School Days

A Memory of Fair Oak.

I am surprised that no one has added any memories to this page.
When I was a child the village was small and everyone knew everyone else, now it has changed out of all recognition, apart perhaps from the very centre by the tree.
Fair Oak Primary School: The headmistress was Miss Elizabeth Ayers (she married late in life and became Mrs Treasure), and who remembers Mrs. Dowse who taught in infants when they started school. I understand she had absolutely no teacher training, which was not unknown in those days, nevertheless she was a jolly good teacher. We lived next door to her when we lived with my grandparents whilst my father was away in the navy during the war. It is a little known fact that during WWI she was a farrier and shod, amongst others, the army horses when they passed throught the village. Hatch's shop on the corner opposite the school where we would buy sweets and sherbet which would turn our fingers yellow when we dipped them into the bag, and those awful liquorice sticks like bits of wood.
Fair Oak Senior School: Remember Mr. Lewer, the headmaster, Mr. Barrett and Miss Audrey Bush who taught me for four years, she married the year after I left and became Mrs. Hull. Her home was in the Forest and although she lodged in Eastleigh during the week she would cycle home every weekend. I have often wondered whether she was the mother of Jenny Hull who was a presenter on BBC South. Who remembers going down the village to get Mr. Lewer 40 Capstan cigarettes, and Miss Clark (matchstick legs) who was the cookery teacher. Deep joy when she retired. There are so many memories of those days, surely there must be people from the old village who could remind me of the things I've forgotten. So come on, sign up, and share with everyone, we are none of us getting any younger. Lets remember the village as it was before the developers got their hands on it.

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