The Bridge Article - courtesy of James Gurrey

[Martin Koronka]

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I recently stumbled upon the November 2011 edition of the Bridge while surfing on Internet having had a flash to look for anything about......Hillside School and its last, enduring Headmaster, R.H.R.Whicker. My family lived in Godalming in the mid-1960's and I was a pupil at Hillside School from 1963 to 1966, before heading off to secondary school elsewhere. So I was delighted to see an old photo (post-card) and article by Ambrose Nyazai. I have many happy memories of my time at Hillside, in the last few years of the school's existence. Crownpits House accommodated a number of boarders but we were mostly day-boys - in all we numbered only about fifty, fifty-five at very most. Day-boys came by car, by bike or on foot.  

 Although it was a private, fee-paying school, the place was run like a large family, and must schools of the age (some still surviving today); amenities were slender but we were encouraged to, and made the most of youthful enthusiasm and human-contact. Boys from a wide range of social backgrounds attended - some were the children of local shopkeepers & small-businessmen, farmers too, while others had fathers who commuted daily to work in London. 

 R.H.R. Whicker (first name Rudolph) was a man of extraordinary energy and determination, excellent as headmaster. He continued to be fully active, despite the demands of the job and the advance of old age, in every aspect of the school's day to day life until the school finally closed. His dedication to Hillside was understandable, for it became 'his baby' - his project & life's work when the school came to Godalming from Reigate in 1940*. He cut quite a dignified character with pride in his school, but was always “in touch” with all around him - an honest to goodness educator is how I look back on him now. 

 In the three years I attended the school he was my teacher in English & Latin and History, took care of all sports activities for the 11-13 year olds (football, cricket, hockey, swimming, PE (Physical Education), and athletics. There were “inter-house” competitions in all these sports as well as training for school teams at 1st & 2nd eleven teams & under-11 teams to be organised too. He almost single-handedly also took care of mowing the lawns and playing fields on an intrepid old tractor & trailer-mower then repeating his course with the heavy roller. Sometimes Mr Coates would take this on, but not that often as I remember. 

 “R.H.R” was inexhaustible and most usually found time to talk to his pupils and laugh at a schoolboy joke. Others on the teaching staff such as Mr. Coates (all of 6 foot 4" in height) took care of Geography, Natural History & English with the younger classes, while Mr. Redman taught Maths, elementary Science & Art. Both also took charge of younger age-group games sessions. Temporary teachers came to teach French and R.H.R.'s wife ( Mrs. Whicker, her first name was Miriam, I think) taught English and Scripture to the younger children. The fifty or so boys who attended the school each belonged to one of 4 “houses”, a way of grouping the children and creating a further sense of identity, or 'belonging' - these houses were named after wild birds : Eagles, Falcons, Hawks & Swifts. You don't need to be good at Maths to recognize that when it came to Inter-house competitions, especially in the traditional outdoor sports, each house had just enough members to make a team, albeit with one or two left over in case of injury or sickness ! 

 We wore a uniform of the traditional grey or white shirt with a green tie with horizontal white stripes, grey shorts for the under-11's, trousers for the seniors; a green blazer and green schoolboy cap crowned with a white 5-point star on top. 

 You knew it was soon lunchtime from the smell of cooking which wafted along the corridor of the main house - the food wasn't, shall we say brilliant, but certainly edible and nourishing. In the dining room we sat on smooth oak benches along 3 beautiful grey mature oak refectory tables. The dining-room occupied the eastern part of the ground floor (all the windows to the right of the French windows in the photo). The other windows to the left were those of a classroom. 

 A 50 foot long wooden hut (“the hut”) in creosote black, served as an additional classroom to those in the main house, and also, because of its size, as the main “special events” building - for pupil-organised theatre evenings at the end of Xmas terms (very popular with child playwrights ), lectures by visiting speakers, school reading competitions and the like, not to mention the dreaded public exams (11-plus, Common Entrance), which we faced for eligibility to move on, and away from the youthful haven which was Hillside, into the deeper waters of secondary education.

 On average every year a dozen final year pupils sat the Common Entrance or Scholarship exams, and there were usually two or three scholarships awarded amongst them; failure at CE level was also very rare I think. 

 Recreation time was very important in the school's daily life and we were encouraged to work hard and play hard at all times - and always to conduct ourselves with respect for elders and others. The grounds of Crownpits House were excellent for sports of course - behind the house and adjacent to the hut was a large playing field, a fine mature elm-tree at its further boundary, which was an ideal place for cricket and  football matches - we played games/sports lessons every day for at least one hour. 

 In the summer we had the benefit of access to a privately owned swimming pool in the garden of a large Lutyens-style house up at Munstead, which was another setting for expending our, it seems now boundless energy learning to swim, and races, endurance tests and diving competitions - all the more prizes to be dished out on Prize-giving Day. 

