Dedworth Green School |
From 2008 contributors to The Royal Windsor Forum have been posting their memories of the Dedworth Green School. Eventually the thread became so extensive that it was decided to edit the posts to create separate articles for each school. The editor of The Royal Windsor Website is very grateful to Jane Lindsay (in Australia) for undertaking the substantial task of editing all the entries. Readers are welcome to add their own comments and memories on the current School Memories forum thread here. If you are not already a member you would be welcome to join us. It is free! |
Lesleyelmes - 22 Jul 2008
I went to Dedworth Green infants and junior schools, and started when I was four. I can remember one day we had about ten minutes before the end of the school day and our teacher told us to put our heads down on the desk and rest and the next thing I knew I was been carried out of the school by the teacher, and my grandmother was waiting to meet me. I must have really been asleep. I loved it at Dedworth Green and I got my love of classical music from the early morning assemblies we used to have each morning. Our headmaster, Mr. Wickson, a really nice man, used to play classical music every morning while we were all marching in and getting into our assigned places.
I was for a time the milk monitor and I made sure that I never gave myself any milk. It would sit out in the hallway for hours in crates, and by the time we got to drink it, in the warm months, it was sour. I have never been able to drink milk to this day. Strange how childhood memories can have such a profound impact on you even years later. It was the same with cabbage - at home we had boiled cabbage at least three or four times a week, and I refused to eat it at school too. I told everyone I was allergic to it. Even now I rarely eat cooked cabbage, and I only cook it every few months or so when my husband practically begs me for it. I love it raw, cut up in salads, but cooked cabbage still brings back those same memories!! I also remember being in charge of the fish in the aquarium. I had to feed them every day and clean out the tank etc. I felt quite honoured to be chosen to do this. Unfortunately one day my father came to pick me up from school and I asked him if he'd like to see the fish. When we got there, one of the fish was floating upside down - obviously dead. I was heartbroken and felt like I had let Mr. Wickson down. The next day I had to tell him about the dead fish and I broke into tears and I can remember sitting on his lap and he was trying to comfort me and told me it wasn't my fault. I can't imagine that happening nowadays - he'd be held on charges of child molestation or something ridiculous!!!!
We had huge playing fields there, and some of my fondest memories are of sitting outside at lunch time on the grass talking to friends. They also had a large playground, and I can remember hanging upside down on the monkey bars. I started my French lessons in the junior school, and I had already had two years before I went to the Girls' School. Being so young, I'm sure that's where I got my love for the language. We had a really good teacher and she made it so much fun. I can remember faces quite clearly but I can't for the life of me remember any of the Dedworth Green teachers' names except for Mr. Wickson. In my last year at Dedworth, I went away on a school trip to France, Belgium and Holland for a week and we had a really great time. It must have cost my parents a fortune but they allowed me to go and I saw things I have never forgotten. I can remember walking on the beach in Belgium and having my first taste of split pea soup. It was the best I had ever had and I still love split pea soup to this day. I also remember Paris quite vividly. We stopped on the road somewhere in a little village to get a drink and use the restroom on the way to Paris, and I was absolutely flabbergasted to have to wait in line to use a "unisex" bathroom. Once inside, there was no toilet - just a hole in the ground covered by a grate with two handholds on either side on the walls. No toilet paper, nothing. I had to go so bad I did use it but felt disgusted. I bought a Coke as I was so thirsty and it cost the equivalent of two pounds back then and it put a big dent in my spending money. I also saw what I later realized was a prostitute sitting up at the bar. I can still remember her vividly to this day. She had long very red hair and she was sitting on a bar stool with her legs crossed. She had on the shortest skirt I had ever seen at the time with black fishnet stockings and her boobs were hanging out of her top. I couldn't stop staring at her - we talked about it for months afterwards. I remember she was wearing what looked to me back then like orange lipstick - she certainly made an impression on my young mind. I was almost 11 at the time and I had never seen anything like it!! I will read practically anything I can get my hands on and it all stems from my Dedworth Green days as we were always encouraged to read a lot and I can still remember our weekly reading tests in the first two years of the junior school. I love to write too, as I'm sure is evident, and I have written several novels - none of them published but I write as a hobby and enjoy it.
It's amazing what you did as a child could have such an impact on your later years!!!!
Lesleyelmes - 24 Jul 2008
I have no idea what happened to the swimming pool - I swam in it a lot and we had to take our swimming tests in that pool. It was a small pool - not like the public swimming pool down by the river but it was large enough for us to swim and take certain tests. I remember once a very famous swimmer came to the school and I was chosen, among many, to have him critique my swimming. I will always remember him telling me how I had lazy legs and I had to push harder when doing the breast stroke. I always tried much harder after that. We used to go to the public swimming pool to take tests after we'd "outgrown" the school pool as it just wasn't long enough or deep enough to swim the required distances. Our school pool was still there when I left the school in 1964 I do know that. What happened to it after that, I have no idea. It probably got too old and was costing more in repairs than it was worth or perhaps they discontinued swimming lessons by then and everyone was left to learn by themselves. Perhaps it got to be an insurance liability or they had an accident or drowning? Anyway, we certainly had some fun in it while I was there and it was always a favourite with me and I received quite a few swimming certificates for swimming at school.
