Figure This is the 1949-50 Balham Grammar School 1st XI Football Team. Unfortunately, I only recognize myself (top left) and one other player -- Havard Rose (bottom left). I think the teacher’s name on the left may have been Mr. Humphrey. His blazer is a different design from the student's blazer but it does have the school crest on it.

John tells us about his school experiences, "My memories of my time a Balham Grammar are sparse. There was a Head master (Mr. Thompson who always wore his academic gown) and three or four class teachers who taught multiple subjects. All classes were taught in the same classroom. There were only ten or so kids in my grade, but there was more than one grade in the same classroom. It was not a religious school but morning assembly included singing hymns. Because I could not hold a tune, I was assigned the role of 'late monitor' and sat outside the assembly room taking down the names of boys who were tardy. The only school friend I remember is Havard Rose (we both lived on Tremadoc Road, Clapham). There was no corporal punishment but, if we misbehaved, we had to stay late and write on the board. I do not recall bringing any school work home with me. Until recent years I had copies of my 1949-50 term results but they got lost. I recall that I was good at Math and Geography but not very good in History, English, Science, Algebra, Latin/Greek and Scripture. All the history teacher ever did was to tell us to turn to a given page in a book and read a certain number of pages – very little teacher-student interaction. [HBC is appalled at this. We had the idea that grammar schools had academic standards. I can't imagine actually paying for this standard of teaching.] Wednesday afternoon was 'Sports Time' – cricket, football, cross country running; most likely on Tooting Bec Common. I can remember getting the 'stitch' during one cross country run and the teacher told me to 'run through it'- I did and it hurt. I cannot remember playing in any specific matches; however, I was on the 1st XI Football Team that won a cup which you can see here (figure 1). So, I must have been fairly active in school sports. There is also a photo of me in my cricket outfit. I left Balham Grammar in December 1950 when I was 15 years and 2 months old."

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Created: 12:44 PM 9/25/2024
Last updated: 12:44 PM 9/25/2024