CARRY ON REGARDLESS Tongue Twisters and Crumb Trays Mr F Sheldrake BSc started as Assistant Master for Physics on 25 April 1944, the beginning of 29 years' service at the school. He was Senior Master when he retired in the summer of 1973. A Mrs M Tisdall took up duties at the school on the 23rd September 1943 to teach Spoken English for 2 days a week but by the following May had to give up because of ill-health. The Head had difficulties in replacing her but eventually he did find a replacement because Ann (Dixon) and Derek Dawes and Audrey (Douglas) Barnes (all of whom started at the school in 1946) remember: the weekly 'Speech training lesson from Mrs Letessier, a vast-bosomed lady with beads, and glasses on a chain. She taught us, 'James. James, Morrison, Morrison', etc. and The Leith Police dismisseth us', but regretfully, she picked on those with speech defects, made them stand up and repeat tongue twisters. We spoke reasonable BBC English so were IN.' Mr C W Sutcliffe was appointed as from the 17th January 1944, in a temporary capacity, to take Handicraft, which finally gave some boys a chance to do Woodwork after a long gap. A short time later the Head was putting his case before the Governors: Mr Sutcliffe, my temporary Handicraft Master, is being paid at the minimum rate of 204. per annum plus 52 war bonus. Mr Sutcliffe is 38 years old and has had experience in engineering and in carrying on an art and craft business of his own. I would recommend that his time spent in industry and in business should be counted as equivalent to teaching service for salary purposes up to the maximum of 5 years, or in so far as he can supply documentary evidence of his experience. I would also recommend that any variations in Mr Sutcliffe's salary payments should date from the commencement of his duties. Ann Dawes writes: Woodwork with Mr Sutcliffe: Those hopeless at it, i.e. Derek and others who couldn't tell a hammer from a chisel, were sent to sweep out the storeroom and in fact, never actually made anything. Ann's brother Richard was lucky enough to finish a beautiful crumb tray in 2G (this will be on display at the school!) Mr Dixon later did Evening Classes at the school with Charlie and found him a delight and very keen to help. He (S.G.D.) was an excellent woodworker, incidentally. Several ladies were doing woodwork with him and achieved excellent results, mainly lamp bases and book-ends. (From the Department's Sales Record for the '50s and '60s some pupils were very talented and produced the goods under Mr Sutcliffe's tutelage!) Owing to the increase in the number of pupils in the school it became necessary to have help in the laboratories: the first lab assistant was Robert A Stevenson who was only 14 years old. He was paid a wage of 15/- per week plus 5/- war bonus. He was in the job from December 1941 to August 15 1942. Bombed Out or Called Up Changes in non-teaching staff were as frequent (if not more so) as those with the teaching staff. Many of the school cleaners were affected by bomb damage to their homes and were sometimes forced therefore to move out of the area. Many were at the school for very short periods and then had to be replaced. A lot of the time which they should have been spending cleaning the school had to be spent cleaning out the shelters after the public had used them. The Head often referred to the burden of work for the Caretaker in his reports - typically: the caretaker has much increased labour in moving coke (what you burn not drink) from the play ground to the boiler hold. Unfortunately the school's original Caretaker, Mr Dossett was called up to the Forces in July of 1942. He was replaced for three weeks by someone who found he was not strong enough to do the work and was replaced by Mr G T Templeman in August at a wage of 3.10.0. plus 14/- per week war bonus. Assistant caretakers came and went with alarming frequency (at a wage of 2.3.6 plus 14/- per week war bonus). Even as late as May of 1944 one was called up for military service and had to be replaced. Dinners Under Duress The situation with those who produced and served the school dinners was even worse, with at least five changes of staff in a term common. As the Head put it. 'We are having considerable difficulties in catering.' The work was difficult not least because the hot dinners sometimes had to be carried to the shelters. Numbers were fluctuating but with a definite tendency to risec. As already mentioned, in the summer of 1941 they had refugees to feed: later they had the pupils of the junior school as well as the increasing numbers of the school's own pupils to feed - all on scarce resources. The Cook received wages at the County's salary rate of 47/6 a week plus 4/10 bonus. As from November 1941 the school came under the county dinner scheme which meant that dinners were supplied at 2/6 for 5 dinners - or 8d for a single dinner. The School continued to cultivate roughly one acre of ground on the school field and produced vegetables that were used for school dinners in the autumn and well into the spring term each year of the war. Roth boys and girls gave freely of their spare time, both in the term time and during the holidays,. to work as labour squads. Equipment Plan Cancelled In June 1941 the Head announced to the governors further problems: The County Authority has now cancelled the five year plan and Greenford is having a Books, Stationery and Apparatus allowance on the usual per capita basis. The School should be able to manage for the next twelve months, but difficulties may arise in the following year owing to the necessity that we are under of buying more new text books than an established school would require. ATC, Pygmalion and CEWC Greenford County School became the headquarters of 'Flight' C of the Ealing Squadron of the Air Training Corps under Captain Ford. By Christmas of 1943 the Drama Society was underway and gave two performances of Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the profits from which amounted to f59.10.0 which was put towards the nucleus of the school Dramatic Fund. Twenty-four members of the school and three members of the Staff attended a conference for four days of the Easter holiday, 1943, which was organised by the Association for Education in Citizenship. The experience was very instructive, and. as a result, one of our boys was asked to broadcast in a transatlantic discussion with American boys and girls. Six more attended another such Conference the following Christmas. page 31