Easthampstead, Bracknell

I remember Mr. Carter very well,not a nice person, and the tree stump in the play ground, it was from a tree from the " big " school opposite. It was also Rorkes Drift more than once!

Remember it all even mr Ellis at fox hill school and the Guinea pigs

I also remember Mrs Golding, with her pointy framed glasses and agree, she was an absolute tyrant. I think Mr Carter was strict and old school, but his heart was in the right place. The toy shop was called Kiddies Corner - a wonderful, treasure trove of a shop. I remember the way you describe South Hill Park and the Ferranti helicopter. I also remember miles of tunnels through the rhododendron bushes behind the grounds, we called the rabbit Warren and the "secret garden" at the end of the back lake. It was a great place to grow up.

Whoever wrote the comment starting "We moved to Easthampstead in 1962 and moved away in 1968"... THAT was my childhood to! We moved from Wimbledon to Bracknell in 1960, I was two.
I also went to Fox Hill infant and junior schools, and I walked there and back although as there were no buses from my part of Easthampstead (Aldenham Terrace), I walked; balaclava when it was cold but always in short trousers and a school cap. The walk took me about 30 mins.
I too remember Miss Golding the Head of the infants, and yes, she was a tyrant! I too remember the smell of the black rubber matting from the main hall to the offices! The rubber flooring had raised circles. Do you remember the toys we played with in the hall? There was some kind of pull-along train thing.
At the junior school, we also called Mr Carter, 'Mister carter squashed tomarter! He also used to play classical music as we were entering the hall for morning assembly, and sat cross-legged on the floor! He used to write the name of the piece and the composer on a blackboard easel and used to on about washing hands and not walking on the grass on the side of the school that faced the 'Big School'! Yes, the oak tree root was the 'king of the castle' fort, it's where I first kissed a girl! I also remember the guinea pigs dying. The horses you mention lived in a long stretch of land at the end of the cricket club grounds and you could sometimes see them from the Bagshot Road. There was a Monkey Puzzle tree on the right hand side of Bagshot Road as you were walking into town. I think it was on the RAF camp land near the small white gate.
I remember Mr. Ellis! Once he chalked a picture of a holly leaf on the underside of a slipper saying "This will make it hurt more" before slippering some poor boy's behind!!! Favourite teacher there was Mr. Creech, brilliant man, and artist, who taught us in the fourth year. Also Mrs. Procter who taught us in the third year. Mr. Raymond(?) who taught us in the second year.
I remember going to the chinese restaurant at the top of the stairs with my family at some reunion or other, I was only young so the food was very different for me from lamb chops and mashed potatoes!!
We used to sneak into Point Royal and try to get to the top by the stairs to see if we could spy Windsor Castle from the top, before getting caught.
Mum used to take me with her to Easthampstead shops (the nearest at the time until a new shop opened near the Golden Farmer). The butchers DID have sawdust on the floor, and I've recounted that to people many times. Those The newsagents had stamps placed on the inside, of the front door window, and I used to collect them especially the triangular ones from Magyar (Hungary).
South Hill Park was very close to where I lived and we often used to go climbing trees in 'The Woods' Our favourite was an oak just inside the entrance from Rapley Green. One day with three of us on a branch quite high up, the branch snapped and we fell, but all was ok. There were two large Cedar trees on the slope down to the river and we used to dip one end of a stick into the oozing sap and put it in the lake, where the sap would propel it along. I actually remember when the land sloping down to the lake used to be harvested by tractor (wheat?). The woods on the South Hill Road side used to have great piles of leaves raked up by the council and we'd run up and over the ridges and dive right in! Throwing stones across the frozen lake making 'zzinninggg' noises. The was a fall at the end of the lake before it was concreted to make a sort of dam. The holly tree on the bank had leaned over so we used to climb that of course, and there were leeches in the water!! I too used to see the helicopter landing at the Big House (it belonged to Ferranti at the time). We mates used to run across the bridge at the front of South Hill Park (we used to call it the Mansion then) trying not to get caught by the gardener and his dog. Years later, I worked there on a YOPS course and met the gardener who remembered me as a kid, and, he still had the dog!
I too used to play around the old house at the end of Longwater Road and remember the chimneys.
Every Sunday the boys brigade would march around the back of our house on Manston Drive with cymbals clashing and trumpets blaring. I believe it was headed by Mr Hedges who lived opposite us. Yeah, sharpening lolly stick haha!
Yes, LOTS of memories. I'm not sure of your name but it seems like we must have known each other when we were very young?

I grew up in Bracknell and went to Fox Hill infants and juniors from 1970 to 1976. Mr Carter was the head for a while when we were on the Rectory Lane site and then moved to Pond Moor Road and Mr Wheaton was head. Carter was a nasty piece of work and loved dealing out a slap on the legs or the slipper for very minor offences. I loved Mr Creech, & Mrs McCall. Mrs Bridger was another tyrant who appeared to hate children. I once saw her shake Davi Lloyd by his fringe when she mistakenly thought he had been rude. I lived in Beckford Avenue, and walked to school, past Point Royal and the Doctors surgery on Rectory Lane. Very fond memories of South Hill Park and surrounding area. I remember skating on the lake there and sledging down the hill one year. We used to get the lift up to the top of Point Royal and hang over the stairwell as a dare ; 17 floors if I remember right. I saw the town grow as the woods were turned into Hanworth, Birch Hill, and Crown Wood. Anyone remember the Pines Disco at the Pines school in Hanworth? It was for youngsters up to about 14 I think. I also went to nursery school at the community centre opposite Easthampstead shops. Always seemed to be a jumble sale on there. We used to play in the grounds of Church Hill House hospital, which was a residential care home. The grounds had a great play area and park and there were often events, family days, fetes, and firework displays that we would gate crash as kids. All gone and built over now. Used to love Kiddies Corner and the CoOp as a kid, and I just about remember the town centre before the black and white railway station building went up and Charles Square was built. Happy days.

Whoever wrote this has mirrored my childhood. I went to Foxhill Infants and Juniors from 1962. I remember a Miss Vacha who had thick rimmed glasses being my teacher when I first joined the Juniors. Also remember Mr Ellis very well. He used to smoke a pipe and smelt of stale tobacco which I detested. Also used to ask the girls in the class to sit on his knee. Wouldn’t be allowed now. Something I refused to do and so did another girl who’s name I think was Jane. I lived in Longwater Road near the ‘little woods’ as we called them with the derelict house. Remember eating wild strawberries that grew there. Spent hours playing there. Also went to the ‘big woods’ at the top of Cannon Hill. There was another entrance to the big woods at the other end of Longwater where we had a huge bonfire every November. Had a wonderful childhood with all the children that lived there. We all used to play in the street - skipping, maracas and a game with a hoop/string with a small ball on the end that you would put on your ankle and jump over. My dad made me and my sister stilts which we would walk up and down the road with. He also built a Wendy house at the bottom of our garden where we played with our friends. I remember the Purdy, Messer and Cooper families who lived near by.