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Message

From:

Walter Waller

Date:

7th February 2008

Contact:

None

Ok.Here we go.I went to John Evelyn School in 1951 and left in '54.The headmistress was Miss Pearce.She knew my older sister,Mildred who was 9 years older than me,which suggests that Miss Pearce was at the school during the War.Some of the teachers were,Mr Chesterton,Miss Hayes,Miss Evans,and I think,Mr Leslie.Some of my fellow pupils,several of whom I still see, were,Leslie Blake,John Gravatt,Sidney Lengthorn,David Pampling,Michael Holmes,Michael James,Jennifer Saunders,Iris McKenzie,Christine Tolchard.,What has amazed me,after all these years, is the fact that I remember so many names. The school was brilliant.We kept bees,extracted honey from the hives;there were tropical fish,we were taught about aquatic plants.It was a vibrant,happy place.I sat crossed legged on the parque flooring at one of those early assembles and was introduced to the music of Bach! There was an inter-school competition called "playground games",in which teams of us would run races,throw and catch tennis balls etc.and all for the glory of winning the trophy called Jim Crow.. As I said in my earlier message,I am getting some more info from friends and relatives and will pass it all on;but I thought I'd better get this off before I forget it all! Thanks for getting this site going.

From:

Shirley A. Bates

Date:

28th March 2009

Contact:

None

Hi Edward, your website makes very interesting reading, I have some info which may be of help. My grandfather Albert J.Bates attended John Evelyn approx. 1891 onwards, one teachers name was Mr. Lacey. My father Albert F.Bates attended the school approx 1925 onwards also his 2 sisters, Rose & Violet, the headmaster then was Mr. Lacey (obviously been promoted!)Another teacher he recalls was Miss Ryder. The school caretaker at the time was Mr. Hasler. We lived in a victorian 3 storey house right nest to the school gates in Rolt Street, no. 3. I attended the school from 1964 approx to 1968, my name was Shirley A. Bates, I was also Head Girl that year 67/68, my deputy was Carol Young. The headmistress at the time was Miss Loring. Teachers I remember were: Mrs Peri - Music Teacher, Miss Skillicorn - Music Teacher, Mrs. Broad, Mr. Yeats/Yates?, Mr. Weaver, Mrs. King? D. Russell, other names of teachers in my leavers autograph book are A.Smith, M. Newton, P.Rowell, V. Smith, other names unfortunately I can't read! The caretaker was Mr. Mooney. Apparently we had to move from our house in Rolt Street in 1968 as the school was about to expand. I have attached some photos, one is my fathers classroom in approx 1927, a few names he remembers are: Billy Maynard, Ronnie King, Jackie Spears, Freddie Harris, the rest are only surnames: Towers, Bull. Blanchard, Lawrence, Morrison, Mears, (well my father is now nearly 89 so thats not bad!) The other photo is from my school year 1968, some of the names are: Patricia Potter, myself, Janice Henry, Susan Fordyce, Lorraine Hallows, Elaine Linehan,Kevin Hawkins, Lee Jackson, David Lampty, Maurice Cheshire, Mark Mitchell, sorry can't remember the rest.

From:

Paul Wickenden

Date:

31st March 2009

Contact:

None

I attended John Evelyn from 1964 until 1968. I know Shirley Bates has posted some names on here, others that I remember are Steven Bayes, Pauline Bender, Paul Catchpole, Steven Ide,Susan Fordyce, Tina Manning, Paul Thorpe, Paul Marling & Stephen Littel (forgive me if spelt wrong). Teachers other than those Shirley has mentioned are Miss Stevens who married in school hols & become Mrs Connolly, Mr White (hand writing classes)& Mr Williams, poor bloke taught the class 3 pupils in their last year, my last teacher there was Mr Newman.

From:

David Lunn

Date:

1st April 2009

Contact:

Hello everybody. My name is David Lunn. I attended JE form about 1948 to 1952. The teachers I remember were the headmistress Miss Dell, who when sitting at a desk on a raised plinth at assembly time always showed her bloomers. The boys thought this was hilarious. There was a slick looking silver haired gentleman Mr. Chesterton, a Mr.Ingram and my teacher in the last year Mr. Parker, who seemed to relish in slapping boys on the thighs as punishment. Another man I remember was Mr. Kent he was the school caretaker. And lived in the house next to the school on Alverton Street. He had a side door on to the boys playground. After he left JE he moved to Creek Road Secondary School as did I. There was a kitchen on th second floor where they would prepare the school dinners. The lady in charge of that kitchen was Pat Lunn, my dad's cousin. My brother Raymond Lunn also attended JE he was 7 years older than me and I know nothing of his time there. Does anybody remember the sweet shop on Abinger Grove My brother and I both belonged to the 27th Deptford Boy Scout Group and had our cubs and scout meetings in the lower assembly hall every week. The scout master was Jim Neal.

From:

Barbara Fitzsimmons

Date:

5th April 2009

Contact:

None

I taught at John Evelyn between 1973 to 1979. Other teachers there at the time were Dick Cuthbertson, David Nash, Amelia Hazel, Peter Otto, Gill Branch, Thelma Cooper, Mr Sharma, Bob Newlands, Sally Kirkham and Bob Newlands. I will look to see if I can find any photographs. I used to have some of our floats at the Deptford festival.

