by Dave Palmer
The old building and the move to Remembrance Avenue (4th and final chapter)
5:28 pm in Down Memory Lane, Pictures, School Photos by Dave Palmer
This is the final part of the story of the move of the School to the current site in Remembrance Avenue. The Bordenian of March 1929 has this offering.
“On entering the New School”
At last, after waiting for fifty long years,
A marvellous vision to us now appears;
A spacious new school, done in brick, red and white,
Our jubilant hearts give a leap at the sight.
The great day has come, like the sun through the clouds,
The school to a man in the Dining Hall crowds;
“Let’s feast to the Gov’nors, who’ve turned up some trumps,
And bring us to bliss from our present old dumps.
Come turn out your linings and purchase good wine,
Then solemnly join hands and sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ “
So heedless of rain and with arms full of books,
Past wurtzel and bungalows, sling we our hooks;
All eyes fixed ahead on the splendid new place,
Sporting a silk flag, all bordered with lace.
“Some brand new idea,” we all nod to ourselves,
And forward we trip like a concourse of elves;
Softly we glide, whispering praise,
Submitting each room to our wondering gaze.
Yet, ‘mid all these splendours, who feels not regret,
For the Borden of memories, dear to us yet? A.W.S.
From “The Bordenian” July 1929
“The first Term in our new building is almost over, and we have settled down to the new routine with the minimum of disturbance, although workmen are still putting finishing touches to the building. The grounds in front of the School have also to be put in order, and the hard tennis courts to be surrounded with netting. The playing fields are, of course, not yet ready for use, and the prolonged drought has made it difficult to get the large field into more than a semblance of order, in spite of the use of a steamroller. Arrangements were made for the use of the ground of the Sittingbourne F.C., for School matches and first eleven practice, and the team is to be congratulated on its excellent record this Term, seeing that no small part of the Term had passed before cricket got going. The position with regard to football next Term is also causing anxiety, but everything possible will be done to provide satisfactory pitches.”
(Note that although the School is thought of as being moved in 1928, and the dates on the drainpipe hoppers say 1928, it actually began formal education on 25 April 1929 for the Summer Term.)
“This Term Mr. A. C. Howard, B.A., has joined the Staff of the School as French Master, and we offer him a hearty welcome. Mr. Howard is an Old Boy of the School.” ( ‘Jimmy’ Howard retired and left Borden officially on 31 August 1969 after 40 years – JM.)
“There are now 180 boys in the School, three having entered and eight left since last Term. There were 158 candidates for Free Place Scholarships at the examination held at the School on May 4th. A list of successful candidates is given elsewhere.”
R E Brend W G Brown J H Burstow S W Dane W W French
K A Goddard W H Kemp R W Martyn H C Mount S H Price
D S Radford A W H Shepherd H Wells
(All these had Sheppey addresses and note the name Goddard -JM)
Published below is the whole school photograph for 1929, in 4 parts. Some of you will be able to identify a few names, most likely from amongst the staff that made the move to the present site. What is intriguing about the photo is not necessarily the participants but what can be seen in the background at the edges. At the left hand end the houses in Albany Road can be seen. At the right hand side however only the Social Club and Berwyn (the Bishop’s house) are visible. The rest is open fields as far as the eye can see, across Bell Road and beyond. On the other side of Bell Road was Bowes Park owned by the Bowes family who lived in ‘Glovers House’ which stood on the corner of Highsted Road and Bell Road. The Park had a circular cycling track with an ash surface and was the centre of attraction for many events of different kinds during the late 1890’s and early 1900’s.
The 1929 photo shows 10 staff for the 180 boys. Compare this with the 1960 photo published earlier in the year where 426 pupils had 23 staff and the same building with only the addition of the Woodwork Room and Biology Lab. Those pupils in 1929 must have rattled around in the building compared with those in 1960!
Original article by John Macrae.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to the OBA RSS feed!
I am trying to find out if my father attended your school.
His name is Erik John C.O. Kemp.
Born 16 March 1919.
Lived 9 Connaught Road Sittingbourne.
His parents were John and Freda Kemp.
He also was in Scouts.
As my father has passed away I am trying to find info on him for our Family Tree.
He talked fondly of his school years but we never thought to ask which school.
He was quite successful with art and sold many paintings here and overseas.
I am coming to England this year and would dearly love to visit his old school.Warm wishes from Australia Annalisa Nixon nee. Kemp
The Association and School have been doing some digging into this with little success. We will reply to the email that you sent to the site administrator separately, rather than have a discussion on the public website.
Surely the room with the piano in it is the music room?
The average class size would be about thirty pupils, so the scale would be about right.
I remember the assembly hall circa 1959 as having a stage at one end. This was used by the masters during assemblies and prize givings. It was also used for boxing matches and school plays, but obviously not all at once.