General Chat

Actually, Rollo, you didn't have to live within the New Forest Boundary to go to Brockenhurst.

I, and 'rellies' went to either Brockenhurst or Totton - I know where they/I lived and which school they/I went to.

Totton is not 'Well outside the New Forest; - it is actually considered within the New Forest District, and it's UK parliament constituency is New Forest East.

Oh - and the school in Totton was both a Grammar School AND college up until 1973 - which was when it ceased being a Grammar School.
It didn't suddenly 'change' and the children transported elsewhere - it was a gradual closure - as with all Grammar Schools that became Colleges.

Both Cadnam and Ower ARE in the New Forest - Google a map of the New Forest - see the green bit? That's the New Forest.
Fordingbridge is within the New Forest District - and before the area became a 'National Park' was part of the New Forest.

Oh - and I (if I am MW), never said " Forest schools had a very rural character excepting the industrial strip along Southampton Water."

I asked you when you met Dr Wood.

I was recently “accused” of having been to private school when I answered a couple of quiz questions that stumped the rest of my team. The comment was on the lines of “Well, you would know the answers. You went to private school. We didn’t”. Actually, I didn’t either. Passed the 11 Plus and went to a state grammar school

The people to admire are those like my OH who has achieved an enormous amount in spite of a terrible start educationally.

There was a big deal made of the 11+ exam, which was quite a cruel thing to impose upon young children. You 'passed' it or you'failed' it. So, at the age of eleven, for the first time in your life maybe, you were a failure.

I did not want to go to grammar school and was hoping to go to secondary modern but my mind went the way they wanted. It would have been secondary modern had there been more emphasis on maths I am sure.

I had a cousin who passed the 11 plus, but then was not allowed to go to the grammar school because her older sister was already there and her parents could not afford to have 2 children at "the grammar".

M was bitter about that until the day she died at almost 90! She spent most of her time trying to outdo that sister.

What M did do instead was play on the fact that she had been sent to stay with a maternal aunt at the age of about 3 when her mother had premature twins, the last of her 6 children and needing a lot of care. M was the most difficult of the children and I think her parents jumped at the chance of her being away for a while. Aunt only had one child, a son, and seemingly treated M very well, even sending her to elocution lessons with the son.

After that, M made sure she always talked with a very different accent than her 5 siblings, and made it sound as though she had spent years with the aunt ............... nope, her eldest but one sister took great joy in telling me it was less than 3 months!


I also passed the 11-plus, and went on to university ..... which is when I began to get that strange reaction.

I was the first girl in our village to go to university .............. every time I went back home, the elderly b*s in the village would take every opportunity to stand to one side of me and eye me up and down. After all, no single girl ever went away for any good reason!

I have had people like that speak to me Nyx.

I don't know the sort of people you obviously know Sharron lol. No one has ever asked (let alone reacted unfavourably), as to whether I went to grammar school or not.

I have noticed though that some people do seem to feel a bit intimidated by someone with what they perceive to be a 'better' education than themselves. I've never understood that, we all have areas in which we know less or more than someone else :-) Some people know a great deal about one thing, and some know a little bit about a lot. So the first do well at the specialist questions on Mastermind and the latter are better at the general knowledge lol.

I know very little about the New Forest ( trees, ponies, wild boar and some nice houses) so it's all of interest to me. "Curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction revived it" :-)

Maggie, I wonder which of us went to more schools lol.

Sadly that is the case Sharron

That's right, we don't. but there is still that sort of reaction, even after all these years.

They think we think we are superior but we don't.

Both myself and OH went to Grammar School and we certainly don't think we are better than those who attended Secondary schools

I must bear that in mind.

I did not have the privilege of going to grammar school so I have never noticed any stigma though friends who did have never complained about it. They do complain, quite bitterly sometimes, about public school boys such as the Bullingdon set and of course Wykehamists who will be well known to MW. They certainly have attitude..

It is 18 miles from Fordingbridge to Brockenhurst. Fordingbridge was not within the traditional New Forest boundary and is not within the new(ish) National Park. In any case back in the day Fordingbridge GS pupils would have gone to Salisbury or what is now the Mountbatten School , Romsey. Never Brock.

Cadnam and Ower similarly were not part of the traditional New Forest and are not within the National Park. It is 8 miles from Cadnam to Brockenhurst.

Totton G.S. 1955-1969 was well outside of the New Forest though only 9 miles from the Brock and five miles from the King Edward VI in Southampton. It never fared very well in competition with the other two schools. Under the 11+ system parents could choose which selective school they sent their child to from a list of three. Currently Totton College is in dire straits.

Distances taken from my Garmin.

The number of the then green Hants and Dorset bus from Lymington to Southampton via Brockenhurst was 19 & 20. There you go Sharron that is not in Wiki. Neither does it mention the fun and games of cows and pigs wandering into the village and even sleeping on the road on a warm morning. Eventually the A35 was fenced. Forest B and unclassified roads remain unfenced.

As MW says Forest schools had a very rural character excepting the industrial strip along Southampton Water.

As far as my memory serves me the stopping train from Bournemouth served Pokesdown, Christchurch, Hinton, New Milton, Sway,, Beaulieu Road, Brockenhurst (change for Lymington), Ashurst,/Lyndhurst Road, Totton, Southampton.

(for Dermot) As I was never a Brock pupil I would not have met Dr Wood at a reunion. His successor, A J Baker, was keen on such events which would not have been the style of the taciturn Wood.

Inter silvas quaerere verum
( which M Gove might translate as "the experts can see the wood despite the trees" )

:-D

Sharron! ;-)

Back to the 'stigma' bit - I have to admit, I never noticed it - apart from Eric - but I moved away :-D

School reunions often produce unexpected rekindling of old classmates & memories.

Very therapeutic.

Fordingbridge is more than 20 miles away.
Also, those who lived in Ower, West Wellow, even Cadnam and Ashurst would have gone to Totton Grammar School, after it was established in 1955 - as it was nearer.

When did you meet Dr Wood, Rollo?

My goodness, I am impressed. What useful knowledge. Must have stood you in good stead.

Yes Sharron but I knew this stuff I didn't need to look it up in Google (which makes no mention of large numbers of pupils arriving by train every day). I didn't go to the Brock but some of my friends did. I have met Dr Wood which is how I knew he had a (very) imposing personality. Hants Education Committee were terrified of him and he was allowed to run the school just as he thought fit.

More to the point where in the New Forest is more than 20 miles from its one time only grammar school? Bournemouth School for Girls was never in the New Forest, neither was Salisbury G.S. for Girls. Nor was the Edward VI in S'oton.

:-D

Yes, I never knew that!! :-S :-S :-S :-S

I prefer the Royal Oak in Fritham.

This pub used to be run by a bloke called Winter - in between tending his cows and pigs. What are now the toilets, were his barns.

More useless information - my uncle and aunt used to run the Turfcutters Arms in East Boldre - not such a good ale selection as the Royal Oak, though.

..and I know all that :-D :-D :-D :-D

That was a very interesting little piece on the history of Brockenhurst Grammar School. We have a lot to be thankful for in Google.

There was only one post war grammar school in the New Forest which was generally known as "the Brock". , Brockenhurst High / Grammar School was run by the formidable Dr Wood until 1970.

A lot of pupils used to get to the school by (steam) train. For that reason and the reuptation of the Forest for magic some people claim the Brock was one inspiration for Harry Potter. A few miles away in Ringwood there is an excellent pub "The Alice Lisle" named after an alleged aristocratic traitor beheaded in Winchester 1685.

Today ithe Brock is a very successful college.