page 146. As you will see, the building matches the later furniture store in many respects - ie footprint, height, "timber wall" construction, "shape and type" of roof. However, if the buildings are indeed "one and the same", the position of the chimney may suggest that the photos were taken from opposite sides of the structure. Cliff's photo of the forge was clearly taken from Smeeds farm looking up towards the Monument pub (see the red arrow on the plan above). It's just possible that the ebay photo was taken from the vicarage side looking along the side of the old forge building with the Monument pub (or, possibly, Meadow Croft Cottage) visible in the background (see the purple arrow). On the other hand, if that building in the background is All Saints Church rather than the Monument pub, someone may have added an extra chimney stack at some point. If so, the green arrow may show the angle the photographer chose for the furniture shop photo. 

I think the "green arrow" theory is probably right but I am sure some of our readers will be able to come up with a firm answer. 

Addendum -Problem Solved:

The question appears to be sorted. On page 135 of Cliff Court's book, there is a later photo, taken in 1929. It shows a wedding procession (including a fire engine) outside the lychgate. Clearly visible are the verger's house to the the right and the furniture shop building in the background. The shop has the additional chimney stack that had me worried regarding photo angles.  

We can now conclude that the furniture shop WAS the old forge and that the ebay bay photo was taken in line with the green arrow on my plan. The front of the shop would have confronted the All Saints flock as they made their way from the pub to the lychgate.... or vice versa!!!! ;-)

PS Cliff points out in his book that, at that 1929 wedding, the bridegroom (a fireman) was taken to the church on the fire engine. Meanwhile, the father of the groom was dressed in the uniform of the 1st Whitstable Scouts - complete with shorts, mountie's hat and neckerchief. Now, in 2011, I was a father of a bride and, in 2012, I have to be the father of a groom.... both appointments have caused me to argue over wearing tails, waistcoat, winged collar and a cravat-thing. However, I now feel that I have been let off lightly compared to that poor bloke back in 1929!!!! ;-)

Our Comment: Many thanks, Sarah-Jane. I wonder if those bell pulls are still there?

Our Comment: Thanks, Chris and Rosie. It would be nice to get some photos of Seasalter Old Church - both inside and out. And, of course, a few shots of that strange organ would be "a must".

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. By the time, I arrived at Westmeads school in '54, all those medical nightmares were conducted a short distance along the road at the Masonic Temple.

Our Comment: Thanks, Ian. That clarifies things nicely. For the benefit of anyone new to the town, I would just like to add to your comment about All Saints being "in the back of beyond". 

All Saints Church is actually located in an area that is generally regarded as "original Whitstable". It was a hamlet - built on high ground and overlooking the swampy marshland below. However, the hamlet never expanded because a new community sprung up along a ridge of slightly raised ground in the middle of the marsh. This ridge eventually formed Oxford Street and High Street and became the Whitstable town centre of today. 

This left a large area of open land between the new community of Whitstable and the old hamlet of All Saints and this was still the case in the late 19th century. Much of it was the flat marshy ground of the Gorrell Stream flood plain and the main road link was a mere country lane called Church Road. Due to the local geography, that thoroughfare didn't even provide a direct route. To avoid flooding, it skirted the marshland along the town's southern foothills and later became three modern day roads - Bridge Approach, Old Bridge Road and Belmont Road. (See Brian Smith's articles -  Whitstable Name & Place and The History of the Whitstable Shoreline Sine 1287 ).

Tankerton had also still to be developed at that time and it remained a vast swathe of open fields. Thus, All Saints was very much isolated from its main flock in the town centre. I suppose it was okay for the richer members of society who had horses and carriages but for the poorer people it wasn't the most convenient of locations in mid-winter snow and mud!!! So, it is not surprising that the church was keen to develop "missionary outposts" nearer the people. This presumably led to the development of St Peters and the Church House... under the control of All Saints.

From "1900 to the 1930s", things changed. Development spread across the Gorrell flood plain (ie Railway Avenue, Westmeads Road and Station Road) and the massive Tankerton estate was built to give us  new residential roads such as Castle Rd, Queens Road, Fitzroy Road etc etc. By the mid 1930s, All Saints could happily agree to St Peters acquiring its own separate parish in the town centre. However, despite the fact that the hamlet of All Saints was no longer isolated, it retained its village feel. This was thanks to  a fringe of green in its immediate vicinity - ie Londons fields and the dairy meadows of Smeads and Manor farms. These fields didn't actually disappear until between the late 1950s and early 1970s when roads such as Summerfield Avenue, Ivy House Road and All Saints Close were constructed.

The revamping of the All Saints parish wasn't the only ecclesiastical change brought about by the fast developing Whitstable town centre. On the western side of the district, Whitstable was served by the medieval church of St Alphege - based right out at Seasalter and even more "back of beyond" than All Saints. As Brian explains in his "Whitstable Name & Place", this was replaced in 1844/1845 by the St Alphege church we all know today - in the middle of the High Street.

The new St Alphege was curious because it was on the very eastern boundary of the Seasalter parish and in danger of treading on the domain of All Saints. However, it was in a much better position to serve the main mass of the local population. 

It's interesting to note that, whilst both St Alphege and All Saints were isolated from the rapidly expanding Whitstable town centre, their  solutions to the problem were quite different. All Saints set up outposts and eventually a new parish of St Peters whereas St Alphege simply "upped sticks" and moved. Mind you, as Brian Smith explains, the decision was probably made easier for St Alphege because its Seasalter building was falling into disrepair whereas All Saints was the area's premier church building.

Amidst all this, I would like to throw in some other related thoughts about Whitstable of the past. I would suggest that the All Saints manoeuverings in central Whitstable weren't just a matter of making things more convenient for its flock. 

For a start, it was in danger of losing some of its flock and power to its Anglican colleagues at the new St Alphege. Worse still, non-conformist chapels and missions had sprung up all over the town centre and new Anglican churches were needed to combat the threat. And it wasn't just new churches. Non-conformists were offering social and community services and state education had arrived to provide "non-religious" teaching. So, the CofE drive had to provide halls and schools because the traditional Anglican church wasn't as flexible as the multi-functional buildings of some of the non-conformists .

In looking at various aspects of Whitstable history, I have been surprised at just how many people in the maritime industries became non-conformists - possibly because they lived in the town centre and came under the influence of the non-conformist chapels. Non-conformist preachers (some of whom were part time lay preachers) may also have been closer to the people than CofE clergy -  not just in terms of geography but also in terms of mindset, social status, social class and experience of everyday life.  

Our Comment: Thanks, Julia. I am not sure if the Church House was actually the main Parish Hall of All Saints or a missionary "outpost" but your thinking ties in with Ian Johnson's latest message (see above) in which he points out that St Peters didn't become a separate parish until 1935. Thus, that part of Whitstable was under All Saints jurisdiction during the late 19th and early 20th centuries despite the fact that St Peters church was in the process of being established.

I totally agree with your point about government inspectors who don't take the time to understand local issues when called upon to decide planning appeals. We have now got to the stage where local authorities simply rubber stamp planning applications because they know that a planning refusal will be overturned on appeal and an appeal is an expensive business. I now have a daily reminder of this nearby - the diabolical, three-storey, Lego nightmare currently rising like a "Vulture from the Ashes" of the old Crosslands Garage.

However, I would also enlarge on your comment that important local decisions should be made by local people. To me, that doesn't just mean that Government Inspectors should mind their own business. I also reckon that Herne Bay and Canterbury councillors should also be told to "butt out"!!!! ;-)  

Our Comment: Many thanks, Ian. It's a fascinating account of the Church House... and I love the milk toast of Charles Bartlett. 

I had no idea that the Church House was an All Saints (rather than St Peters) initiative. 

If we enlarge an extract of the first photo, we can see the date "1905" above those windows in the roof space. This is just a year after Westmeads school opened on the opposite side of Cromwell Road. Westmeads replaced an infants school in Albert Street. (NB Readers can gen up on the Albert Street establishment by clicking here and studying our article)

The close proximity with the school may be pure coincidence in that Cromwell Road was simply the latest area of Whitstable development and land was available at reasonable cost. However, I wonder if there was a more political reason that was tied to the fact that Westmeads was a state rather than a church school.

If anyone is interested in the background to my thoughts, they might like to study our article on the history of Oxford Street school (click here). The Oxford Street school(s) (boys, girls and infants) arrived in 1877 as our first state etsablishments and they were run by a local school board. They were supposed to be "religious free" but there was some rather unsavoury infighting as the Church of England and non-conformists tried to grab control of the board. (In some parts of the country, it was even worse with political groups, such as Marxists, trying to get involved in state education. There may well have been a maxim of "control education and you control the future" - one that might have applied to feminism and political correctness of the late 20th century? ;-).

The Education Act of 1902 replaced the local school board and placed state education under the control of a Kent Education Committee. Within two years, the KEC had extended education provision by opening Westmeads. Worried by the growth of state education in competition with its own St Alphege Infants and Endowed Schools, did the Church of England want to set up a religious outpost right outside the gates of Westmeads?

Another question also arises. Why was the Church House an All Saints initiative rather than a St Peters one. After all, St Peters Church of Sydenham St was much closer. Well, a contributing factor might be that St Peters was still trying to establish itself and simply didn't have the influence or money for such an escapade.

St Peters started in 1870 in temporary and relatively modest surroundings. It set up a mission in Albert Street at the back of the Temperance Hotel of Woodlawn Street (then known as Harbour Place). The Temperance building served as the vicarage. 

From 1902, St Peters started to establish a larger replacement church in Sydenham Street (ie the current day site). Initially, this was a corrugated iron structure. I believe the original Bexley Street mission was then abandoned to the non-conformists who ran it as a chapel until it was eventually demolished in the latter part of the 20th century. The Temperance building became the popular Waverley chippie of the 1950s and is now a Chinese Takeaway.

With all this going on, St Peters had more to worry about financially than constructing a hall opposite Westmeads Infants in 1904/05!!!! So, they appear to have left that to the more established, influential and wealthy All Saints. Why would All Saints want a new Cromwell Road outpost just a couple of hundred yards away from a new church being established by their colleagues in Sydenham Street. It may have been something to do with parish boundaries..... but, as I have said, I still wonder if a new generation of potential Christians beckoned from the gates of Westmeads !!! It would be interesting to investigate that matter. In the meantime, just call me an ol' cynic! ;-) 

To complete the story, St Peters slowly improved their Sydenham Street building over the ensuing decades by adding and replacing elements. In doing so, they used more substantial and expensive building materials. By the 1920s, the church was pretty much the brick structure of today. Along the way, the corrugated iron effort was sold to the 1st Whitstable Scouts who relocated it to Acton Road and, for many years, used it as a Scout Hall. Most of us oldies will remember that hall in Acton Road - particularly as, at different times, it was painted in very striking colours - green or maroon depending on the era!!!! In recent times, the scouts have replaced it with a wooden building. 

A while back, we had an SW article on the Bexley Street Chapel. It included photos kindly supplied by Margarett Emery (nee Darby). Those photos were taken by her father, Wally, and show stages in the demolition of the chapel. The article disappeared from SW when we lost our old web space but I will try to re-construct it.

Our Comment: Thanks, Peter.

There was an error in my "site note" below and the link to our SW page on the Nottidge badge didn't work. I have now fixed this and suggest that anyone following the discussion takes a look at that page (click here).

The description of Rev. Nottidge's coat of arms definitely seems to fit the school badge. Until now, I had wondered if Sir William gained his knighthood as a result of his work for the KCC and registered a relatively new coat of arms. However, if he was indeed related to the Rev. Edward Nottidge, it seems that he probably inherited it.

Your message certainly resolves some issues because my illustration was taken from a very small black and white coat of arms on some SWN headed notepaper. I had to enlarge it and add colour from memory. The crest (ie the bit above the main shield) was my biggest problem because it had never been included on school jackets. It only appeared on school caps and they didn't last more than a couple of years at the school before they were disposed of on the old railway line or halfway down Millstrood Road cemetery!!! ;-) 

I suggested that the crest (ie that top bit) contained some red but I didn't know how much. Burke's General Armoury now indicates that it was mainly red - so I will have to re-edit the drawing. It also helps us enormously to know that the crest was a boars head. I am afraid my rough picture made it look like an oven-ready chicken.... but, as my artistic skills extend to colouring but not drawing, it will have to stay that way until someone can find me a better picture!!!

I notice that Burke's doesn't mention the "book" on the chevron or the motto " Spurn Not Age".  I wonder if these were specific additions made by the school in consultation with Sir William. The book looks cramped and somewhat uncomfortable on that chevron and the motto (a somewhat unfortunate and largely meaningless play on words) seems incompatible with the humour of a 19th century man of the cloth from a rural parish in Essex.

