An introduction as to how and why Alan Parkin, who lived in Borrowash, Derbyshire, completed his high school education at Nottingham High School.

The passing of an entrance examination early in 1937 resulted in my being enrolled to attend Derby School from September of that year.

The outbreak of the Second World War (on 3rd September 1939) was led to the decision to evacuate Derby School to Eastwood Grange, Ashover in the rural Peak District of Derbyshire. The consensus of the Education Committee and School Governors was that Derby could be a prime target for German bombers as it was the centre for Rolls-Royce, Aitons heavy engineering, the railways, and many other key industries.

Numerous parents, including mine, decided to seek alternative schooling so I left Derby School after little over a year, various schools were explored as possibilities.

In the interim, as our family lived in Borrowash, Derbyshire, I studied at Ockbrook Moravian where the horrors of the early war years became apparent. Now in the senior girls’ school along with several other 11/12-year-old boys in similar circumstances we had to carry our gas mask boxes at all times and practice air raid drills to the school cellars and reinforced surface shelters which had been built.

On one occasion I recall being down at the school sports field near Church farm playing a game of hockey, when, without warning, the anti-aircraft guns at the site near Dale Road, Spondon began firing with incredible noise and rapidity. Miss Boyd, the PE mistress, ordered us into the wooden pavilion, from the door of which we watched the anti-aircraft shells bursting high in the sky to the north-east. We heard later that a lone German bomber had been spotted, having penetrated far inland without the sirens having sounded, or our RAF fighters having attempted to intercept.

Nottingham High School
I recall my father being quite excited at having Nottingham High School recommended by one of his staff, a Mr Morris, who was an Old Nottinghamian. That recommendation plus a copy of the prospectus convinced mother and father that although considerable traveling would be involved it was the school which offered the best in education.

My two-year enforced second period at Ockbrook Moravian School concluded in July 1941, after I had sat and passed the entrance examination for Nottingham High School.

Leaving home on the 8.20am Trent bus from the Cole Lane stop I commenced at Nottingham High School in September 1941, in Form 4B whose master was Mr JL Kennarch.

The school main entrance on Arboretum Street was very imposing. Immediately through the ornamental iron gates and railings was the war memorial, beyond which the weathered stone façade of the oldest part of the school rose like some stately home with tower and castellated skyline. Two semi-circular flights of stairs led up to the first-floor entrance hallway of the headmaster’s study and secretarial offices.

A major change for many new boys was the schools programme which included Saturday morning lessons. This extra half-day was compensated by having Thursday afternoon ‘off’, which was half-day closing in Nottingham.

Daily assembly in the school hall at 9.15am, the Headmaster, Mr Reynolds and the Head boy or duty prefect sat on the stage and other members of the staff along each side of the hall next to their respective forms. On the entry of the headmaster everyone stood and remained standing until told to sit. A hymn accompanied by the organ, a Bible passage read by a prefect, prayers led by the headmaster and any special notices concluded the gathering. As at Ockbrook we had our air-raid drills to the underground shelters. During my first year it was decided that certain forms went direct to the school’s sports ground at Valley Road for both morning lessons and afternoon sport. This necessitated staying on the Trent bus to the stop on Wollaton Street near the Theatre Royal and then walking to Trinity Square where the City Transport buses for Valley Road and Hucknall Road had their terminus. School commenced at 9.30am and with a lunch provided, games of rugby or cricket in the afternoon, the day finished about 4pm. I eventually reached home about 5.20pm.

The dispersal of several forms to Valley Road was aimed at reducing the risk of casualties in a day-time air raid. Many of the buses, especially those evacuated from London Transport, had their windows strengthened with safety netting stuck to the inside of the glass. A small diamond-shaped clearing at eye level was the only means of seeing out. Riding on the red London Transport double deck buses was quite an experience as the stairway to the upper deck was curved and open to all the elements from the rear platform. The days of heaters to upper and lower saloons had not arrived!

It was not too long before my efforts at rugby were being tested. The back row of the scrum seemed to be the favoured position and on one occasion I recall being selected to play for a school team at Newark against Magnus Grammar School. Travelling on a skills bus for a Saturday afternoon game I found myself pitted against my cousin Arthur in the Magnus pack. Hopes of maturing in that sport were put on hold as the doctor decided I was outgrowing my strength on the way to being a 6-footer.