 In front of the house to the west (ie. left) of the tennis court in your old post-card was a beautiful mulberry tree - quite unusual even then I think which was our delight when it came into fruit. The tennis court area became the lawn for PE competitions and school and team photos, of which I cherish my small collection !) and prize-giving’s. 

 Further down to the west of the house was a woodland area through which we passed to the lower sports field which boasted some enormously tall pine trees at the northern end - here we played the usual seasonal sports and in the summer all the athletics events took place here - there was also a small wooden cricket pavilion. 

 Once a year in the woodland over two or three days all our recreation time was committed to the following 'boy-organised activity: a figure of eight dirt track was already well-defined among and between the trees and every push-bike available was requisitioned for the Hillside version of Le Mans - in teams of 4-6 riders, each would take his turn in relay to accomplish as many laps as possible in the three days possible - it was an event of high tension and excitement, a buzz in everybody's mind throughout the three days, as each mid-morning break, after-lunch break and half an hour after school the relays of dare-devil riders stormed round the woodland track, come rain come shine - I don't remember the record number of laps made but it was well into the upper hundreds - the school matron back at the sick-room had her work cut out with minor injuries throughout this tearaway sporting spectacle - but oh boy, didn't we love it ! One year the winning team's prize was a mega-chocolate cake, the next, a giant tin of Quality Street chocolates & toffees - scrumptious was the final word, and the event remained chief topic out of lessons for the whole week following. 

 The tall pine trees at the bottom, or north end of the lower field (The Paddock I suppose), were truly imposing - there were two particularly lofty summits; rather unimaginatively we called them 'the tallest' and “the second tallest” which Mr Coates the Geography teacher had estimated to be 90 feet 85 feet tall respectively. These provided another after-school challenge - those of us foolhardy enough to make it to very near the top branches of both trees (there was no way of getting to the “weather-vane” top without inviting disaster - I speak from experience !), formed a certain Tarzanian elite, and the view of course was just wonderful. Climbing down from the crows-nest perch was, as is usual, trickier than going up, but fortunately we suffered neither terror nor accident. 

 All in all the grounds of Crownpits House must have stretched to about 12 to 15 acres, though I stand to be corrected on that. Funnily enough I revisited the area only a year ago for the first time in 45 years, and much remains as it was when I was just a lad. But when I drove up Busbridge Lane and turned into the Drive, it was a little hard and rather sad, to take in the transformation which has occurred where my old school used to be. Crownpits House was a fine building, and pretty well suited to being home to a small but not insignificant (to us at least) educational establishment . During its school-life the property was a pretty and rather charming little piece of Surrey-style England in the old-sense. But then, times inevitably change. 

 “Whicky”, as we called him amongst ourselves, gave Hillside all he'd got. Our sporting reputation in all activities was common law among the other schools which we regularly met for matches, and I think he'd smile down at me now on hearing me repeat parrot-fashion the dates of all English monarchs from 1066 to 2012, and snippets of Shakespearian speeches which we learned off by heart for prep' (preparation / homework) back in 1965 ! 

 I last bumped into him right under the Pepperpot in Godalming while home on holiday from boarding-school, during my first year, in 1967. Hillside was still going then I believe, but the end was not far away. 

 Looking back at those days, it's hard not to feel a soft spot for our old headmaster - I'm sure others who were there under his “rule” would agree with me. They were by and large, very happy days. I rather feel Busbridge should have some sort of memorial to him - plant a tree (why not, “The Whicky Oak” ?) or a plaque or something simple. His school has been buried with him, and together they seem to have slipped into the sleepy forgetfulness of history, in a busy evolving world. 
 I hope you'll forgive this rather rambling and over-stuffed memory of Hillsid
e School at Crownpits House, but it may be of interest to residents now living at The Paddock or The Close, and also those around, to have an idea of what lies beneath their feet and their homes - the solid foundations of Mr. Whicker's school & the energy of several youthful generations. © James GurreyPabu, 22420 Tregrom, France December 2013    

Note*: I notice from the Internet that while Hillside was partially transferred from Reigate to Godalming in 1940, Reigate's Hillside School continued until 1959. Another school in the Godalming area also called Hillside had already been in existence, from 1896 to 1934. This was apparently situated roughly between Farncombe Lane and Charterhouse Road. (Sir John Gielgud the actor, and Aldous Huxley the writer were pupils there). Please note that there was never any connection between that Farncombe district school, and the Hillside School, Busbridge which is described above. JG 

[Rogernoble]

James refers to the three lovely tables in the dining room. These were made by Robert Thompson and had his trademark mouse carved on them. When Hillside closed the tables went to Aldro Prep school where they are still in use today. They were of such marvellous construction that they will no doubt still be giving good service for many many years.