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  4. Lindfield School Hyde End House

Lindfield School Hyde End House

A Memory of Brimpton.

Lindfield School, Hyde End House, Brimpton.
I would love to hear from anyone who has memories of Lindfield School, Hyde End House, Brimpton.
I was there from when I was six until I was eight, between 1947 - 1949, and have many recollections of the place - some good: the beautiful grounds, the old kitchen garden, topping & tailing the gooseberries, wonderful summer outings to a local stream, where we swam, paddled, & splashed to our hearts content: some not so good: trying to understand the finer points of long division! And some horrendous: the cane was much in evidence, especially for the boys.
Does anyone remember the headmaster, Mr Hart? There was also a Mr Bellamy and a Miss Dunlop, both teachers, and someone called Steve who brought the milk, in churns, from the farm.
Some of the pupils I recall are: Andrew Danks, Simon Danks, John Larpent, Shirley Green, Kiros, Adrienne Grenier, Avril Evans and Elizabeth Walker?
I loved the Ovaltine tablets sold at Mullins, the village shop - so much nicer than the sweets we were given as prizes on Sports Day - which looked like delicious jellies but turned out to be VERY hot crystallised ginger!
We were marched over the fields to St Peter's church every Sunday and some of us ended up in the most terrible trouble for eating the farmer's strawberries - almost a hanging offence!
Apparently, the schoool transferred to a different location at some point, and became Slindon College, still in existence.
It's all a long time ago but the memories are still very vivid.

Added 14 July 2010

#228956

Comments & Feedback

I have memories of Mr Hart and his colleagues. I went to Lindfield School from age 6 with my sister Bay aged 5 from 1947-1950. I was never myself caned, just beaten a few times with a slipper, but I saw vicious canings, that left the small child who watched these punishments horrified for quite a long time. Lindfield was a vile place and the official bullying, especially of boarders, by some staff was a crime which today would have involved some of them being sent to prison. My mother had just divorced, was working in Fleet Street and desperately needed to earn her living. All her life she regretted sending us to that 'horrible place'. The current child sex abuse scandals resonate for me as being far worse, but I learned where this kind of thing starts in closed institutions and how people, when you told them about it, didn't believe you. I and my sister were 'rescued' from Lindfield (because my stepfather Jack Hargreaves guessed what was going on). I and my sister went on to lovely schools, and have had happy successful lives. I went on to Westminster and Cambridge and although I still think of Lindfield now and then, I'm well recovered from that very unpleasant two years in the clutches of the charming Mr.Hart and his crew.
By simon on Tue Sep 2nd 2014, at 2:01 pm
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I was at Lindfield briefly in 1948, aged 6 at the time. I recall Dudley Hart as being lean and smoking a pipe. Mrs. Hart was portly and put on airs. Daughter Sheila was attractive, and older than me - closer in age to my brother John (Honza), who was 10. The names Bellamy and Dunlop ring a bell, but the pupils names mostly do not. I believe the school moved to the vicinity of Southbourne after we left, and we stayed at the new location a year or two later on summer holidays - riding bikes to Thorney Island and the mudflats south of Emsworth. We were new immigrants, and the whole idea of boarding school was a novelty, so perhaps we were less critical of our circumstances than Simon, whom I remember just as a name. As foreigners, we were readily accepted at Lindfield, and it was our introduction to the English language. I have memories of excelling at sports, in a very limited competitive environment, and a subsequent experience as a boarder at a National Childrens' Home (orphanage) in Nottingham made Lindfield seem like a very congenial spot in comparison.
By Thomas Hasek on Sun Apr 4th 2021, at 3:19 pm
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Hello Thomas, I was very interested to learn there was a new message about Lindfield School on the Francis Frith website. It is nearly 11 years since I first posted a comment on the site, and almost as many years since anything new was added! Our memories differ, and we all experience things differently, depending on our former experiences, but my feelings, overall, are still very negative towards the place. On the surface, it sounded very liberal and forward thinking for its time - co-educational and multicultural - but the bullying was dreadful, mainly of the boys, and much went on that, thankfully, would be outlawed these days. I have tried to gather more information about what happened to the school after 1949, the year in which I left, and was interested to read your comments. It would be good to have a further exchange of recollections at some point. It sounds as if you had unhappy times following your days at Lindfield, and that sounds very sad.
By Anne Tooke on Sun Apr 4th 2021, at 6:49 pm
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