Lesleyelmes - 28 Aug 2008
I can remember doing Morris dances - dancing around the maypole etc. That was when I was at Dedworth Green School.
Lesleyelmes - 4 Sep 2008
We had no radio/music programmes although it did sound like fun. I'm surprised that was even allowed knowing how the British education system was back then! The only class of a non-formal nature was our sewing class at Dedworth Green. I loved it! It set up a life-long love of sewing. We didn't sew anything too fancy - just cushion covers, etc. but my favourite was a teddy bear. It was just a little bear, about six inches high and made out of a really furry material. The material came in a kit so we didn't even have to cut it out - just sew it but we were allowed to choose the colour. I kept that little pink bear for years until a new puppy chewed it up. Our music classes were very formal and at Dedworth Green only involved singing and playing the recorder. I've always had a great love of music but only when listening. I've never been very good at playing a musical instrument. I was so bad I was given the job of turning the music pages for the pianist. I could read music just fine but something went hay-wire somewhere between the written music and my fingers! I do remember playing a lot of games at recess at Dedworth Green. We used to call it play time. We had all sorts of playground equipment - swings, slides, round-a-bout, see-saw, etc. and we also had a very large playground. We would play all sorts of games together and there was never a shortage of someone to play with. We used to have such fun and when playtime was over, we would all moan about having to go back inside. We didn't have a girls' playground and boys' playground - we all used to play together. I had to laugh when you mentioned plimsoles. No one would know what you were talking about nowadays. I too can remember my mother whitening my plimsoles! Ours were just white canvas shoes with elasticated sides. Plain rubber soles - nothing fancy at all. Kids would think they were very hard-done-by if we made them wear plimsoles like we did!!We had a lot of organized sports at Dedworth Green too. I was on the track team and used to be on the baton relay team. I was interested to see at the Olympics this year that both the US male and female teams dropped their batons and were disqualified.
BobB - 1 Mar 2009
Dedworth Green swimming poolI was at the opening of the pool in about 1960.I have a photo of Geraldine McEwan at the opening which she took part in. The pool was used until the 90s,but was filled in several years ago to create a garden area.
Franw - 7 Mar 2009
I'm assuming the Dedworth Green swimming pool is the one at the junior school. If this is the case I learnt to swim there. I went to the infants school in 1955 and to then to the junior. I remember the pool being built, and having weekly lessons - it was bloody freezing !!!!
Lesleyelmes - 8 May 2009
Whilst at Dedworth Green we used to have an on-going fundraiser for starving babies in Africa. The idea was to "adopt" a baby for a few pennies a week. In return, we would be given a black and white photo of an African baby, which, back then, we were convinced we were saving from starvation. The only problem, which was not apparent to me at the time but only realized now as I am looking back, is that the babies were fat little children, with chubby cheeks and bright smiles. They looked in the picture of health and I'm sure were not a true reflection of what these poor starving children looked like. Oh well, at the time we all thought we were doing such a great thing for these dear little children and I for one carried these photos around with me and kept them in my bedroom and would look at them often in the hopes that they would be spared from dying of starvation.
Dedworthdog - 1 Aug 2009
It was interesting reading posts about the swimming pool at Dedworth Junior school. As a matter of interest my father was one of the parents who dug the pool out and the small hill behind the infants school is the earth dug out for the pool!
Lesleyelmes - 8 Mar 2010
As I've said often enough - most of you have much better memories than I do; however, I do have very fond memories of Mr. Wickson, the headmasterÊat Dedworth Green Junior School. He was a very cultured man and at assembly every morning, we all marched into the hall to the sounds of classical music. Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Chopin - to name but a few. It would play until everyone was assembled and Mr. Wickson walked on to the stage for prayers, hymns and general information. It would play again when we were all sent back to our classrooms. My father was also an avid opera fan and I believe that between these two gentlemen I got my life-long appreciation of classical music. Mr. Wickham also had classic paintings hung in the assembly hall so we received more than our fair share of culture as young people. I remember Mr. Wickson as being very approachable and caring. You could always talk to him - I never felt intimidated by him. At lunchtime a teacher sat at the head of a few of the tables with the children - whether it was to keep everyone in line or not I don't know, but I was fortunate enough to sit at Mr. Wickson's table. I hated cabbage as we ate so much of it at home and I was bound and determined not to have to eat it at school as well. I'm afraid I fibbed a bit and told them I was allergic to it to avoid having to eat it and to his credit, even if Mr. Wickson suspected my lie, he never made me eat the cabbage. He also put me in charge of looking after the school aquarium which had about half a dozen fish in it. I took care of them for quite some time and they seemed healthy enough until one day I went in to feed them and they were all dead. I was so upset. I went straight to Mr. Wickson's office and confessed I had killed the fish. He walked me over to see and sure enough they were all floating belly-up. He consoled me and put his arms around me and told me it wasn't my fault. Something, which I'm sure wouldn't be allowed to happen today - he'd probably would have been accused to molestation of some such nonsense. At any rate, we found out after a time that someone had poured bleach in the water - we never found out who but at least I knew it hadn't been my fault. I suspect that Mr. Wickson knew this at the time as the odour was probably evident to him, if not to me. The only other teacher from Dedworth Green Juniors that I remember is Mrs Castle. I don't remember anyone at all from Dedworth Green Infants. As I say, you all seem to have much better long-term memories than I.
