Schools
My first school was Mrs Lindeman’s Preparatory school in Stondon Park, London. It was in the last year of the war that I attended, I still remember the procedure when we heard the sirens going off, rather like our schools now do the “drop, cover & hold” routine but with more warning. Mrs Lindeman’s school was about even numbers of boys and girls. There are two aspects of this school are etched in my mind, the first during a play time some of us boys were playing a game called “Bulls”, where we took turns in lowering our head and charging at one of our friends. When it was my turn to charge, my opponent stepped aside at the last moment and I collided with a wooden chair. A deluge of blood followed and 5 year old me took off for home about 200 yards away. I somehow negotiated the school doors and sprinted homeward followed by 2 teachers and many small children! I reached our front door just as the teacher caught up with me and my mother opened the front door to see her blood covered offspring.
The other thing at this school was even more frightening! There was a girl whose name escapes me, who organised a group of girls called the “Kissy Kissy Gang”. They would pick on an unfortunate boy , pursue him until they caught him then all the girls would kiss him! It was awful! Me 4th from left , Kissy girl 7th from left.
When I was 7 my father was posted to Bermuda and mother and I followed a few months later. At HMS Malabar, the Royal Navy shore base there was a school for officers children and included some semi literate sailors. The whole school of about 20 was tutored by a commander who by chance, lived near the house that my father had rented for us . A small bus picked us up every morning, as cars were very restricted on the island in those days. We waited in a small shelter , about 5 children and the commander and sometimes there would be a tropical shower during which the commander would hold a round empty cigarette tin outside to collect some water which would be topped up from the hip flask he carried. He preferred water in his gin! After a week or two my mother decided to home school me and I became good at English, French, Geography and history but absolute rubbish at maths and science!
After many short durations at schools back in England, including more than a year at Colchester Boys High School as a boarder. The headmaster was a nephew of H.G.Wells (of ‘War of the Worlds’ fame) and the Physical Education teacher was a 75 year old ex army captain. Captain Taylor could do the most extraordinary things on the parallel bars and gave a display at one of the assemblies when parents attended and were astonished.
I arrived in Auckland just before Christmas in 1952, in time to start my secondary schooling at Takapuna Grammar School in the new year. My mother and father had aquired a house to rent in Browns Bay, and I travelled on a school bus everyday , about a half hour trip. My Pommy accent was a source of amusement to many but mostly in a good natured way but one 5th former, about 2 years older than I, took it upon himself to persecute me verbally and frequently. At one point he was sitting behind me in the bus and took to pulling my hair. I put up with this for some time but eventually he got rougher and it was starting to hurt so I reached up over my head and grasped his wrist tightly with both my hands and turned to face him. I had no intention to harm him but this dislocated his elbow! He burst into tears and most of the bus laughed at him. Fortunately we were almost at school at this point so he was quickly rushed to the local hospital for treatment. Fortunately there were no disciplinary repercussions and it was regarded as an accident and my school nickname became “Basher Bennett”.
Takapuna Grammar had a very good method of controlling bullying. Senior boys (and girls) particularly those who had a strong sporting connection, were asked to discourage any form of bullying and to look upon it as a duty to look after the afflicted. As I rose through the forms and became heavily involved in football, cricket and athletics, I found myself one of those senior pupils and I was proud to see that the efforts of my contemporaries under the guidance of some excellent teachers had a marked effect and bullying was very rare.
It was at Takapuna Grammar that I first became involved in acting in plays. My English teacher pushed me, somewhat reluctantly, into the role of Professor Higgins in ‘Pygmalion’. Once involved though, I really enjoyed it and went on the next year to be Crichton in “The Admirable Crichton” .
I look back with fondness on the 14 schools I attended, some briefly, some almost forgotten, but I was lucky in that I enjoyed all my school life.
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