The School in the War and Post War Years - memories from Pat Bryan and Ron Brookes

School and School House Neen Savage

Pat Bryan, now 83, was a child during the 2nd World War. Both her Mother and her Uncle taught for a short while at Wyre Farm Camp school during the early years of the war. Through a link- up facilitated by Aileen Parker (daughter of the last headmaster at the school - George Parker) I spoke to Pat on the phone at her home in Neen Savage.

Pat told me she was born in Coventry and lived off the Allesley Old Road. Her mother - Flora Aidie was a teacher in Coventry and I think her father worked in Radford. The outbreak of war changed their lives. Pat remembers hiding under the table in the home during the Coventry blitz not knowing if they would survive the night. Soon after the Coventry blitz November 1940 her mother was asked to go a teach at Wyre Farm Camp school where her Uncle - Harold Eaves was the Earlsdon Housemaster and a teacher.

Two Female Teachers
This may be a surprise to most of the boys who attended the school after the war but Pat's mother was the first female teacher at the school. I say first because, as we'll see later, there was another one after the war!

Pat doesn't know what subjects her mother taught but thinks it would be Maths and English or general studies. "Uncle Harold (Eaves) taught Geography and Woodwork but he got called up in 1942 along with Mr Morris and they both joined the RAF. Harold never went back to teach there. At the time Mr Martin was headmaster followed by Mr Donaldson and then of course Mr Morris in the 1950's. She recalls Mr John Lowe also who went on to be deputy head and scout master.

Pat shared some of her memories with me which I captured on tape -
and explained her Coventry background (not recorded) and after surviving the Coventry blitz Oct 1941 - her mother Flora Aidie was asked to teach at Wyre Farm camp school for a short while. Pat's Uncle - Harold Eaves was already teaching there from when the school began. Pat takes up the story from Christmas 1940...

" My uncle brought me back down to Coventry two or three days before Christmas because my father was still there in Coventry then he and I came back to the school on Christmas Eve 1940. We came over to stay -  my mother got us fixed up with some digs at Morley Town farm which was the farm just along from the City of Coventry School so that was the three of us - my mother, father and myself in one place - anyway that was Christmas Eve. My uncle Harold - when we got to his room in the Earlsdon block where he was housemaster, his bed was covered with socks, so we helped him put an apple orange some sweets and then we crept down the dormitories putting one on each of the beds because it was Christmas Eve. The boys had to stay at the school over Christmas during the evacuation period otherwise it would have defeated the object. The parents sent their presents on to the school.

So Christmas day came and we all ate in the big dining room and we had turkey - well I never tasted turkey in my life. In those days if you had a chicken, you had it at Christmas and Easter and special occasions, not like we do today and have it all the time and so turkey was a luxury!

The next day it snowed and the boys absolutely went berserk. They were snowballing and tobogganing and something.

School House- Barbrook Neen Savage

My mother was trying to get me into one of the local schools but they were all full up with evacuees too but out of the blue I got a letter from A.J. Barratt the Headmaster at Bridgnorth Grammar school to say that there was a place there if I wanted it and I did but then my mother got recalled to Coventry and Dad had gone back to work in Coventry in January 1941. My mother was only there about a year and t she was the only woman teacher. So my mother and my dad went back to Coventry and i stayed with my uncle but then he got called up and joined the RAF so I stayed on - I've never went back to Coventry. My maternal Grandmother had a bedsit in Cleobury Mortimer and she managed to get a cottage in Cleobury, so I moved in with her - then my father came and joined us because he was fed up with his job in Coventry and then my mother saw an advert for a Headmistress in Neen Savage school. People said you don't want to do that  - you'll end up playing the organ and singing in the choir which actually she did - anyway the woman who got the job - she only stayed a couple of months and then she took off, so the job was advertised again so that was that - she applied for the job and got it and we moved into the school house in Neen savage where there was a house with the job so we were all three of us together. The house was up the road from the church. So she was the headmistress and I carried on at Bridgnorth Grammar school and dad got a job in Cleobury with Off Turns? one of the local grocers."

Pat married a local farmer and had two daughters who became friendly with some of the lads at the school in the late 60's early seventies. She mentioned Ray Evitts, Stephen Gollop and Steve Hudson. She kept up links with the families of  Headmaster Mr Rowland and George Parker and still lives in Neen Savage with one of her daughters. She too became a Comprehensive teacher in Cleobury Mortimer and so has been in or around education all her life.

Here is some of the interview with Pat on video.

Memories from Ron Brookes

Ron Brookes, who now lives in Plymouth, sent in some memories of the school.

"I was at the camp from 1944 to 1946. The teachers as I can remember were - HEAD - MR MARTIN.DEPUTY - MR MORRIS - MR. DAY - MR LAMBLEY- PT) MR.LAMB - MR.
MUSGROVE - and a lady teacher - my dormitory was  EARLSDON (E12) MR LAMBLEY was our dorm' master and he was strict - polished our floors beds made neat - walked on cloths on the floor to keep polished .I must admit he gave a whack on the behind with a slipper for not doing some thing !!!!! OUCH !!!! WE WERE ALWAYS THE BEST  ! The first Sunday of the month we would wait for the Midland Red buses to come in, I think there were four or five. The parents who couldn't come upset some of the boys me included although I was lucky I could go to the village as my grandmother and aunts lived there . There is more but for now I will leave it there . If you would like to see my exam paper I can e mail it to you . It was the last . That's it for now  from PLYMOUTH . REGARDS  - RONALD D.BROOKES  (E12) "