Buildings Areas
1. How many of these areas can you name?
A The site A is the Pig Sty on land owned by the farmer Mr. Street. (Answered by Maureen Ardron. Thank you, Maureen.)
B Woodwork classroom
C Boys changing room and showers
D Entrance to Dining Hall
E Boiler House
F Mechanical Engineering classroom and workshop
G Sport Equipment Store (Eric comments: I think I am right here as I was Sports monitor in the 6th Form for almost 2 years until Mr. Leonard sacked me (but that is another story). If memory serves me I took care of all the rugby and cricket gear in a room in this block.)
Answers from Eric Jones. Thank you, Eric.
What was the attraction of a feature of area E on a cold day?
Photo from Ray Noble. Thank you, Ray.
2. What is this area?
Photo from Ray Noble. Thank you, Ray.
Answer? Area A is the "New Block".
Tony Pickering
3. What are the names of these areas?
Photo from Ray Noble. Thank you, Ray.
A - Boys Cloakroom and Toilets.
B - Bike Sheds.
C - ?
D - Room 1
Answers from Eric Jones. Thank you, Eric.
4. An area which is not easy to identify.
Photo from Ray Noble. Thank you, Ray.
Answer?
Eric Jones suggests this was a classroom belonging to the Biology Dept. which was opposite in that corridor.
This area looks as if it had the staircase which led up to the Art Room corridor.
Dave McKenzie
5. A Washroom?
At the extreme left-hand corner of the front elevation of the School was a small one-storey 'extension' built in a matching stone and having a flat roof. Its windows opened towards the Green Gate. I would think it unlikely that many - or indeed any - of the boys of the School would be able to name its purpose, much less have ever entered it. The girls, however, would recall the marble floor, light blue walls and the way voices and footsteps would echo within it. The entrance to this room was directly opposite the Girls' Cloakroom, on the right as you made your way into the School from the Girls' Entrance. As one stood in the doorway, along the right-hand and left-hand walls were two rows of sinks, around twenty in all, their large, old-fashioned taps having white circles on the top with the words 'HOT' and 'COLD'. The walls were half-tiled, and I can't recall any mirrors there. My main memory of it was the cold temperature in winter. On the far wall were roller towels - white with a red border - which were changed at the beginning of each week, and later in my School life these were replaced with bins hung on the wall containing roller towels, and needing a tug to pull out a fresh length of towel. These used to jam. The bars of soap used to be left soggy in the sinks. The taps used to be left on. The floor was sometimes flooded, and as the toilets were in another location outside the building, this seemed a strangely extravagant amount of space and caretaking effort to devote to the washing of hands. I wonder if this room was an original part of the house before it became a school, and if so, what purpose would it have served?
Sheila Kelsall
Didn't the boys have an "inside washroom" near the Boys Entrance and Cloakroom? The Boys' entrance was near the Boy's toilets (Main Playground). Tapolene was used instead of Brylcreem by many boys.
6. A well known area in colour!
Dear Dave,
My guess is that it is the back of the main building taken from the quadrangle - the only area that had a large area of grass close to it. If so, the downstairs rooms were the Girl Prefects' room on the right hand side; the school office would be about the middle (it was more or less opposite the front door) and the Boy Prefects' room was on the left hand side. Above, the Senior Mistress's room would be about the centre (Miss. Shortridge in my time), the women's Staff Room on the right hand side and the men's on the left.
Hope I'm right!
Regards,
Jean Burton
(HGS 1936-43)
Dear Jean,
Well done! As far as I am aware you are correct. Things had not changed much when I was at HGS (1955-62). Perhaps the School Office moved later to the room (my 2A Form Room) which was opposite the Boss's study.
Best wishes,
Dave McKenzie