Dartford East Secondary School

A Memory of Dartford.

I was born and lived in Sutton at Hone and attended D.E.S.S. from 1949 to 1953. I remember the headmaster(R Shields Gill ) who also taught History. I also remember Mr A who taught PT, but I don't remember his prowess with the cane, thankfully. I can recall changing into our PT gear in the cloakroom knowing that the last one ready would get a slap accros the buttocks with a plimpsole.
When I first went to D.E.S.S. I was placed into class 1B but after a short time I was transfered to 1A where I remained at the bottom of the class for the next 4 years. I can remember the roll call for each day, it was.......Archer, Barker, Barnden, Carter, Curwen, Dixon, Dolden ,Edrupt ,Elliott, Ellis, Epps, Francis, Gausden, Green, Hicks, Hovard, Hyland, Jenkins, King, Llewellyn, Mecock, Oyston, Perkins, Rose, Tickner, Tyler, Ward and Wise. Do these names ring a bell for anyone? Where are you all now? If you are reading this Alan Wise, I read your entry on the Sutton at Hone page but have been unable to find it since. I remember you as a shortish boy with blond curly hair. Have you changed much? After finishing my 4 years at D.E.S.S., I worked for JC Beadles for a while, then for The Strood Motor & Engineering Co. before 2 years National Service in the RAF. In 1959 after completing N/S. I worked for BS Gelston at their premises on Princes Rd before getting married and moving to Maidstone where we lived for 3 years before migrating to W.Australia which is where I'm writing this. We should be visiting the UK next year and it would be very nice to meet up with any of the people named above.