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When Redland Hill House School closed for good in 1963, my parents had to find another school, and one that was quite close (in the district of Clifton, famous for Brunei's Suspension Bridge), was Clark's College, recalled Peter Ashford.
This school was one of several around England, which had originally been set up south of London, somewhere, (possibly Bromley) as a commercial college, by one Mr. Clark.
I started there immediately after the other school closed, along with several other students from Redland Hill House School. This made it feel less daunting, when several of us ended up in the same class at Clark's College.
This was a co-ed school, running three different streams, i.e., General, Sciences, and Commercial. The General stream was usual subjects, e.g. English, Maths, Geography, French; the Sciences had Physics, Chemistry, etc.; and Commercial had typing, accounting, shorthand, etc. I really enjoyed attending that school, and was made captain of the school's football team in my last year there.
My good mate, Michael Blann, moved with me to that school, but soon afterwards, went to another school, then got into the drugs scene, which changed his whole persona. The last I heard was that he had gone to live in some converted pig farm in Sussex, with members of the Rolling Stones rock band.
The school was quite active in school trips, and I went to France in 1965, and stayed in the Paris suburb of Ville d'Avray, along with about 30 others from the school. It was a great trip, and I can remember being VERY impressed with The Eiffel Tower, going up as far as it was possible to go then, in the lift.
Unfortunately, myself and a classmate, Malcolm Hughes, got stuck into some wine and beer in a Ville d'Avray café one afternoon, and ended up completely legless in the dormitory where we were staying.
The last thing I remember is having my head shoved under a cold water tap by the teacher who was leading the trip.... he wasn't at all happy.
He was quite an interesting person. His name was Geoffrey Woodruff, and he was great with voices and accents: probably how he spoke French so well. He made some recordings for BBC Bristol, about accents and dialects.
At that school we had a strange collection of teachers. One was a Mr. Heslop, who drove a Lanchester car, and was the Science master. One was a Mr. Croydon-Fowler, who owned a ballet school in Bath, and drove a white convertible Ford Zodiac, with red seats.
Recently I spoke with the only person from that school, with whom I have any contact, her name was Anne Jenkins, and now she's Anne Daunton, living in Bristol.
When one thinks of all the people one met at school(s), it would be really interesting to know where they are now, and what paths their lives have taken.
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