Friends reunited after 60 long years
You never forget your schooldays, although for some of us what happened yesterday can be difficult to recall.
Former pupils of Oldborough Manor School in Boughton Lane, Maidstone, are still meeting up, in some cases, 60 years after they left the school.
A reunion was held at the Malta Inn in Allington for students who had been at the school in the 1950s and 1960s, although a party from the 1970s came along too and were made very welcome.
More than 80 people attended – including spouses. This year’s event was coordinated by Steve Charlton, who now lives in South Wales, and by Wes Wooding, who now lives in Somerset, via the wonders of Facebook.
They brought with them some school memorabilia, including the bible that used to reside on the lectern in the school hall (rescued when the building was pulled down) and a framed photograph of the late Mr AJN Fuller, who was headmaster at the time.
Mr Wooding, 75, said: “Previous reunions were for those at school in the 1950’s, but Steve helped us to reach a younger generation. It went very well, and as well as renewing old friendships many new ones were created.”
He said: “It’s quite an emotional sight to witness ex-school chums who haven’t seen each other for many years greeting each other with joy and whoops of delight.
“Indeed, this year we had people attending from France, Scotland, Wales and various corners of England.”
It was an opportunity to revisit the old stories – including the time when one boy was hung out of a firstfloor window by the ankles. The boy doesn’t seem to have born a grudge; he was at the reunion.
There was also the time when the music teacher was caught coming out of a cupboard “hot and bothered” with one of the female members of staff.
Their affair was well known, and the couple later married – after he divorced his first wife.
There was also the infamous tuck-shop raid, when a gang of pupils revisited the school after hours and liberated the contents of the tuck shop.
Mr Wooding recalls Mars bars being distributed throughout the woods afterwards.
The perpetrators were subsequently rewarded with six of the best from the headmaster in front of the whole school.
Mr Wooding, who admitted being a bit of a wild child himself, denies being part of that gang.
But he did confess to having been caned on several occasions.
He said: “The cane, the slipper, a ruler on the hand. They were all used in those days, and many of the teachers were fond of throwing blackboard rubbers at you too.
“We never thought anything of it.
“In fact, Mr Fuller was greatly admired. He was strict, but he was fair.”
The school took its first pupils in 1951, although it was not opened officially until 1953 by Lord Cornwallis.
It ceased to be in 2007, when it merged with Senacre Technology Centre to form the New Line Learning Academy.
Ex-Oldborough students who wish to attend next year’s reunion should contact Mr Wooding by emailing wes. wooding@btopenworld. com or Mr Charlton at steve. charlton1952@yahoo.co.uk.