We are certainly making progress as it was only a little while ago that I thought the badge included two boxing gloves, a "hanging dead sheep" and an oven ready chicken. Now, we know about boars heads, fleeces and wheatsheaves. Can anyone find the relationship between the Rev Edward Nottidge of Essex and Sir William of the KCC?

PS If anyone wants to get hold of a keepsake containing the Nottidge coat of arms, they might like to visit the Renovate Your World web site where an antique silver epergne (ie a bowl above three candlesticks) is being sold for a mere £7500. It bears the Nottidge coat of arms as granted to the "Rev. Edward Nottidge, Rector of Black Notley , co. Essex". 

Our Comment: He certainly didn't go unnoticed a few years ago, Mike. He wrote some sort of review of modern Whitstable in a major newspaper (possibly the Evening Standard) and he was very critical of the town. This caused a backlash which hit the headlines of the local papers - with various local people (particularly town centre traders) having a right old "howz-yer-father". Some of it was quite spiteful with recommendations that, if he didn't like the town, he should stay in Wimbledon. Someone even picked up on one of his other (unrelated) articles and had a go at him on the internet for criticising the Da Vinci Code in a book or film review... although I really don't know what that had got to do with anything!!!

The problem was that Whitstable had received glowing comments from the broadsheets for some years and some people couldn't come to terms with criticism. It was a shame that they couldn't sit down and see if any of his points had some validity.  

I remember writing an article in the SW Chat Column at the time. I agreed with quite a few of the comments he had made. I also said that I too thought the Da Vinci Code was rubbish. In fact, when I saw the film version I fell about laughing every time that mad monk appeared.

When the furore dissipated a little,  a local newaspaper reporter spoke to Sewell and learned that he had visited Whitstable as a child and he was now very sad at the changes to the beach. Him and me both!!!!!

Now look what you have made me do, Mike. A section of Whitstable will now confine me to my house. Of course, they are going to need a b****y big padlock to keep me in!!!! ;-)   

Our Comment: Thanks, Yvonne.

Our Comment: Thanks, Martin. We have a lot f common ground here. I must also point out that I was talking about the 1990s and I really don't know how the schools compare in modern times.

At that stage, Barton Court was recommended to us as it was smaller and less impersonal than the other schools. It is so important that parents consider the nature and character of their offspring. A school may be brilliant for one pupil but not so good for another. At the end of the day, if you choose the right place a child will prosper and make just as much progress as children at other schools.

Our Comment: Thanks, Ian. As you say, this tends to show that the badge "extract" on a standard Langton jacket is NOT a griffin. So, I think we ought to kill that theory fairly quickly... particularly as a griffin with no wings and the head, mane, body and tail of a lion isn't a griffin. It's..... A LION .

There is perhaps another reason for not calling it a "griffin". That bottom left quadrant of the Langton badge (containing the lion of England and the three black choughs of Thomas Becket) is a direct copy of the Coat of Arms of Canterbury - minus a crown and the patriotic City motto of "Ave Mater Angliae" (ie "Hail Mother England"). So, strictly speaking, I doubt that the questionable pedigree of Our Leo is actually a Langton issue.

You can see this by visiting the Canterbury City Council web site (click here). However, the council raises another problem... because, as Neil Baker pointed out a while back, it describes our "lion" as a "leopard" even though it has no spots and a head that is a dead ringer for a lion!!!!

This is not just a problem for the Langton or, indeed, Canterbury. It is a question raised against any lion that adopts a pose similar to that of the Canterbury Lion and it is a subject that is discussed on various web sites across the internet. It is all tied up with heraldic terminology... and the French.... but not necessarily in that order. First, take a look at the relevant Wikipedia page on heraldic lions (click here).

Notice that there are different terms to describe lion poses. The nearest match to the Langton Lion is "Lion Passant" - ie walking with the front right paw raised. There is also another term to be added based on the head position. If the lion's head is turned to face the viewer (rather than in profile) you can add the term "gardant". (NB If it is looking back over its shoulder, you can add the word "regardant"). The Canterbury lion is full face and, therefore, in its entirety, it can be called "Lion Passant Gardant".

At this point, enter our friends across the channel to confuse us - possibly under an EC directive. According to Wikipedia, French heraldry is tempted to call a "lion passant gardant" a "léopard". However, even the French language cannot cause a leopard to wholly lose its spots and become a lion in all circumstances because it calls a "lion rampant gardant" a léopard lionné".... and "lion passant with head in profile" a "lion léopardé". Sacre bleu..... confusion ou quoi? 

So, to me, the heraldic term "léopard" is primarily determined by the head position of the animal rather than necessarily describing the actual species intended by the designer. As you can see, Wikipedia is keeping an open mind on all this for the moment. However, there is a nice comment on the fascinating web site at www.medievaltymes.com which might explain why the medieval French took to calling a lion a leopard for the purpose of heraldry (click here). It refers to the ancient Greek convention of showing a lion in profile (ie side face) because the mane was clearly visible..... and displaying a leopard in full face because it had no mane. As a result, a "full face, walking lion" (ie "lion passant gardant") might be interpretted as being a "léopard" for the purpose of heraldic description - even thought its creator clearly intended it to be a lion.

Personally, I think heraldic descriptions don't alter the fact that our Langton lion is indeed a lion irrespective of the terminology used to describe its body language!!!! Hopefully, that will bring an end to the debate. If it doesn't, we are not merely undermining the Langton badge or the City of Canterbury coat of arms..... we are also in danger of undermining some of England's most cherished institutions. After all, Her Majesty's Royal Coat of Arms deploys the "lion passant gardant"... and so do our eggs. Even more worrying.... so does the England football team crest...... AND there is no way that I am gonna sing "Three Leopards on the Shirt" in order to "Hail Mother England" when she runs onto the pitch at the next World Cup!!!! ;-)

So, can we all sign up to the Langton lion being a lion...... PERLEASE?!!!!! Otherwise we are gonna let the French language and the Nackington Road undermine our English heritage quicker than Sarkozy can manage!!! The other thing is that, if one is heard to describe an obvious lion as a griffin or leopard, one might just get a visit from men in white coats!!!! ;-)

Addendum:  Just one more thing on the Lion business. As Canterbury has been a royal city for centuries, I would imagine (although I don't know for certain) that the Canterbury "leopard" on a red background is an extract from the Royal Coat of Arms which depicts two groups of three lions - also on red backgrounds. Those groups of three now represent England and they are taken from the shield of Richard I. However, Richard's lions originally represented his three territories - England, Normandy and Aquitaine and they tied in with his popular title of Richard the Lionheart. Only one Lion was "England" and only one made it onto the Canterbury coat of arms. Hopefully, there wasn't an admin cockup up Military Road that landed us with the Lion of Aquitaine!!!

Most people happily refer to Richard's lions as lions. However, some experts add a note in brackets of "(sometimes referred to as leopards)".  So, if we ignore bracketed comments because we ere not really interested in "sometimes" or anyone who calls a lion a leopard, we can happily name Richard's lions as lions. After that, it follows that Canterbury's "leopard" and the Langton's "griffin" must also be lions because they are probably derived from the Royal Coat of Arms ..... unless some killjoy wants to dub Richard I as "Richard the Leopardheart", rewrite 900 years of English history and ruin countless children's stories including Ivanhoe and Robin Hood!!! ;-)  

Personally, I reckon that Canterbury is trying to be posh by flaunting theories of leopards and griffins based on the same sort of Franco-Greek mismatch that still exists today with the Euro. (Is the Euro a silk purse or a sow's ear?). Once again, it has required Whitstable to make a stand against Canterbury on behalf of the common person. "Lions", I say!!!! ;-)    

Another Addendum: Was the Langton choice of jacket colour influenced by the fact that the Canterbury City lion and the Royal coat of arms lions were set against a dark red background?

Our Comment: Thanks, Martin. It's sad to think that Whitstable people may have limited access to the Langton. I wonder if the same applies to Barton Court Grammar School  in Canterbury.

When my daughter was due to go to grammar school in the early 1990s, we visited and considered all the grammar schools. After visiting several,  we were worried because none felt right despite our own Simon Langton backgrounds. Then, we visited Barton Court. At that stage, it wasn't the best equipped school and its buildings were quite dilapidated. However, it had a real buzz, great teachers and, for our daughter, by far the best atmosphere of any of the schools we considered. We were treated as if we mattered rather than being treated as beggars who were, in some way, pleading for acceptance into a Land of Milk and Honey! What a breath of fresh air compared to the rest and, as a relatively new enterprise, it wasn't carrying excess traditional baggage. Instinctively, we knew this was the right place and we were quite relieved. 

At the time, my wife summed it up in some words that have remained with me ever since. She said that Barton Court's attitude was one of "What we can do for your child" whereas the others seemed to be more interested in "What your child can do for our reputation". It may seem a funny thing for her to have said but, somehow, I knew precisely what she meant. 

My daughter prospered and later went on to get her BA (with first class hons) and MA. Most of all she was really happy. I do, of course, accept that a pupil of a different nature might have been better suited to the Langton. For us, it really was a case of knowing your child and working out which school was best for him/her.

I have the greatest admiration for the Barton Court headmaster at that time (Dr. Manning?) and the marvellous staff. You have to remember that it was originally a girls tech (a very underfunded element of the tri-partite system of the mid twentieth century) and the site was quite run down. When it became a grammar school, it hauled itself up by the one thing that buildings and equipment cannot provide on their own - excellent teaching. Whenever I want to demonstrate what can be achieved, I tend to cite Barton Court of the 1990s as an example.

In recent times, we have seen millions invested in education and we have seen new buildings springing up all over the place at almost every senior school. However, generalising, have we seen improvements in learning to match those millions? I somewhat doubt it. For me, the most important element of a school are the pupils and the most important resource is the staff.

Put simply..... a school must never become more important than its pupils and its buildings must never be sold ahead of its teachers.

Our Comment:  Thanks, Robbie. The absence of comment on the Endowed Girls School isn't a deliberate policy of SW!!!! ;-)

For some reason, our ladies seem a bit more reluctant to reveal the secrets of their schooldays! Of course, it isn't helped by the fact that I cannot comment in detail or prompt a lengthy discussion because I don't have the necessary background. Perhaps, we need a female editor to handle these aspects.

This problem doesn't just concern memories. We also have quite a shortage of information on the detailed history of the St Alphege and Endowed. This is a pity because they were a major influence on the development of Whitstable. There is also another reason why we need to know more about the two schools as I explain below.

Ian Johnson mentioned recently that it would be nice to examine the school records for the Oxford Street Boys School in order to fill in major gaps in our understanding of the school. In fact, I would extend that and say that we really need to delve deeply into the history of the Boys School, Endowed, St Alphege and Westmeads simultaneously  in order to understand these establishments properly. There was considerable interaction between the schools as the Whitstable education system developed. Studying just one school will not give us all the answers... even for that one establishment. That's why it is such a big research undertaking.

Our Comment:  Thanks, Brian. Your comments remind me of when I started work in the late 1960s. By then, it was a case of wearing a suit to work 5 days per week and getting the weekends off. However, a few years earlier, the office had opened to the public on Saturday mornings and that was when staff HAD to ditch their suits for the day in favour of sports jackets and flannels.

There were still some quaint customs in the late sixties. During the week before Christmas, women were allowed 2hrs off for Christmas shopping . This privilege was denied to men because they didn't shop!!!! Mind you I am not sure that the women shopped either because they started their 2 hours at 3.30 pm and simply went home early. 

Our Comment:  Thanks, Brian. I always feel at a disadvantage with New Zealanders - particularly when the England rugby union team have to stand and watch the Haka. Pesonally, I reckon the Kiwis should be made to watch Morris Dancing before the kick off at Twickenham. 

Our Comment:  You were a male model, Brian..... and responsible for turning me into a raspberry trifle!!!

I always thought that I had to blame Chris Rieu for the uniform but, if it originated in your time at the school, I presume that it was actually down to an earlier headmaster and the SLBS Board of Governors..

In my day, the full maroon uniform had to be worn throughout the school. Caps had to be worn until year 4. After that, pupils were allowed to go bare headed. However, there was an optional boater for sixth formers but I can only ever remember one boy wearing one.

