Orchard Portman

A Memory of Orchard Portman.

Hi.
I was at Orchard Portman in 1957 or 1958. Yes I can remember the Walkers. I must have been 7 or 8 years old and probably one of the tallest boys there - now being 196cm tall. I had red hair, freckles and glasses and was very shy.
Memories:
Saturday early evenings.
The Walkers invited the young boarders into their living room where they had a 'Television' and we were allowed to watch 'Children's Hour'. But before that, came the football results.
I was there when the swimming pool was built. It was just a large hole in the ground with concrete floor and walls, with a plug at one end. At first there was NO filter system! This ment that after two to three weeks the water tended to be a little bit GREEN and it would be emptied into the field behind the pool, which took all day and we would play in the stream it made. The walls and floor would then be washed and scrubbed and the pool refilled. One day, it was a bit on the cold side, so we were told to run around the sides of the pool to get warm. After three circuits I got board and shoved one of the boys, who had been bothering me, into the deep end. Someone had to jump in and save him and I was in DEEP trouble!
The year I left OP they built a 'step filter' for the pool.
The last school play I can remember was Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. It was an open air play down in the dell. I have a photo of myself as an elf.
Summer weekends were spent climbing over the hay ricks in the fields around the school.
Easter Sunday, walking to the church by the racecourse.