•  Haslemere Educational Museum
    Culture, Learning & Inspiration Since 1888

    Lets Share Stories Project


    Schooldays in Haslemere

    Between the 1940s and 1960s, Haslemere had a variety of different schools. Private schools included St Ives, which at this time was a school ran by the Parents’ National Educational Union and as such emphasised the teaching of nature studies and the arts. The Haslemere School on Chestnut Avenue was opened on 22nd April 1900. It was originally designed for some 220 pupils and built by public subscription. There were also smaller schools such as Hillside School, situated for a time on the Petworth Road and run by the formidable Miss Welland, and Shottermill School in Lion Lane. Woolmer Hill, today the only secondary school in Haslemere, was built in the 1950s to satisfy requirements of 1944 Education Act.

    Track 30 Teachers at Woolmer Hill School



    Credit line: Alan Perry talks about his teachers at Woolmer Hill School.

    Transcription:

    Interviewee: There were some ups and downs. There was a particular, I’m sure he’s dead now, teacher called Mr. Hinds. Mr. Hinds was the Science teacher and I think we could safely say he comes from the old school. He used say “Perry! If you don’t win the cross country I’m going to beat you!” “Yes Sir, yes Sir.” And I came second and I used to go in trembling ’cause I’d only come second, but somehow I managed to overcome that. But he really didn’t like arty types and there was a boy called Barry Axeford and there was a trainee teacher in with him. And for some reason he took against him and he started beating him up in the class and the trainee teacher had to drag him off young Barry. And some stage after he left the school, we never quite heard anything, but he was no longer there. There was Mr. Rose, Mr. Rose was the English teacher. Mr. Rose would come down the middle of the desks and if he didn’t feel you were concentrating he would grab hold of your ear, “Perry!”, grab your ear and twist it. Then you’d sort of go up in the air with him holding onto your ear, it was very painful but we all got use to that. There was the Maths teacher, he used to pick his nose though. So nobody wanted to sit in the front because after picking his nose there was the flick and if you sat in the front row you were on the front line. So we all tried to avoid that like the plague, we tried to keep away from that one. And there was Mrs. Rowse the Art teacher. She was very good, very up-market, how she put up with us little snotty council kids I’ll never know.

    #
    Title
    Contributor
    Album
    Duration
    1
    Going Out For Lunch
    Audrey Bayliss
    Schools
    0:56
    2
    Good Start
    Audrey Bayliss
    Schools
    0:19
    3
    Museum Plants
    Audrey Bayliss
    Schools
    0:43
    4
    Nature Walk
    Audrey Bayliss
    Schools
    0:34
    5
    Netball
    Audrey Bayliss
    Schools
    1:06
    6
    Not Everyone Liked Nature Studies
    Audrey Bayliss
    Schools
    0:45
    7
    Afternoon School During War
    Andrew White
    Schools
    0:44
    8
    Evacuees And School
    Andrew White
    Schools
    2:08
    9
    Godalming School
    Andrew White
    Schools
    1:00
    10
    Leaving Godalming School
    Andrew White
    Schools
    0:39
    11
    Maypole At School
    Andrew White
    Schools
    0:30
    12
    Hillside Dictation
    Elizabeth Boniface
    Schools
    0:57
    13
    School Exam
    Elizabeth Boniface
    Schools
    0:20
    14
    School Plays
    Elizabeth Boniface
    Schools
    0:48
    15
    Attending School
    Joe Nobbs
    Schools
    1:19
    16
    Playing In Band
    Joe Nobbs
    Schools
    0:16
    17
    School And Teacher
    Joe Nobbs
    Schools
    0:42
    18
    Eagle At Museum
    Marjory Bayliss
    Schools
    0:47
    19
    Learning At Museum
    Marjory Bayliss
    Schools
    0:45
    20
    Cat Story
    Mitch Mitchell
    Schools
    0:42
    21
    Chestnut Avenue
    Mitch Mitchell
    Schools
    1:11
    22
    School During War
    Peter Moorey
    Schools
    0:52
    23
    Types Of Lessons
    Peter Moorey
    Schools
    0:23
    24
    Building Swimming Pool
    Alan Perry
    Schools
    0:26
    25
    Walking to School
    Alan Perry
    Schools
    0:29
    26
    Sunday School
    Alan Perry
    Schools
    0:59
    27
    Teachers at Shottermill School
    Alan Perry
    Schools
    0:35
    28
    Caning at School
    Alan Perry
    Schools
    1:55
    29
    Opening of Woolmer Hill School
    Alan Perry
    Schools
    0:23
    30
    Teachers at Woolmer Hill School
    Alan Perry
    Schools
    1:46
    31
    Playing Cricket
    John Belton
    Schools
    0:48
    32
    Woodworking Class
    John Belton
    Schools
    0:38