Elmwood School Mullards

A Memory of Hackbridge.

I was checking the street views on Google Earth and for fun eventually found myself checking out HACKBRIDGE for which I have very mixed feelings.
Like another of your writers I used to wait by the factory gates of Mullards for my mother Jean (Emma Jane). She had worked there since post war and moved to Pascalls sweets (Mitcham) around 1956.
Having passed my 13+ with flying colours...mostly A's and B+'s (I still have all my Gorringe Park School reports) I "won" a place at Elmwood School and "studied" there from 1953 to 1956. Sad to report it proved to be the saddest period of my early life and from loving school I slid to positively loathing every day of it. Apart from the sport and school dinners being about half a mile away I particularly remember the Head Master John(?) Stacey. A figure that "lives" with me to this day some 55 years later. Our mutual contempt of each other certainly affected school work and I particularly remember him NOT allowing me to take GCE English Language for my finals...quote " not wasting school time on you" or somesuch. I subsequently took it some 4 months after leaving school and had great pleasure forwarding details of my 92% pass mark. He never replied. I notice the school no longer exists ?? That's all I have to say about that .
The Grange still holds special memories and in my collection of photos there are several of me as a todler playing with my parents. I now live in Lanzarote (close on 30 years) and am fortunate to have friends nearby for 6 months and 6 months living in Wallington (easy to drop in on). Following my trip down memory lane I am resolved to make the effort to visit Hackbridge and The Grange before the year is out. Quite amazingly there were several Hackbridge features on Google Earth I could even now recall easily including of course the Station, pond/lake and pub (Robin Hood?).