A Visit to Lewes for the 2004 Reunion

An Illustrated Account

Maurice Hobden 1944-51

Y wife and I stayed at Reigate overnight with our son and his family. I was up early on the Saturday and had a quick breakfast before being run down to Gatwick to catch an early train to Lewes. True to form the Lewes train had been cancelled due to "technical problems". After a quick call on my mobile to John Davey he suggested I catch the next Brighton train and he would double back to Haywards Heath to pick me up there. This led to a delay in our original schedule whereby we had planned to meet at Lewes station at 10 am.

John and I both had things to do before the Reunion began. John had organised all the Reunion details and liaised with Mr Ofield, the Priory School headteacher (they don't have headmasters in these politically correct times). John had to get to the school to iron out any last minute problems and give instructions to the half-dozen or so Priory pupils who were there to help with the influx of visitors, register their names and issue lapel badges.

Kingston - Home of the Bradshaws

My agenda was somewhat different. I had received an invitation from the current owners of Mr Bradshaw's former house "Withypool" to visit and take a few photos for the website. The lady of the house had also offered to take me into Kingston village to see the church and the Bradshaw's grave before returning me to Southover. So John drove me directly to "Withypool" and then went directly to the Priory School to get on with his organisational activities.

My hosts at the Bradshaw's former house were most welcoming and as they gave me a cup of tea they recounted some recent history of the house. Mr Bradshaw died in 1975 at the age of 78 but his widow lived on there until she died in 1994 aged 91. The house was then sold to my hosts. They have since extended the house somewhat (the right hand 25% in the photo).

The day was overcast and it was raining intermittently - not the best light to show the house at its best. It stands at the very back of a half-acre plot on the Kingston Road about five hundred yards before the turn into Kingston village (see Lewes area map). On rising ground backed by open fields and facing SSE, it is only 50 feet ASL but has fine views across the Ouse valley with Mount Caburn on the left, Itford in the distance, Rodmell and the Iford Downs to the right.

My hosts showed me the original architect's drawing and specification for the house drawn up in 1929. They were told by Mrs Bradshaw that the house had been built for them to their specification. It was said that the original price was £2900 which would have put it firmly in the luxury class in 1929 when a typical good new three bedroom detached suburban house would have cost about £700. The interior woodwork and oak flooring is a mark of its high quality.

This was probably the first and only house that Neville Bradshaw owned, bought soon after he married and landed the LCGS headmastership. For a man from a family of slender means this was yet another sign of his rise up the social scale. He was obviously keen that the house marked him out as somebody of standing in the community. Perhaps he had chosen a wife with private means and this had been a significant factor in buying such an up-market house?

The lady of the house then drove me into Kingston village to the church where I took photos of the church and of the Bradshaw's gravestone which is located to the south of the church close to the boundary wall. The stone is somewhat moss-covered but can be read without any great difficulty.

Southover

Having taken the photos my hostess drove me back towards Lewes. I could not help noticing as we turned onto the main road to Lewes how the Bradshaw's house stood out, being higher than its neighbours. We drove past the house and my hostess dropped me, at my request, at Anne-of-Cleves House, now a museum and place for civil wedding ceremonies, almost opposite St John's Church in High Street, Southover. The house has no connection with the school or the reunion but you may remember it from your school-days.

St John's church was used by the school for a weekly service in the days before the school chapel existed. Virtually the whole school trooped up to the church on a Monday afternoon. The church was big enough to hold everyone - something the chapel was never able to do. Just what the educational value of this exercise was supposed to be is a matter of conjecture but it virtually wiped out the whole afternoon as far as teaching was concerned. Victorian that he was, Neville Bradshaw saw it as his duty to bring the Church of England liturgy to the Great Unwashed. Those with leanings to Non-Conformist churches or chapels and those with none had little option but endure it. I found his sermons unbelievably tedious and his theatrical style rather distasteful. The church itself is quite interesting architecturally. My father, a well-known campanologist in East Sussex before the war, rang many peals there on its fine set of ten bells.

After taking some photos of St John's I trod the path back to school as I had on those Monday afternoons sixty years ago. Nothing much seems to have changed - the older houses look just as they did then. Arriving at the top of Mountfield Road I looked at the view towards the railway station and was surprised to see how little it had altered. There on the left were the advertising placards where the school bus waited to take us back to Heathfield - a tedious journey made bearable by the high jinks and laughter of the lads and the girls from the Girls' Grammar School. There's many a tale I could tell of what happened on the bus! But perhaps I'd better not.