The really bizarre uniform was worn by Kings School (the public school that produced England cricketer David Gower). They wore black jackets (tailed?), pinstriped trousers, boaters and winged collars. Whenever I saw them, I always thought "Poor Sods". However, there must have been a great deal of pride involved at the school because, in recent times, the pupils were allowed a vote on whether to keep the winged collars. They voted in favour. Mind you, even Kings School has been the subject of change because they now admit girls in pin striped skirts 

During the immediate post war decades, there was quite a fad for distinctive uniforms. St Anslems (the replacement for St Thomas's Catholic School) adopted light grey jackets and the Nottidge kicked off in 1952 with a very bright blue that only lasted a few years. The winner of the brightness campaign was a Canterbury infants school called, I believe, St Ninians. They wore jackets of luminous orange/red... presumably so that they wouldn't be lost in a crowd. One St Ninian travelled on the No 5 bus and we all bought sunglasses. ;-)

Our Comment:  Thanks, David. I think there was a quite lot of "fore lock" tugging in the 1950s... and not just for doctors. The same applied to schoolteachers, councillors, anyone in a white collar.... and the WUDC rent man! 

Whilst the British "class system" was fading, it did still exist in many aspects of life. There were even three classes of travel on the railways and commuters wore bowler hats. 

Our Comment: Many thanks, Ian. I have just included the relevant extract as I can't fit the whole scan into the visitors book. This is a wonderful piece of self-indulgence for me as I haven't seen this "write up" in over 45 years!!!

The clip mentions that it was our first foray into the local league and it gave us a chance to play against local secondary and tec schools (such as the Nottidge, Canterbury Tec, Frank Hooker, Sturry, Archbishops etc). Until then, the Langton had been very old fashioned because it traditionally focused on three teams - the School First X1 (ie Sixth Form), School Second XI (ie Sixth Form) and the Under 14s (ie the Third Year). These three teams travelled together on Saturday afternoons and played friendly matches against the main grammar schools all over Kent - as far afield as Bexley and Bromley.  The first year (U12) , second year (U13) and fourth year (U15) teams entered the relevant knock out cup competitions against the secondary moderns but not the leagues. So, they only played a few matches per year.

Things changed when, in 1963, we gained a new PE teacher called Tony Brimacombe. (NB Tony actually played semi-pro football for Kettering Town and later went on to play for Brentwood, Barnet and, eventually, Plymouth Argyle). Tony entered us (the Under 15s) and the Under 13s into our respective local leagues so that we could compete against the Tecs and Secondary Modern Schools and travel together on a Saturday morning. I am not sure just how much support we gained from the headmaster (Chris Rieu) or the games master (Whammer Hummerstone) because it was quite a break from tradition. I know we didn't get much financial support as we had to buy our own kit and, possibly, had to contribute to the hire of mini-buses. The advantage was that we were able to invest in modern kit and choose our own colours without interference from the establishment. We chose West Ham style kit (maroon and pale blue) as shown in the photo in my reply to Philip Neame. There was a very strong bond between the players and between the two teams.

Tony met both teams in the lecture room every Friday lunchtime to discuss travel arrangements, tactical issues and the problems of playing on certain types of pitch and in certain weather conditions. Little was left to chance!

Both teams won their respective league and cup competitions with the result that 4 trophies were displayed in the entrance hall to the Langton School. Our cup final was delayed because the pitch was deemed unplayable at Canterbury City FC's stadium at Kingsmead. It was eventually staged early in the summer term.

Tony Brimacombe didn't see that match as he left the school at the end of the Spring term amidst rumours that he wanted full control of all PE and sport at the school and Rieu wouldn't take responsibilities away from Whammer. How true that is I don't know... but we kids weren't happy about the under current created at that time!!!! If we had been able to vote between Tony and Whammer, the latter would have seen early retirement and school sport would have progressed more rapidly!!!

I presume that the extract was produced by Whammer rather than Tony as it is actually incorrect in a number of respects. Firstly, the players aren't listed in the positions that they played. The actual set up was Bruce Goldfarb (Goalkeeper), John Mallinder (right back), Peter Kirk (left back), John Pocock (centre half), Paul Fowler (right half), Graham Long (left half), Peter McCloskey (right wing), Dave Abrams (inside right), Tom McGing (centre forward), Tony Williams (inside left) and Dave Taylor (outside left).

Two of the other players listed were reserves brought in from the U14s when we lost players to the North East Kent District XI. They were Mel Hindson and Lenny Clarke. Two other players are incorrectly listed. As far as I recall, Richard Legg and  Aird-Mash never played for the team. In fact, I have never heard of anyone called Aird-Mash!!! 

The playing record is also incorrect. We won 12, drew 1 and lost 1. (If we had lost 2, we would have finished in second place!!!!) The draw (3-3) and the defeat (2-3) were unfortunate because they were against our main rivals - Canterbury Tec. It was a nuisance because we played them when we had players injured or called up for the District XI. Fortunately, they slipped up against other schools and we were able to lift the league title on goal difference. The record was put straight in the summer term when we met them in the cup final and, with a full team, comfortably won 2-0.

The arrangements for the cup final were a bit of a disgrace. With no Tony Brimacombe available, none of the staff seemed to take an interest. The kick off was around 6 pm. So, we left the school at 3.45 pm and walked the two miles into the city centre and wandered around for an hour or two unsupervised and with nothing to eat. When we arrived at Kingsmead, there were no teachers and we just organised ourselves. When I collected my medal, I glanced up at the grandstand and there was a beaming Chis Rieu. At least he turned up... but I thought, "Where the hell were you at 3.45 this afternoon?" .  Forty years on, it comes as no surprise that the U15 team attracted such a small entry in the Langtonian Journal despite its success and the flaunting of the trophies in the school entrance hall.

Much later, I heard that Tony Brimacombe had returned to Plymouth following the death of his father. His mother was then involved in running the family chain of butchers shops. In more recent times, I saw a Brimacombe butchers shop in Plymouth and, one day, I might pop in to ask after Tony. As you know, I have rellies down in that part of the world.

Thanks, Ian. What memories!!!

Our Comment: Many thanks, Ian. I am sure you are right. Many questions could be answered from a detailed study of the Oxfford Street records. However, it is a massive subject in its own right and I don't have the time to delve amidst all the other subjects and work on Simply Whitstable. I also worry about the impact of history studies on hard pressed school staff.   

My copy of Bell, Book and Boys has been out on loan for a while but I have now taken another  look at it and you are quite right. From 1923, the headmaster of the senior school was Parmee and not Parmree..... so, I have some corrections to make to our history pages.

While looking at the book, I have discovered another couple of very important things. The school garden appears to have arrived during the period 1923-26 rather than in 1928. There is also a reference to a house system from a guy who attended the school from 1925 to 1931. He doesn't say precisely when he took part in inter-house competition and so there are no definiote clues as to when it all started. However, there is a photo of Marlowe House from June 1928 (on page 21).

The Marlowe photo predates John Wraight's picture of Dickens House in 1930 (see our Chat Column for w/c 15/12/08 - click here).  and Gordon Hawkins mention of a yellow house called Chaucer in 1932. For the first time, we have evidence of defunct names (ie Dickens and Chaucer) being deployed alongside a "current day" name (ie Marlowe). Thus ,it seems that the old system probably evolved into the modern system rather than being wholly replaced by it. 

This changes our thinking somewhat. I still suspect that the house system originated in the period of upheaval between 1923 and 1928. As I said in my Site Note of 30/12/11, Oxford Street Boys was divided into a Junior and Senior sections in 1923 - with separate headmasters (ie Parmee for the juniors and Sparshott for the seniors). Sparshott came from the Endowed school and he brought with him a number of junior boys to make up the numbers. This may have been the time when girls were finally evicted from the Oxford Street site and the school became "all boys". It was certainly a time when more boyish activities were expanded - with the creation of a school garden (somewhere between 1923 and1926) and the acquisition of the distant Church Street playing fields circa 1928.

Pinning the creation of a house system down to a particular headmaster is difficult. Parmee (the senior school head) left the school on 5 October 1927. From October 1927 to 2 March 1928, the senior school was supervised by temporary heads (Kemp and Wells) before H E Shoesmith took command on 5 March 1928 - just three months before the Marlowe photo was taken. Shoesmith took total control of both seniors and juniors from 3 August 1928 - a couple of months after the Marlowe photo. 

Sparshott seems the most likely candidate as he was head of the juniors throughout the period 17 September 1923 - 3 August 1928. He may have devised it all in conjcuntion wth Parmee but I have this feeling that Shoesmith arrived a little too late to be involved. Of course, all this remains mere conjecture until further evidence is unearthed.

The next question is the big one - What were the original house names and how many were there? Well, we now know three names (Marlowe, Chaucer and Dickens). 

One way to proceed is to compare the total school population with the number of boys in the photos. In 1923, the junior school had 260 pupils and the senior school 235. This gives a total school population of between 490 and 500 during the 1920s.

Both the Marlowe and Dickens photos show just 40 pupils. So, with a bit of maths, you could argue that there would need to be 12 houses to make up the overall numbers - six for the juniors and six for the seniors!!!! This is a bit exorbitant!!!! However, there may be other answers. Separate photos may have been taken of seniors and juniors and , provided that Parmee and Sparshott agreed to use the same house names across the whole school, there would have been a maximum of just six houses. Alternatively, perhaps the house system was only used in one part of the school (ie juniors or seniors). Once again, this would give us six houses.

If there were twelve houses, we have a big task on our hands. However, I think it more likely that there was a maximum of six.

If there were six, we have three missing names. Could those names have been Caxton, Becket and Wolfe? This would be a neat solution to our problem. As the school contracted, fewer houses would have been needed. This may have led to the removal of Dickens and Chaucer - leaving the four house system that we have all loved from the late 1940s - ie Becket (blue), Caxton (yellow), Marlowe (red) and Wolfe (green).

One argument against this theory is that the original "six-house" system would have been heavily weighted towards names drawn from literature. You would normally expect a common theme (ie all names drawn from literature) or total diversity in order to cover a full range of national achievement and to support various aspects of the school's history curriculum. However, there may have been a reason for the lopsided choice. All the names have local connections with Kent. Maybe this was the key criteria and, maybe, famous people from the county simply didn't cover a wider range of achievement. It may also explain why a "non-event" such as Becket was chosen! I say this because, as far as I am a aware, the hapless priest had little impact on the future - apart from having a row with Henry II and, subsequently, experiencing a couple of bad knights out. ;-)

If this theory is true, the eventual loss of Dickens and Chaucer would make sense because it reduced the emphasis on literature. Mind you, if I had been around at the time, I might have protested - because I would rate Dickens way above Marlowe and Chaucer!!!!! But that is very much a subjective opinion!!!! ;-)

Of course, such an amendment to the system involved the dropping and shuffling of colours. If there were six original houses, I wonder what the two extra colours had been. One of those missing colours may have involved Caxton. Caxton appears to have half-inched the yellow colour from Chaucer when Chaucer met its demise.

Whilst all this seems the most plausible solution based on current data, I am still not entirely convinced. I still wonder if the original house names (3-6 of them) were all drawn from the world of literature and that only Marlowe was retained in a subsequent reorganistaion. If that were to be the case, Caxton, Becket and Wolfe were new names added in that later revamp and Marlowe is the oldest of the houses at Oxford Street in modern times.

Moving on, we need to know when the house system was revamped. Although WWII was on the horizon, the 1930s appear to have been a decade of relative stability for the Oxford Street school. As a result, I think it quite likely that the house system (probably with its six original houses) remained unchanged until the war years . At that point, with competitive (particularly sporting) activity restricted by air raids, it went into hibernation until Frank Newsome revitalised it circa 1946. By 1946, Newsome knew that his school was about to become smaller with the impending arrival of the Sir William Nottidge Secondary Modern and, maybe, that was when he ditched the literary genii of Dickens and Chaucer. 

It all sounds plausible but we have a long way to go before we can confirm these theories. We really do need to find an ex-pupil who attended the school in the mid-late 1930s!!!!! ;-)

Our Comment:  Perhaps David could get in touch and give permission for email addresses to be exchanged. 

Our Comment:  Thanks, Ian. Another boy once told me that the "Langton Lion" was really a Griffin. However, I later consulted an encyclopedia and discovered that a Griffin was a mythical animal with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. As far as I recall, the Langton animal had a head that metamorphosed depending on whether you bought your jacket from Hunters, Deakins, Gores or the Co-Op. However, irrespective of the point of purchase, it had no wings.

The full school badge also had a flock of birds in one segment and, given the various feline suggestions, perhaps the overall aim was to recreate Noah's Ark!!! ;-)

I am not quite sure where to place Hoppers Crossing in Whitstable. Perhaps it could replace the Horsebridge!! ;-)

Our Comment:  Blimey, Neil a Langton "leopard" badge would have cost even more! Just think of all those spots that would have to be woven into those jackets! ;-)

I have never come across the term "half colours" but I have this vague memory that colours may have been awarded to the 2nd XI teams.

