Readers may remember that several articles by Michael Maddox have appeared in the Nostalgia pages over the last two or three months.

Michael spent his formative years in High Wycombe before emigrating to Australia where he still lives.

These articles recounted Michael’s early years at the Daws Hill Camp before his family moved to Bookerhill, where he went to Sands Primary School. Michael then moved on to Mill End Secondary School and he now describes his memories of the six years he spent there.

“My transition from Primary to Secondary schools, although not exactly traumatic, was quite a challenge. One moment I was one of the senior students at the co-educational Sands Primary School, where everything was familiar.

"Then I was a new boy at Mill End Secondary School for Boys, where the older students were much bigger than me. Some of these were even empowered to discipline other boys. They were known as prefects!

"Furthermore there were no girls in my class 1A, so that there were only a handful of familiar faces.

"My initial impression of the school was of endless corridors (there was really only one on each floor) and numerous flights of stairs (again, there was only one). Class 1A assembled in a first-floor room where the walls were adorned with glass cases containing mounted fresh-water fish (pike, roach, tench, perch). Our teacher’s (I think Mr. Dodwell) first task was to allocate the students a House. I was assigned to Shelbourne with the house colour - green. The other houses were Faraday - blue, Priestley - yellow and Addison - red.

"There were many more teachers here than at Sands; those whose names (with nick- names) I can recall were:

Mr “Gaffer” Green - Headmaster. He exercised complete control. He led the religious assembly each morning and often appeared with little bits of tissue paper stuck to his face as a result of shaving mishaps. Nobody would dare laugh.

Mr Bowler - Metalwork. He was another teacher who struck terror, although understandably so for such a potentially dangerous class. To demonstrate the strength of his arm, he would hold a heavy hammer outstretched with a two-shilling piece balanced on the head. We all took very careful note. He’d then invite any student to do the same, saying that they could keep the money if successful. Interestingly, I did hear that someone rose to the challenge a few years later.

Mr. Greaves - Mathematics. A very neatly presented teacher. He went on to replace Mr. Berry at Sands Primary School.

Mr. “Sadge” Saunders - Music. I loved his class and much of his teaching and introduction to classical music has stayed with me all my life. His first task with each new class was to identify those who played a musical instrument (usually brass). Our year was particularly fruitful with players of: a cornet, a trombone and a euphonium, mainly sourced from the Salvation Army.

Mr. “Dauber” Harris - Art (I think this was his name). His class also left a lasting impression, but I was not to take up a brush until my retirement 46 years later. He was a taciturn individual, but there was no doubting his ability to paint. When the time came around to the annual stage production, I would follow his progress with the stage backdrop each day with interest.

Mr. Avery – English language and literature. He was a quiet, old, gentle teacher, trained, I think, in the classics. In my last year he gave me a copy of Marcus Aurelius, with perhaps the hope that I’d try harder. I still have it. He was quite ill and his prolonged coughing in the corridors could be heard over the assembly hymns. Mr. Mansfield Clark - Sport. He also taught mathematics, but it was his encouragement in all sporting disciplines, both during and after school, that made him a favourite with students.

"The school had been laid out with thought and logic. The main entrance had Mr. Green’s office on the left, a clerical office and library straight ahead, and the teachers’ common room on the right. Whilst the teachers behaved professionally in the classrooms, they were really relaxed once they retired to their common room. The few times I had reason to go there, I would find them noisily lounging in arm chairs and the air thick with tobacco smoke.

"The class rooms had the noisy woodwork and metalwork classes located at the ends of the ground floor corridor. Mr. Saunders music class was the room next to the hall and the science class was at the end of the corridor on the first floor (presumably so that “bad egg” smells could waft away un-noticed).

"There was a large assembly hall, a stand-alone gymnasium and a quadrangle between the boys and girls schools, that contained the jumping pits. The girls school was almost a mirror image of the boys, but with some small differences. It was, however, possible to look down the linking corridors to the forbidden fruit on the other side.

"There was also a large macadamed playground at the back of the school and unrestricted access to the recreation ground. The playground was notionally separated into the boys and girls halves, but the dividing line tended to have be somewhat blurred.

"The position of Prefect was coveted. Not only did this entitle you to lord it over the other students, but also gave you to entry into the not-so-cold school on freezing winter days.

"When I arrived at Mill End school in 1953, the curriculum was in transition. Activities such as farming and husbandry were being replaced by more academic subjects, though it still retained a strong focus on the manual skills of woodwork and metalwork. The school had an allotment between the Mill End Road houses and the Castlefield woods. On the site, there was a small building to keep tools and students were taught to grow and manage crops. I can recall the last crop of wheat waiting to be harvested.”

Did you attend Mill End Secondary School, or indeed any school in the Wycombe area?

Would you like to share your memories of those times? If so please email Mike Dewey at deweymiked@aol.com or phone him on 01494 755070.