Ham Lane

As I continued down Mountfield Road it all seemed quite familiar. The houses look unchanged and the Dripping Pan with its high flint walls looks exactly as it was. However, as I approached the Ham Lane corner at our old school I was soon made aware that things in the educational world have changed. The last visit I had made to this spot was at a Reunion held in the old buildings, by that time called Priory School, in the early 1970's on a wet evening in late November, I believe. On that occasion, once inside, it was obvious that the interior had changed but I was unable to see the school exterior - it was too dark. This time I approached it in daylight and at the corner of Ham Lane all was plain to see. It is now neither the LCGS or the Priory School - it is Sussex Downs College of Further Education - Lewes Campus.

As you will see from the photo taken at the main gate the lines of the old school can still be picked out and one half expects to see NRB peering out of his study window looking for boys not wearing their caps! But as one rounds the corner into Ham Lane one is aware of an untidy and somewhat dilapidated jumble of later buildings put up where the old air-raid shelters and tarmac play area used to be. Once down to the side entrance to the school there are the much larger buildings put up in the 1960's - the new gym being the most visible.

Continuing down Ham Lane to the corner (where NRB used to keep the school pig during the war) I took some pictures to form a panorama of the school as seen from that point. The photo is dominated at the left by the "new" gym built forward of the old school buildings on stilts. Technical areas were also built between the old school and the new gym. These blot out the school facade west of the old staff-room as seen from this position. The large tarmaced area in the foreground, once part of the main rugby pitch, appears to be a large car park - testimony, if any is needed, that cars are now considered more important than walking, taking exercise and playing games.

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Behind the staff-room can be seen the extended upper floor area that was once the advanced chemistry lab. Further to the right can be seen the eastern facade but what was Room 11 in my time seems to have been extended forward. Above and beyond it, can be seen the campanile of the chapel. Note that a high wooden fence now runs north-south between the Sussex Downs College and the Priory School with the Chapel to the east of the fence in the Priory School grounds. The Chapel is now part of the Priory School.

From the position and distance that this photo was taken the main buildings of the Priory School cannot be seen. In the background is the Cliffe where Lewes Golf Club is located.

Down Mountfield Road to Priory School

By this time I knew I must hurry to the Reunion area to get some of the exhibits ready. Hot-footing back up Ham Lane and down to the Priory School I could not help but notice that the caretaker's house, once the home of Flakey Parkinson and his wife, is still called "County School Lodge" - probably the last vestige of the original school's name. I often wonder what became of the Parkinsons' son who was also a pupil at the school in the 40's?

Walking past their house it struck me how the style of the building seemed more modern and pleasing than the buildings put up in the 1960's and 70's. Yet it was put up in 1930! One is surprised that the East Sussex County Council could find the money for such a luxurious caretaker's house, especially when I recall the appalling neglect at Cross-in Hand village school. No running water in the school - only a stand-pipe in the playground - outside toilets with cesspit drainage. The neglect of the village primary schools at that time can only be described as utterly disgraceful. Those in the towns and county boroughs did not suffer such privations.

The Preparations

Arriving at the Priory School at 11.30 I found that preparations were well in hand. Before entering the door I could see the caterers laying out the buffet in the Dining Hall and setting up the bar. Once inside I found John Davey busy sorting out the reception area and notice boards. A small team of Priory pupils had volunteered to check the visitors in at the Reception Desk. Others were arranging the seating and various exhibits. John Davey had invited a group of his former pupils at LCGS who ran a pop band in the 60's to meet up for a short session at the reunion later in the afternoon. They were arranging their instruments and equipment on the stage in the adjacent Main Hall.

By previous arrangement with the school's IT manager, Nick Hockin, we were provided with two computer work-stations in the Main Hall connected via the school's broadband link to the internet so that we could show those visitors unfamiliar with the Old Lewesians website the treasures to be found there. Many of these members were quite amazed to see themselves on the Panoramic School Photos and Eric Mears was having a fine time getting them to identify faces that had not yet been allocated names on our database.

We had requested visitors not to arrive before 12.30 pm but those without internet access did not get the message and others failed to heed it. The result was a steady stream arriving by noon! This did not cause too many problems and may have helped relieve the main peak arriving later.

It also proved impossible to keep the visitors away from the buffet and the bar so that the "eats" were being nibbled before the advertised times and the bar started as soon as they had it set up! Luckily there was no shortage of food or drink so none went hungry.

The Old Boys Arrive

A plan had been hatched to fix various coloured poster to the walls of the Main Hall at which the various age groups could congregate on arrival. It was thought that this would help get visitors into contact quicker with their peers. Coloured posters were made and were in place by 12 noon. Unfortunately the best laid plans come to grief if the intelligence is ill-defined (are you listening Tony Blair?) The old adage "time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted" is true and I had not asked about the layout of the Dining and Main Halls relative to the Reception desk. The Dining Hall could be seen from the Reception area and the doors were left open. The visitors ignored the Main Hall and headed straight for the bar! Result - a heavy standing-room-only crush in the Dining Hall but the Main Hall with lots of chairs was largely unoccupied !

