Veejay

We plan to end our days here in Ferring so it had to be a bungalow in a flat location for when we can't drive, and quiet and tranquil for peaceful afternoons sitting in the garden (see image attached). We're within easy reach of buses that take us all along the coast from Brighton to Portsmouth every ten minutes (free with our travel passes), within walking distance of local shops, doctors, dentists, pharmacy and post office, and a short stroll past corn fields to the beach! At the moment, we are still reasonable fit and we regularly walk along the greensward at the top of the beach all the way into Worthing in one direction and Rustington in the other. What more could we want in our old age?

Having been born in East Dulwich and lived all my life in and around South London, I have now retired to Ferring. I love it! It's idyllic and the best kept secret of the West Sussex coast. I guess it's not a secret any more now though!

Thanks for confirming the names of the teachers at Heber, geneie. Some of those on this forum thought I was having them on. Mr Hatton was my class teacher and he used to throw board rubbers at anyone misbehaving!

corpse

west

duke

Well said, Marmora Man. I'm glad someone is engaging in serious discussion. There's nothing wrong with holding differing opinions since it makes for an entertaining debate as long as each speaker is able to justify his/her views with logical reasoning.

Perhaps the people on this section of the forum are all too young to be my contemporaries. I had more success with my posts on the thread 'Blasts from the past' regarding my home in Underhill Road. A helpful link gave me a map of my house as it was in 1954! Maybe some of you have parents or grandparents who were at Heber Road School in the 40s and 50s. I have managed to contact two of my ex-classmates on 'Friends Reunited' and they remember the teachers I have mentioned in my posts.

I am deadly serious, ibilly99,and I am not MR Veejay. I am a 68-year old WOMAN who, after leaving school, took a chemistry degree and became a research worker, then a science teacher, a college vice principal, an A-level examiner and a school inspector. Now, in retirement, I work freelance as an education consultant. I am researching my past to provide some information for my grandchildren's history projects and I am disappointed that no-one is able to share my memories with me. Have you looked at my post on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee? By the way, I don't recall a teacher called Mr Oboe. Mr Musgrave was the music teacher and I was in Mr Hatton's class in my final year at Heber Road. I wonder whether these names will trigger anyone's memory.

The celebration this year of Queen Elizabeth?s 60 years on the throne takes me back to her coronation. Although Princess Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen on the death of her father, King George VI, in February 1952, her coronation did not take place until 2 June 1953 because of the months of planning and preparation that were required. I remember being one of the hundreds of schoolchildren, dressed in red, white and blue, lining the streets in Dulwich Village as the Queen?s procession came through. My parents and I were fortunate in being able to watch the coronation ceremony itself on our very first television, bought for the purpose (black and white, of course!). We invited into our home those of our neighbours who didn?t yet own a TV to share the experience with us. Of course, the Queen?s grandmother, Queen Mary, had been a frequent visitor to Dulwich Park, since she came to ED in May every year to see the rhododendrons in all their splendour. Although she lived to see her granddaughter ascend to the throne, sadly she died at the age of 85 on 24 March 1953, before the coronation. Since very few people owned a TV but many listened to the radio (then called the wireless), the BBC interrupted the Light and Third programmes to break the news of Queen Mary?s death to the nation. Does anyone share these memories with me?

Surely someone on this forum was around in 1954! The link ibilly99 gave is an interesting starting point. Somebody out there must remember it!

I shall look forward to hearing from them!

I thought I was entering into a serious discussion on this forum. Clearly I was mistaken! I'm disappointed.

Yes it is,ibilly99. The Headmaster was Mr Heester at the time.

Does anyone remember the total eclipse of the sun on 30 June 1954? I was in my final year at Heber Road School (as it was then called) and our science teacher, Mr Funnel, took us into the playground with a telescope that could project the image onto a card. We were told that we shouldn?t look directly at the sun since we could be blinded by the light around the darkened disc. Some of the more daring pupils did venture to look at the sun but only through smoked glass. The first place on earth where the total eclipse was visible was Nebraska, USA. Over the next three hours, the moon?s shadow swept eastwards, passing over the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and finally to India. This was the first total eclipse visible in Britain since 1927 and many people didn?t understand what was happening. I remember how eerie it was to me as a child when the sun was slowly ?eaten? by the moon?s shadow from one side until it was totally obscured and then how it re-emerged from the opposite side. As it gradually grew darker and colder, it became very quiet as birds stopped singing, believing it was night time, and returned to their nests. The eclipse wasn?t quite total in East Dulwich, as totality occurred over the Shetland Islands, but it made a lasting impression on a 10-year old girl (who later became a scientist herself!)