The following is an extract from the story of Shoreham Grammar School, an independent boys school in West Sussex as remembered by H.L. Wills and M.E. Barmen.

The headmaster was very keen on cricket and we played many clubs. He used to play in the 1st XI with his friend, 'Wally' Booker. To encourage us to take our practices seriously, we used to bat against a variety of bowlers and fielders for about twenty minutes, and we started off with 2s or 2s 6d, and lost a penny every time we were out.

There was a boy nominated to write these amounts down, and we were paid just before the end of the summer term. The choirboys were also paid for their efforts towards the community.

In my early days, all the school was treated to an outing to the Chinese Pleasure Gardens at Hassocks or Burgess Hill. We were packed with horse-drawn brakes and went via Henfield, stopping on the way for sandwiches and drinks, which had been packed up for us.

Then after an enjoyable day with rides on the switch backs, and all the amusements of the fair, as well as boat trips across the shallow lakes, which seemed to have a thick iron sediment on the bottom, we once more embarked in the brakes and returned via Brighton, singing songs as we came along the front.

So although Sam took with one hand, he gave out with the other. It was a well-known fact that if a window was broken, there was a charge of 6d on everyone's bill (far more than was needed to pay for the breakage) if no one owned up as the culprit.

He was proud of his teams, especially when, somewhere about 1921, one football 1st X1 had an unbeaten record. I can't quite remember the figures, but I think they won about 18 games out of 20 and drew the other two. Our furthest fixtures were with Seaford College, Telscombe Coastguard centre in the east and Littlehampton in the west.

Teams were usually in the charge of a prefect, generally one of the players, and we knew that we had to be on our best behaviour because Sam would be sure to come in his Buick and see some of the match, and we heard criticisms of the play in the evening when he took Centre showers, and discussed the game with us.

I well remember one day when the 1st X1 was playing Littlehampton Wednesday, and the 2nd X1 opponent's were Steyning Grammar School, both matches being away. At halftime the goalkeeper told me that Sam had been watching in the crowd, and I was to take the team to Brookers in Littlehampton where a lovely tea was waiting for us.

But we later heard that Sam had been watching the 2nd X1 at Steyning in the second half - such was the enthusiasm of our Headmaster.

I can't leave the football side without mentioning the efforts of one of the Senior's at Shoreham Grammar School, 'Jelly' Recknell. No one could looked less like a footballer than Jelly, and yet he used to 'ref' the 1st XI matches against clubs like Littlehampton, Portslade, and Southwick Wednesday, as well as any professional referee, and he made very few mistakes, and what is more, he kept to his decisions!