It was about noon when the Pop Group "Blend 6" decided to have a warm-up session on stage in the Main Hall which was largely empty. Coming from a pre-rock era I was rather taken aback by the volume. I am, thankfully, slightly deaf but that was no great help. I retired ASAP to the Dining Hall where guests were already making inroads into the bar's supplies. There I bumped into several old friends most of whom I recognised easily in spite of several decades since our last meeting face to face.

Buffet and Speeches

By 2pm the buffet supplies were looking seriously depleted and voices unaccustomed to talking loud and long were beginning to sound a little hoarse in spite of generous lubrication. At that point it was announced that there would be speeches given in the Main Hall by Mr Ofield, the Headteacher of the Priory School and also by John Davey, Chairman of the Old Lewesians and Chapel Trustee. The Dining Hall quickly emptied as they piled into the Main Hall. All seats were soon occupied leaving many standing and others such as myself unable to get into the Hall at all. The contents of the speeches I will not dwell on here as I was unable to hear everything said and I took no notes. Others will report on the speeches elsewhere on the website later. Enough to say that the speeches seemed to go down very well with the visitors who applauded loudly from time to time. The main thrust of the speakers was directed to the relationship of the Old Lewesians to education in Lewes at the Priory School and the legacy that has been handed down by the efforts of the old-boys and staff of LCGS. The biggest and most obvious legacy is the School Chapel which is a central feature of the Priory School.

The Chapel Service

The speeches having been delivered and votes of thanks been passed unanimously, the crowd then dispersed, many back to the bar and the remains of the buffet which had been tidied up and restocked during their absence. Just before 3 pm it was announced that the Chapel was open and that those with red tickets should make their way there for the Service of Thanksgiving and Rememberence. A crowd of about two hundred (as many as the chapel can take) made off for the Service taken by our old-boy the Rev. Dick Field. An account of the Service will appear elsewhere in due course.

The Band

At 4 pm the band began its short program in the Main Hall and tea was being served in the Dining Hall, but knowing that the Sussex Downs College had agreed to open its doors from 2pm to 5pm and that the chapel was now empty I thought it an ideal time to get on with some more photography and give my ear-drums and vocal chords a well earned rest. I first repaired to the chapel to find a few lingering visitors and John Davey gazing in amazement at the huge collection that had been made for the Chapel Fund at the service.

Photos in the Chapel

The light was not good due to the weather and the time of day so my new digital camera was struggling to cope. My first shots were of the stone tablets set in the opposite sides of the vestibule. On the right is a stone recording Neville Bradshaw's work in getting the Chapel built.

Opposite is a memorial inscribed with the names of old-boys who died in the 1939-45 War.

The light was very poor in the chapel itself but I managed to get shots looking towards the altar from ground level and also from the organ gallery.

Descending from the gallery I ventured into a corner at the back of the chapel where I found, quite unexpectedly, the portrait of Neville Bradshaw that was presented to him on retirement. High up in a dark recess it was difficult to see clearly but it was obviously showing signs of distress. Although framed and glazed the glass looked grimy, there was a mark top right that looked like a tear in the paper and spots on the portrait that looked like mould. I took a shot in the poor light but it is difficult to see these problems in this photo.

To get a better picture more light was needed. To avoid reflection on the glass, a flash shot was taken at an angle from below and corrected later for perspective distortion. The result shows its poor state. Crayon on paper does not thrive in damp conditions. The signature of Mr Morse-Brown can be seen at the bottom left.

It does not seem right that this portrait should have been allowed to get in this state or that it should be relegated to a dark corner where it can't be seen. I have set in motion a suggestion to the Chapel Trustees that it should be properly restored and rehung over the commemorative plaque to NRB in the vestibule. If necessary we can set up an appeal to cover the costs. After all if it wasn't for him THERE NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN A CHAPEL !!!

Adjacent to this portrait is a large wooden honours board recording the awards given to old-boys for military service, many of whom are still alive today. This board was an unexpected find. I cannot recall seeing any reference to it before.

A Tour of Sussex Downs College

It was time to move on - the light was fading. A small gate in the fence had been unlocked to allow us through to Sussex Downs College. Entering by the south-east door one could detect changes on all sides. Noticably the corridor floors had been laid with red quarry tiles, which seemed quite out of place, and the stone steps, which I liked to leap up in one stride as a boy, have all been replaced by gently sloping ramps - a concession to disability access.

Walking towards the old staff-room I was surprised to find that the classrooms had barely changed. The window frames are still the originals but, I would imagine, very little of the original glass remains! A peep through the small window in the "staff-room" door revealed that it was now just another classroom. As a former prefect in the early 50's I could not resist the temptation to climb the stairs to the old prefects' room over the staff-room. Through the small window in the door I could see that it was equipped with a fridge, a few chairs and pot plants which gave the impression that it was a rest room or refuge of some sort. It was rather dark in there but I took a shot through the door window.

