Due to the increased birth rate, following the soldiers' returning from war, there was a shortage of school places for infants so,at the age of eleven, I was transferred to Sittingbourne West County Secondary School, my first form master being Peter Morgan. This was Mr Morgan's first appointment at the school so we were all new to this world where the boys were much bigger and at times intimidating. The school comprised of about 1000 pupils made up entirely of boys The girls were separated from the boys (much to our disappointment), their Head Teacher being Miss Luxton, whilst the boys' Head was Mr (Herby) Highton.

Mr Morgan was a nice gentle person from the Welsh Valleys who taught Religious Instruction. He made all of us young ones feel very comfortable with our new surroundings and we all settled in very quickly. Our classroom was on the first floor facing Westlands Avenue and next to the Science classroom. One of my first memories was at the 11 o'clock break hot doughnuts were delivered in to the Science room next to our classroom and we all made a bee-line to fill our ever growing bodies. Remember, although it was 6 years since The War had ended there were still many shortages of what we would consider luxuries, so doughnuts were welcomed by all.

Staff 1953: Standing: Frank Honey; Geoff Howard; Geoff Dalton; Edgar Pearson; Peter Morgan; Bill Wllard; Terry Connell; Cliff Dolling; Charles Kauffman; Gerry Hooker; Frank(?) McCall; Martin Neaves; Norman Webb

Seated: Dick Jones; Jack Ayers; Tom Coleman; Alan Highton; Helen Faulkner; Arthur Goodwin; Dennis Jarrett

One of my enduring memories in my first year was that of our maths teacher, Mr Webb. I believe he too was of Welsh decent. He had a saying that if you misbehaved in class he would admonish you by declaring, "You specimen - I'll take you to the lab and pickle you". He was not to be messed with!

I progressed to the 2^nd year where my form master was Mr Kauffman. I seem to recall that his speciality was handicrafts. He, too, was a mild mannered person and we all got along well with him. However, things were to change as we were now being taught other subjects by teachers who, perhaps in our eyes as youngsters, were not so gentle with us. Mr McCall comes to mind. He was our P.E Teacher, a Scott of fearsome temperament. He must have been a Colour Sergeant in the Physical Training Corps because he did not suffer fools lightly. We all had the opportunity to learn to swim, and once a week in the warmer months we would go by bus to the swimming baths that were situated next to Sittingbourne railway station. I hated water but Mr McCall 'encouraged' us with a gentle nudge to get in the shallow end. Needless to say, I still have a fear of water unless my feet are touching the ground.

Art was a subject taught by Mr Pearson. It was not my favourite subject - almost to the point where I was tempted to feign illness. There were a number of us who had like minds. Fortunately for me, I was excused Art lessons but had to take an extra curricular study of printing. This involved the printing of the school magazine, “The Wyvern". This took place in a small room opposite the Staff Common Room. At that time, four of us were involved in its compositing; Barry Hambrook, Alan Neaves (no relation to Martin Neaves), Howard Carey and myself. In addition to working on the magazine during lesson time we would also spend our lunch break working on it. I believe Howard may have carried on in a printing career after leaving school.

Martin Neaves and Mr Tom Coleman taught Rural Sciences (gardening) amongst other subjects. The school had a very large garden at the rear of the school where we all learnt to grow our own vegetables. We all had an interest in this as in those days houses had very large gardens and everyone grew vegetables for family consumption. Living in a rural community, I had an interest in farming. The school had a Young Farmers' Club of which I became Secretary. It was affiliated to the national YFCs. Of course, a farm is not a farm unless it has animals. We had a shed with rabbits, and wandering the "farm yard" was a fearsome Chinese goose. I think we all took turns in being hissed at then subsequently chased away. One needed to be good at the high jump to escape its flapping wings as I am sure if it had caught up with us it would have done some damage.

Dennis Jarrett was my form master when I moved up to year 3. He taught English as well as sport and was liked by all. He appointed me Form Leader and subsequently a School Prefect, responsibilities that I enjoyed.

Other teachers who partook in my education were Mr Honey (woodwork), Mr Ayres (metalwork), Mr Howard (science), Mr Dalton (maths), Mr Dolling (geography) and Mr Goodwin (technical drawing).

In my early years, school meals were provided which were very good. They were cooked on he premises and I remember our dinner lady, Mrs Little, being everyone's favourite. She took control in a very orderly manner of about 300 pupils (may have been more) ensuring that there was no queue jumping and that your plate was left without scraps. For those children who were more fickle about some vegetables, she would always encourage you to eat it. Of course, milk was provided at morning break, being delivered in 1/3^rd pint bottles. Unfortunately, during the summer months, it was often left outside the school canteen in full glare of the sun. Often the cream would curdle, as milk was not skimmed. For me, that put me off milk as refreshment for the rest of my life.

Adjacent to the canteen was the school's boiler house. This was attended to by the School Caretaker, Mr Mitchell and his assistant, Mr Butler. I can never recall a breakdown in the heating during my time at Westlands. Standing outside the door to the boiler house was often enjoyed when it was bitterly cold when arriving at school in the winter months as the heat radiated out to the path to thaw us out before entering our classrooms.

Extra school curricular included the usual school teams for cricket, hockey and football. My personal interest was in cricket and hockey. Whilst I never made the school cricket team, I did play in the hockey team. I remember one friend who was particularly good, George Knight. He was as slick as a whippet and very good at ball control. I would not be surprised if he went on to play at county level after leaving school. Our teachers for these subjects were Dennis Jarret, Martin Neaves, Gerry Hooker and on occasions, Mr Highton. All were consummate cricketers. Many of us went on to play for our local village teams, in my case Bobbing Court, formerly Halfway House. One pupil, Brian Luckhurst, went on to play for County and Country. I am sure he was fortunate in having Dennis Jarrett as his teacher as Mr Jarrett was well known in cricket circles and played for the first team at Gore Court Cricket Club, as of course did Mr Hooker.

Barry Clark, 2008

Volunteers

We are always looking for volunteers to act as guides and to help out in the museum when it is open. Any members willing to help for a couple of hours should contact the secretary.