We never had girls at the school in the 1960s but I believe some co-operation did take place with the Simon Langton Girls School. This included school plays and inter-school quizes. I have a feeling that a combined SLBS/SLGS team took part in a BBC TV quiz  called Top of the Form. More co-operation took place on the school bus - particularly when the SLGs travelled home with a tin full of cheese scones. We still have the recipe in its original SLGS exercise book.

Our Comment: Thanks, Chris and Rosie. There was all sorts of symbolism connected with status at the Langton. As many people will be aware, the badge woven into the maroon jackets was (and still is) a simple lion. However, as Langtonians will know, the lion is only part of the full school badge. The full badge was awarded only to prefects and they then arranged for it to be sewn onto their top pocket - thereby obliterating the little "Egg marketing Board" lion. In effect, it was an upgrade to the school uniform.

The normal school tie contained (and still contains) diagonal stripes of maroon, yellow and navy blue. However, prefects were allowed to replace this with a more silky maroon effort containing a pride of little yellow lions scattered around its surface.

Boys who played well for a 1st XI sports team were awarded their "school colours" and this involved buying yet another tie. This had diagonal stripes of just maroon and navy. Boys with colours still had to make do with the "single lion" badge on their jackets but they were given a piece of material containing the full badge so that they could sew it on to their track suit or other sportswear. 

If a prefect was awarded his colours, he could choose which tie he preferred to use and, of course, he had the honour of wearing the full school badge on both his jacket and sportswear.

Fortunately, sub prefects didn't have a school tie or a different badge. As you say, they were given an impressive  strip of gold braid that could be sewn over the normal navy blue braid on their top pockets.

Like you, I was  a sub-prefect and, after one or two "fallings out" with headmaster Rieu, I did eventually get it sewn onto my jacket. That was just in time for another falling out with CR.... over ties. I was awarded my colours for football and athletics (javelin throwing) but I never bothered buying a school colours tie. Initially, I preferred a natty little, narrow navy number from Underdowns that had nothing to do with SLBS. This caused CR to suffer apoplexy and he told me to get a colours tie. I ignored that and went back to wearing the original maroon, blue and yellow tie of an underbeing. I think he gave up on me then and accepted the inevitable!!!! He even seemed to accept my black suede Chelsea boots with 2½ inch Cubans!!! I think he blamed my parents - who, incidentally, knew nothing of my required uniform enhancement because I never mentioned it to them.

I recall Mr Rieu delivering a lecture in assembly on the virtues of school uniform. Apparently, he and the governing board had decided that it would bring equality to proceedings with rich and poor pupils dressed the same. I might even have believed him if the uniform hadn't been the most expensive known to mankind. The jackets were a totally unsuitable maroon and they faded to pink in the latter stages of their life... unless you were able to buy a new one at regular intervals Eventually, they gave off little fluff balls - like the final throes of a dying star just before it explodes as a supernova. 

There were three designated shops that sold the outfits - Gores (Herne Bay), Hunters (Canterbury) and Deakins (Canterbury) which ensured that prices remained high until, in later years, the Co-Op got involved. (You could always tell a cheapo Co-Op jacket because the little lion was a mutant with a different head).

There were some other wonderful aspects that knocked up the price. Boys under 5ft (I kid you not!!) had to wear short trousers of grey corduroy. Long grey socks had blue and marroon trim at the top to stop you saving money by buying at M&S. Sports gear was terribly old-fashioned and very expensive as it had to come from those three suppliers. It would have been cheaper to get modern stuff from Wrights Sports Shop.

When my mum received the list of things that she had to buy to send me to the Langton, she was in tears. The whole lot must have cost over £40 - four times my dad's weekly take home pay. And, at the end of it all, I resembled a raspberry trifle. ;-) 

Olde Worlde terminology was a bit of a problem as it was used to describe the list of requirements in the school prospectus. It took a few minutes for my old mum to work out what a "straight edge" was all about. Even worse was the white vesper that I needed for gym as it wasn't mentioned in our copy of the Enquire Within. After purchasing a dictionary from the list of English language requirements, we were able to look it up... and start our search for "a light wind". According to the Enquire Within, this could be remedied by "purging the bowel". (In fact, according to the Enquire Within, everything could be cured by purging the bowel).

So, what was a vesper in the context of gym as supplied by an official uniform outlet? It was a T-shirt to everyone....  bar the SLBS governing board of 1960!!!! Was there a difference between a school vesper and a non-school T -shirt. Well, how about a couple of  bob? ;-)

As you will have gathered, I have mixed feelings about Chris Rieu. He was very nice at times.... BUT I do wish he had taken the time to visit Planet Earth occasionally!

I suffered an amusing "uniform" incident some time in the early 1960s. I got home from school, took off my jacket and, with some friends, went to play tennis in the quiet roadway of Linden Avenue. After a few minutes, a large car drove slowly towards us and stopped. I thought we were going to get a safety lecture on playing in the street.... which would have been fair comment However, the snob inside had a very different lecture to impart. He had spotted my Langton tie and went on ad nauseam about the humiliation of a "Langton boy playing in the street".  Why didn't he just run over me and solve his and the school's embarrassment. What a pompous, arrogant Wally!!!! I  wish I could have met him 10 years later!!!!! After all, isn't his attitude the reason why Wimbledon involves 20 fit foreigners entertaining 20,000 fat Brits? ;-)

Despite all this, I had good times at the SLBS....and, most important, I really did get a good education in a fairly liberal and enlightened environment. I'll run away now because our readership must be choc-a-bloc with fully paid up Old Langtonians!!! Forty years on when afar and assunder, hell knows no fury like a Langtonian scorned! ;-) 

Our Comment: I am sorry about the mistake in your address. I have corrected the error. I am  now going to run away before the brickbats start to arrive from across the Tasman Sea. ;-)

Our Comment: Thanks, Vince. For real horror stories you need to flip back a decade to Frank Newsome and earlier headships!!! One teacher took to rapping boys on the back of the head with a knuckle.  

Our Comment: I suspect "head prefect" and "head boy" are probably one and the same, Brian. I suspect that the head boy/prefect goes back a long way. If there was a change in terminology during the mid-1950s, I suppose it may have arisen when Chris Rieu became headmaster. He did have a tendency to introduce the odd "public school" touch to the school. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Ian... and a Happy New Year up there in Huddersfield. Some of those names are familiar but I had totally fogotten others.

Our Comment: Thanks, Julia.... and Happy New Year. It's great to be able to wish Nurse Pay a belated "Happy 100th".

Our Comment: Thanks, Stephen. The funny thing is that I don't recall teachers being given nicknames while I was at Oxford Street. We were probably too afraid to invent any!!!! It was all very different at senior school where there were some very colourful names attached to teaching staff.

Our Comment: Thanks, Vince.... and a Happy New Year to all in Adelaide.

I will certainly mention you if I pop in to the Pearsons. It's nice to see the old place still thriving. It's also nice to see that it has reverted to its Pearsons Arms title. For a few years during the gentrification of Whitstable, it was renamed the Pearsons Crab and Oyster House. I never really felt comfortable with that!!!

Our Comment: Thanks, Stewart. Along with Brian Smith, you have confirmed that we now need to focus on the 1930s to discover the date of those changes to house names. There must be a few senior Natives who attended the school in that decade... so can anyone give their granddads or great granddads a nudge?

The info about the pupil allocations is fascinating. There was also another condition. As with most schools, kids were often placed in the house of their older brothers. All of my family attended Westmeads Infants and were placed in Wolfe house when they moved to Oxford Street. I think the idea was to ensure that clothing could be handed down!!!! The annoying thing was that, as the youngest, I was ticked off for "wearing them out"!

A few years ago, I heard those immortal names "Becket, Marlowe, Caxton and Wolfe" echoing on the breeze from a loud speaker at Church Street playing fields. So, I presume the school still deploys them. That is nice because it brings people of different generations together with sons, fathers and even grandfathers able to say that they were members of Wolfe House etc. 

For me, it is so important to have house competitions. Kids (particularly boys) are inherently competitive. If they cannot form official groupings and compete in an orderly and healthy fashion, they are likely to form less acceptable unofficial groupings and compete in more anti-social ways!

A few years back, house systems were discontinued in some schools. I am not sure of the official reason but some people tell me that it was because it was unfair for non-athletic children to feel inferior in sporting competition.  What a load of old tosh!!! Kids compete in academic fields and they are even given graded GCSE certificates to document varying degrees of success. Why can't an athletic but non-academic kid be a star for a few minutes per week on a football pitch or running track? Coping with success and failure is an important part of education. Success brings self esteem and confidence whilst occasional failure helps us to appreciate, value and respect the skills, attributes and achievements of other people. I feel very sorry for anyone who leaves school having never learned to cope with failure... because they are in for a traumatic shock in later life. The longer an event is delayed, the more devastating the impact can be!!!

I must say I was mildly amused when, in recent years, someone spotted that kids were leaving school without acquiring certain basic skills. As a result, adult education establishments had to tack extra modules on to their technical courses in order to remedy the cockup. The four most basic modules were.... "Communication" (ie Man's acquired ability to talk and write after thousands of years of evolution), "Application of Number" (ie the "smart arse" name for Maths!!!!!), "Information Technology" (ie computers) and "Working with Others" (ie Don't ask because words fail me.... and that doesn't happen often!!!). Where do they get these titles? Are there little men and little women employed  to dream up daft PC names and terminology? 

I won't say too much about the fact that, after a minimum of 11 years of expensive education, a significant hoard of school leavers were still unable to read, write, speak, negotiate basic arithmetic, use a computer or co-operate with anyone!!!! However, I would say that "working with others" might be helped by a house system that provided a "sense of belonging", teamwork, camaraderie and joint achievement. 

I'll run away now before an educationalist catches up with me and blood is spilt!!!! ;-)  

Our Comment: Thanks, Terry. I wonder if the SLBS would let us photograph the boards. I would quite enjoy a trip around the old building ..... "Forty years on when afar and assunder". (For non-Langton readers that is the first line of the school song. I believe it was half-inched from Harrow or some other public school. It was sometimes sung as "Forty years on with a fart like a thunder".... but I won't discuss that any further because the disgraceful rendition of the school song during a Speech Day (ie Prize Giving Day) led to its demise in the mid-1960s).

Our Comment: Thanks, Norman.

Our Comment: Thanks, Philip. There were a several "honours boards" just outside the school library..... but I don't know if these included "Head Boys".

The SLBS was very meticulous with its history records. I seem to recall that, each year, the school published a journal that described all aspects of school life. Master copies were filed in bound volumes and were available in the reference section of the library. If you could get in there at some stage, you should find a reference to you. It should also record my part in the brilliant football team that lifted the cup and league double back in 1963/64!!!!!!  ;-)

For anyone of that era the names are...

Back Row; John Mallender, Paul Fowler, Bruce Goldfarb, Dave Abrams, Graham Long, Doug Hindson

Front Row: Peter McCloskey, Peter Kirk, John Pocock, Tom McGing, Tony Williams, Dave Taylor 

Our Comment: Thanks, Rosemary. "Dreary little seaside port" compared to Paris? Mon dieu..... Sacre bleu.... Sur la pont d'Avignon.... etc etc!!!!!

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. I have to tried to incorporate this info into my reply to Terry Phillips below. I doubt that you would have been confused with the langton house names IF they were the same as those used in the 1960s. They were all based on buildings that would have formed a  standard part of a sizeable  local community like Canterbury in medieval times - Chapter House (Yellow), Guild House (Blue), Glebe House (Red) and Manor House (Green).

Our Comment: Many thanks, Terry.... and a happy New Year to all in Fareham. 

It's nice to get the "inside" story on the local medical profession. Nurse Pay certainly rings some bells for me but I am not sure why. It might come to me eventually!!

The whole history of the Oxford Street house system is going to be difficult to unravel because it stretches back beyond the memory and experiences of even our most senior readers and, so far, we have uncovered little documentation to compensate for this lack of "first hand" info. As you say, it is most likely that the house system coincided with a related event - such as a particular revamp of the school, general changes in education or the arrival of a new headmaster.

The first major event was the opening of the school in 1877. By then, house systems were already well established in the fee-paying public schools (such as Eton and Harrow) and it seems likely that the new state schools were modelled on their illustrious predecessors to some small degree. However, I doubt that any "modelling" involved houses. 

