A Baker's Round in Chandlers Ford, 1917

I was bom on the 24th August 1904, at No. 4 Common Road, Chandlers Ford, but the family moved to No. 9 Mount View, Eastleigh, so I started school at Winchester Road Infants with Miss Glanfield as the Headmistress. When I was old enough, I transferred to Chamberlayne Road School where Mr. Whetmore was the Headmaster. In Class I, Mr. Coles was the young student teacher and he used to play the violin in a little orchestra at the old Variety Theatre in Market Street where in those days there were live shows on the stage in the evenings; members of the orchestra also played later during the silent films. In Class II, my teacher was Mr. Hood, who lived in one of the big houses opposite the Town Hall (No. 62,1 think); he was a dapper little gentleman with spats and a swagger cane. In Class III, we had Mr. Drewitt, who wrote "Eastleigh's Yesterdays” and in Class IV, it was Mr. McGregor, a dour Scotsman. In 1915, we had to move to the Derby Road School because the Chamberlayne Road building was converted into a hospital to cope with the many wounded soldiers coming back from the war. The Government introduced a labour certificate which could be taken in Class IV and if you passed you could leave school. That’s what I did.