I was vividly reminded of that day in 1952, when King George VI died. (Cheers Bill, ‘Kia Ora “ and all that stuff; from “across the ditch”), and Mr Waite’s announcement of the passing of the monarch to the assembled school.

I remember being very impressed as Mr Waite, who seemed to this rather timid little boy to possess enormous gravitas, actually had tears to his eyes as he addressed the pupils. I also remember the bells of All Saints’ Wrington ringing a muffled peal throughout the day of the funeral.

The mention of Miss G also brought back memories. She was familiarly known as something else to the children. Fair play, though, had rather a lot to put up with : Charles Kingsley would be the inevitable choice for classroom reading and learning by rote was the only way they did things then. On the other hand ,does Bill remember the wonderfully illustrated mauve-covered history books in Miss Green’s class ?

Kind regards,

Philip W.

[Reply from Editor: Thanks for this, Wendy. My wife and I came to live in Wrington in September, 1967, and we have fond memories of Hector Bailey who worked at Kingcotts Garage - now Wrington Motors - and his son, David, who was very active in what was going on at All Saints' church, and where I joined the choir after our first Sunday morning service !
I also know some of the various branches of the Vowles family, very much still in the village. I'll let them know about you.