Primarily, public schools used houses for pastoral care by splitting the overall pupil population into a number of smaller and more manageable groups - particularly for boarders. Each group was accommodated in a separate building (ie "house") that provided a "home" and included separate dormitories, meal halls, canteens, house masters, house prefects. This established a common sense of belonging, identity and well being. A secondary benefit was that, it formed the basis for group working and group competition - both in the field of educational excellence and sporting prowess.

Back in 1877, Oxford Street School didn't need a house system... nor did it have the resources to implement one. There were no boarders and the school was split into three separately administered units - boys, girls and infants. The boys section included just 88 pupils and the big problem wasn't "pastoral care". It was getting them to attend school at all - amidst rampant childhood illnesses and the desire of poverty-stricken parents to send their kids out to work as early as possible in order to boost the family income. Furthermore, the first headmaster (Mr Edward Clements) was the only qualified teacher in the boy's school. He was helped by a couple of "pupil teachers" who assisted with the teaching after receiving their own lessons early in the morning.

Later events that might have led to the creation of a house system were as follows...

• The arrival of the school's second headmaster (Mr Kirkby) in 1883. Mr Kirkby continued until the early 1920s

• The creation of a new Kent Education Authority to replace local school boards in 1902. 

• The removal of girls and infants from Oxford Street and the takeover of all buildings by boys. We are not sure precisely when this happened but it was between 1900 and the early 1920s. 

• The raising of the school leaving age to 14 in 1918.

None of these feel right to me.... and, of course, we have found no evidence of a house system during these years. 

If I had to place a bet, I reckon that the house system was tied to one of two events...

• In 1923, the school was revamped into junior and senior sections. Mr Kirkby left and two headmasters were appointed - Mr Parmree (seniors) and Mr Sparshott (juniors). Some junior boys were moved in from the nearby Endowed school to make up the numbers in the junior section. This may have been when Oxford Street finally became "all boys".
   

• In 1928, the school was united under one headmaster. Mr Sparshott may have taken control for a few months but he was replaced later that year by Mr H E Shoesmith. That year, the school gained a substantial school garden on its eastern boundary and use of the large playing fields at distant Church Street.

The period 1923-1928 really does feel right for the creation of a house system. We had a new headmaster/headmasters with new ideas. We had a large school population of competitive boys. We also had wider opportunities for sporting and other competition.

The 1923 upheaval is interesting. If the two headmasters introduced their own separate house systems, we would have ended up with a proliferation of house names that would perhaps require rationalisation some time after the school became a single unit in 1928.

Personally, I would plump for 1928 as the birth date of the houses because it ties in nicely with the acquisition of Church St playing field and our first pieces of hard evidence - John Wraight's photo of Dickens House in 1930 and Gordon Hawkins' mention of Chaucer House in 1932.    

The next question is when did Dickens and Chaucer houses become defunct and when did the system settle down to the names we all knew and loved in our childhoods - ie Becket, Marlowe, Caxton and Wolfe?

Again, we can try to tie these in with significant events....

1. In 1931, Shoesmith was replaced by a Mr William Henry Metcalf. He reigned for just four years. 

2. In 1935, Frank Newsome became headmaster and remained in post until his retirement in 1960.

3. The return to peace time in 1945

4. The opening of the Sir William Nottidge Senior school in the early 1950s and the revamping of Oxford Street as purely a junior school rather than a combined junior/senior outfit.  

Your idea (no 4 above) is a logical one, Terry.... but, just like Brian Smith's note above, I think we are going to receive messages that confirm that the "Becket, Marlowe, Caxton and Wolfe" system existed in the late 1940s. However, the revamp of senior education may still have played a part.

Either Metcalfe or Newsome may have changed the system when they first took up their posts. However, I tend to doubt that Metcalfe was responsible. We know that the name Chaucer was still being used in 1932 - one year into Metcalfe's short headship at the school.

Perhaps the most logical explanation is that the house system fell into disuse during the war years and Newsome re-introduced it circa 1945/46 - possibly by dropping some names or introducing totally new ones. 

Why would Newsome change things? Well, it could be that there were more than 4 house names and he knew that his school was about to become a whole lot smaller in the very near future. Remember that, although the Nottidge didn't arrive until the early 1950s, Newsome was working on the changes several years before that because the relevant Act of Parliament (Rab Butler's Education Act) was actually passed as early as 1944. Don't overlook this possibility because Frank had a lot of plans in mind - including reducing the size of the school garden so that it was a manageable by a smaller and younger pupil population. Butler's Act was one of the biggest "shake-ups" in the history of state education in England.... and Oxford Street School would become a very different place.

Even if there had always been 4 houses, Frank may have been tempted to change some of the house names as a "new beginning" in the wake of WWII and the arrival of the Butler Act. Rather than focus on names from literature (such as Dickens and Chaucer), perhaps he wanted to give pupils a wider span of British ancestry - one that tied in better with the school history curriculum. Becket, Marlowe, Caxton and Wolfe span six centuries and they are drawn from a wide spectrum - religion, literature, publishing and the military.

I think it is interesting to muse over the possibility that the original house names may all have been drawn from the world of literature with Kent connections. If that turned out to be the case, Marlowe may have been included and that would make it the only name to survive the revamp of the house system. It would also make it the oldest surviving house at the Oxford Street School. All this leaves a gap. If the original names included Chaucer, Dickens and Marlowe, what other name or names made up the full set. I must admit that I cannot think of any famous Kent literary genii beyond those three!!!! 

There is a lot of guesswork above.... and I am sure our readers can come up with equally plausible alternative theories!!! 

Our Comment: I am not sure if the Church House was ever used for school clinics, Robbie. It certainly wasn't in my time at Westmeads and I don't think it would have been all that suited to the purpose. The school clinics were undertaken at the Masonic Temple at the corner of Cromwell and Diamond Roads. This is almost next door to the Church House but Johnsons grocers shop was between the two.

Westmeads school did have connections with the Church House and I do recall crossing the road in a little crocodile to see drama productions there in the 1950s. I believe the Church House was managed by St Peter's Anglican Church and, of course, Westmeads held all their religious ceremonies at the church (in Sydenham Street).

It would have made a lovely strapline - "Taylor the Tailor". Unfortunately, it was the grandfather on my mother's side of the family and his name was Cecil James Halls (aka 'Jim'). We had a small sign on the wall alongside the front door at 36 Railway Avenue. This described him as a "Ladies Tailor". I think this was because, in later years (ie in his 70s and 80s) he found mens suits a bit of a trial. However, he did still make suits for prominent people, including a solicitor and some local councillors. 

He did alterations for a local menswear shop (I am not sure which one) and had many callers at the door asking for changes to be made to clothes. This was particularly the case in the late 1950s when Teddy Boys were keen to have the narrowest drain pipes in town. One lad insisted on having them so tight that granddad became quite concerned and warned him that he would never get them on. Fortunately, granddad left plenty of of leeway to let them out again. True enough, when the Ted came to the next fitting,  he hopped all around the fitting room on one leg trying to squeeze into them. Granddad then adjusted them to a more suitable width.  

Our Comment: Thanks, Ian. You are quite right. They weren't all dragons!

Peter Cobb was head boy at SLBS when I was in the first year. Two things struck me about him - his dignity... and the fact that he shaved! It was quite a shock to be attending a school where older pupils were men rather than kids and it was "oh so different" from Oxford Street Juniors. It took quite a long time to adapt to senior school.

I think there was a series of Whitstable head boys at the Langton in those early days. Peter Cobb was followed by Barry 'Baz' Taylor and, then, John Revell (spelling?). I believe Baz went on to become quite well known in the TV/Film industry (as a director or producer?).  

Our Comment: Many thanks, Jan. Your mention of flat irons, rings some bells!!! My grandfather ran a tailors business from our house. Although he used two "treadle" sewing machines, he did some of the sewing by hand. As he couldn't install a heavy steam press, he used a collection of flat irons of varying sizes. Some were so heavy that, as a child, I struggled to lift them. They were heated on special paraffin burners that had a flat upper surface. He would never use modern electric irons because they simply weren't heavy enough.

I still have a keepsake of granddad's. This is a massive pair of Wilkinson tailors shears - with steel blades and brass handles. They were so heavy that the lower blade had to be rested on the table while the cutting took place. Over the years, I have tried using them for all sorts of things - from cutting cloth to cutting wallpaper. I found it almost impossible to cut in a straight line. There was obviously a skill involved that I never mastered!!!

We actually reverted to old fashioned cleaning methods this Xmas. We bought a disposable table cloth from Tesco but, at the last minute, decided to invest in a heavy linen one from Whites in the High Street. Of course, if we had used the disposable thing, nothing would have happened... but, under sod's law, we used the linen one and it copped some red wine spillage. After searching the internet and trying a few daft suggestions that didn't work (including dabbing white wine on it), we made a decision. The cloth was ruined anyway and, as it was plain white, we dumped it in heavily diluted bleach. Hey presto, the wine stain disappeared. Now we have the problem of getting rid of the smell of bleach. If it all works out well in the end, I would strongly advise buying a plain white cloth in future... because you can attack it in far more drastic ways than coloured jobs. 

PS I wouldn't advise anyone else to try the bleach approach as I don't want anyone blaming me if it goes wrong!!!!!

Our Comment: Thanks, Ian. You are quite right about Miss Piper. Oh, how I wish my memory would hold up on these occasions. My apologies to the Piper family.

On the subject of nurses, I would imagine that many women were recruited into the nursing profession during the war years. I would also imagine that many continued in this type of work to become NHS nurses in 1948.

The arrival of the NHS must have been quite a thing and, of course, it must have had a big impact in Whitstable.

Our Comment: Thanks, Mike. After those lovely doctors of the 1950s/1960s, we had another set of great guys who continued the local tradition of excellent service to Whitstable. These included Dr Edward Lee, Dr Stefani and Dr Howard Lee - all of whom have now themselves retired. I wish I could say the same thing about some of the large local NHS hospitals . Unfortunately, I can't because every contact (and I mean EVERY contact) I have had with such places in the last 15 years or so has been little short of appalling as far as I am concerned. The one exception was the dear old Whit-Tank where the staff were brilliant during my mum's final weeks.  

Until recently, it has been difficult to complain about hospitals because they retained the Florence Nightingale image of earlier times. In fact, criticising a hospital was as socially acceptable as throwing your pet hamster out of a bedroom window. Fortunately, various studies and the national press are getting stuck into the NHS mess and, hopefully, there will be some improvement. 

Our Comment: Many thanks, Ian. This is a fascinating piece of local history. Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce the photo in full size in the Visitors Book. However, it is available by using the CLICK HERE link and it will open in a separate window. Close the window to return to the Visitors Book.

If anyone can name any of the nurses, make an entry in the Visitors Book. Please identify individual nurses by using the terms "back row", "middle row" and "front row". Then, number the individual by counting from the left. For example, Dr Barker would be "Front Row 8" 

Can anyone explain the various uniforms worn by the different nurses. I presume the darker uniforms are worn by "Sisters".... but why do some nurses have red crosses. Is this because they were members of the Red Cross whilst other nurses were drafted in from other organisations. On the other hand, are the ones without crosses wartime trainees? 

I must say that I wonder if the lady to the left of Dr Barker (ie Front Row 7) is Sister Sharman of St Heliers Nursing Home. As we have said before, she is pictured in our Kings Leigh School article (click here to view).

If anyone is wondering about "The Church House", it is the church hall directly opposite the Westmeads Infants School playground in Cromwell Road North. To youngsters, it will hardly be recognisable from the photo... partly because the photo  appears to show a curious addition - a breeze block wall at the front. I presume that this was some sort of wartime protection for the Red Cross hospital. It must have been demolished fairly soon after the town returned to peace time as I don't recall it being there when I joined Westmeads Infants in '54.

On the subject of the yachting doctor, you are quite right in saying that Dr Horan was a keen sailor. In my teenage years, I travelled to school on the No 5 bus with his daughters Vicky, Debbie and Sarah. I believe they also sailed. However, I had one or two other doctors in mind - the Ethridges and I have been hastily ploughing back through old pages of the Visitors Book to find a discussion that took place in 2007. I have now included some extracts in the site note above.

PS You are quite right in naming Hattie Jacques' "Carry On Nurse" character as the stereotypical matron of the distant past. However, did anyone see Hattie in the 1951 Alastair Sim version of "Scrooge" over Chritsmas - by far the best version ever made!!!! She plays the wife of Scrooge's nephew and she is a real stunner. Somewhere down the line the old Christmas Pud must have had an effect. That film also has very young George Cole (of Arfa Daley fame) playing the part of the young Scrooge and middle-aged Jack Warner (Sgt Dixon of Dixon of Dock Green).

