Reports from the Rowlands Castle Contingent
Rowlands Castle Re-union 2003
On September 1st 1939 the Battersea Central School for Boys was evacuated to Hampshire some of the staff and pupils going to Hawkley the remainder to Rowlands Castle. On Saturday 5th July 2003 a group of past pupils of the school arrived in the village for their third re-union as the Annual Fair was taking place. In addition to the London children who were originally with the school local boys were admitted to maintain numbers when the older evacuees reached the leaving age and returned to their homes.
Those attending the re-union were from either group not only delighted to meet their contemporaries but also to chat to villagers some of who knew the ex-pupils or were aware that their parents and neighbours had taken in the London children to live with them. Others had planned to come but the change of the Fair's date from the second to the first Saturday in July clashed with different commitments they had made earlier.
As on previous occasions, everyone pored over Ted Resull's excellent exhibition where a special board of the Battersea School's material could be viewed together with photographs and details of numerous village events. Taking in details prompted the exchange of memories by the visitors and although now six decades ago, they recalled the constant walking round the village to go to classes in the two Parish Halls, the Fountain Inn, the Railway Hotel (now the Robin Hood), St. John's Church Hall, since demolished to make way for the new building, lunches in the Congregational Church Hall or activities on the 'Rec' nowadays curtained by houses and high hedges. A visit to Charlie Royal's bakery for a warm bun added variety to the wanderings.
The evacuees remembered their host families with affection and recalled others they delivered newspapers to or whose gardens they tended and even owners of the apples they scrumped. After many pleasurable hours, those who came to the village for the re-union made their various ways to their homes in places that included Swindon, Fareham, Midhurst, Southampton, Hayward's Heath, Daventry, Sidmouth and Swanage all aware that they have happy memories of where they spent many of their formative years and that Rowlands Castle is still a welcoming community.
Best wishes and thanks for your interest,
Eric (Jones)
(PS Another re-union is planned for 2004 on Saturday 10th July)
Report of the Re-union at Rowlands Castle
Saturday 13th July 2002
Over sixty years ago, a few days before the outbreak of the Second World War, a young lady arrived in Rowlands Castle with her parents. With them came boys and a few girls who were pupils at the Battersea Central School for Boys, the young lady's father being Mr. Ling the Headmaster of the London school.
On Saturday 13th July this year the young lady, now Mrs Joy Millson, returned to the village to meet with a few of those who, like her and her parents, had been evacuated. Others at the second reunion were those who had lived locally and joined the school and also people now residing in the village or its neighbourhood who had some connections with the Battersea school boys because they or their parents knew ex-pupils.
The bright colours and happy sounds of the Village Fair added to this enjoyable occasion when memories were exchanged and half truths related by those who had travelled from Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Devon, Dorset, London and other places, all returning to the village in which they had spent several formative years.
Watching and listening to those fascinated by Ted Redsull's splendid display of memorabilia it was clear that despite the passing of many years they were happy to be back in Rowlands Castle with recollections not as faded as might be expected.
Rowlands Castle Reunion
14th. July 2001
Sixty years ago they were young children, mostly boys although some girls accompanied their older brothers, but on Saturday 14th. July, while the Village Fayre occupied The Green, the same persons, now pensioners returned to where they had their secondary education. Once they carried satchels and gas masks now it was a camera hanging round the neck. Walking sticks, spectacles, and hearing aids indicated the nuisances of passing years but the same searching eyes looked for the inevitable changes of six decades.
Battersea Central School was evacuated on 1st. September 1939; the girls going to Petersfield, while the boys split, one third to Hawkley, the remainder to Rowlands Castle. The Hawkley group has been gathering annually for several years and the B.C.S. girls can boast of reunions for over half a century. Only a few of the original London children attended this first reunion at Rowlands Castle, the rest being boys who had lived in the vicinity: Petersfield, Horndean, Havant and Finchdean.
Now in mid July 2001 on a bright, sunny day, twenty ex-pupils who had shared classrooms arrived, many wondering if they would be recognised with their receding hairlines and generous waists. Clive Hancock provided a room in the Robin Hood - the Railway Inn of previous times - and as the group, now swollen to about sixty with the addition of interested villagers, spouses and partners gathered, greetings were made, memories shared and embarrassing anecdotes circulated. B.C.S. pupils recalled that in the two rooms above them in the pub, they were taught Mathematics and Art. There had been classrooms elsewhere: one at the Fountain Inn, two in St. John's Hall, a similar number in the Parish Hall and lunches were taken in the hall of the Congregational Chapel, now the Church on The Green. The 'Rec.' was used for games but 'just across the road' and not hidden as it is today.
Ted Redsull's remarkable exhibition conveniently adjacent to the Robin Hood, included photographs reassuring the ex-pupils that the village was as they had remembered it.... a tailor's shop, post office, and Charlie Royals bakery where buns were bought for break times. Also on Ted's display boards were some of the school's memorabilia...dated photographs, faded reports and the nicknames of teachers. Of equal interest were visual and written village records so that locals shared their knowledge with visitors and Paul Marshman was on hand to confirm historical facts.
There are pleas for another BCS reunion next year and to coincide with the Rowlands Castle Association's Village Fayre for it was this event which added to the ex-pupils return visit. On this special day for the village residents, many remembered the evacuees billeted with their parents, relatives, or neighbours. Mrs. Skinner of Castle Road had evacuees living with her and Mr. Ling; the Headmaster of BCS resided next door. Mrs. Millson, Mr. Ling's daughter, has kept in touch with many former pupils and only a family commitment prevented her from attending the reunion.
As one 'old boy' expressed it", quite a sizeable chunk of my life was spent in Rowlands Castle and influenced by the environment and folk there besides the school, all of which I hold in warm regard". Such were the thoughts of the 'Battersea pupils' as they headed homewards to Oxford, Suffolk, Kent, Berkshire, and Northants, Sussex, Devon and other places
More... about Mr. Ling's daughter