From:

Eve Byron

Date:

20th June 2009

Contact:

None

My name is Eve Byron nee Claxton I attended John Evelyn from 1957 - 1960. The headmistress was named Miss Lorring. The deputy headmaster was Mr Chesterton. I was in class 2 and my teacher was Mr Thomas. The teacher in class 1 was called mr Ingram and he kept bees, and sold the honey, which was delicious. I was tea monitor and made the tea for the teachers at their break time, a role which I took very seriously. I may have some old photo's, they will be in my mums loft. I was sorry to hear that the school has been demolished.

From:

Robin Dalton

Date:

3rd July 2009

Contact:

None

just browsing the history of deptford & my old school "John Evelyn" in the 50,s.Some of the names came back to me, i.e. miss loring & all the other teachers, & a few pupils names.My Mum & Dad had the little grocers shop on the corner of Dorking rd. in opposition to Lilies on the other corner of Shere rd. All the kids used to come in for "penny" ice lollies or frozen jubblys

From:

Anne Tibbenham

Date:

18th August 2009

Contact:

After browsing this site yet again, I now realise just how much this "innocent" time of our lives spent at JE meant to so many people. I am amazed at the response to this site. In my previous message, I didnt get around to naming any of my classmates. However the message from ROBIN DALTON certainly stirred up the few brain cells that I have left.....I can recall so many names and in listing them here it may just inspire others to add messages and hopefully photos to this wonderful site. Well here goes..... Robin Dalton, yes I remember you, but I wonder how many of the following YOU remember......Jimmy Herbert, Colin Herbert (twins) Alan Bonner, Dennis Bonner (twins), Michael Jones, Ernest Whittington, Michael Jobbins, John Springate, Michael Parr, Ronald Cook, Robert Green, Barry Stacey, Terry Jones, Ann Binge, Kathleen Jago, Marie Barton, Sandra Longhurst, Carol Luck, Lillian Chorley, June Barclay (Berkeley) Valerie Money, Valerie Lawrence, Walter Morley, David Stead, Pat Lizmore, Peter Bird, George Hoare, Roger Hayward......So if any of you are out there and reading this, it would be great to see and read about your memories, which in turn may inspire many others to contribute to this great site. I just wish that there were more photos of JE - the ones on here are great, it's just a pity that there aren't any internal pics.....or are there? Incidentally, does anyone recall the "plimsole cupboard"?....these days it would come in for all sorts of critcism from the "nanny state" - the idea of it was that if you were very poor and couldnt afford a pair of plimsoles for PE or dancing then you could take a pair of old plimsoes from the cupboard (god knows who wore them before you) and hasten to add - it was a fight to the death to get the best pair, and consequently if you weren't quick enough then you finished up with two odd ones, two left ones or a pair that were either too big or too small or even none at all!! Aah...those were the days - what fun! Keep up the good work Ed, I come back here from time to time just to see the latest messages etc., so thanks again for putting this site together, and keeping JE's memory alive. Anne Tibbenham

From:

Sandra Richley

Date:

12th April 2010

Contact:

None

Please add my name to 1950s pupils. We used to spend lunch hours in Sayers Croft park. I won a local study prize for studying John Evelyn and his family tree. My teacher at the time was Miss Powell.

From:

Calvin Lee

Date:

25th April 2010

Contact:

I was a pupil in the 70s and have some great memories of the Teachers and Pupils.

From:

Jim Rice

Date:

29th April 2010

Contact:

What a great site. I went to JE from 1957-1960 it's amazing how some of the memories have come back. I remember my old teacher Mr Harrap who always seemed to smell of coffee and Tweed, probably from his check sport's jacket. I also used to get him his "Hacks" sweets from Walshes shop in Evelyn street. He also had a great big moustache. I also remember Mr Chesterton, deputy head and Miss Lorring, who I had to visit once in her office and I nearly wet myself, I think she gave me a sweet from her jar. I'm sure I was also in a nativity play as a Roman Guard and John Simmons was King Herod....I think. I did go in for a hand writing competition run by Brooke Bond tea, I tied with another boy and we both had a re-run...he won. I also remember when we and the U.S had some sort of crisis with the Russians, we all thought that the school would be blown in half. I certainly remember Lilly's and I think Daltons opposite the school gate. We used to collect bubble gum packs with flags of the world and jamboree bag's. I also remember Micheal Sawyer who was far brainer than me. I learnt to swim with the school at Laurie Grove Baths and we went there in the school "Divi Bus". With lots of "Blackjacks" after our splash about. What a dump that area is now, sad really still we had the Great and very safe Day's!

From:

Doris Cook (nee Dobbins)

Date:

1st September 2010

Contact:

None

Very excited to have found this page! I started John Evelyn School when I was 5 in 1936. The Junior Headmistress, Miss Dell, was very strict with grey hair and a big bun! The junior teachers I remember were Mr Ramsey, Mrs McClean and the music teacher Miss Wood (who wrapped me on the knuckles with a ruler!). Pupils: Doreen and Kenny Thomas, Jeanie and John Golding, Harry and Betty Gander, George Mitchell and or course my siblings Will, Peggy, Harry and Steve Dobbins. Steve and I were evacuated from school in September 1939 (from Waterloo Station) to Clovelly, North Devon (Mr Ramsey and Miss Wood came with us and stayed). I returned in 1943/4 aged 12. I remember the Wednesday afternoon (12 o/c and I was just going home for dinner)when our caretaker threw me to the ground at the top of the stone steps. A german bomber had got through the nets. I watched as he bombed the surrounding area and heard later that he had machine gunned children at a Catford school. I have very fond memories of school such as getting to play with the teacher's dolls house if we were good! I was also in charge of collecting the children's dinner money. I left John Evelyn when I was 14 and went to work in London.