Our Comment: Thanks, Howard. Four guineas was quite something then.... so she must have thought the world of you!!! ;-) 

Our Comment: I am glad that you have managed to solve your original query, Ron. However, as you can see from all the responses, it has become a life form in its own right now. I am not sure where it is all heading. I am simply clinging to its coat tails. ;-)

Our Comment: Thanks, Philip. I am afraid that I don't know anything about 4 Westgate Terrace but some of our readers may be able to shed some light on it.

Dr Witney's old surgery building still stands and, from the outside, it hasn't changed much. I have circled it in the photo below..... 

If you take another look at Google Earth, you will see that the surgery is the third property encountered while travelling north from the junction with Nelson Road. The sequence is.... Oxford Mansions apartments (with David Newell's office supplies shop below), Invicta Gas showroom (formerly the British Gas showroom) and, then, the surgery. 

As you entered the surgery building, I believe there was a locked door that provided access to a staircase leading to the upper storey. A door on the right provided access to the front room of the ground floor and this room (with its bay window) served as the waiting room.  

Behind that room was the receptionist' office and there was a "serving hatch" between the two. Dr Witney's examination room was even further back as I seem to recall that it was accessed via a corridor that passed between a second staircase and the receptionist office. This suggests that the building was probably L-shaped.

I have a feeling that the "second staircase" led downward - probably to a basement room (or garage) and the rear garden. You have to remember that the building was erected on the old 14th century shoreline of The Salts. (This shoreline is described in Brian Smith's article "The Whitstable Shoreline Since 1287" - click here to view and take a particular look at Brian's "Map 8"). Thus, the land sloped away quite sharply at the rear of the surgery and the building was constructed on a split level basis with more storeys at the back than the front.   

We are not yet sure but it is possible that the building was the surgery of a well known dental surgeon in the distant past. Together with his son, that dentist also dabbled in the production of mineral waters - a sideline that may have utilised the basement room and garden. There is more to come on that subject in the future. If the buildng was indeed a dentist's surgery, there may not have been a lot of rebuilding necessary to make it functional for a GP. 

In recent years, the surgery building operated as a guest house. I am not sure if that still applies.

Our Comment: Thanks, Ray. I am glad it all went well and that you are thinking of doing it all again. I must admit that you all look remarkably "bendable" after all these years!!! In fact, I reckon that you could still get that Depot piano up a ladder and through a low door. How about we give it a whirl!!!! ;-)

I now need to convert The Depot reunion item into a permanent Depot article. If you have any other reunion photos that you would like me to include, please let me know.

Our Comment: Thanks, Barbara.

Our Comment: Thanks, George. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. I am sorry to hear that Melbourne suffered such lively weather on Christmas Day. I hope it all gets back to normal asap.

I have a vague recollection of a surgery between the Lantern Cafe and the junction with Nelson Road. Of course, there was another surgery just beyond that junction - next to the British Gas showroom. That second surgery belonged to my own doctor - Dr Witney. 

Surgeries had several very distinct features in those days. There was no reception desk or "full length" receptionist. There was just a serving hatch with a sliding door and it was manned womaned by someone who only had a head and neck. It was a forbidding contraption because it remained closed until a patient knocked on it.... and it shut very quickly after the patient's name had been noted. It was like a guillotine during the French Revolution.

Approaching a receptionist's hatch was a daunting business and you could tell what sort of mood she was in by the degree of vigour with which the door was "swiped" open. If it opened with a smooth action, it was a good day... but, if it jerked open like a coiled spring, you were in deep doo-doos. 

Advancing towards a hatch was a bit like Oliver Twist nervously approaching Mr Bumble to ask for more.... and, like workhouse orphans, all the other patients watched with a snigger from behind their Readers Digests. Introductions proceeded as follows....

Receptionist: "Name?"
Patient: "Jones"
Receptionist: "Are you Jones with the hemorrhoids... or Jones with the flatulence?"

It was impossible to approach a receptionist's hatch without alerting other patients due to the heavily waxed linoleum which squeaked with every footstep. Attempts to walk quietly gave everyone the impression that you were a third Jones.... with both hemarrhoids AND flatulence.

Looking back, I reckon that surgeries should have been set up like the condemned cell at Strangeways. A wardrobe should have been placed across the hatch to reduce the feeling of impending doom and it should only have been wheeled out of the way during the final moments of the approach.

I'll run away now.... in case someone's mum was a medical receptionist back in '54.

Our Comment: Many thanks, Mary. I suspect that we have some readers who remember Tony and Leo.

Our Comment: Thanks, David... and Merry Christmas to you all in Toronto.

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. Doctors seemed to have quite a few interests. I recall one that was heavily into yachting.

There isn't a lot of difference between engineers and doctors. However, the advantage of engineering is that, despite the ageing process, the things you "operate on" tend to retain the shape that their maker intended them to have.

Our Comment: Thanks, Robbie. I wonder what youngsters would make of one of those kits today. In the event of a puncture, would they take it to a cycle shop... or chuck the bike away and buy a new one!!!! ;-)

Our Comment: Thanks, Barry. If we find out that No 3 Cormwell Road was a stable, we are going to have to get Ron a few birthday presents. Now..... who is going to buy the Frankincense? ;-)

Our Comment: Thanks Nigel... and a Merry Christmas to all the Robinsons down there in "Saints" country.

Our Comment: Blimey, Ron. For a moment there, I thought you were going to say that you were born in a stable!!!! ;-)

You've got me intrigued about that address. There was a doctors surgery very close to the Cromwell Road/ Oxford Street junction. This was in the 1950s-to-1970s. It was a narrow single-storey, white "pebble dash" building with a long frontage on the southern side of Cromwell Road. That frontage included a very overgrown garden behind a brick wall. At the eastern end, there was a green slatted wooden gate and we kids would peer through it into the undergrowth of trees and bushes.

I don't know how long the surgery had been around prior to the 1950s or which doctors operated there. In later years, the brick wall was demolished and the narrow garden concreted over to serve as a car park for the doctors. The place was still open in the early 1970s because I went there for a cholera injection prior to my first package holiday abroad in 1973.   

All the talk of midwives and Cromwell Road brings back a story that my mum told me from her childhood of the 1920s. In those days, Stream Walk was an "open" dyke and mum lived in Sydenham Street very close by. (In fact, if you have a copy of Doug West's "Fourth Portrait of a Seaside Town" (ISBN 1 87 871716 02 0 - page 66), you can get a feel for the scene at the end of Sydenham St before the stream was concreted over). Apparently, while travelling to or from a "maternity call", one of our local doctors cycled off a bridge and into the dyke. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the doctor's name and I don't know precisely where the bridge was located. There must have been a few crude bridges in those days - probably comprising little more than a plank. With the Gorrell flood plain pretty much undeveloped at that stage, it must have been a pretty dark place.  

Our Comment: Thanks, Barry. Sadly, we didn't just lose a tradition, we also lost a way of life and a bit of that old community spirit.

On the subject of bogey men, there didn't seem to be many in our childhood. However, I seem to recall that we went most places in small gangs and there was safety in numbers. There was hardly a bit of Whitstable that we didn't explore from Seasalter to Swalecliffe and from the beach to the Tyler Hill tunnel. Rather than being protected from the world, we actually learned to live with and survive in  it. Obesity was one of those things that didn't happen to many. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. 

Our Comment: Many thanks, Ian. My goodness! I haven't seen one of those bottles in 40 years!!!

Readers may also like to take a look at our "Whitstable in Old Ads" article (click here to view). This was based on advertisements that you kindly scanned for us from one of your old Whitstable Carnival programs. It includes a Bartlett & Bisson ad and it's interesting to see some of the details relating to the dairy and its herd.

I didn't realise that B&B took over Cottew & Reads. However, this being so, I presume that the B&B shop in Canterbury Road was originally the C&R shop that a number of readers have mentioned in the past. I also presume that the fascia was revamped by B&B as, by the late 1950s, it had that standard B&B look with bay window, small glass panes and blue/white ceramic tiles.

That distinctive "B&B look" can be seen in this photo of the Tankerton shop taken in 2004...

As you can see, by then, it had become the Yantze Chinese restaurant. 

The whole dairy industry is an interesting study in economics, community relations and attitudes. The milk delivery men/women were more than just delivery people. Most people had milk delivered because milk bottles were too heavy to carry up from the town centre in a world without cars. The milkman knew everybody on his round and, for people living alone (particularly the elderly) he/she was one of the few contacts with the outside world. If an elderly person was in trouble, the milkman was the first to know and he could inform neighbours, rellies and the authorities. 

The decline of the milkman was obviously associated with the arrival of cars, fridges and low cost weekly shopping at supermarkets. However, these things didn't necessarily alter milk sales immediately. My family carried on with milk deliveries long after these factors came into play. For us, the catalyst came with a few instances of poor service. After years of having a friendly service, we got a milkman who was rude and unreliable. That's when we switched. Even though the rude milkman didn't last long, we never switched back because, by then, we had egun to enjoy the benefits of the supermarket - ie large plastic bottles that occupied less space in the fridge, no delays in bad weather, no milk left out in the summer heat, no empties smashed by the wind..... and the milk could be easily collected along with the rest of our supermarket shopping.

As I said recently in connection with High Street shopping, it only takes a couple of bad experiences for people to switch allegiance. Customers are easily lost but not so easily recaptured!!!    

PS I would love to see a photo of the old Sampers shop alongside Crosslands garage. I don't recall ever having see one - even in the Doug West collection. I used the shop many times in the 1950s but I really can't visualise it now. 

Our Comment: Merry Christmas to you and your family, Barbara.

It's sad to hear that the puppy is still missing. Hopefully it is holed up somewhere safe and will be found in due course.

Our Comment: Thanks Robbie... and Merry Christmas to you all down in Sussex.

Although Sampers cardboard tops appear to have contained red print, their bottles had black writing on the side. Bartlett and Bisson bottles had red writing on the side. I don't think I ever saw a Petts, Cottew & Read or Co-Op bottle.... so I can't confirm the colours for them.

You've just reminded of my culinary favourite - Summer Pudding containing mixed berries in a casing of stale bread soaked in berry juice and topped off with cream. We used to have it in late summer when the berries were ripe on the bushes. However, we didn't collect blackberries from the woods. We got them from the hedgerows alongside fields in Church Street and Ham Shades Lane. These fields formed part of Manor Farm and were owned by Bartlett and Bisson. 

You don't see chestnuts much nowadays but, then, it's difficult to deal with them on a central heating radiator. In the 1950s, we would bite them to puncture them and then place them on the grate of an open fire. If the bite marks weren't deep enough, the odd chestnut would explode.

Talking of fires and food, I always reckoned that toast tasted better if it was done over an open fire using a toasting fork. I recall Sunday tea time with the family around a table in the centre of the room - all waiting for the toast to arrive. The person nearest the fireplace did the toasting. As this meal followed roast beef at dinner time (ie lunch time in modern terms), there was always a supply of dripping to spread on the toast. 

Wow... I have just devised the menu for my Christmas Day 2011- roast beef and summer pudding for dinner followed by toast and dripping for tea!!!!  Goodness, I think I've just had a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. The trouble is I tend to get too carried away with my own era!!!! Many of us post-war "baby boomers" were hatched at St Heliers. Now we are clogging up pension funds nationwide. 

I wonder if anyone else remembers Nurse Clark. There was also a well known nurse at St Heliers called Sister Sharman. She is mentioned (with a photo) in our article on the Kings Leigh School of Northwood Road (click here to view). I wonder if it was 'er wot called me Buffalo Bill?

Our Comment: Blimey, Dave. That's a long way from Smeeds Farm to the Herne Bay Road. Mrs Rigden must have had arms and thighs like Popeye! I do like a woman built to last....and capable of putting her own wheelie bin out!!!! ;-)

Our Comment: Thanks, Ali. I hope some of our readers can help you. If anyone can, could they please get in touch and give permission for their email addresses to be passed on.

You might have a bit of trouble with the ol' flora and fauna as seen by users of the Salt Way. The whole area has changed enormously even since my childhood of the 1950s. Blean Woods used to be packed with indigenous trees rather than imported conifers and springtime provided a carpet of bluebells and primroses. Nowadays, you are more likely to end up with pictures of an Erecta Viridis  from the B&Q garden centre. ;-)

We also had wild fauna rustling about in the flora rather than squashed under a Pirelli Cinturato on the Hackington Road. 