Lesleyelmes - 29 Mar 2010
At Dedworth Green School we also grew beans in glass jars so we could watch the progress of the root system and later watch what grew out of the soil on top of the bean. As a special project one Easter we were given a glass jar with a narrow opening just big enough to hold a bulb so that only the very end touched the water. We then placed a hyacinth bulb into the jar and we watched it grow and then were we given the hyacinth to take home to our mothers for an Easter present. I always remember mine was pink and my mother loved it! It was fascinating to watch the progress and we actually got to see something that normally you wouldn't see because all the initial action takes place below the soil. It was a very good learning experience for young children as it really made you think about what was going on that you couldn't see. Almost as good as our anatomy class when we were shown for the first time what the skeleton and internal organs looked like with no skin covering everything up.
Lesleyelmes - 23 Apr 2010
The Headmaster of Dedworth Green Junior's was Mr. Wickson and he was determined to see to it that we all were exposed to as much of the finer side of life as possible. He was a very dear man and I have so many very fond memories of him. Not only were we taken to France, Belgium and the Netherlands in our final year there, with him and his wife as chaperones, but we were exposed to classical music and paintings every morning at assembly. We were encouraged to play a musical instrument but unfortunately, even though I have a wonderful appreciation for music, I am unable to play one myself. Don't ask me why and I honestly have tried but alas it was not meant to be. I wasn't even very good at playing the recorder - that shows you how awful I was! I was relegated to playing the triangle in concerts and for a time I was the official page turner for the pianist. I was able to read music and follow along so I suppose that was something and I was able to contribute in some small way. I did however possess a fairly good singing voice and I was chosen to be a member of the school choir. We used to sing at the usual school functions, plays, concerts, Christmas programmes etc, but in our final year at Dedworth Green our choir was chosen to participate in a concert at Eton College Chapel. As our former President Bill Clinton was fond of saying at one point in his presidency, I have no recollection now the why's and what's and I suppose as they say you remember only what is important to you. It was important enough to be chosen and I do not remember anymore than that. We were repeatedly told that it was a very great honour and of course we had to practise, practise, practise. We did a dress-rehearsal at the Chapel and had to walk from Dedworth Green Juniors to Eton College Chapel which was no small distance. We left at about 9 am and didn't return to school until about 2 pm. On the night of the concert we didn't have to walk; instead we took the bus - I suppose because it didn't start until 7 pm and it would have been quite late to walk all the way back to Dedworth. I suppose too that we daren't take a chance on being late so perhaps the bus was for that reason too. Anyway, on the night of the concert we were all, of course, very nervous, but my recollection is that everything went very well with no hiccups.
Lesleyelmes - 19 May 2010
Two recollections: Walking to school every day from Hanover Way to Smith's Lane to Dedworth Green juniors - I used to hold my 5-year old sister's hand the whole way and as I was only 8 years old we were both very young indeed to walk all this way alone. I would walk her to the infants school next door to the junior school and make sure she went in the front door and then go on to the juniors. Going home, we then used to walk all the way from Smith's Lane to Manor Farm Close via Bell View which was even further and we never had one incident. We just weren't aware of any child abductions or molestations at that time. One never thought about such a thing. Oh that it was like that nowadays!
Hpb - 14 Sep 2010
It was lovely to see the photo of Geraldine McEwan at the opening of Dedworth Green pool. I was at the school when the pool was built, and my Dad was very involved in the group of parents who raised the funds for the pool. The Headmaster was Mr Andrew. It was interesting also to see Mr and Mrs South, they were friends of my Mum. Mrs South was a Governor at the Girls School for years I think and I'm sure Mr. South taught at the Boys School.
This entry in September 2010 marks the end of the first School Memories forum thread. A new thread was subsequently started while this article was prepared. Readers are welcome to add their own comments and memories on the current School Memories forum thread here. If you are not already a member you would be welcome to join us. It is free!