Cookery class at Gospel Oak School in 1953

• I READ with great interest the Review article about Gospel Oak memories, (School report, January 16).

I too have many happy memories of Gospel Oak School. My father (John Adams, known as Jack) was caretaker at the school.

We moved in 1951 while it was still being built; until his retirement in 1973/4 we lived in the school house. My father always took great pride in making sure his team of cleaners kept the school in tip top condition.

I attended school there from 1953 my fifth birthday. I remember clearly Mr Bridgeman teaching the seven-year-olds. And Mrs Strongman; also Mr Wakeman, who taught the nine and 10-year-olds.

He was a great teacher, imaginative, and a lover of all things sport, and always full of stories about his experiences in the RAF during the war.

Also Mrs Bartholemew, headteacher, followed by Ron Lendon who was a great headmaster. There were many other good teachers, too many to list here.

My last years there were with Percival Williams, who was a rotund man and always stern, and was constantly sucking peppermints.

He was a good piano player leading the school at assembly hymns and choir for Christmas celebrations sometimes at the town hall.

I remember Mrs Dell a school helper during playtimes and at lunch. She helped out administering the daily spoonful of malt syrup and a cod liver oil capsules and bottles of milk.

A lovely elderly lady in those times, Mrs Walker the kitchen supervisor, ensured that all the children had a nourishing meal every day.

During the early days the London County Council commissioned a very large and beautiful mural to be painted in the foyer it was at least 5metres x 3metres, painted in oil and depicting a religious scene of the Gospel Oak by the River Fleet. It must be covered up or removed.

I have so many more Gospel Oak stories to tell.

ROBERT ADAMS
Address supplied