Sandon House School
A Memory of Sandon.
I was a London lad, sent to the boarding school just off the Danbury road, called Sandon House School. I had some wonderful days there (and some bad ones), but that whole area of Sandon, Danbury, Great Baddow, and Chelmsford will hold sweet memories for me 'til the day I die.
I was 13 when I went there in 1966, and I stayed 'til the summer of 1970. To be honest, I wish I could have stayed there, and have it unchanged for another 10 years.
Most of our fun times were spent outside school, on our many 'walks' to Sandon village to meet the girls from 'Badda', or walking along the river that ran along the bottom of the adjacent farmers field.
I've heard Grace's walk mentioned several times on here, and we used to do our cross country run along it every Thursday. Of course being young boys, we would do our utmost to scare the living daylights out of each other, and often, that part of the route was covered very, very quickly. We were told that Gracie was a girl from Sandon House who died when she jumped out of a window many years before. Of course, every window became 'Gracies window to us, and the school definitely took on an eerie feeling evry night when darkness fell.
I used to love Sandon itself, with that wonderful oak tree, now, sadly gone. The post office was our source of sweets, the church, everybody's pet hate, only because we were made to attend and sing in the choir, and as we got older, we tried to get drinks in The Crown (mostly, unsuccessfully). Great Baddow youth club was were I met my first serious girlfriend Judith, and I still know her now, 43 years later (not as a girlfriend though). That club was what we lived for in our older years at school, the girls, the 'greasers' bikes, the good times just walking there and back!
I think it might have been possible that we 'terrorised' the local area sometimes, but we were young boys, and many of us townies. Country life was new to us, and we wanted to enjoy it. We played in the sand pits up near Danbury, (very dangerous), on the Sandon Brook weir, and often took unofficial midnight walks to different areas to see what we could do.
I loved those days, I loved that place, and I would retire there if I could afford it. Trouble is, I'd be reliving those memories on my own wouldn't I?, so it wouldn't be the same would it?
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The Headmaster, Mr Arthur Wilkinson, was on his last legs and Mr Pat Barrett took over.
I made School prefect and Ist XI Football (in goal), and held the Intermediate School discus record.(It was raining and I slipped)
I kept crows as pets, nearly drowned in the Sandon stream more than once, rang the church bells in the village and helped build the rifle range but only fired off ten shots, as an Old Boy.
That trip (as an OB was done on a 600cc 19S Norton single-pot which attracted a fair bit of attention from the boys.)
Finding your post, Alan, and the hint that other Old Boys had shared memories cheers me no end. I was going through photos just the other day and found several. I'll share them.
I was writing a reply on my mobile phone, and after 2 paragraphs my fat finger managed to delete it... not happy.
Great memories Ian, and great that you replied.
Although we didn't overlap in our attendance (you left in March '66, I joined in Sept '66), I've seen your name a few times, and may even have heard you mentioned by senior boys after I'd joined. Your name is certainly in my 1966 copy of The Sandonian.
I set up a small Facebook group called The Sandonian (catchy huh?) about 6 years ago, with only about 60 members, but maybe three or more names you might recall. Did you know Mirco De Cet, Tony Batchelder, Martin de Russet, David Allison, Ray Johnson? When I joined, there were still several boys there that you'll have known - McTurk, Bonham, P Davis, Anderton, Darlison, Chandler, and several more. The latter ones aren't in the group, but the first five are.
Most of the group are from the mid/late 60s to mid 70s, but there are some older photos, and about three scans of the magazine. If you don't do facebook of course, that's all irrelevant.
We have also been having a couple of mini reunions (usually summer and Christmas) for about five years. The most people we've had is about 18 (at The Crown pub, Sandon, or a pub in The City), but we're down to maybe 10-12 now depending on holidays etc. It's nothing formal, we just sit in a pub for ten hours, gassing and ripping the p**s, and although we didn't all attend at the same time, we have a strange bond from being at the same small, country boarding school, and it's as if we all knew each other 50 years ago!
You mentioned Arthur, and Paddy Barrett. Arthur was still in charge (mostly) until mid or late '69, but as you said, his health finally got the better of him, and Barrett took over completely when 'The Pod' gave up.
It seems the school went on for a few years 'til maybe 75/76'ish (with some managerial conflicts), then changed to a 'naughty boys' school... although I think we had a few naughty boys there when I left (I was one), so not really a change.
As you may know, it's been a very nice housing development for some years now, but the main building still takes pride of place.
I'd love to see any old photos, either on here, in our F/B group, or even by email - alancook1@yahoo.co.uk.
Great to hear from you Ian,
regards,
Alan.