The Boys Dining Hall Hutton

A Memory of Shenfield.

Hi, I was in the Hutton Residential School from 1930 to 1939. Mr Higden was the Headmaster. We had a big dining hall where all the boys had their meals - it was more like a scene from the film, Oliver, [food glorious food]. The Headmaster and his cronies would sit above us on a stage eating roast chicken & roast potatoes while we ate whatever they dished up to us. On Saturday we got a penny pocket money. We would rush down to Musgroves and buy four golliwog bars for a penny - they were one farthing each. The shop would be packed with us boys spending our pocket money. The big boys would pinch a big bar of chocolate, pass it to one of us small boys who would run out of the shop. The big boy would then leave the shop run up the hill and catch us before we had a chance to break a square off for ourselves, and snatch the bar from us. This happend every Saturday.