The following is an extract from the story of Shoreham Grammar School, an independent boys school in West Sussex as remembered by P J Stannard and C N Wynne and E A Bruder.

Early in 1946 the boarding section of the School and especially some of the older members of the staff at Milland House, Hampshire began to be very restive at the prolonged evacuation from our normal home in Shoreham-by-Sea.

At the Shoreham premises the Fire Service had ended their occupation of the altered and adapted centre block comprising the old fifth and sixth class-rooms, main dining-hall, together with dormitories above.

The Canadian troops had long since finished their occupation of the 8 room block, 8 room dormitory, Headmaster's accommodation, school kitchens, staff dining-room, matrons' rooms. All of these premises were, however, not in any state of readiness for the return of the boarders.

So far as Centre was concerned the whole ground floor wall had been removed and a concrete base replaced the flooring inside - this was in order that the fire engines should have quick and easy access to and from the town via the playground, the west side of the playground having an enormous gap in its wall for was access to John Street.

So far as the part to the south of the Fire Service section was concerned (the part occupied by the Army), the condition of the premises was horrifying. In the Headmaster's house stairs had been ripped out, doors were missing and electrical fittings removed.

In the main boarding part every washbasin and every lavatory pan was smashed, there were floor boards out, banisters missing, kitchen range and stoves broken and in fact the whole was in a dreadful state.

It was naturally the responsibility of appropriate Government Departments to reinstate the school buildings, but how very slowly the wheels of authority seem to grind and meantime we at Milland were becoming more and more frustrated.

I must pay tribute to Mr. Kempe and to the Directors of the School that they did push and push for completion.

It was decided in the spring that we would definitely return to our home in Shoreham during the summer holiday of 1946. Arrangements were made with Mr. French and his Southern Transport for the big return move commencing around the middle of August.

Of course, the place was not ready for us - or anything approaching ready. There were about thirty workmen around in various parts for weeks after we returned. We had, for example, no gas for cooking to start with and had to manage to cater for our few staff and matrons already in residence using primus oil stoves on the first floor landing.

The return of the boarders for the Autumn Term, 1946, had to be postponed for a week and then we just managed with a number of workmen still around.

During the greater part of the war the school had been working virtually as two separate units, the Day section in Shoreham catering for the much diminished local demand (since so many families had left the area once it became an Evacuation Area under the threat of Hitler invasion) and the Boarding section which was situated at Milland House, Liphook, Hampshire.

To start with Mr. R. W. Kirkman was Headmaster at Milland and he left Mr. P. L. Podd as Headmaster of the Day section in Shoreham. My personal view is that Mr. Kirkman was not comfortable at Milland and furthermore that he had little confidence in the future viability of the whole concern under these conditions.

This may well be the reason why he accepted an appointment as Headmaster of Framlingham College in Suffolk. He left Milland in December 1940, to take up his new post but he retained his financial interest in Shoreham Grammar School.

He promoted Mr. E. A. Bruder as Headmaster at Milland from January 1941, and Mr. P. L. Podd remained Head in Shoreham.

In the summer of 1941 Mr. Kirkman needed a senior Science and Mathematics man at Framlingham and so he invited Mr. Podd to join him there. Mr. Podd accepted this offer. This left the Day section at Shoreham needing a new Headmaster.

Mr. Kirkman therefore asked Mr. K. W. Barrell (together with Miss D. Owens whom he married in August 1941) to leave Mr. Bruder's staff at Milland to take on the Head ship of the Day section at Shoreham.

At the reuniting of the School in 1946 Mr. Kirkman had the problem of who should be Head. Mr. Bruder was the senior man and was appointed. Mr. Barrell left the school at this time to take up a senior post at a school in the North of England.