Boys' School on Aylesbury Rd, Bromley, Kent

[Yeates]

Malcolm—this is a great map site. I will use it often.
Once I posted the snapshot of Dad standing in front of his old school site, I realized how weak a photo it is in terms of what we are trying to locate. The old photo is poignant with rows of boys and the brick structure with its unique cupola standing so substantial behind them. It is interesting about the copyright: it is written in pen, with initials and a record-keeping #. Who he met, where he obtained such a personal yet copyrighted memento, we are never to know.

I have these photos side by side, as they shall rest in the final genealogy project. The old photo almost (not quite) out of focus, in a sort-of mix between sepia and black and white. It is as if it catches the years passed as well as the buildings gone, the lives lived. Then there is the 1995 in its almost garish color with nondescript new buildings behind the one unique feature in the photo---that fence. And my Dad—what is going through his mind as he posed in the midst of memory lane?

I think of trips home, where I grew up, when our children were little. They saw the new buildings; the housing developments on top of the corn fields; an interstate highway that courses the old river bed my brothers and I used to hike, picnic, and find fossils. My mind was on a lazy pony ride on a friend’s Shetland up a country lane to the town the consisted of a bar, a church, and a small grocery---they saw a new city, population in the multiple thousands; now a wealthy suburb of Minneapolis. I see the woolen-bundled children sliding down Campbell’s hill in the snow on cardboard---they see a small rise in the earth upon which sit three, close-together, architect-designed homes with tarmac driveways. Well, you have these juxtapositions of memory to current-day “progress” as well, I am sure.
Thank you, as ever, for your help.
Yeates

[Thomasin]

Hi Yeates

I went to the library this morning and went through the 1914-1937 Log Book for Aylesbury Road School for the appropriate three or four years. The reference for this book is C/E/S/Log/2/2.

The school was opened on 17th November 1890 and there were just five classrooms (which in winter were colder than the recommended temperature). Classroom 5 seems consistently to have been the coldest, and when the indoor temperature dropped below 50 deg., fires were allowed to be lit.

In 1918 the Head Master was F Lewis, and the other teachers were Mr H A Margetson, Mrs D Grantham, Miss E M Gully and Mrs S J Broome. Mrs Broome features regularly in the log because of her absences due to ill health, visits to the dentist and attendances at funerals.

Unfortunately, no school register survives, and boys are mentioned by name only when they had achieved scholarships, been made Captains or Vice Captains, been selected for Special Drawing classes, become head of the Gardening Club, injured themselves, or died.

The illnesses frequently mentioned were influenza, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, measles and diphtheria - and there were also, in these few years, two broken legs.

Regular fire drills were held, and the school was cleared of pupils in about 38 seconds!

So there's nothing specifically pertaining to your father, I'm afraid, but I have found some photographs. One is the architect's drawing and plan of the school in 1890 - with your pergola clearly in view. Another is a photo taken from exactly the same position as the architect's plan, with all the schoolboys ranged in front of it, and this has been assigned (by the library) the date 'c.1902' (H6/69). The third (H6/100) is undated by the library, but by reading the log book I know that it was taken on 1st July 1921. It shows a selection of boys and teachers around a table where there is a large silve shield and various prizes (one a box of Meccano), and the caption reads: 'Winners of the Dewey Shield'. It had been won in competition with other local schools.

If you will send me a personal message with your name and address, I will put these photocopies in the post. They are not fantastic quality, but better than nothing. On the other hand, the library could scan them and email them.

[David Alston]

Reply: Yes, I do. I was a pupil at Aylesbury Road Boys’ School in 1937/8, and my father attended in his youth, too. His family lived a matter of yards away. Both of his brothers were also pupils. Bob, a member of the school orchestra (we still have his violin) was killed at Dunkirk, and had played at the famous Crystal Palace, and Laurence was also there. The school was not a grammar school, but it was a really good one in that the Headmaster, Mr Benson, embodied the virtues of a traditional Head: firm, fair and forward-looking. You were nearly correct with the school motto, which was “Manners Maketh Man”. The School colours were black and yellow. And there were four houses: Pitt (red), Wolfe (yellow), Sidney (blue) and Gordon (green) - named after famous politicians and soldiers. It is likely that there was an ALSTON brother there between around 1910 and 1928. I was born in 1929. So, your father may well have known one or other of us! I will not mention that we as children used to refer to Manners Making Marmalade or even Monkeys! Seriously, it was a great school, and when it was demolished in my time and we were sent to alternative schools in the area it was a very sad day. One other interesting point: my schoolmaster - Mr Margetson - also taught my father!

[David Alston]

Reply: Yes, I do. I was a pupil at Aylesbury Road Boys’ School in 1937/8, and my father attended in his youth, too. His family lived a matter of yards away. Both of his brothers were also pupils. Bob, a member of the school orchestra (we still have his violin) was killed at Dunkirk, and had played at the famous Crystal Palace, and Laurence was also there. The school was not a grammar school, but it was a really good one in that the Headmaster, Mr Benson, embodied the virtues of a traditional Head: firm, fair and forward-looking. You were nearly correct with the school motto, which was “Manners Maketh Man”. The School colours were black and yellow. And there were four houses: Pitt (red), Wolfe (yellow), Sidney (blue) and Gordon (green) - named after famous politicians and soldiers. It is likely that there was an ALSTON brother there between around 1910 and 1928. I was born in 1929. So, your father may well have known one or other of us! I will not mention that we as children used to refer to Manners Making Marmalade or even Monkeys! Seriously, it was a great school, and when it was demolished in my time and we were sent to alternative schools in the area it was a very sad day. One other interesting point: my schoolmaster - Mr Margetson - also taught my father!

Best wishes, David

[David Alston]

Hello, Thomasin!

This will clarify things. There certainly was another school in Aylesbury Road. It was later to be demolished (1938), and the former
Masons Hill School moved over to become a secondary modern school! Are you with me?!" Here is my note to Yeates about his father.
Reply: Yes, I do. I was a pupil at Aylesbury Road Boys’ School in 1937/8, and my father attended in his youth, too. His family lived a matter of yards away. Both of his brothers were also pupils. Bob, a member of the school orchestra (we still have his violin) was killed at Dunkirk, and had played at the famous Crystal Palace, and Laurence was also there. The school was not a grammar school, but it was a really good one in that the Headmaster, Mr Benson, embodied the virtues of a traditional Head: firm, fair and forward-looking. You were nearly correct with the school motto, which was “Manners Maketh Man”. The School colours were black and yellow. And there were four houses: Pitt (red), Wolfe (yellow), Sidney (blue) and Gordon (green) - named after famous politicians and soldiers. It is likely that there was an ALSTON brother there between around 1910 and 1928. I was born in 1929. So, your father may well have known one or other of us! I will not mention that we as children used to refer to Manners Making Marmalade or even Monkeys! Seriously, it was a great school, and when it was demolished in my time and we were sent to alternative schools in the area it was a very sad day. One other interesting point: my schoolmaster - Mr Margetson - also taught my father!

Best wishes, David

...and to you, Thomasin