Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Stationers Boys School
Am posting in case others find it of interest - I had always assumed that Stationers park was built on an old bomb site so was really interested to hear this. It closed in 1983 apparently.
I don't know how much of the current park site it took up, and whether it occupied any of the space now taken by Weston Park primary school. But it was clearly a large school - there is a picture from the 1920s on the old boys website which must have been taken towards the top of the current park (where the basketball court is now) - I've attached a copy. Edited - in fact now wonder if this picture was taken even further up, perhaps where the newer housing is on Denton Road.
http://www.oldstationers.co.uk
Some more details here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stationers'_Company's_School
Tags for Forum Posts: Stationers
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Robert Johnson on
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I remember you, Avis. We used to chat 'down the road' outside the small parade of shops on Weston Park.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Woods on
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As an Old Stationer I may be able to help a bit. This was Stationers' Company's Grammar School and had been the posh school of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Papermakers. It started life in Bolt Court, EC1 and moved to Hornsey in 1910. By the time I went there in 1954 it was a county aided grammar school. Sadly it disappeared entirely a few years after becoming a comprehemnsive. It was not in any way associated with Hornsey High School at the bottom of Mayfield Avenue - except of course by the area of scrubland behind St Paul's Church which was what I shall euphemistcally call a meeting place....
In 2004 I and about 60 old geezers attended a reunion in London of the Class of 54 - and every year since that dwindling group has met; I have missed a few but will be there is year for the 60th anniversary of our elevation to 11-plus victims.
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By the way, I am in the picture you show! Third former by then (year 9 in today's terms). Two men in the middle are SC Nunn, head and to his right F Vray dweputy. I could name the rest! Sad, eh?
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Permalink Reply by Geoff Dent on
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I see Stan Read quite clearly amongst the staff, just to the left of centre next to "Jo" Symonds. As I mentioned previously, he was the last head of the school but only for a few months before its closure. Quite a character and I think I'm right in saying that he was just the 7th head after over 120 years of the school's existence. I also recall several of the staff faces as well Richard despite being a relative "new boy" although Stan is probably the only one I remember without an expletive popping into my head!!
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By now they are all deleted along with the expletives.... Head in my day was S C Nunn, "Joshua son on..." Stan Read taught me geography (successfully as it happens) but was a severe man in presence - in fact he was kindly. Nice to hear you mention Jo - he was a genuine communist of course but a terrific chap with a wonderful desire to share knowledge and understanding - he made wet Wednesday sport afternoons great fun! My favourite master bar none.
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Please allow me to set the record straight and bear with me.
I was onsite at the Stationers' School during 1983 and it was being closed and demolished by what the school called the communist republic of Haringey because of their anti-elitist views. There was a petition that had over 100,000 local signatures to keep the school going but the school's fate was all decided by the council beforehand.
We stayed onsite with literally no teachers as they all took up other posts and watched helplessly as they demolished the Great Hall, burnt the oak panelling carrying the names of our old War dead and all the stained glass windows in an act of sacrilege and eventually the school building that stood since 1895 was no more. For the record the school was in excellent condition and unique due to its Gothic architectural theme.
The decision to close the school was simply politically based - being an ex-private School then Grammar School which kept its Livery traditions meant that it was an anathema to and target for Harringay council. If you remember Margaret Thatcher was in power then and terrorising Labour so politically Labour decided to push back as she pushed and we ended up losing our school in the battle.
I remember the school as clearly as you see something now, that is what it meant to us now Old Boys. Even though from 1983 to 1985 we stayed onsite at the Lower building which was the old Hornsey Girls School we kept our spirit as Stationers' and refused to be called The Langham School and never wore the school uniform they tried to impose on us.
Some background information: The School was built before 1895 and opened its doors as the second generation of Stationers' School, after moving from Bolt Court in Fleet Street. It was built before all the houses in the surrounding roads and at the time the decision was taken to build it away from residential homes - if only they knew. The school was built on the hill known as "The Hogs Back" and pictures exist of the area as dairy farms - Mossiwell Hill and Cratchet Hill are now known as Muswell Hill and Crouch End (Spelling may not be correct) The site was never bombed during any of the World Wars and an ex Old Boy even flew low over the school in his Spitfire, annoying the residents!
The Lower Building was the original Hornsey Girls School opened in 1910 and moved in 1971 to their new premises. Stationers' took over the now Lower Building and also built what we called "The huts" in the area known as the "Wilderness"
It is a crying shame that politics closed the school, similar Livery Company's schools closed but moved out of London - Dame Alice Owens etc but being in Harringay at a time when Labour was fighting against Thatcher meant no Grammar School was safe.
