Some recent recollections by Geoff Bennett : Son of the headmaster William (Bill) H Bennett from 1927 to 1962.

"Until about 1962 the school had only three classrooms. There was a girls' lobby at the front of the building just inside the main door, and a boys' lobby immediately behind, but not accessible to the girls' lobby. There was a boiler room attached to the rear of the building, but it was removed when a kitchen was built to provide school dinners.  Until the late 40s the toilets were merely earth closets in a separate building behind the school.  In the "boys" a cement-rendered wall served as a urinal. 

Behind the school on the boys' side, i.e. the left side looking from the road, there was a stand of some 10 to 12 tall pine trees. These trees were cut down about 1938. They were felled, cut into timber logs and removed by a man with a horse and timber cart.  I do not know why this was done, but I do remember that the school looked "naked" without its trees.

Until about 1938 the playground had been "paved" with tar and gravel. (a horse-drawn tar-pot was involved) Then it was paved with asphalt. This cut down on skinned knees. I remember First Aid was administered by two capable senior girls, who used supplies from a small black tin box. Treatment usually included washing the injury in cold water, liberal use of iodine and a bandage.  More serious injuries were taken next door to the schoolmaster's wife (my mother) where hot water could be found.

World War II.   By the time the evacuee children from Southampton Docks area arrived in several single-decker buses in 1940 all the school's windows were screened by blast walls. These were made of bricks and Portland cement mortar. Pneumatic drills were needed to destroy them at war's end. I don't know how many evacuees attended the school, but the school population expanded enough that the Church Room became a classroom. I spent my last year at Bransgore School in that room, which was most gloomy due to the trees that surrounded it and the blue gunk painted on the windows to reduce shattering from bomb-blast. That was 1941, after which I was sent to Kings College, Taunton as a boarder.

On a brighter side, to the immediate south of the school building was the school garden, consisting of small plots tended by groups of boys. Copious crops of fruit and vegetables were produced. The school won the "Silver Spade" trophy for the best school garden in the County on at least two years. There may still be Bransgore residents who remember those gardens.

The School House, between the church and the school, was our family home until 1936 when we built "Five Acres". That bungalow cost my Dad between £600 and £700 when Arthur Hiscock of Neacroft built it. When we moved out, the school house was let to a family named Walker, and some time later to Phoebe Burslem, Who was Headmistress of Thorney Hill school."

If you have similar recollections, old photos or historic news articles then please share them with the community.  e-mail robin@bransgore.org.uk or telephone +44 (01425) 673438

Last modified: 21/02/01

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