Sarum Chase Sunday School

Discussion of the children's schools in the UK.
daska
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Sarum Chase Sunday School

Postby daska » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:37 pm

Anyone else here attend this? My memories are exceptionally hazy but then it was nearly 30 years ago

I can't remember much other than I think it was Mr Stead? that took gym and the only other kids I can remember from there (naming no names) were the ones that went back to Australia (btw their mum, who taught us about flower arranging, is now a tibetan buddist nun)

other than that it is most memorable for the calligraphy boards fixed to the wall, very friendly sitting with your back to everyone else, at least it was warmer than church.

and, oh yes, more yoghourt...

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mike_w
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Postby mike_w » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:16 pm

I don't remember it at Sarum Chase...I remember it being at Queensgate ...it would have to have been more than 30 years ago as I didn't go after starting St V...all I really remember is one boy who always arrived late, clutching a pile of football cards & bawling his eyes out at being left by his father for the first couple of hours...this seemed to happen every sunday...funny what you remember isn't it :neutral:

Daffy
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Postby Daffy » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:32 pm

Yes, I also went to the Sunday school for a year before St James started. It is a very long time ago and I was very young, so the details are more than a little hazy, but here are my recollections.

I remember really looking forward to going to this Sunday school. My parents must have told me many wonderful things about it, and of course at that age (4 or 5) I would have believed them. Maybe they did too.

When I got there it was a massive shock to the system. Long runs through the Hampstead woods in the freezing cold and constant military-style shouting from the teacher (I think it was Barrington Barber). I became petrified every weekend as the Sunday boot camp was about to commence. My parents were too brainwashed to listen to my pleas to take me away.

I don't remember who else was there at the same time, but I think they would have completely segregated boys from girls. Nor do I remember any other teachers.

I then discovered that going to Sunday school gave me ex officio membership of the SES, and compulsory attendance at their evening classes. I didn't get to escape them until I was around 9 or 10. I pleaded with my parents for years to take me out, but they wouldn't do so without the permission of their SES masters, which was of course not forthcoming.

So, what could be worse than all this for a five-year-old? Once St James was opened in January 1975 there was no continuing need for the Sunday school. It closed, to be replaced by a full five days a week of the same thing.

Every time I recall details like this it just beggars belief that our parents could have let it happen.

daska
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Postby daska » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:36 pm

Daffy, I am amazed at the strength of your memory, well done. I can remember all sorts of things from pre and primary school age but I have so effectively blanked out the SES related memories that I'm beginning to think I'll have to undergo hypnosis to get them back. I even doubted my memory of it being at Sarum Chase, thank you for giving me that back.

NYC
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Postby NYC » Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:18 am

Daska,
please seriously research hypnosis before using it for memory recovery. Hypnotic suggestions can contaminate your actual memories. Here in the US in the 80s, a lot of therapists who didn't know what they were doing ended up giving false memeories of sexual abuse to children.

I think it's much safer to stay awake. Good luck to you.

daska
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Postby daska » Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:36 pm

Sorry Daffy, I have a habit of being a bit flip at times, hypnosis is not something I've ever considered doing for real. I have an excellent memory - though I surprised myself when I spotted a name on the yahoo group and recalled his telephone number from over 20 years ago. Unfortunately it doesn't function very well where SES is concerned. On a logical level I put this down to the constant denial of my having an accurate memory both at school and at home. Everytime the school changed it's mind about something 'your' memory was wrong. On a home level this denial is still going on and I can give an example of it. In my late teens I had to attend Tommy's for an unusual x-ray. My mum has always maintained that this never happened and that I never had the problem that necessitated it. She was so adamant about this being 'her' problem, that I did honestly begin to think I had listened to her description and imagined going through it myself. A couple of years ago I had to go into Tommy's for a different x-ray and they automatically checked the records. I should have trusted my memory. So now all I have to do is sort out which bits are the school's memories and which bits are mine.

daska
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Location: UK

Mr Barnard

Postby daska » Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:55 pm

Hope you don't mind Sugarloaf but I spotted this post and thought I'd copy it into this thread as well as it's so closely entwined. My point in starting this thread was to try to establish what went on here - as I've mentioned I have only hazy memories of these miserable times.

sugarloaf wrote:I have posted an account of some of my experiences at St james (boys) school earlier on this forum. I find it interesting that nothing has been mentioned about Mr Barnard, a teacher who joined later on. He arrived at the school with a reputation for having behaved violently towards at least one very young child at SES pre school ?Sunday school? (edge of a metal ruler on head), and he proceeded to make it known to me that he was ?watching me closely? as soon as he arrived at st James. (he?d obviously been given the schools official ?pupils characters? talking to, as we?d never met?). He and I were subsequently involved in several events that were unnecessarily vindictive - and particularly odd, even by St James? standards.

I have no wish to spread rumours, or talk up facts, so if anyone has had, or heard of, similar experiences with this man, but no wish to post them publicly at the moment, I?d be interested to hear from you. (just ?pm? me)


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