I was one of the first students to attend Downer when it was housed at Blackwell Sec. Mod. Left school in 1952, and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1953. If any of you know where I can get class lists/pictures from that time, or if you know any of the "old" students, please let me know. It's interesting to note that the 50th anniversary date for that era is 2002. I would think it should be 2001 - isn't that when it all began?

The last reunion organised by the school was in 1992 - for the 40th anniversary of the school opening on the Shaldon Rd site. As yet we don't know of any firm plans for 2002 - but the current head of Cannons High intends organising something then.

Where was Blackwell Sec. Mod. school situated please? Did Downer have a full compliment of pupils in all years 11 to 16 when it started/moved in 1955?

Blackwell Sec. Mod. (now Hatch End High School) was (still is) on Headstone Lane, Hatch End. They have a web site - www.hatchend.harrow.sch.uk/ with a 50th anniversary section which has some Downer info in it. A photo of the 1952 (?) soccer team is there which contains one of the Downer student - Jim Roome. He was in my class. Not sure if there was a full complement in 1955 - I left in 1952 to emigrate to Canada. When I first attended Downer it was brand spanking new, and our class was the top.

From Tony Salisbury (AKA Sally)

I joined in Autumn 51 from Weldon Park, with me were, Gordon White, Anita Callaby & Joyce Holmes, two other ex-Weldon Park pupils joined the previous year Gordon's sister and Trevor Eddleston.  There were 3 Years, Year I (the new intake), Year II (the previous year's intake) and one other year.  The 1951-52 edition of the school magazine Compotus had articles by Pearl Morgan, Frances Mallet and Esme Hicks of Year IV, and others by various pupils from Years I & II. Whatever happened to Year III?  Apart from the buildings we shared with Blackwell we also shared their school colours (Brown & yellow) and uniforms (identical apart from the school names on the badges), their headmaster Mr Olphin and a few other teachers. and the names of their houses Oxhey, Priory, Dyke & Weald.

Downer became a complete school in '55, quoting from 56 issue of Compotus 'This year for the first time, Downer may be said to have a full complement of forms, even if the Upper Sixth does only consist of two people' one of those I think was Barry Steer, who was the other?

Those three names brought back memories - I was in their class, and they were friends of mine. I think the following were in my class also - a Pamela somebody-or-other, Beryl Jacobs, Alfie Davis, Mickey Goodall. Pearl and Francis were on my netball team. Any chance you can put me in touch with any of them? Or if you can get your hands on a class list, or e-mail me a copy of Compotus, I would really appreciate it.

I have reproduced below, an article written by Mr D Woosley in the 1970 Compotus magazine. A footnote on the contents page says that he will be retiring "this term". It also notes that two other long serving teachers are retiring: Mr E L Dean, head of modern languages, and Mr F G Williams, head of chemistry.

"Downer Grammar School started in 1952; I don't say opened for that happened some four years later and looking back over the last eighteen years it is the first four that I would prefer to forget, and yet these years are the most vivid.

We assembled on the first morning, 19 staff and 400 pupils, in the main Classroom Block. To get there we had to climb over mountains of rubble and builders' litter and once we were inside, there we had to stay, because this was the only part of the building that was finished. The Hall, Gym, Science Block and Art Block had not even been started and no playground space was available at all. Lunches were brought in containers and the present Library was used as a Dining Hall and as an Assembly Room.

The only warmth in the building came from paraffin heaters in each room. We worked as best we could to the accompaniment of concrete mixers, circular saws ripping through half-inch thick asbestos and heavy lorries delivering the ever mounting supply of builders' materials. We had a sense of elation as each new building was handed over.

Finally in 1955 the school was officially opened by The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Stepney, Joost de Blank, M.A. Our peace was very very short-lived as it was found that somehow eight classrooms had been omitted and these were then added to the existing classroom block to be followed by the building of the Physics Block and the Lecture Theatre. Staff and pupils were very hard pressed and our first examination results were understandably mediocre but these rapidly improved in quality and now we are well above the national average. Shields in the Entrance Hall indicate the Universities from which pupils have graduated and the Academic Honours Board indicates the great variety of subjects that have been read.

We have been fortunate in the quality and the dedication of the staff in these formative years; there has always been a most friendly atmosphere in the Common Room and this I feel has permeated downwards through the school.

On the games side we have held our own with schools much larger than ourselves and we have established a good tradition in Music and Drama. I have always been impressed by the way in which the senior pupils and especially the Sixth Form have accepted responsibility and have become stable and complete individuals with minds of their own. They have shown discerning judgement and are not merely 'yes men'. My Visitors' Book indicated how regularly former pupils return for a chat or to talk over problems and this to me is probably the most rewarding part of my job.

The school is now a thriving entity; opportunities are there for the taking. There is scope for individuals to make great contributions to the communal life and to receive much from it, but how much benefit is derived from it depends upon you.

I am looking back nostalgically over eighteen years; I see some failures, I see many successes. You should be looking forward to the rest of your stay here, confident that you can achieve even greater things, so that when the time comes for you to leave you may feel that you have enjoyed this phase of your life, that you have gained a great deal in every way from it and that you have in some way, however small, enhanced the good name of the school."

Coral:

I was one of those first Downer students... in the Blackwell School.. I well remember the first day .. in my new brown Blackwell uniform and frantically trying to locate anyone I knew from Primary School.

For all the time I have been checking the Downer site I have yet to come up with anyone I knew.

I know, Chris. I do the same, and the only names I recognize are the ones that were mentioned by Sally in an article in Compotus (which I never even heard of!). It's very difficult - from Canada - to try to find anyone from our era with whom to keep/get in touch. I think I asked Sally to email me a copy of that Compotus, but no luck. Oh well. I'm hoping to go back to England in a couple of years, and I may try to look people up then, although I figure if I can't find them on the 'net, it will be next to impossible to find them in person! It will be the first time since I left in 1953. I can't think why I never knew you, either. You must have been younger, eh? I was 13+ when I went to Downer.

Coral,

I'm from '55-'62 and I'm in Sydney. I still have the 'Compotus' books. What year was it you wanted? You can email me at headrj@bigpond.com