Mr Gordon Brown

MY TIME AT SANDOWN GRAMMAR SCHOOL. I joined the staff of Sandown Grammar School (my first appointment) in September 1962, and left to follow Mr. Phillip Wiseman to Brockenhurst Grammar School in 1967. At Sandown, I taught English under a wonderful Head of Department, Mr. Wallace. His ideas were progressive, but he insisted on the mastery of the basics of English. I remember him saying that he would love to teach all English through Literature. I used his syllabus for all my later thinking when I became a Head of Department at Priestlands Comprehensive School, Lymington. I also taught some first form French. The HOD Mr Fenelly wisely said that for the first month or so pupils should just hear and speak French; if they saw French words too early, they would anglicise the pronunciation. During my time at Sandown I started the Boys' Hockey team, with invaluable help from Derek Stockdale (Head of PE); took charge of the school magazine; helped Mr. Mabey stage manage the school plays, brilliantly directed by Geographer, Mr Hodgson. I played in the school orchestra and sang in the choir, directed by the incomparable Mr. English. I also went with Mr. Bawdon on a school trip to Greece (all the way by train!), where in one hotel we had to patrol the corridors, as the Greek boys were so keen on the Sandown girls! I also remember helping to produce One Act first form plays with Miss Dyer and Miss Rogers. I have so many happy memories of Sandown; the school, the pupils, the staff. What has happened to my good friends Mr. Wild, Miss Woodhouse, and some of the pupils I remember: Trilda Shipley, Pat Guy, Hilary Donn, Nigel Hollis, Chris Billowes, and Martin Hampton etc. etc.? I shed a tear as I left Sandown for the last time, and I am thrilled to now be living in retirement at Keyhaven, and as I write this, being able to look across to my treasured Isle of Wight.

7th July 2006

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