The shame is that the building would have stood today and would have made a wonderful centre for the community in terms of the gym facilities, the Great Hall for weddings etc and would have made an amazing hotel in the area! It had character and substance as well as a wonderful history but we all know about the politics in the early 1980's and the school was a victim of that.
However, not to be outdone and after 30 years a new Stationers' School will be on its way again to keep the tradition and heritage alive.
As for the current site, a park is acceptable instead of a place of the original destiny of learning, the flats are shambolic instead of what was there but life goes on and thankfully so does the Stationers' in all its forms. Certainly the Worshipful Company of Stationers' will always be around.
Lastly, how ironic that Hornsey is now relatively expensive and almost an Elitist priced area which the council of the day fought against creating?
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Permalink Reply by Mavic Starfish on
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Great bit of history, thanks for sharing the story. It makes me realise how many schools come and go whilst London regenerates. I grew up in Dollis Hill and the 2 closest secondary schools all shut down by the early 90s - John Kelly, William Gladstone - whilst catering to the local population for the whole of the 70s and 80s. and guess what - they were replaced by flats. now there aren't enough school places to support the current boom of children being born in London and not sure where they will all fit in?
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Very interesting Andreas. Found out recently that North Harringay Primary school (N80NU) was home to Stationers 'lower school / annex' on the top floor of the building, some time during the 1960s. Would be great to know if anyone has knowledge or memories of this, maybe as a pupil. The Junior school, which was on the middle floor expanded into the top floor in the early seventies after Stationers left.
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I left the area in 64 but at that time North Harringay was still a multi age location - infant, primary and secondary on the upper floor. But when Stationers went comprehensive I would guess amalgamation with North Harringay was inevitable (no more secondary schools) so thkis sound kind of logical. They certainly amalgamated with the girls school to become a co-ed comp.
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Had not seen this until now - the North Harringay school was never associated with Stationers so far as I can discover. It became a secondary school but the whole pre-dated Stationers' arrival in Hornsey by a few years.
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Ex-Stationer from 1954-1959 - local council was Haringey but doubt it was anything to do with elitism since the school was by then a comprehensive NOT a grammar. Original Stationers' Company's Schoo left Bolt Court in 1910 and we understood the building was converted for their use but exactly from what I know not. The gymnasium block was built in the 30s (and looked like it!). My brothers attended in the 40s (when Colin Chapman of Lotus fame was there.) By my time it was a county aided grammar school but held many of its old guild traditions. Up to the 60s at least masters still wore gowns (the mortar board had gone).
Hornsey might seem expensive but so is the whole of London. Elitist? Well maybe Crouch End has delusions and Muswell Hill has some multi-million gaffs but surely this is just London going up in the smoke of City millions?
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It is very re-assuring to see other Old Stats writing on this site. My time falls between Richard and Andreas as I was there 62-69 which was very much a period of change. Obviously the 60s was a time of upheaval anyway and it is clear that many of the staff found themselves out of their time. Several would have been born at the turn of the century so would have been Victorian and that generation had the post-war changes to cope with, some better than others. Most of the masters as we called them wore gowns and swept through the dark corridors like huge black birds, quite frightening to the first formers who had just left nice, cosy primary school. Then, as the decade progressed, the gowns gradually diminished in numbers and the ages of the staff diminished as well. It was obvious that we had two camps developing, the old guard and the new - corduroy jackets with leather elbow patches, knitted ties, beards and longer hair! It must have seemed like a revolution. Some coped well, "Sam" Read being a classic example. He looked very much of the 30s/40s with his short, slicked back hair and neatly trimmed tash but he knew things had changed and adapted brilliantly. He was just a little right-wing in his views (!!!) and found himself in charge of a bunch of kids who thought they were Che Guevara but he just took it in his stride. His politics got ribbed and he returned the ribbing, nobody changed their minds but nobody got upset and I think we all learnt that not everyone has the same views. He got the work done though. I gather he retired to Hampshire and only died a few years ago, we certainly will not see his like again. Some of the "young" staff are still around and I'm in contact with a couple of them. Just for Richard and Andreas, I'm guessing that you are in the Old Stationers Assoc, if you are please come and say hello at one of the forthcoming lunches, I'd love to have a chat! If you're not in OSA please feel free to contact me if you want through HoL as I enjoy hearing about the school outside of my years there - often some fascinating and funny stories emerge. All the best.
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