Thank you to Edward Fielder (EG 1957-63) for sharing the photos below from 1963.
1 Newhouse. Wortham. Miller. In front of tuck shop.
2 Allan. Stafford-Allan. Sattin. Percival.
3 Percival
4 Mr Walton with the model of the stage which was used for planning scenery for school plays.
5 Sports day with Mr Wilson
6 Group in yard from 5a window. Boys with a master and a dog.
7 Mr Gordon
8 Mr Davies
Thank you to Peter Mobsby for sharing this wonderful account of the early days of Edge Grove at a time when our late, great Queen Elizabeth came to the throne.
Many of us had started at Gill’s Hill in Radlett (Headmaster O’Brien, rather fearsome!), as day boys during the war years, before transferring to the “big school” at Edge Grove. This involved the introduction of ‘boarders (a new concept to most of us!) and a new way of life that did not involve the warning ‘sirens’ and other daily (and nightly) noises with which we had all become familiar.
In those early post-war years our families were used to rationing of food/petrol/essentials as a way of life. Cars and traffic were just beginning to re-appear, and for most of us, walking and cycling were the main (and only) ways of moving around. For me and my school friends this, and the radio for entertainment, was the normal way of life.
For the day-boys, travelling from Radlett to Edge Grove involved walking, the 311 double decker bus from the Red Lion, and subsequently cycling. Our then Headmaster, Captain Pratt, and his son Jimmy, recently returned from Army duties, kept us under firm (but fair!) control. At that time, misdemeanors were dealt with by the cane, which many of us experienced (without permanent harm!).
By 1952, the important things for budding teenagers included membership of the school sports teams (cricket, rugger, soccer), acting, singing and roller skating (in the yard), gym sessions, learning how to swim in the school pool, and making sure (as far as possible) that our school reports at the end of term to our parents indicated that we were academically, at least, surviving!
During the period of renewal and regeneration after the war years majordomestic events such as the sad death of George VI were matters of which we were aware, but did not feel involved (in the same way that our parents did).
We all remember the photographs of the new Queen and Prince Philip in Kenya, but at that time the sense was more one of mourning for the deceased King than celebration for the accession of his successor. That was to come with her coronation the following summer in 1953, televised for the first time on black and white television sets.So at the time of the Queen’s accession, there were no celebrations or parties (that I recall), and the mood was more one of a new beginning and Elizabethan age. I am sure there would have been celebratory recognition of her Majesty’s coronation in 1953, but by then I had moved on. Wishing happiness for all the current pupils and staff at Edge Grove.With best wishesPeter Mobsby (EG 1944-52)
Here is an excerpt from the memoirs of Frances Wells who was at Edge Grove from 1935-42. It is fascinating to read about the school in war-time and we thank Frances wholeheartedly for sharing his memoirs with us…
I went to Edge Grove in September 1935. This was a good time to be in a new boy because it coincided with the merger between Parkfield previously located near Biggleswade and the local day prep school Radlett house. As a result, many things and people were new for everyone and not just me.
The outbreak of war in September 1939 was a tragedy for Edge Grove. Not only did it mean that the recently combined school again became separated into two parts roughly corresponding to its previous components but each of the new parts was a definite regression on the earlier counterpart. The day boys even found themselves for a long time being taught in the Scout Hut on Gills Hill, while we boarders were accommodated in a much smaller if more elegant house in the West of Herefordshire known as Sarnesfield Court.
I was one of several former day boys from Radlett who suddenly and unexpectedly became boarders. It was quite a common practise at the time for day boys expecting to go on to boarding public schools to spend their final year at Edge Grove as boarders so as to cushion the dual shock of a new school and totally new way of life but on this occasion the single year of boarding was extended in several cases in order to benefit from the undoubtedly better teaching that would be available in the boarding part of the school. In other cases, it was simply a matter of being sent to what was thought of as a safer part of the country. I remember that there was even one boy who joined the school in Sarnesfield before his third birthday. This was not quite as heartless on his parent’s part as it might seem because he came from Tyneside where grim memories of the German naval bombardment of Hartlepool at the outbreak of World War One were still fresh having occurred only 25 years before afterall. In any case he had three older brothers in the school to look after him, not to mention the mothering he received from Mrs Pratt and the other ladies.
The inevitable homesickness most of us experienced was made worse in many cases by fears that the parents who had thought we might be better off away from home for most of the year might also think that we would be better off not coming home for the holidays. Having boys spend their holidays at the school would have been nothing out of the way because there were already several boys from places like India and Ceylon who had nowhere else to go. This apprehension on our part was made worse from 9th September 1940 by the blitz on the London area. Most of us came from Radlett which was in fact really well unaffected by any air raids despite having at least three worthwhile targets (the Handley page bombers assembly plant a mile north of the village, a specialist research establishment in what had been the Houseboat nightclub and a major RAF signals centre at the Aldenham Lodge Hotel at the top of Shenley Hill). There was a rumour at one time that an unfortunate cow had been killed by a stray bomb, but the impact of the air raids was limited for practical purposes to occasionally coming across pieces of hot Shatner created by the bursting of shells fired by our own anti-aircraft guns. In fact we probably were more aware of enemy aircraft in Sarnesfield than in Radlett. In the Sarnesfield case, the ominous droning seemed to follow a fixed direction probably towards the docks in Liverpool. And there was one memorable occasion when the school train took 12 hours to get from Paddington to Hereford because of being frequently rerouted to avoid bomb damaged sections of track.
Sarnesfield Court was (having to use the past tense is sad but it burned down after having been converted into a country hotel) an elegant Queen Anne house situated within a few miles of the Welsh border. It was a beautiful place but not particularly well suited to accommodating a school. It belonged to a younger son who had succeeded the estate when his elder brother was killed in the first few months of the Great War. This elder brother his full-sized three-quarter length portrait in khaki with a single pip on the cuff and on the shoulder looked down on us in the dining room, had himself succeeded to the estate only a short time before his death but had in this brief period vigorously set about improving its sporting and recreational resources stocking two of the four lakes with trout bringing in pheasants and other game birds, remodelling the gardens and so on.His younger brother was a totally different character. He clearly resented our presence, probably accepting it only because government requisitioning might have resulted in something he would like even less. He had no interest in country sports and accordingly totally neglected what his brother had done so that on our arrival we were able to catch unsuspecting perch and even trout on a simple hook baited with a grubby, while pheasants wandered completely unconcerned over the lawn between the front of the house. He was nevertheless still continuing to employ a rascal of a gamekeeper who introduced us to a wide range of activities that are now rightly outlawed such as trapping rabbits with ring snares or catching moles with a kind of pincer trap before subsequently skinning them for their fur. Most of what we caught, including the freshwater eels that we put down night lines for, provided useful supplements to the rather sparse and repetitive diet that was all that was permitted by food rationing although I suspect the cooks were not too happy about having to process the eels!
