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| © Peter Wagon Fine Arts |
When I went back to Hemel Hempstead some years ago I found that both my primary schools - Fields End in Warners End and the old Boxmoor school in St John's Road - had been demolished.
The other day I came across this drawing of the latter school on Facebook. It is by the late Peter Wagon and I would like to thank Peter Wagon Fine Arts for their permission to reproduce it here.
It chimes much more with my memory of the school than the photograph of it that I once posted here. That made it look even smaller than it was.
The drawing shows also shows the edge of what is now The Boxmoor Playhouse and was then the church hall.
Today the site of the school is occupied by a stub of a street called Bayley Mead, but you can still see the bricked up gap we used to pass through to have our lunches or rehearse our nativity play in the hall.
If you know Boxmoor and St John's Road, you may be interested to learn that, when I went to school there betwteen 1969 and 1971, one of the cottages next to the Steamcoach pub housed a little shop where we bought our sweets.
I went to school there. But years later it was the home of DUTEL run by the church for unemployed people of the town . The sweet shop was further down the road the Mac's shop run by Mr and Mrs Mac
ReplyDeleteI went to Boxmoor School around 1968 onwards. I remember going to Mrs Macs sweet shop, it was tiny. Behind the school were the old air raid shelters and we used to sneak round there to play after School sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. The shop was in one of the cottages next to the pub, wasn't it? And I remember the air raid shelters too.
ReplyDeleteI joined the school in 1963 at 10 years old in Mr Barrett’s class and I remember the sweet shop and the gap in the wall to have our lunch at St John’s Hall. I didn’t know about the air raid shelter though. On a visit to Hemel in the early 90’s I took my children to see the school and was shocked to find a pile of rubble in what had been the playground!
ReplyDeleteI remember Mr Barrett. I joined in Mrs Joseph’s class, on to Mrs Marsden’s then I think Mrs Gledhill? and finally Mr Barrett’s. Mr Staten was the head teacher. I reconnected with pupils with friends reunited but when that shut down lost all contacts. Have often wondered how to reconnect. Diana Robson
DeleteYes, it was Mrs Gledhill, Mr Barrett and Mr Staten in my day too. I'm afraid we're a bit late for Friends Reunited.
ReplyDelete