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“Goldings”
As an old Goldonian I should like to give my impressions of Goldings now, as compared with the days I spent there as a
boy, and which I now regard as the happiest days of my life. After 30 years absence I was amazed at the changes that
have taken place. The Island where we used to sit under trees and read our books and comics is now the Sick Bay; the
School Block is also a new addition, this was once an orchard, and needless to say very popular when the fruit was ripe.
I also noticed that houses have been built for the staff of the School, and was told that they were built by the boys; where
these houses now stand was a beautiful green field where we used to sun-bathe, and directly behind
(which is now ploughed up) was our football field. Our allotments were to the right of this field and each term prizes
were given for the best kept plot.
I was delighted to see that the boys now have the benefit of a lovely open air swimming pool, which was something we
didn't have in our day.
The glass observatory at the extreme end of the School was our Tuck Shop where we could buy cakes and cups of tea and
sit round little tables and enjoy them. One relic that was missing was the Fretwork Shop.
I can remember the time when the Chapel was built; I also remember when His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
stood at the corner of the terrace and gave a speech and his theme was "Playing the Game".
When I went into the present Dining Room my mind went back to the Saturday mornings when we used to scrub the
table tops white and put them out on the parade ground to dry, then clean all the cutlery and lay it out for inspection.
While this was being inspected we all went back to the hall, took off our boots and stockings, got out the bass brooms, and
as the hall master turned on the fire hose, we would scrub the floor and then get down on our hands and knees and wipe
the floor dry with cloths.
After dinner on a Saturday at 1 o'clock we were paraded and collected our weekly town passes for the afternoon, but we
had to be back at School by 8.30 p.m. sharp!
Our School Chaplain at that time was the Rev. Guildford and he played fairly regularly at centre-half for the School
team, which was a really good side and won more games than they lost. The parades that bored us. most were the boot
inspections and haircutting and these I believe have now been done away with. The room over the archway was the
"Prefects' Den", the Staff Dining Room was No. i classroom, the Staff Kitchenette was the Dispensary and Dental Room.
Sliding-door lockers, where the boys clean laundry was kept, were situated at the end of the long passage leading down
to the main kitchen, and this laundry was collected every Friday night on our way to bed at 7.30 p.m.
On Sunday afternoons we had what we called P.S.A. (pleasant Sunday afternoon) which was a weekly concert party, and
something we all enjoyed very much.
The Headmaster in those days was the Rev. F. C. Macdonald, formerly a chaplain to the forces.
To come up to date with my observations I think the present boys have a much better time than we did. I noticed the lads
with huge dinners followed by a variety of deserts. I understand from the Chef (also an Old Boy) that the boys get
something different every day.
I also formed the opinion that the majority of boys were well satisfied with the treatment they received from the staff and
felt they were fortunate in having such reasonable people to look after them.
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