This week we continue with the reminiscences of Mike Maddox, now living in Australia, who we last met during his time at Sands Primary School, when the headmaster was the incomparable Mr Berry. Mr Maddox writes:

“By the time I’d reached my final year at the school I’d found new activities and interests outside the education system. I’ve described a few below to give some idea of the environment in which we lived.

Sunday School

My brother and I were already attending Sunday School in keeping with our Mother’s beliefs and no doubt to give her some respite as she recovered for another week’s work at Parker-Knoll.

The school was held in the same wooden hut as the Sands Primary School lunches, at the intersection of New and Lane End Roads. It was conducted by a family; the parents preached, and a daughter played a peddle organ that they brought with them each week.

I later understood that they were Plymouth Bretheren, although I’m not certain. One outcome of my attendance was that, for a number of years, I won the Religious Instruction prize at Mill End School.

Sometimes, when we returned home after Sunday School and the weather suitable, our mother would take us for a walk along the top of a nearby meadow, often as far as the Live and Let Live public house and Furnie Fields.

She found the walk rejuvenating. The field, where we walked and cattle grazed, is now home to Arundel Road. This practice continued until we moved to a larger council flat at 201 Rutland Avenue, Castlefield, where the countryside was no longer close by.

One day around 1955, I dodged Sunday School and instead went for a long walk through the beech woods to Toweridge. It was wintertime and I found a small ash tree seedling, which I re-planted at the bottom of the garden at our new home. It’s since grown into a large, spreading tree, now visible on Google Earth; a testament to my truancy.

Paper Rounds

My brother Trevor and I were now old enough to take on paper rounds. The newsagent for my morning round had a small shop midway along at the highest point of Chapel Lane.

It was little more than a converted ground floor room in one of the houses. I would start very early at home, cycling down the hill from Booker Hill to Sands.

This was a beautiful time of the day in summer, but not so much in the bleak darkness of winter, when the light would only be just emerging as I finished my round.

I began my round at Park Farm, then to the Foundry in Chapel Lane, down Gilletts Lane and back, up to West Wycombe Road, then all the way down the A40, almost to the Pedestal at West Wycombe.

My canvas satchel was large enough to carry the complete round except for Fridays, when the Bucks Free Press came out. The round then had to be split in two with the newsagent leaving the second part at a pre-arranged spot for me to squeeze into my bag. For this I was paid ten shillings a week.

The newsagent for my afternoon round had a shop in Mentmore Road on the Booker Hill estate. Although a smaller round with fewer papers to deliver, I had to cycle down into the town to pick them up from various printers and so was paid fifteen shillings a week.

From recollection, the papers were the; Evening News, Evening Standard, and Evening Star; these were popular with punters as they held the day’s race results. I would often meet an anxious householder waiting at his door.

One printer was located in a cul-de-sac close to a car dealership (Ford, I think) in Crendon Street, not far from the railway station. The other printer was in a similar cul-de-sac just around the corner on the southern side of Easton Street. 

There I would wait while the printer made up the telephoned results on his composing stick before printing them on a blank section on the back page of the papers. 

One printer looked after two of the papers whilst the other looked after the remaining one, though I can’t recall who was responsible for which. I then had to cycle back to Booker Hill and deliver the papers.

The Boy Scouts

In 1953 we joined the 15th Sands Scouts. The weekly meetings were held, I think, on Friday evenings, in the second hall at the junction of New and Lane End Roads. This hall had a stage and small store rooms, which made it ideally suitable.

The scoutmaster was Mr Leech, who was the manager of the car dealership in Crendon Street. We enjoyed five years of camping, parades, sports days and competitions. 

We learned skills, leadership and made friendships. Scouting put otherwise inaccessible activities within reach and I shall always be grateful. It was the practice to collect as many proficiency badges as possible. 

I even achieved the First Aid badge, which was the only one that gave you a badge for both sleeves. Fortunately, my First Aid training was never put to the test!

I can recall my First-Class hike with less than fondness. It started on a Saturday morning from Handy Cross, from where I was directed to strike west and not return until late the following day.

I camped somewhere near Fingest; it rained the whole time.
The annual scout fund raiser was “Bob-a-Job”, where we were encouraged to go out and perform small jobs in return for payment. 

It wouldn’t take long to exhaust our friends and relations. Occasionally, a house-holder would set a substantial challenge for young hands, but most were very supportive and even provided soft drinks and biscuits. 

One year, in response to complaints, the Scouting movement issued stickers showing a “tick”, that the house-holder could display by the front door to avoid repeated disturbance. It was surprising how many homes had a “tick” after a week, which gave some indication of the popularity of Scouting.”

To be continued, when Mike will describe his memories of Mill End School.

We welcome other readers to contact us with their childhood memories, email Mike Dewey at deweymiked@aol.com or telephone him on 01494 755070.