Heaven knows how different it would have been when locals were using the Salt Way. Mind you, I am not sure they would necessarily have noticed as they were probably too busy trying to get their cart out of a mud patch and up a hill so that they could earn a living. If they did spot fauna, they would probably have shot it to supplement their income.  ;-)

I don't envy you your task, Ali.... because there are interesting questions. Where do art and reality collide? Where do historians and artists find common ground?

Our Comment: Thanks, Mike.... and a Merry Christmas to all at Corfe Castle.

 I knew that Sampers used handcarts but I didn't realise that B&B did too. As you say, Rigden is a well known local surname. It was also one that I associated with another form of deliveries. Our veggies arrived courtesy of Fred Rigden's horse and cart. Fred had a very round face with a ruddy complexion that must have come from being out in all weathers. He always wore a trilby hat and a khaki coat. I believe the Rigden greengrocers shop was located in Harbour Street. 

I remember one occasion when the horse went walkabout. I was making my way out of Oxford Boys school to go to Hawkins bakery when I was confronted by the horse. It was galloping down the playground all by itself. I dived in amongst the teachers, parked cars to escape the stampede.  

It was quite an event but rioting animals were more common in earlier decades. My mum often mentioned that, in her childhood days of the 1920s, cattle would occasionally escape from the various abattoirs that were attached to local butchers shops.

Delivery men were well known to us kids. We had a "Percy" who delivered bread from the Co-Op..... a Bob (who delivered milk for Sampers using a handcart)... two men from Andersons (who delivered coal on an old lorry with faces as black as the ace of spades).... various lads from Tackley & Shead (who delivered meat using cycles with large baskets on the front)... and the paraffin man (who served from a "tank with a tap" at the back of his small van). I am not sure that H&S would allow a paraffin man nowadays. 

Of course, an even more exciting caller was the chimney sweep. He covered all the furniture with dust sheets and placed a sack across hearth. He then shoved his brush up through a hole in the sack. We kids ran into the garden to watch it come out of the chimney pot. It always did a little pirouette before making its descent. Anyone who didn't get a visit from the chimney sweep usually ended up with an even more messy visit from the fire brigade.

Most of these callers have now disappeared from the Whitstable scene. We still have "firemen" but even they have become the more whizzy "fire fighters" so that women can swoon when they turn up on TV quiz shows!!!! ;-) 

Older readers may remember an even more interesting caller - the Muffin Man. I really regret never having seen a Muffin Man.

You have my sympathy over the "Luvverly Boy" tag. I lived with a similar tag for many years. Like most of Whitstable, I was born at St Heliers Nursing Home in Castle Road. That week, I was the only male arrival and I weighed in at a hefty 10lbs 8 oz. The nurses took to calling me "Buffalo Bill". I lost count of the number of times that my mum mentioned this to friends and relatives in the years that followed.  

Our Comment: Many thanks for getting in touch, David. The cards are well remembered by many of us from the 1950s and your collection will be of interest to many of our readers and beyond.

Not only did the cards show the old pub signs, they often gave a brief history of the pub. Thus, they are a fascinating piece of local history . 

Our Comment: Thanks, Ron. I doubt that it is worth pursuing now that I have let off steam. I just hope HMV executives and shareholders realise that, as my £14.99 gift card will probably never be used, they are living off my pension.

I think the other thing that miffs me is that we will soon have a great debate about saving the High Street in the wake of the Mary Portas report. We will all be expected to fall over ourselves to help the retail trade at a time when we are all struggling to keep our heads above the recessionary waters.

I haven't seen the full Portas report yet but I have read her list of 28 points for recovery... and I wonder if they were knocked up in a pub at lunchtime.  There may be a few interesting ideas relating to landlords and business rates. However, the overall objectives seem unclear (ie what exactly are we trying to achieve), some of content simply states the bloody obvious and some suggestions will pretty much be unworkable in practice or too costly to implement. Worst of all, it's the same old story,..... ie When a retail person talks about retail, he/she only sees retail. There is no real understanding of the wider impacts on a community.... and, without that, it's a case of "when" a High Street will pop its clogs rather than "if". At the moment, the only question up for discussion is how many mourners will bother to attend the wake.   

In Whitstable, we will have a few months of discussion before the Portas report hits the bottom of a wheelie bin and, then, it will be a case of "as you were".  The High Street will be propped up by tourism for a few more years. We will avoid boarded up windows by attracting art, pot and charity shops until the tourist trade declines via a lengthy recession or a "change of chic". Thereafter, we will only need a few of the much maligned "big name" shops to leave town and the whole thing will collapse as a result of structural changes in the retail industry and whole new generations of car owning, iPhone welded and iPad using punters . Those structural changes include such things as "out of town" shopping, ebusiness, "internet collect at store" operations and "online order/ home delivery from store" options.... plus any other whizzy things the electronics industry can dream up in the decades to come. 

Rather than trying to recreate a High Street of the 1920s in 2012 based on nostalgia, someone needs to consider what practical role a High Street can play in the 2020s based on supply and demand. If there IS a real answer, we can go with it. If not, should we waste any more money?  

Our Comment:  Many thanks, Brian. Just to put readers in the picture and confuse the gender issue even more, I should point out that Leander is most commonly associated with a young lady called Hero.... rather than heroine. Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite - the Greek Goddess of Love. The couple fell for each other but they had a problem because they lived on opposite sides of the narrow sea strait of Hellespont (now known as the Dardenelles). 

Of course, just like a Man of Kent falling in love with an Essex Girl, there was an answer to the difficulty.... swim!!! So, Hero placed a lamp on top of a tower that she just happened to own and this guided Leander across the strait every night. He then made love to her and swam back in time for breakfast..... which kinda makes Leander the Hero and Hero the Leander in my eyes. I expect that's why the naming of your travel agent got a bit confused, Brian. (I am not sure why a lamp was necessary as Turkey is a pretty big thing to miss.... even in the dark).

Anyway, all went well during the summer months but Leander was besotted enough to try the same stunt in winter. One night, a bad storm extinguished Hero's lamp. Leander got lost and perished in the choppy waters. Hero threw herself off her tower rather than rebuild her life by seeking a Greek bearing gifts in a boat.... and became an instant heroine.

There was always a relationship problem in Greek Mythology. I often wonder what the Jeremy Kyle show must have been like in those days. ("The result of the DNA test shows that Leander..... IS the father of your child, Hero".... Hooray!.... "We asked Hero if she really did light her lamp on that fateful night. She said, 'Yes". Our lie detector said..... She was LYING!!!!"..... Ooooh..... Booo!... "Now, will you work with our after care team so that you can stop throwing yourself off towers".... Ahhhh!) 

You've given me an idea for a Chrizzy decoration now, Brian. All I need is a few John Samper bottle tops... otherwise I am going to have to use the spare wheel from my Mazda!

All this reminds me that Infants and Junior Schools went into "Blue Peter Christmas Mode" sometime around mid November. I had to make a jewellery box from a toilet role or a tobacco pouch from Fairy Liquid bottle. On the last day of term, we all emerged from Westmeads with a heap of junk. I dumped mine in the waste basket outside Mrs Ford's shop in Wheatley Road.

In the first year at Oxford Street, Mr Lawrence went doo-lally and asked us all to build a replica of our houses in cardboard. The idea was that we would then place presents in the relevant bedrooms of family members. Of course, it was a disaster. I think mine was the subject of a WUDC compulsory demolition order. ;-)

Our Comment:  Thank, Robbie. A photo would be great. I presume that you can still buy repair kits. 

Back in the 1950s, some friends and I cycled to Bishopstone Glen (Reculver) on a Sunday afternoon. While passing through Herne Bay, one of the bikes acquired a puncture. All shops were closed and so we banged on a garage door and attracted the attention of the owner . He took pity on us and helped. However, in those days, kids were expected to do things for themselves and so the "help" took the form of a bowl of water, a few spanners and a John Bull kit. The problem was that, each time we patched up a hole, we succeeded in pinching the inner-tube during the reconstruction process and caused another leak. After about five or six attempts, we had lift off whereupon we handed back all the kit to the shop owner... and scarpered before he realised that his John Bull tin now had no puncture patches left.    

Our Comment:  Thanks, Jean. Did anyone else use everyday items to create useful things in bygone days?

Your comments about milk are interesting. I am always amazed by the fact that schools liked to force feed kids. Even during the 1980s, my offspring came home from infants school complaining that they had been made to finish their school dinners even though they hated some of items. If that happened in a prison, human rights people would be screaming from the rooftops. Why did schools of the past feel that tastes, preferences and aversions to some food products were the privilege of adults and something to be denied to anyone under the age of 10? I can only assume that they believed that human beings went through some form of metamorphosis at the time of the "Eleven Plus"! ;-) 

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. The phrase "the Whit-Tank" has become a friendly way of describing the "Whitstable and Tankerton Hospital". It's a "clipped" expression that may have come from hospital workers themselves as a quick way of referring to the place within the the confines of the local NHS Trust. The "A&E" bit means "Accident and Emergency Unit". The Whit-Tank has long since lost its A&E department - as have many other hospitals around the UK.

A few years ago, the Whit-Tank served two limited functions - convalescence and GP beds. The latter meant that Whitstable GPs could place people in the hospital for a variety of reasons. In return, the GPs provided medical cover at the hospital. I am not sure how all this worked and I am not sure if it still applies.

Your story of the Soap Box Cart disaster of '45 brings back some memories of "fingers in spokes". It normally happened in connection with bikes that we were dismantling or re-assembling. In those days, we did our own maintenance - including puncture repairs. Everyone had one of those "John Bull" puncture repair kits in a small, oblong tin box. Does anyone have a photo of one?

Our Comment: Thanks, Bob. Have a great time. In comparison, I am afraid our Christmas is going to be very mundane with the normal sorts of presents - socks, hankies, after shave, torpedo. ;-)

Our Comment: Hi, Bob. A Merry Christmas to you, Pam and the family out there on the "Sunshine Coast". Chuck another prawn on the barbie for me on the 25th!

Blean, Bob?!!!! I didn't realise that you were a bumpkin! If the school now collapses due to structural damage, you're in the frame. ;-)

I didn't get involved with the "brick dust" escapade but I do recall the slides - particularly on the snow after it had been packed down in the playground. Childhood was so  much more adventurous in those days but it did have its "downside". There always seemed to be some kid or other with a leg or arm in plaster. You don't see that much today.

Mind you, it did get out of hand from time to time. My brother ended up with a fractured skull and I have several scars that are still with me. One on my forehead required several stitches after "The Great Soapbox Cart Disaster of '55. To be honest, it was my own fault because I was travelling head first and holding onto the front axle in order to steer. The whole axle came away and I careered along  for several yards on my head. That was another incident that ended up at the Whit-Tank A&E.

I suppose ice slides are banned at schools now - partly because parents would stop off at their solicitors office on the way home from A&E. In fact, some would probably stop off on the way TO the A&E.   

Our Comment: Thanks, Ian. No doubt different dairies used different colour print. I suppose it is also possible that some used different colours for different types of milk. This was certainly the case with the foil tops that eventually replaced the cardboard ones

As you have intimated, the change to foil tops may have happened over a period of time as different dairies began to modernise at differnt rates and tackled changing attitudes to food hygiene laws. 

There were, of course, quite a few local dairies in Whitstable's long history. The reason was that transport was poor and there was a lack of refrigeration. So, things with a very short shelf life like milk had to be produced locally in order to get them into shops quickly. This led to dairy farms (and associated dairies) growing up on the outskirts of urban areas. Locally, we had Bartlett and Bisson (Manor Farm in Ham Shades Lane), Cottew and Read (Belmont Road) and John Sampers (Smeed Farm, Church Street). As far as I recall, these dairies had their own dairy herds. There were other town centre based dairies that probably brought milk in from farms slightly further afield - the Co-Op and West End dairy.

Different dairies modernised at different rates. By the 1950s, some had milk floats similar to those of modern times. Some had electric-powered carts that required the milkman to walk in front holding a handle that resembled a ships rudder. Sampers still used unpowered handcarts that resembled a wheelbarrow. I can still remember us kids urging "Old Bob" to push his cartload of empties up Teynham Hill at the end of his round. It was a question of whether he would make it to the summit before he retired. ;-)

When better roads and modern refrigeration arrived, the way was open for a whole heap of takeovers. Sampers and Bartlett & Bisson were consumed by Abbots of Canterbury who supplied "third pint" milk to Simon Langton in the 1960s. I recall searching the Langton milk crates to find a rare Sampers or B&B bottle amongst the mass of Abbots. Eventually, Abbots also succumbed and were taken over by the massive Unigate enterprise.

