Henry Churchyard 1929 - 1937

Henry Churchyard - 1936

My name is Henry Churchyard, known in Sandhurst as Sonny Churchyard. In 1929 I came to St. Michael’s School as a 5 year old Infant. Miss Bunch was the Infants teacher; on the first day at school I swore and Miss Bunch took me into the kitchen and washed my mouth out with a mug of soapy water; I never swore again!

After Infants I went to the next class where Miss Kingston was teacher and then on to Miss Culum’s class and then on to the Headmaster’s class. Mr George Oldham, Headmaster, always carried a cane which he used very frequently! If we misbehaved in class we got 4 strokes on the hand and occasionally 6 strokes on the backside.

In the winter we had combustion stoves in the classrooms, which burnt coke. The coalman got the coke from the gasworks. Coke was made from the coal which was heated and the gas extracted leaving coke (not like the coke you buy in cans to drink). We always had a big bowl of water on the stove, boiling away. We brought old newspapers in and tore them into strips, gum Arabic was added and we made papier mache objects.

Our playground was rolled gravel and when we were playing someone would shout “There’s a car coming up the hill!” We all rushed to the fence to see the car because we only saw a car about once a day.

Every year on March 8th, Empire Day, we would get the May Pole out and hoist the Union Jack and sing patriotic songs. Every morning at assembly we said prayers and sing 2 verses of a hymn.

The playing field was opposite the school. It was the glebe belonging to the Rectory. We played football, cricket, games etc. Every summer we had a free trip by train to the seaside: Littlehampton or Bognor, and at Christmas a free party and presents for all.

We didn’t have free milk until into the 1930s and no school meals. Most of us went home for lunch, but those that lived further afield brought sandwiches which they ate in the cycle shed. Not many children had cycles.

The girls did cookery on Wednesday afternoons, the boys did carpentry on Friday afternoons. When we were 13 years old the Headmaster said we could have Wednesdays off school if we went to learn Bell-ringing at the church. Mr Moth of Little Sandhurst was the Foreman Bellringer. I used to ring number 4 bell every Sunday before service and then went to get dressed for the choir.

This lovely school was built in 1862, by Squire Walters of Bearwood. He was a big landowner in Crowthorne and Sandhurst. The figurine above the front door of the stork dropping stones into a pitcher was from Squire Walters Coat-of-Arms.