BARBARA Cleary well remembers the tortuous journeys some Oxford pupils faced to get to lessons.

As we reported (Memory Lane, April 27), classes at the School of Technology, Arts and Commerce were held at 19 sites scattered around the city.

Mrs Cleary, who attended the school in the late 1940s and early 1950s, recalls: “We used to have to travel all over the place to get to sports and lessons.”

She was prompted to write in after reading about John Henry Brookes’s contribution to education in Oxford.

His work as head from 1928 to 1956 paved the way for the Technical School to develop into Oxford Polytechnic and later Oxford Brookes University, which was named after him.

After leaving as a pupil, Mrs Cleary was soon back working for Mr Brookes.

She writes: “There was a vacancy for a junior secretary at the Cowley Road offices. I applied and got the job.

“Mr Brookes was a charming man, very humble, very kind, very friendly. I worked in the small reception office, answering the very old telephone exchange, and doing lots of old-fashioned duplicating.

“Mr Brookes’s office was just across the corridor. He had a secretary, Miss Tibbetts, who is now in her 90s.

“My days working in the office were so interesting – work colleagues were so friendly. We met students and teaching staff. We had office outings.

“At Cowley Road, there was Mr Isaacs, the treasurer, Patsy Fagan, who worked with him, Miss Cosby, who was in my office, Beryl Jeffs, secretary of the engineering department, Mr Shirley, the caretaker, Mr Dean, head of the Department of Commerce, Mrs Meadows, head of cookery, and Mr Turnbull.

“At Church Street, Mr Wainwright was head of the Technical School, and Joyce Cummings was the office secretary.

“Miss Simpson taught shorthand and typing, Miss Schact English, and Mr Wainwright maths, while Mr Wiggins taught religious studies and took dancing classes in the evenings once a week – they were fun.

“We hired the Town Hall once a year for all the enrolments, and we, the staff, sat at a table on the stage, filling in forms and taking the enrolments and money. Students crowded in and queued to enrol.

“It was a great experience and a wonderful start of my secretarial career to be involved with the Technical School and the College of Technology under dear Mr Brookes.”

Mrs Cleary, who lives at Witney, attended a recent lecture, Mr Brookes – The Unsung Hero, given by Bryan Brown, an honorary graduate of Brookes University.

Dr Brown is writing a biography of John Henry Brookes and would like Memory Lane readers who knew him to help him with memories, documents, letters, and photographs.

Send them to me and I will pass them on.