The stairs that led up to the advanced chemistry lab and the biology lab remain in position but the upper floor has been extensively remodelled for other uses. At ground level much has changed. Proceeding up the centre corridor where once stood the gym one could see that the old gym and much of the East Quad now forms the Resource Centre and Library. The photo shows the interior looking east from the entrance in the centre corridor. The foreground is part of the old gym.

Continuing up the centre corridor to the old Assembly Hall one could see through the windows that it had been converted to an Information Technology Centre containing about sixty work-stations. A shot through the window looking north gives a general impression.

Moving along the top corridor towards the headmaster's study one could see that much had changed internally. In the 1960s a new entrance and assembly hall (see view of entrance above) were built and the old main visitors door bricked up. The Head's study and the old reception area is now one room. However I was able to stand in the exact spot where, in his study, NRB would stand looking out to the Main Gate. I took a shot of the view through the window.

Emerging from this area into the octagon where once was the door to the Headmaster's study I came across a tall distinguished looking man with his wife. A quick glance at his badge revealed that this was Gerald Sutton who had come to the Reunion all the way from Canada. Gerald, who is 80 but looks years younger, was at LCGS from 1936 to 1941 when he left school and emigrated to Canada. He subsequently served in the Canadian services and later settled down permanently in Ontario. He has contributed several items to the OL website including personal letters from NRB and documents relating to the pre-war period at Lewes County School. He has also been a very generous contributor to the Old Lewesians and the Chapel Fund.

Strolling down the west corridor it was very apparent that much had been altered in the south-western part of the old school. This is the area that had been extended south to form the technical areas and the new gym.

Walking back towards the staff-room one of the class-room doors was open. Room 3 it was in my day. Our class rarely used this room but I was immediately reminded of one wet dreary day when we had French in there with a long forgotten teacher, Mr Neasham. A very droll Pickwickian character with gold rimmed pince nez glasses, he was going over certain words in French vocabulary and how they should be pronounced. "And what is the French for swimming pool ? - c'est la piscine". There was a slight guffaw from the back of the class. "No, I'm not referring to the weather . . . " (class erupts with deafening laughter). No doubt all thirty of those boys have never had any problem remembering the French for swimming pool !

And what, you may ask, is my overall impression of the old school as it is today? Most of the school interior looks clean, tidy and modern but, alas, the fine lines of the original building have been spoiled by the new additions that have been thrown in with little regard for architectural coherence. The quadrangles are no more, the corridors are enclosed by tasteless glazing and surfaced with ugly red tiles. But one does sense that it is now an efficient functional building.

Emerging from the south-east door I turned right on to the playing field at the front of the school. Much to my amazement I could see that two of the original brick air-raid shelters were still there! What was designed to survive German bombs has also resisted several generations of education department officials. Perhaps, as someone remarked, they are now listed buildings!

The rugby pitch has disappeared, half covered by a tarmac car park and various greenhouses and small trees have appeared in front of the school. Walking due south I shot some photos that have now been converted to a panoramic image. The chapel entrance portico can just be seen over the other side of the dividing fence.

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I did not have the opportunity to see what had happened to the old LCGS swimming pool but was told later that it was demolished and levelled some years ago. While this would have seemed sacrilige in our day, it was perhaps inevitable that it would eventually be considered too unhygienic, too impractical and too expensive to maintain. The cost of replacement by a new modern pool would be quite beyond a school's budget today. One presumes that Lewes now has a modern swimming pool elsewhere.

Meeting more OLs

Returning to the Priory School I found that the pop music had finished and it was again possible to have a converation. Sadly only a few of my old class-mates were present including Dick Field, Fred Wood, Phil Turner, Cedric Andrews, John Riddles, Mike Stredwick, Gerald Sweatman and some who I knew from the Heathfield area such as Peter Funnell, Ray Foord, Ken Funnell and Cyril Leeves. There were many others that I knew from school days but were not in my class.

Saying Goodbye

But time was running out and my head was spinning from so much recollection of old times. The bar had run dry and so had my throat. The light was fading fast and people were departing. It was time to take down the posters and remove the exhibits. The caretaker was clearing the chairs and the young assistants were being given their gratuity. I collected my coat and the various items that had been handed to me by members for possible use on the website. Just before 6 pm I said my goodbyes and thanked John Davey for all the hard work he had done in getting the reunion arranged.

Leaving the Priory School I headed for the station. Passing our old school in the gathering dusk I took a shot of it - an object of nostalgia to us - now with an altogether new role in the education of the younger generations.

Floreat Lewesia !