Summer sporting activities were less demanding and I enjoyed cricket as a batsman and gained my Second XI Colours. Fielding at Valley Road allowed the occasional distraction of trains passing along the LNER line from Nottingham Victoria to Sheffield. Some twenty years later in the Beeching era this line was closed, the track lifted and tunnels filled with colliery waste.

An early challenge at the High School was coping with new levels of homework and finding one’s way around a school of 850 pupils, getting to different rooms for different subjects. Mr Bridge, the geography teacher, was also the form master of 4A which was next door to my 4B room. That was straight forward enough but at other times we had to go to Stan Allder’s room for French, Mr Betts for art and to Sgt Major Fell in the gymnasium for PE. The bark of an ex-Army NCD reverberated through that part of the school; there was no ‘mucking about’ in that area!

Mid-morning break time saw a rush for a queue in the playground outside the tuck shop. This was the point from which the third pint bottle of free milk was distributed to every boy. Most days it was possible to purchase a penny hot break cob to consume with the milk. How that was possible in a time of food rationing I never found out.

The headmaster made it very clear from the beginning of term what the school’s expectations were in the matter of courtesy and good manners. The black school caps had to be worn to and from any school function and raised on meeting a lady or member of staff. They had to be removed on entering a building and woe-betide any boy who encountered the headmaster on the street if he didn’t raise his cap. Our Headmaster raised his trilby as an acknowledgement.

Wartime concessions did allow for some relaxation in clothing and footwear but there remained the expectation of clean black shoes and a generally tidy appearance. The prefects and staff had their ways of dealing with any who failed to toe the line. Loyalty to our Houses was a feature from the start.

Cooper’s (blue), Meller’s (white – my house), Maple’s (green) and White’s (red) were all reminders of former Old boys or historic connections of the school.

As an aid to the war effect 4th form boys were rostered by forms to go in a Skill’s charter bus to farms in the Wysall, Wymeswold and Widmerpool area of South Nottinghamshire for potato picking. This made a welcome diversion from lessons in the autumn of 1941 and summer of 1942.

Founders Day and Prize giving were two events held annually (I understand) until the outbreak of war. The former was celebrated by a service of thanksgiving held in St Mary’s Parish Church in the City, usually in a morning with the rest of the day off, except for the Governors, some staff and representative prefects, all of whom sat down to a Civic luncheon with the Lord Mayor and City Councillors in the Guildhall. The latter (prize-giving) was an elaborate occasion for pupils and parents held in the Albert Hall. My recollection is that both these events were not held during the war years, but that they resumed in 1946. Prizegiving traditionally concluded with the Head Boy calling for ‘Three cheers for the Headmaster and Staff’, and the Albert Hall resounding to a full-bodied rendition of the School Song ‘Forty years on’ and the National Anthem.

School Certificate year 1943/44 in U5B (Upper 5B) saw the pressure mounting. Extra homework became the norm with at least two hours devoted to it after tea each day, plus what seemed like an interminable amount at weekends. Analysing Shakespeare’s ‘As you like it’, writing essays in French and describing chemical and physical experiments were hard grind, whereas learning about regions of the world in geography and drawing lifted my spirit.

A highlight of the year was being appointed a School Prefect. An initiation ceremony at a weekly prefects meeting consisted of receiving the stroke of the cane administered by another prefect of the same height. The rationale for this was that all prefects had themselves received what they could administer to miscreants and know how it felt. Ouch!

The prefect’s room was situated in the tower above the main entrance and was accessed via a narrow, almost spiral staircase. Above the pointed doorway was carved the words ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here.’

The weekly Prefect’s Disciplinary Meeting was presided over by the Head Prefect with two other prefects present. Boys came into the room one by one and records of meetings and punishments had to be kept in a large leather-bound book. Mostly it was ‘lines’, but for more serious offences a stroke of the cane was administered. Only in the most serious cases were boys referred to the headmaster.
The prefects black cap had a black and white silk tassel attached which initially was something of an embarrassment in public, but which with the passage of time one came to accept as part of the privilege of office.

Mike Hill, the Head Prefect, left at Easter 1947 and I was appointed in his place for the final term. This was a great privilege which brought me closer contact with the Headmaster, CL Reynolds. It was my job to prepare and make the leaving presentation speech to JL Kennard, my first NHS form teacher back in 1941. So ended my time at one of England’s leading public schools.

A fitting reminder was the purchase of an Old Nottinghamian blazer in its black, white, and purple stripes.