Huntingdon County Junior School Class of '78

I've named this post 'class of 78' because 1978 was my last full year at Huntingdon County Junior School (England). It's now approaching 50 years since I left so decided now was a good time to share some memories. I'll be updating this from time to time if I find something new of interest or a memory.

I attended HCJS from 1973 to 1978 having previously been in the infants school next door. Our family moved away from the area at the beginning of 1979 but I still retain many fond memories of my time there. The Headmaster at that time was Mr Jackson and Deputy Headmaster was Mr Hall. 

Remarkably, I've kept a piece of paper which lists all my classmates from that time which is 1978 or before. I've transcribed all the names here as well as a scan of the original document. It seems were were Class 3 and our teacher was a Miss M.M. Watts. I don't think all the names were from Miss Watts class though as I'm not sure we had so many children in each class! 

Miss Watts was a traditional firm but fair teacher. I can remember on one occassion she brought fresh plums into the classroom for us all. I believe she was well respected and taught us very well. 

If the name as a 'L' next to it then there's a scan of a letter I received from them in 1979.

There was quite allot happening at the end of the 1970's. We had the big drought of '76, the Queens Jubilee of '77, Star Wars happened and also tragedy with the crash of an RAF Canberra plane into houses on the Oxmoor Estate, Huntingdon. I've written a seperate post about the latter. 

1. Alison Thorpe
2. Angela Lowery
3. Amanda Walters L
4. Andrew Hensen L
5. Brian Bowkis L
6. Brian Kitchen L
7. Beth Pearce
8. Beverly Frost
9. Clare Morton L
10. Derek Ingram L
11. Diane McDonald L
12. Diane Murray L
13. Ian Timms L
14. James Gurney
15. Jennifer Telling L
16. John Cambridge L
17. John Lawrence L
18. John Price L
19. Julie Harding L
20. Lee Canon L
21. Lorraine Smits L
22. Mary Gaynor L
23. Peter Moore L
24. Phillip Shelton L
25. Sara Wood
26. Scott Taylor
27. Simon Burbidge
28. Simon Kavanagh
29. Steven Cooksey
30. Veronica Thorpe
31. Wendy Whitlock

The classmates I remember most were John Lawrence, John Price, Derek Ingram, Brian Kitchen, Scott Taylor and John Cambridge. Lorraine Smits was a neighbour of mine and I attended her wedding in 2001. Otherwise I've only made a few other brief visits to Huntingdon over the years since leaving. 

It seems I wrote a letter to Miss Watts and was later delighted to receive a reply In March 1979 which included letters from most of my classmates. Fortunately, I kept them all these years and have now decided to scan them and include them here. I've added a "L" to the names list above to indicate who had written to me. Life moves on and I never kept in touch with any classmates after that. 

It would be lovely to hear from anyone on the list. You can use the message form at the bottom of this page. You're also very welcome to leave your email address, which I will not make public. Also, anyone else who has memories of their time at HCJS during the 1970's. 

Huntingdon County Junior School, Class 3 (Miss Watts) c.1978

Here's the letters I received from Miss Watts after I'd moved to the Bristol area in March 1979.

Clare mentions removal of a car, which was an abandoned burnt out car just outside the school fence. It was there a long time as I can remember it before I left the school. 

Derek ends by writing ’I hope you will remember us when you’re working’. I assume he was referring to later in life. Well, here we are, nearly 50 years later and I can honestly say I do. I can certainly remember Derek in particular. If my memory is correct I can remember Dereck having a ’crew cut’ or skinhead style haircut and we played ’war games’ together. 

Ian mentions Mr Butler, who was another teacher I remember. 

Lee also refers to a "wreck" which was the burnt out car which Clare Morton also mentioned. 

Lorraine mentions 'George House' and I vaguely remember their were groups known as 'Houses' which competed against each other.

It was during my time there that the old fashioned traditional wooden school desks and chairs were replaced with tables and plastic chairs. I think this must have been 1977 or 1978. The 'flip up' wooden desks were nice as you could store all your things inside. At that time were were also using fountain pens provided by the school. These were blue plastic and I'll try and find a photograph of one. 

During winter most of the boys, including myself wore one of the classic 'snorkel' parkas in the late 1970's. 

Snorkel Parkas - Marshall Ward catalouge autumn/winter 1978

My history exercise book which I still have.

I also found this HCJS booklet which contains 'limericks' written by children of Mrs Smith's class. There's no date and I've no recollection of the interest on my part. However, there may be some readers who recognise their own work!

Here's a map of Huntingdon from 1971 and the school is just at the far top of the map.