Henry Thornton School (HTS) was evacuated to Bognor Regis in September 1939. It was a blunder as there was no grammar school in that town. By 1 November 1939 HTS was settled in Chichester High School for Boys (CHSB). Boys-only the two schools may have been, but there were differences. The Head Masters were a contrast. The host Head, Dr …
More memories of a Chichester evacuee by Monty Clarkson Old Thorntonian (1935 -1942)
I believe the following were evacuated with the school: Messrs Evans, John, Jeremy, Gribble, Lambert, Haill, Bacon, Cossins, Collins, Collings, Cooper, Dix, Cundall, Read, Summerton, Wigley and Bramble. Mr Morgan was seriously injured in a car accident near Oxford when driving back from holiday in Wales to rejoin the school for the evacuation. He never came back to teach but …
More Memories of a Chichester Evacuee
I have one very clear memory of my Henry Thornton (HTS) days at Chichester. From other reminiscences I have seen, relations between the two schools were implied to be cordial, but this was not my experience. We were the “Black Beetles” and they were the “Greenfly”, and disputes and insults were common. School lunch breaks etc. were scheduled so that …
More Memories of a Chichester Evacuee – Peter Lawson Old Thorntonian (1936 -1941)
We met on Friday 1st September 1939 at 8.30am and travelled to Balham (S.R) with haversacks and small attaché cases, to arrive in Bognor just after mid-day. In crocodile formation we marched, full of excitement, to the Social Centre/Theatre opposite the Pier Head, where we were “’selected” by “locum parents” and put into small groups for billeting. I was lucky, …
More Memories of a Chichester Evacuee by Ron Hercock Old Thorntonian (1935 -1940)
I joined the school at a small village named Pagham, about six miles from Bognor Regis and a little farther from Chichester. There was no place where we could have any teaching, and so we had none. I was billeted over a mile from the village itself and therefore had little to do with anyone from the school except …
Henry Thornton School in the country (1939-1946)
In eager expectation we watched the stations pass. Bognor! Some had happy memories of the place in peace time, and some did indeed for a while remain there. Others went to villages, others again to bungalow towns. After a few days, contact was regained between the various sections. The weather was lovely, the war far away, the bathing for most …
Memories of Chichester during World War Two – Ron Thurston (1940-1946)
Before I tell you about my early days at Henry Thornton School (HTS) I think I should explain how I came to be there in the first place. When I was 11, my class at junior school (in Stockwell, South West London) were bundled onto a steam train with one of the teachers and sent to the relative safety of …