Not only did modernisation and better transport open the way for takeovers, it also freed up a lot of land on the fringes of Whitstable because local dairy herds were no longer required when milk and yoghurt could be shipped in in vast quantities from more agricultural areas like Wiltshire and Devon. That land was soon developed. The lovely B&B fields became the southern end of Summerfield Avenue and Bridewell Park. The fields of Smeeds became the northern end of Summerfield Avenue and Ivy House Road. Cottew & Reads fields became Millfield Manor and, possibly, Millstream Close.

This has a link to my site note below because the new housing developments accommodated a massive influx of people from London during the 1960s and 1970s. Such people moved out of the capital for a life by the sea - encouraged by the government and the electrification of the North Kent Coast rail line. Many took on a new life of commuting.    

It's fascinating how a discussion of simple milk bottle tops can lead us on to addressing major influences on the development of Whitstable and linking together discussions that, at the outset, seem to be totally unrelated.

I am sorry about the delay in replying to your email. I am in a mess at the moment. I thought I had sent an acknowledgment but I hadn't. I will write later today.  

Our Comment: Thanks, Chris. The Lantern and its slogan live deep in the memories of so many Whitstable people around the globe. There was another cafe opposite the St Alphege Infants School pre-fabs in the 1950s and early sixties. This was alongside the concourse of the Oxford Cinema and it was called the Blue Lagoon.  As far as I know, it didn't have a slogan but it did have a large mural on its side wall. 

Our Comment: Thanks, Martin. Merry Christmas to you and your family. 

We belong to a similar era because I don't recall cardboard bottle tops being used either! Whilst my family had a tin box that contained a whole stack from the past, I need some of our seniors to fill in the gaps. To me, they were simply flat circular discs made of stiff card. They had a diameter that matched the top of a bottle and they were simply pressed into the neck. I am not sure how they were sealed. Was some adhesive used or was there a groove in the neck of the bottle? Perhaps, Bill Dancer can help here because his dad worked for Bartlett & Bisson and he may have seen the bottles being sealed. In the meantime, it is worth looking at ebay (click here) where some rare examples are on sale from other parts of the UK .

Many of the Whitstable versions had a perforated circle in the middle. This meant that the centre could be pressed out. As George explained, the resulting hole enabled the customer to hook out the rest of the cardboard. It also allowed Robbie to insert her straw. Our family collection included quite a few that had been used. Thus, they had had the middle removed and were doughnut shaped - ie with a hole in the middle. Others were complete discs. There may have been several reasons for this. Some may have been virgin tops poached direct from a dairy. Others may have been removed with some care by a junior collector. Others may have been a different style with no perforated middle.

Looking at the ebay photos, there do appear to be different styles. I cannot spot perforations on some whilst others may show evidence of a triangle of perforations. (NB A triangular hole may have made pouring easier). On top of this, some have the word "PULL" printed on them... which suggests that they may have had a cardboard tab to yank rather than a perforation to press. If so, I wonder if this gave someone the idea of the "ring pull" can of modern times!!!!! 

Does anyone still have a collection of Whitstable bottle tops  and can they supply a photo?

I well remember the Whitbread cards. In fact, we have a short article about them on Simply Whitstable (click here). That article needs to be re-written because someone has pointed out some errors. (For example, I am now told that the metal cards preceded the cardboard versions). Some of the modern pub signs have also changed since the article was first penned.

People interested in collections from the mid-twentieth century should also take a look at Bill Dancer's lovely article on cigarette packets (click here). His collection is a fascinating social history in itself - including cigarettes that claimed to cure respiratory illnesses!!!!!!!   

On the subject of snowballs at the Langton, I seem to recall that the school was a very lively place and we could really let rip at times provided that we stayed within certain boundaries. I wonder what memories modern boys will have of snow when they write to Simply Whitstable of 2061. Playing on a computer in their bedroom because school was closed? Being taken to the front door of a school in a Volvo with those infernal sidelights that even a car crusher can't turn off? I think I would have ended my education at the age of 6 if I had been forced to attend a modern state school!!!! ;-)

I seem to recall that 1963 was a particularly severe winter and that there was snow lying around from early January to well into late March or even early April. Whenever it started to melt, a new freeze set in and we had more blizzards. It was also the year that the sea froze at Whitstable. Some scenes of this are available on our "Frozen Sea" article (click here). The photos were taken by Jack Ferrell and kindly made available to us by his daughter, Jackie Evans. 

Our Comment: The junk shop was "Fields" and it contained a wide range of stuff including a lot of furniture. In later years, Mr Field did try to expand into "new" furnishings by taking over Daveys furniture shop at the corner of Harbour and Victoria Streets (ie the old Palais Deluxe theatre building). However, shortly afterwards, Charlie Knowles sold his High Street greengrocers to the big Courts furniture chain who immediately built a multi-storey store. This put a real dampener on Mr Fields new enterprise in Harbour Street and I am not sure that it lasted long.

On the subject of the bottles, I seem to recall that the school milk came in special "one third of a pint" bottles. Normal bottles were either a half pint or full pint.

We had Sampers milk from Smeed Farm (at the corner of Church St and Bridge Approach). Even as late as the mid-1950s, their "Milkies" delivered in small, unpowered handcarts. Included amongst their offerings were some "milk-style" bottles that were also around a "third of a pint". However, they didn't contain milk. They contained orange squash. It was wonderful to buy one in the early morning because they were quite cold and had condensation, dew or raindrops running down the side of the glass. (Just like that famous final scene from the film "Ice Cool in Alex"). Bearing in mind that we didn't have a fridge in those days, they were quite a cool treat. Of course, most days, we couldn't afford orange squash and had to make do with tap water. 

All this reminds me of a story from the 1980s when my kids were small. We ran out of our normal stock of fizzy drinks and squash. This led to moans and a chorus of.... "What can we drink now?". I suggested "water" and they looked at me quizzically. I poured a couple of glasses and stood them on the table in front of them. They examined the contents as if they had arrived from another planet. Later, they informed me that "water would never catch on". Oh, how times change between generations.

Our Comment: Thanks, George. You have solved a problem that has bothered me for over 50 years - ie the mystery of the doughnut milk bottle tops!!!!!

But, don't get me going on the subject of ring pulls. I have lost count of the number of white shirts that I have ruined by pulling the ring on a can and being splattered by tomato soup during that final moment when the lid finally flicks off. I have also cut myself umpteen times while washing the empty can prior to placing it in the recycling bag. I know that patents can be registered but is it possible for us all to campaign to get the ring-pull patent cancelled?!!! Bring back the cardboard doughnuts!!!!! ;-)

Our Comment: Thanks, George. I remember my brothers having a box full of cardboard milk bottle tops. Some seemed to have a hole in the middle - like ring doughnuts. So, presumably, they had a removable section. I have often wondered why. After all, why not remove the whole thing rather than punch a hole in the centre?

In the late 1940s, Oxford Street School catered for both junior and senior pupils. When the Sir William Nottidge Secondary School was built in the early 1950s, Oxford Street became purely a junior school and some teachers left to take up new positions at the Nottidge. That was certainly true of McKenna and, possibly, Miles. I am not sure if it applied to Apps or Rawlins.

Our Comment: Thanks, Brian. By the mid-fifties, we were more affluent and industry more mechanised - so we could afford racing cars!!!!

You are right about snowaball fights. There was only a short "window of opportunity" before the playground snow was trampled into an icy covering. The thing I do remember is having the "mother of all snowball fights" with the St Mary's Convent School kids. It used to take place at the corner of Westmeads Rd and Railway Avenue. That was where the two armies collided on the way home from school. Of course, it wouldn't happen today. At the first sight of a snowflake, schools seem to close down for a week!!!!! ;-) 

The "normal size" marbles could be claimed if your ball hit it once. However, there were bigger marbles that you had to hit more than once. These were called two-ers or three-ers etc. I think marbles caused more trouble than any other game because there was a great sense of loss when an opponent claimed one form you. I seem to recall teachers having to resolve the odd heated dispute.

Our Comment: It's a relief to know that there is someone out there who agrees with me, Chris.... because I am deeply worried about the future.

Two of the biggest influences and controls on human development are education and the media. (If you don't believe me, just ask any dictator or secret police organisation!!). Both are becoming increasingly female dominated. Hardly a day goes by without feminist propaganda being poured out by some demented female newspaper columnist. Recently, I saw one article that even boasted that women reporters were given stories ahead of their male counterparts because they were better at providing the "human" and "more" sensitive angle - presumably the angle that gives us more gossip and less in the way of facts and analysis. This type of reporting may suit a female readership but I have now got to the point where I often dump newspapers straight into the recycling sack without reading them. Initially, it was the national papers but now I sometimes do the same thing with the locals after flipping through the opening paragraphs of some of the stories because, for me, there is a lack of depth and substance. 

There are still areas where women need to be  treated better and be given better opportunities - eg politics and the boardroom. However, some people seem to think that the answer is some ludicrous quota system. Just how does that sit with democracy, freedom or achievement on the basis of ability... and are we going to have similar quotas lower down the ranks to give boys a better chance when they leave school and apply for a job or uni place? The fact is that women will eventually occupy most positions of power anyway.... because it will only be women who will be able to make their way up to the top jobs. I am just amazed when I walk into so many offices nowadays and see a sea of women and so very few men.

It's all dismissed as women being inherently brighter. What a load of tosh!!!! Take a look back and examine just how many discoveries,  inventions and explorations came from men. Yes, we need women to be given the same chance of getting involved in such things because they were excluded from it in the past. However, can we really afford to waste the talents that men can offer simply because of educational theories gone mad?

I never thought I would say this but I am slowly and reluctantly coming round to the idea that we need to return to "single sex" education... at least for a while and, at least, in part. That is regrettable but it may be the only way out of the mess because there appears to be no other way of influencing the people currently in charge of our education system.  

The problem is that feminism has ceased to be a fight for genuine equality and has now entered the ridiculous realms of propaganda, opportunism, spite and revenge. Why can't we just have people (of both sexes) fighting for the rights of people (of both sexes) rather than this pathetic game of gender one-upmanship. After all, isn't THAT what true equality is all about?

PS I would like to use a true life story to back up your comments about the difference between boys and girls in school. In the past we learned and then underwent an exam. This was by no means ideal but it did tend to suit boys. Nowadays, there is a stronger element of project work. This is more difficult for many boys because they don't necessarily get the discipline that they need for such an approach.

My real life example concerns a young man who was packed off by his teacher to do a GCSE field study with a small group of other boys. They had to rely on each other to do parts of the data collection without any great supervision. Some of the group had long given up on their education and spent most of their time mucking about. When the young man arrived home, he only had his own data to work with and this was insufficient to complete the project. He was very distressed and, in tears, announced that he would be a failure. His father took him to the location at a weekend and this allowed him to pick up all the information that his friends should have collected. Through hard work, he passed his GCSE but he could easily have given up. I suspect that girls might have fewer problems with this type of course because they require less in the way of discipline and supervision. 

Of course, it could be argued that girls are "brighter" because they are better at self-discipline, obeying orders and maintaining focus. However, boys' instincts to wander, explore, question, challenge, invent, create, experiment and bend a few rules is a vital part of human development. Without these things, our country could be in deep trouble in the future because it will lack the creativity to survive in a competitive world. I am sure that most of us oldies can compare our upbringing with those of modern boys and see just how inhibited and suppressed young lads have become in our educational establishments and the world at large. They either have to conform to suppression or totally rebel, give up on the whole thing and await freedom at school leaving age.

This is just one example. I could go on for ages on other aspects of education that cause me real concern. The problem is not just that some educationalists don't understand the opposite gender. By progressing from school... to uni... to teacher training college.... and back into school, I am not even sure that some of them know much about the world for which they are preparing their charges.

As Chris has said, there is a real danger that the strengths of boys are being played down and even discouraged rather than being harnessed and channeled in a productive way.  

Our Comment: Thanks, Lawrence. I believe that the door to your classroom was opposite Frank Newsome's office. The "alcove" was probably a corridor that led through to a section of playground that contained the caretakers coal store. 

As you say, the playground could be quite a cold place in winter but, to keep warm, there were a variety of games to play at different times of the year. These included...

• football - played with a tennis ball

• snowball fights in winter

• conkers in autumn - using conkers treated in various different ways including baking and soaking in vinegar. (I am not sure any of these treatments actually worked).

• marbles (with different size marbles being allocated a different number of lives before they could be claimed by the victor)

• beer mat flicking (The aim as to see how close a card could be landed against a wall)

• car racing using Dinky or Corgi racing cars. (These were flicked from a line that divided the playground from the teachers car park and the idea was to see how far the cars could travel down the playground before coming to a halt or being inadvertently squashed