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MEMORIES OF BECKENHAM TECH circa 1941-44

By David Alston

THE SIGHT of The Studio always brings back memories for me, a former pupil of the Beckenham Tech, which started life on this site a century ago.

You probably know something of its history, but suffice to say that what began life as Beckenham Technical Institute in 1901 carried on until 1958 before moving to Keston as Ravenswood School.

On my first September day, as a boy of 12 in 1941 I stood on the former island bus stop opposite The Bell Hotel in Bromley Market Square, feeling conspicuous in my new blazer, cap and socks, complete with brand-new satchel on my back, and boarded the Penge-bound 227 .

Excitement blended with nervousness as I saw other pupils school-bound, and memories of that crisp morning gathering outside the doors of the building fronting Beckenham Road have never left me. Apparently woodwork was on the agenda for that (and every) Thursday, so off we were immediately shuffled to Clock House Station along the road on the first of many train trips to Eden Park, where in the midst of a field – no Langley Park School there at that time – stood a cricket pavilion, lately transformed into a woodwork centre, presided over by Mr Yabsley, a craftsman of unparalleled skill. (I have a bedside table still which bears witness to his ability as a teacher.)

Back to Beckenham Road for school lunch, at which I encountered for the first time a dish known as cheese pastry. Delicious, I decided, but I became suspicious when it appeared at almost every other sitting day by day. Being a boy of normal appetite, I devoured whatever came my way in the school dining room (the basement of the premises) and joined the happy throng which bolted its food in order to get second helpings which were in limited supply. There were clever ones among us. I think of one – Peter Smith – who used vile descriptions to put us completely off our food, and who would then proceed to consume ours as well as his own!

We were a class of 28, (Alston, Burchell, Cobby, Day (Tiger), Dunn, Evans, Gooding, Haynes, Hatton, Jones, Knight, Laws, Lay, Maris, Martin, Miller, Macleod, Preuveneers, Pratt, Riley, Roffe, Shepherd, Smith, Secret, Simpson, Townsend, Keith Woods, and another Woods) all gathered from surrounding areas including as far out as Farningham near Eynsford. Roy Dunn, a country boy with interests in ferrets, guinea pigs and the like, never ceased to be a source of awe with whatever he brought into class; certainly his white rat was as intelligent as any of us. Many of us had come from local schools where we had known others, but some like myself were not so fortunate. However, friendships were soon made.
The Institute.

This being wartime, the teaching staff was depleted by the lack of young men teachers, and I well recall the sadness felt when it was announced that our recently called-up English teacher had been killed in action.

A strange mix, the Beckenham Technical School. Not the same insistence upon academic subjects as elsewhere, but rather a blend of art, engineering and building subjects which, while adding to our knowledge nd abilities after leaving school, hampered to a degree the pursuit of conventional learning and examinations.

Thus lessons on the constitution of Art (Art head teacher John Cole) : mass, movement and texture, became part of our everyday concepts, as did appreciation of typography and colour.

The school was comparatively small, some 270 boys being divided into three- year steps and a 30-boy classification of art, building and engineering. It seemed to work, although some of us wondered quite how we had been selected for a certain division. For example, I like artwork, but am no artist, and being selected for this subject had to struggle along with others of greater talent in this direction.

Discipline was there, but not obsessively. On one occasion I remember salt- and- pepper pots being slid along a dining table with increasing momentum, and this not surprisingly being considered a breach of dining decorum we were ordered to line-up for punishment outside the Head’s office For the life of me I could not at the time or since remember whether I had actually taken part in the fray , and felt unjustly blamed along with the rest . However, the kindly Head changed his mind upon seeing the number of miscreants, and a verbal admonishment sufficed.

Along the Beckenham Road and almost opposite the school stood Anne’s – a kind of tuckshop from where could be purchased those delicious and now defunct Lyons individual fruit pies costing sixpence a time. I can taste them now – no box, no wrapper, just pie! The Beckenham Baths, now rejoicing in the name of The Spa – had a cafe upstairs, and this was the regular target for break-time snacks of bread rolls – which were eaten in the time-honoured manner of being mined for their soft bread content before consumption of the outer crust. Again, very scrumptious.

Drama played its part at the school, and a lifetime thespian, I enjoyed every minute spent play-reading and acting. “A Night at the Inn” by Lord Dunsany left its indelible mark on my memory; and I still cannot shake off the opening lines.: “What’s his idea, I wonder”…”And how much longer will he keep us here?” You’ll have to go to see it for the rest…

After-school activities were rather odd. I remember belonging to a chess club, but support was rather low, meetings were cancelled, and I never did get to know the rudiments of the game. The Maths master started up a cinema club, to which my friend Ernie Martin and I went along. And that was it. Us two. The projector was a splendid Pathe model, the films silent of course, in black-and -white. Early Mickey Mouse – Tugboat Willie. I have always been fascinated by all things cinematic, and this was a joy.

There was also an engineering club where supposedly steam engines and the like could be constructed , but I have no first-hand experience of this, although others I know did.

Sport was patchy; football on a freezing pitch did not appeal to me, and the so-called gymnastics would not be believed today. The school not possessing a suitable area, these took place in the hall of Elm Road Baptist Church opposite. The less said about them the better.

Mind you, the lessons in Religious Knowledge contained more of sport than anything else; I remember the master standing by our desks discussing football, and I put this down to his knowledge of religious matters being rather limited.

