Headmaster's Son Remembers

A Memory of Hexham.

I was interested to read the memories of those who attended this school during the war years because the headmaster, whose name was mentioned, was my father, Bill Scott. At that time, the school was operated by Newcastle upon Tyne Education Committee. My father, arrived there with the first evacuated children in May 1940, and he remained in charge until the end of 1944, when it was closed down for an indefinite period.
Some names of houses were mentioned. The full list was: Poplars, Oaks, Hawthorns, Chestnuts and Beeches. Each house had its own hut. Another hut was used as a medical centre and called Sycamores - a little bit of humour in those grim days. However, the atmosphere of the camp, as I recall it, was anything but grim. I am biased of course, but my father was known as a tough but fair man, and ways of maintaining discipline have of course changed greatly over the past 70 years. Over the years, I've run across men who were at the school as boys and all seemed to have good memories of their time there.
I last drove past the camp a few years ago, and it does not seem to have changed greatly in appearance since the time when I lived there.