Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
26 October 2010
15:5676732#1
This is both an interest topic, and a request as well. My sisters as well as myself went to St Martins school back in the 50s and early 60s. Over the years, I`ve never found any pictures or information relating to those times. Does anybody have any scraps of info` on this school? I noted MaggieSK mentioned it on her unknown warrior thread. I`d also be interested as to how old it is.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
26 October 2010
17:2976742#2
colin
log in to friends reunited, follow the information requests and you are bound to find the info you are looking for.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
26 October 2010
21:2676789#3
Yes I was there in the late 1940s.
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
26 October 2010
23:0076806#4
Bob was there from about 1943-4
Here is an earlier one:
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
26 October 2010
23:0276807#5
and St Martin's evacuees at Pengeham, S.Wales in 1940:
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 650- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 542
27 October 2010
07:2876817#6
Wow! Well, Colin, as you can see, you're in illustrious company! There are quite a few people about who were pupils of St Martin's - and that includes our Deputy Mayor and our Town Clerk (oh, and I went there too, and my cousins).
The boys' school started on 7 September 1903 with three teachers - Mr Hunt, Mr Smith, and Mr Crowe. When it opened my granddad was one of the first pupils, followed by all his brothers and sisters. There was a strong Old Boys Association, which met over three different periods from the 1920s - it finally stopped in 1983. It's to the Old Boys we owe the lovely memorial in the school, which was a first thing they did when they formed. They used to hold Remembrance services there and at St Martin's church just down the road.
Here's a picture of one of the Old Boys reunions.
My granddad is at the table nearest the camera, facing us, second in from the left. Maybe forumites might recognise other people there. We think one of the ladies was a Miss Baker - does anyone know who was the other lady there?
I suspect people have lots of memories of St Martin's. I can still remember a lot of the teachers - Mrs Biggs, Mrs Kirby, Mr Morgan, Mr Baker, Miss Page, Miss Hedges, Mr Jackson, Mr Birtwisle, of course, who was the head, and lived in Elms Vale Road. I believe there may have been a Miss Wells, too.
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
27 October 2010
12:4076840#7
Thanks Howard, I found freinds united okay and spotted a few names from the past in the process. It also explained why I don`t see anybody, they`ve all moved to other parts of the country or even abroad. Thanks also Kath and Maggie for the picture`s and info`, and maybe Vic may know some of them. MAGGIE, adding to your teacher`s list, there was also Mrs Derby, who was my teacher, who used to drive to school in what looked liked (from memory) a 1930s Austin seven. There was indeed a Miss (B?) Wells, two in fact, the one I remember moved up to Powell school the same year as I did in 1960. Mrs Biggs used to have me along to her class and was always giving me marbles out of her drawer as I used to collect them. Don`t ask me why she kept giving me them, all lost in the mists of time. I remember Mr Birtwhistle, (only by name though), as headmaster, and also Miss Page, again only by name from memory. I remember a number of pupils names still, though none appear on the St Martins site.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
27 October 2010
12:4676842#8
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
27 October 2010
15:4976880#9
fish goldfish.
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
27 October 2010
22:5176981#10
This picture was taken at the celebration of St Martin's 60th anniversary:
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
28 October 2010
17:3977091#11
Many thanks Kath, that`s literally the first time I`ve seen that view for 50 years ago this year. I wonder if anyone can identify any of them. This is what can be done now, while the people with the knowledge are still around before it`s too late. P.S. I think you`ll find the chap third from the right at the back, is Mr Birtwhistle, the headmaster.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
29 October 2010
21:3577338#12
I was at St Martin's, 1950 to 1956. I wonder if Maggie is Marguerita? I remember Mr Dible (if that is how you spell it) and also Miss Killick the infants' teacher. My abiding memory of it is the terrible smell of the toilets, which gave me a life long distaste for same, including cleaning them so guess who gets the job in our house?
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
29 October 2010
23:0177347#13
St Martin's School, Elms Vale, Dover..
brief notes from the LogBooks (E.Kent archive)
St Martin's School, Dover: Temporary Log Book C/ES 121/19/3
starts 24 Oct 1941, includes detailed reports of air raids, dates times etc.,
floods c.1944, 1946 -
conditions in 1947 - temperature at 38 degrees in classroom - lavatory pans contained solid ice, and ink wells frozen up. School was closed.
Freezing again on 28 Feb 1947, ink wells and toilets - one lavatory for use by 300 children!
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
30 October 2010
07:5677353#14
Diana, Miss Killick was another teacher who moved on to Powell school later. Regarding the toilets, which were in the playground, they were filthy in the full sense of the word. For a very young mind, obviously never forgotten.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,321
30 October 2010
09:0877357#15
My wife (Maureen Keeler) went to St Martin's, as did her sister Frances and brothers Roger and Michael.
Incidentally the toilets at my two primary schools, All Souls in Cheriton and Charlton in Dover were just as bad.
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
30 October 2010
14:1177373#16
Can i say living close to St Martins school the school looks like it hasn't altered much from those days, looks very old and needing attention
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
30 October 2010
16:3677401#17
All these years and I have never met anyone else who went to St Martin's in the early fifties. I remember in the last year we made recorders, at least everyone else did - I was off sick, and devastated. I also remember being out in the playground and watching the eclipse through smoked glass. And galloping round the playground playing cowboys and indians - I still do not know why I was always made to be Geronimo!
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
30 October 2010
16:4477406#18
Diana, I had sister`s Babara and Susan there from 1950-56 and 1952-58 respectively. I don`t know if you ever tried to tie them up and burn them at the stake?
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
30 October 2010
21:1377542#19
Keith - 'living close to St Martins school'
- Bob lived next door all the time he was at the school, and until we were married, and by all accounts was the last one into school in the mornings !
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
30 October 2010
21:1777544#20
colin
i have doubts about susan being there at that time, she is far too young.
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