Author: Geoff Eales

I was at Winbury from 1960-63, but I think I must have arrived after that 1960 photo was taken. My days at Winbury were long, having to cycle from home in Waltham St Lawrence to Paradise Corner where I left my bike at Dave Harding's dad's garage. We used to get the 21 bus from Wokingham together and get off at the top of Castle Hill. We marvelled at the size of the earth-movers and bulldozers that were carving up Thicket Corner for the new M4 motorway, and always thought we'd crash one day under Boyne Hill bridge (there could only have been millimetres to spare). Sometimes the journey home was quicker if dad was in his office, otherwise it was back on "The Rattler" and rarely home before 6pm.

Sad to say, not all my memories are happy. Michael "The Martian" Farrell, who loved twisting ears to breaking point when we didn't get the maths right, Marie's cooking which put me off stew for life (though there was always a queue for seconds of her treacle sponge pudding) and getting the slipper from Mr Spicer for running up the stairs against his one-way system. I also remember being reported for drinking a carton of milk in uniform on my way to the bus station, consuming food in public was seriously frowned upon. We were also expected to raise our caps to ladies and give up our seats to older people on the bus. Anyone reported for non-compliance was in deep trouble! Mercifully, Marie's dinners were followed by trips to the Tuck Shop where we could rescue our taste buds, those penny chews (especially the banana ones) have never been beaten in all these years.

There were some great friendships though; Kevin White, Chris Low and I were inseparable. I met up with Chris at Heathrow years later where he was a customs officer, and I seem to remember reading that Kevin became an MP somewhere? David Turner became a good friend, mainly because his maths were even worse than mine, so our ears ended up about the same length. David turned out to be my future wife's cousin, so the long ears stayed in the family.

My fortunes at Hibbert Road were mostly disappointing, always coming last in just about every distance at sports-day, (though Jeremy "Bill" Barrett would have won Olympic gold had he taken running up seriously). The one time my dad ever came to watch me play footy was for the House Cup final, where we were soundly thrashed 9-0 by Raleigh and I missed an open goal. My one moment of glory however, was when Chris Low and I stayed at the crease all afternoon, knocking up a partnership of well over 50 and forcing a humble request from The Martian to declare, "so someone else can have a go" (I significantly improving my otherwise miserable batting average that day!).

One day we were all marched to the top of Castle Hill to wave our little flags as the Queen passed by on her way to open the new Town Hall. I remember that same building was turned into a hospital for the filming of "Carry on Nurse" and again for "Doctor in the House". I seem to remember being a boarder on one occasion when my parents went away for a few days, I don't recall exactly why, but I was very pleased when they returned home!

I left Winbury in 1963 when my parents moved to Bournemouth and mum forced me to wear my blazer for the first term at Portchester Boys. It wasn't the greatest way of finding friends in a new school; I think the first guys to reach out to me did so out of sympathy. One bonus though, in my first year ay Portchester I repeated the previous year of French - even then I only manage second in the class, but I still have the little Collins English-French dictionary I won for a prize - thanks Mrs Hammersley!

Rev Geoff Eales - Weston Super-Mare - 07/01/2013