Happy Memories Of My Time At South Weald

A Memory of South Weald.

I started at St. Peters School South Weald in the Infants class with Miss Clough in 1950. She was a lovely lady. My first few months were very worrying as I was a shy only child and I cried a lot as everything was so new. However, I was soon made welcome and found a friend who was a bit older and she took care of me! Yes, having read other people's memories, I also recall the toilets and the old fires and the school dinners of mince and mash and a chocolate biscuit like pudding and thick creamy custard made and served by Mrs Taylor who lived on the premises, Mrs Caley and Mrs Wright. I remember our teachers, Mrs Waite, Mrs Fox and of course Mrs Rogerson, Pottles shop and post office in the village and the chestnut tree. Also Mrs Davies a teacher who was a sweet lady who left to have a baby and kissed all her class goodbye! ....probably unheard of nowadays!? I loved South Weald and the surrounding district and went to the Church for many years. I also remember the Hunt meeting in the village and going up the church tower on Ascension Days. What brought me to this site was the memory of Charles Almeric Belli as we had to write a yearly essay about his life etc. and the boys from Brentwood School would walk once a year to South Weald in his memory. I loved art and helped paint a picture of the church, other children did other pictures to complete it showing the entire village making a mural to hang on the wall of 'The Hut' a classroom used by the 'seniors' that was situated at the bottom of the playgrounds. Looking at the pictures on the site of the Brentwood Swimming Pool are not happy memories, as we had to go and I absolutely hated the water, and being outdoors it was freezing! I always tried to get a letter from home saying I could not go! As time went by I had made friends with a nice family who lived on Brook Street and my friend Margaret and I walked together to school across the fields via the 'Stone House' the home of a big family with lots of daughters, and up the lane past Laurie's Farm (picking up a can of milk for my friends Aunt who lived in one of the houses next to the church), passing the Vicarage and the Alms Houses. We went in to see her two maiden Aunts every day before and after school, probably more for the little treats they used to give us! They both looked so old with their white wispy hair and black clothes! I too remember being allowed to go up to Pottles during the lunch break and buy sweets and a 6d savings stamp with Princess Anne's face on it! During the school holidays, which always seemed to be sunny days, I spent lots of time with my friends messing about in the nearby brook, building dams, wading through the water in our welly boots, and building dens in the fields and hedgerows. Children these days miss all this. We used to rehearse little shows singing and saying poetry and then putting them on to anyone who would come and listen. Once we were allowed to do a show on the stage in 'The Hut' to raise money for school funds. We dressed up and I played the piano. I think we raised about 2 shillings and 9 pence! These are very happy memories never to be forgotten. I will always hold South Weald dear to my heart and the happy years I spent there. Thank you to everyone who has brought back so many memories by writing on this we-site.

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