Several readers have responded to my request for reminiscences of their school-days in Wycombe, here are those of Elaine Tranter, nee Robertson.

Elaine writes:

These are my memories of primary schools in the early 1960s. 

I went to three different schools in Wycombe. The first was Gordon Rd Infant School. It was next to Butlers Furnishers and is now Bowerdean Nursery. 

I don’t know when the school opened but it seemed old when I was there. The headmistress was Mrs Goss.
My abiding memory is of the school dinners. 

They were cooked off-site, I believe at a central kitchen in Castlefield. They were served in the reception area of the school. 

We had to queue up and carry them to the classroom to eat. 

The only meal I remember was mashed potato, beetroot and spam. I hated it so much I used to “drop” it under the table.
On wet-days we would wear wellington boots to school. 

We pegged them together in the classroom after changing into black plimsolls which were hung in our shoe bags on our coat hooks. 

We had our own coat hook denoted by a picture. Mine was a bed.

As we sat at tables rather than desks in the classroom, each of us would hang a home-made book bag on the back of our chair.

I then moved to Spring Gardens County Primary School where Mr Mills was the headmaster. 

The school was built in 1909. If I remember rightly girls and boys had separate playgrounds, with each playground housing outside toilets. 

Inside the school there was a large hall with many of the classrooms opening directly onto it. 

For a while after the school closed it was used as an arts centre but it was eventually demolished around 2003 and houses built in its place.

After a year and a week there I went to the newly opened Guinions County Primary School where Mr Gale was headmaster. 

The school opened in September 1964 and was completed in January 1965. 

The official opening was March 23, 1966. I gave the vote of thanks and my friend presented flowers to Mrs W.R.Moss JP, the Chairman of the Managers of the Wycombe-Grouped Schools.

Every Thursday was Workshop Morning and we were allowed to do pretty much as we pleased. 

If I remember correctly, usually we stayed in the classroom and played board games, or did craft-work, whatever took our fancy. 

My sister who joined the infant section in 1965 remembers wandering out of her class and coming to mine with no one being bothered.

This was the school where we took the 11+ examination. 
At that time you had two attempts at it. 

The first time I did it there was a preliminary test and if you passed it you took the full examination paper. 

When it was time to take the exam the school was closed for the day and only the few of us who had passed the preliminary went in. 

I remember doing maths and English papers during the day. However the lunch was the best bit because there were so few of us. 

It was more like a home-cooked meal than the usual mass-produced one and most importantly, no lumps in the custard!

The following year the 11+ exam changed to three verbal reasoning tests at monthly intervals. 

No warning was given, we just turned up and were told we were doing it that day. 

I did not pass and went to Hatters Lane Secondary School for Girls, aka Prison on the Hill.”

Elaine will describe her memories of Hatters Lane Secondary School in a future article.

If you would like to share your memories of your school days in the Wycombe area, please contact Mike Dewey on 01494 755070 or email him at deweymiked@aol.com.