Classmates celebrate York House School centenary in Croxley Green

Ex pupils gathered at York House School, in Sarratt Road, to catch-up with old friends and share often humorous memories of their schooldays.

Memories flowed of eccentric teachers, flying black-board rubbers, mischievous deeds and jolly times as more than 150 old boys came face to face.

Reverend Stephen Lloyd, who attended the school between 1954 and 1960, had travelled from Ipswich to attend. Speaking as he examined an old class photo, he said: “I must have met half-a-dozen old classmates. It’s been 50 years since we last met but we all remember the school as a very happy place.

“It was a very nice, friendly school with an ethos about enjoying education and enjoying learning. It was an approach that set us up very well for later life.”

The school, founded in September 1910 in Hampstead, moved to Cedars Avenue, Rickmansworth, in 1938, before relocating to Mill End in 1943. It moved to its current location at Redheath House in 1966, when the property was purchased from Lord Poole for £45,000.

Roger Southee, who left the school in 1959, was one of many former pupils with fond memories of former headmaster Arnold White, a strict but much-admired disciplinarian.

He said: “All my views on education were formed from him and this school; about discipline and respect for your teachers. He was firm but he was very fair. If you did something wrong you’d feel like you had let him down personally. Above all he taught us manners.”

Former pupil Peter Waters, secretary of the Old Yorkists’ association, added: “The school has been a jewel in the crown of the Rickmansworth district for 100 years. I am sure it will do just as well in the future.”

A special centenary presentation was also made to Mrs Mary King-Hamilton, the daughter of one of the school’s first and most successful pupils: Old Bailey Judge Alan King-Hamilton, who started at the school in 1911 and visited again shortly before his death this year at the age of 105.