Cordingley Braintree County High School (Bchs)

A Memory of Braintree.

I was a pupil at BCHS from 1958-63 and have painful memories of him, albeit possibly unfairly. During a 3rd year biology lesson our female teacher regaled us of pranks she had undertaken at Uni which included removing brass plaques off buildings. Two of us decided to help her by removing 2 small brass plaques on the main building so when lessons ended I was to be be found kneeling down unscrewing one when a gruff voice asked "What are you doing boy!?"-it was Cordingley. I didn't mention the biology teacher and when Cordingley pointed out that these plaques marked the emergency entry points for fire hoses I knew I was sunk. Plaque secured I was 'invited' to his office the next morning. Can't remember where my No 2 was in all this.

Next morning found me outside his office i.e. in the grand hall of the Bocking building, which I seem to recall was the family home of the Courtaulds at some time. I was told I would be caned but as he didn't want wet patches on his carpet I was ordered to the go to the boys (outdoor) toilets. When I returned he walked over to a huge brass shell case that had dozens of canes, he spent what seemed ages selecting one at which point I was ordered to bend over and grip my ankles whilst he administered 6 strokes (silly word-no stroking involved!) and caught me just below the bottom of my shorts!

Now here was a strictly enforced rule of no snowball fights.....whilst waiting outside the music block on the other side of the road i.e. opposite the gym' a few months later, a friend and I started a snowball fight on the basis that we were well out of sight, he was standing in front of a window and ducked so that my perfectly aimed shot missed him and smashed the window behind him covering the music teacher 'Spike' (he had a wooden leg) and his piano with glass and snow. Needless to say I then had another one sided interview with Cordingley and 6 more 'strokes' of his cane.

Partially due to this and more likely because I didn't fancy spending all day on Wednesdays - which included a 1 hour bus journey to and from Chelmsford on the 142 bus- in a hairy brown CCF uniform -I chose the only other option and joined 276 Sqn ATC in Chelmsford and partly through this membership I joined the RAF as a Navigator for 30 happy years; so all's well that ends well.

---

---