I was delighted to be able to visit Portsmouth Grammar School Lower School today, on the 15th October. This was after reaching out to the development Team who were hosting tours before the building was sold.
I was at the school between 1967 and 1976 leaving to join the army. My father also attended the school.
Hannah and I met Jack Collins, who kindly showed us around. Well, in fact, I showed him around! HJack encouraged this and seemed delighted that I still knew my way around after 58 years! The gym was the first stop and I was amazed at just how small it is. The ropes were long gone, but amazingly, the bar and rings were still there to hook up the benches and tie ropes on to the rings.
I remembered the nurses’ room and, of course, the room where Hyett and I were put into detention by Bunny Burnell. Frightened to move, we didn’t turn on the light, and as darkness fell, we knew we had been abandoned. It was only when my father burst into the room did I realise that we had been ‘saved.’
Bunny Burnell’s art room is in exactly the same place, but the area has been expanded.
I remembered the courtyard well, with milk bottles lined up ready to drink, and the old swimming pool, which was still there, albeit empty and contained storage equipment. I also correctly identified the music room and the science lab, where all my hamsters had eaten each other! I filled in a gap that Jack had regarding the Hobby building. I was not a great after-school hobbyist as I was busy with the Cathedral Choir, but I remembered some kind of train set being built in there and other various activities. The old toilets by the side gate had disappeared.
The assembly hall was slightly baffling. We either entered from the wrong wing of the school, or I remembered that it was different. The stage was on the opposite wall, and I insisted that Hudson house gathered in the indicated corner of the room. I might have been wrong. Nevertheless, I stated that we had watched the first moon landing on a TV in the corner of the room.
I went straight to the tuck shop and was even allowed to ring Mr Cairn’s bell!
It was a wonderful walk done memory lane. Jack had trawled the archives and presented some team photos, some of which I had already seen. He also had some snippets of athletics reports, which he later scanned and sent to me.
Hannah and I were able to take a tour of the Upper School, which is quite a phenomenal school now that they have taken over Cambridge barracks. The science block is new, and a new 6th form building has been developed. The New Hall is still a canteen, but with decent food prepared in-house and a wonderful theatre.
All in all, a wonderful day with some great memories.
