St Mary Cray, Secondary Modern School. Orpington. Kent.

A Memory of St Mary Cray.

I first attended St Mary Cray secondary Modern school, Hearns Rise in about 1958/59 when I was about eleven or so.
We had some very good teachers and most of the lessons I enjoyed except maths which has been a total anathema all my life, figures and me just do not get on.

The art classes and metalwork and woodwork classes were my best subjects and I was quite good at English but not so hot with science.

My teachers at the time I remember were Mr Scali for metalwork, Mr Matthews for science and Mr Waite for art.
We had another teacher a very attractive young lady named Miss Arthur, we were all very fond of her and she later married and became a Mrs somebody whilst still at school, the name now escapes me.

A Mrs Grattidge (hopefully spelled correctly?) used to teach the girls "domestic science" in other words cooking and next to one of Mrs Grattidge's classes was the woodwork room, I cannot recall the teachers name but I learned a lot from him that went along well with what my grandfather taught me to stand me in good stead for life.

We had a huge school field which is now mostly built on I am told, we used to run through the local woods on a "cross country" run which I believe most hated and especially by me not being very sports minded.

I left the school at age fifteen to start work in the Orpington branch of the provisions shop David Grieg.

The school later I believe became Craybourne School, the main building was quite an edifice dating from the 1930s or 1940s possibly, with huts around as extra classrooms.
The head teacher was Mr Fawcett and the deputy was Mr Day who I believe was an ex navy man.

We even had gardening lessons with a Mr Wilts, this was to me a little better than maths!

In all not the happiest time of my life and the algebra and fractions left me numb but an experience that I still recall when I think back on my early life.

Derek Stocker.