Collingwood School

A Memory of Wallington.

I was at Collingwood Preparatory from 1963-66.

To say it was strict would be an immense understatement. It was brutal. John Richardson beat me on the hand with a ruler for getting poor marks in a maths test. As we completed our corrections, Richardson walked round the class with "Rosey" a red stick. I got to 7x=7 therefore x =. He was standing over me with "Rosey" and I wrote the answer x=7. That was it. I was ordered out to his study where I waited for him to return from lunch. He then proceeded to slipper me.

I did somehow, five years later, manage to get Maths "O" level but it was no thanks to John Richardson I can assure you.

Beatings with the ruler were often carried out in school assemblies. Richardson hit the boy on the fingers rather than the palm of the hand. All us boys would watch the spectacle and our stomachs would turn.

When I was at Collingwood we played sport on a Wednesday afternoons at Stanley Park. Often the games master was Mr Richards who I believe was either Richardson's father or father-in-law.

Although very old he frightened most of us boys half to death. He was stern and unforgiving and certainly no lover of children.