Vincent School And Northolt Park

I remember a David Harland who I think was head boy at Vincent and I too left around 1960. Wasn’t there a ‘Harland House’ in Mandeville Road – any relation? We also played over the undeveloped fields of Northolt Racecourse making dens and with very little traffic as kids we were able to play out in the street. We had great fun building trolleys out of old pram wheels. The racecourse grandstands stood in ruins during the first stages of the development of the estate. The ruins were guarded by a night watchman, but it didn’t deter us kids from returning to fish for newts in the flooded basements. Other wildlife in those days included skylarks and hedgehogs. There was a refuse mound left over from military occupation which was known locally as the ‘Black Hill’ and used by children for recreation.

My first day at Vincent was a bit scary after hearing a rumour that the older Vincent pupils carried out initiation ceremonies on new arrivals. Luckily they were just rumours and I survived to take my GCEs. The characters I recall include Mr Fox our form teacher in the Maths Lab. Mr Miller was the headmaster who wore a traditional gown. Mr Watters was the deputy head. There are other names I remember - see funkyanorak.com/northolt.htm. After leaving Vincent, I went on to Ealing Art and Technical College following which I joined the University of Life and now the University of the 3rd Age (U3A).