“Get out your David Copperfields!” was the warcry of our English literature guru, Mr Oxley, and when today I fish out a copy of that very book to enjoy, I never cease to reflect upon the threat to its delights imposed by this particular schoolmaster. However. he was very good in other ways, and it was he who installed the nickname to our “Turnip” Townsend during a history lesson. Talking of which, our Miss Robertson had a way of pouring out historical facts of a boring nature and scribbling them endlessly on the blackboard which defied my memory to absorb them, quite apart from the fact that I was becoming short-sighted and didn’t realise it. No-one tested eyes in those days..

All this shows how different things are today, when classrooms seem to be so much more inviting and cheerful; where knowledge is imparted as something to be enjoyed rather than put up with.

Our school library was notable for its limited stock and poor selection of titles. I took out The Last of the Mohicans; I had heard of its merits, but I don’t think I finished reading it.

Every boy had a problem in managing to carry around all his books and papers – so would a camel! There were no lockers and the desks we used for storage purposes were almost always occupied in the various classrooms, so that it was difficult to retrieve what was necessary when it was required. Every boy was told to affix a padlock and it was with a shock that one day I discovered my desk had been forced open. Apparently the culprit was discovered and punished with the cane. I believe it was the principle of the thing.

Came the winter, and we slid wildly along the ice strips near the bicycle sheds. In more clement weather, the playing field at the rear of the school (today completely covered with housing) was home to our athletics and out-of-school antics in fighting, air-gun shooting and home-made parachute flying. The sports included a 2-mile cross-country canter around the surrounding area, at the beginning of one of which I got a “stitch”. Having completed the course and come roaring into the playing field arena, I was dismayed to discover that a complete circuit still needed to be covered, by which time I had burnt myself out!

Yes, schooldays of yore. During the summer holidays some of us fruit-picked in Kent, and those who didn’t wished they had!

The exigencies of war resulted in a ragged end to my school career at Beckenham Technical School, for V1 flying bomb evacuation took me away to the Five Towns in Staffordshire, and on my return the school had finished for the summer. Next term I started at Beckenham School of Art – but that is another story.

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11 responses

  1. Your memories chime with mine, but I have no photos I’m afraid. I belonged to Beckenham Ladies Swimming Club and trained there every day before school and I was awarded one of the scholarships you mentioned. My trainer was Mr Ford and my diving instructor was called Thelma. This would have been in the early 1950s

  2. I had the misfortune to be involved in a road accident in Beckenham in 1964. When I worked at the Wellcome Research Laboratories. I have followed the long sequence of eventsin the aftermath of the acident, pial records, legal including life-saving treatment at the former Beckenham Hospital, and latterly, at Farnborough Hospital. I was involved in several high level legal issus progressing from County Court to High High Court and then High Court of Appeal in London.

    It has been particularly difficult to locate reports from hospital record and legal reports. I am however willing to share my story “The Long Dark Night” with [your learned society.

  3. David Alston’s memories of Beckenham Technical School say that the Technical Institute dated back to 1901. I believe in fact that the building was Beckenham Grammar School until about 1930 when the Grammar School moved to new buildings on Penge High Street, and had to have “Penge” include in its title. My father, his brother, myself, my brother and my cousin all attended the Grammar School.

    1. I think you are correct about the site of Beckenham Boys Grammar school. I remember my father telling me that he went to the grammar school (that would have been about 1920) in the building that was situated just in front of Beckenham Baths, before it moved to Penge High Street

  4. If you would like to contribute to this page please use the contact button on the site and I will upload it to the site.

  5. This is the very first time that I have posted an article on your Website. I would be very interested to find out if you have any articles about Penge that I can read or contribute to, please.

  6. I am searching for picture images of the Victorian houses that stood in Southend Road (west side) between Brackley Road and Stumps Hill Lane. I believe these properties were demolished in the 60’s for redevelopment in the area.

  7. If you go to Photo Album then select Gallery 1 then click on Spa to Memorial from left hand drop down menu you will find photos of Beckenham Baths.

  8. I have been searching for so long to find pictures of Beckenham Road Baths – the baths in the 1970s. Number 1, 2 and 3 pool. I have wonderful memories of swimming there almost every day. The cafe upstairs with the balcony viewing area for number 1 pool. The long walk down the corridors to number 2 pool and finally number 3 pool at the very end with the deep end of the pool actually being in the middle of the pool. I remember Vince Lamp who taught me to swim and canoe. The Kerr family living in the house on site, Joan on reception and that very cool ticket machine they used to use for your entry for a swim (almost like what the bus conductors used to use).

    Then there was the scholarship time trails once a year to earn you a free entry for a whole year. No diving blocks, they used to use towels on the edge of the pool. And talking of towels – I remember you could hire a rough white towel for your swim!

    Ken Hodges was the pool supervisor in my days!

    Why are there no pictures anyway on any site of this wonderful pool? If anyone can help – I would be very grateful.

    My mum still swims at the new pool after swimming every week there for over 50 years!!

  9. I have been searching for so long to find pictures of Beckenham Road Baths – the baths in the 1970s. Number 1, 2 and 3 pool. I have wonderful memories of swimming there almost every day. The cafe upstairs with the balcony viewing area for number 1 pool. The long walk down the corridors to number 2 pool and finally number 3 pool at the very end with the deep end of the pool actually being in the middle of the pool. I remember Vince Lamp who taught me to swim and canoe. The Kerr family living in the house on site, Joan on reception and that very cool ticket machine they used to use for your entry for a swim (almost like what the bus conductors used to use).

    Then there was the scholarship time trails once a year to earn you a free entry for a whole year. No diving blocks, they used to use towels on the edge of the pool. And talking of towels – I remember you could hire a rough white towel for your swim!

    Ken Hodges was the pool supervisor in my days!

    Why are there no pictures anyway on any site of this wonderful pool? If anyone can help – I would be very grateful.

    My mum still swims at the new pool after swimming every week there for over 50 years!!

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