Collingwood School Wallington

A Memory of Wallington.

I attended Collingwood boys between 1963 to 1965. I have read many memories , and would like to share mine.
It was a highly disciplined school, ruled by John Richardson.
He was backed up by his father, who was known as Mr Richards. He was known by all the pupils as Ritchie. I think his speciality was history.
I remember Mr Maynard the music teacher. Would gather all the pupils in the hall for a music lesson, and just have an excuse to play his favourite classical music on his portable record player. He was also a bit strict and would use two outstretched fingers to tap on the side of your temple.
There was 4 teams… Nelson , Drake, Wellington and Haigh. I was in Drake , and each pupil was given a tiny badge for their lapel for identification. I had a red badge for Drake.
The outdoor swimming pool in Beddington Park was freezing, and it was a cold long walk back to the girls school for either macaroni or mince. During these lunch times, John Richardson would suddenly grab a pupil and give a rough talking to in front of the others as an example, if they had shown disrespect earlier.
You could take your bike to school, and in the morning queue up round the path awaiting for the OK to put them in the bike racks up top.
I must say I hated the school, but fond memories of my early childhood. Some pupils, Nigel Batten, Keith Boxall, Andrew Vardell, Brian ‘bonkers’ Jones and Andrew Dickson , Chris Coombes, just to mention a few.
As people have said, the discipline used would never EVER be tolerated or allowed now. You toughened up quick at this school.
Chris Jones.

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