Kennylands In 1959/60

A Memory of Sonning Common.

My parents taught at Kennylands in 1950/3. I have photographs of their time there. My Godfather was John Delves who taught history and also there was a Mr. Dicky deWanderler who had been a ballet dancer. He chain-smoked and drank endless coffee.
My parents moved to Uganda to run a farm school in 1957 and I went to the local primary school in Jinja until I was 10 when my father thought it best for me to go to boarding school in England. He made an arrangement with Gibbs, the head that I should attend and I went there in 1959. I was at the school only for one year. Although I remember making some friends there, I was like a fish out of water and had very little in common with the Éssex'boys. We had no shared memories and as a result, I was bullied a lot, to begin with until I stood up for myself and thrashed a lad in temper; an act I regretted at the time but one which actually gave me an easier life thereafter.
My godfather, John Delves was otherwise known as Creeper due to the silent way he walked up and down in the dormitory in what was described at the time, as Brothel Creepers. This description was completely opposite John's character. He was a very gentle and kind man.
Dicky de Wanderler read to us at lights out. My favourite memory was his reading of The Lost World by Conan Doyle.
During the summer term, given exiat on Saturdays, we would roam all over the area. I remember getting to Shiplake and swimming in the Thames, exploring the other camp in the woods near Peppard Common, having tea with some of my parents' friends in a house near the school. I also remember being drawn in to the edge of a crime ring organized by older boys who dared us to steal small items from local shops. To my shame, I remember stealing a small alphabet address book from Woolworths in Reading - which I buried out of guilt when I got back to school. A small group of us were accused of stealing sweets from the local shop in Sonning Common and also at Peppard Green. Mr de Wanderler discovered the goings-on and marched the whole class from shop to shop where we were told to apologize to the shop keepers. That was the end of my criminal career.
At the end of the summer term, I flew back to Uganda and said I did not want to go back so my parents let me go to boarding school in Nairobi where I was very happy.
Recently, John Delves died. We had called in to see him only a few weeks before his death, although of course, we didn't know this then. We met Maureen or Moe who has kept a database and memories site about Kennylands over the years until the school closed to become the housing estate it is today.
I organized the funeral for John and was fortunate to meet some of the pupils from my time at the school and share some of the better memories.
Kennylands was a year in my life but the school was always a part of the family history because of my parent's connections.