NORMAN Granger went to Southfield Grammar School in Oxford 80 years ago, but can still recall many of the teachers’ names, including their nicknames.

He was among the first intake of pupils when the school, off Glanville Road, East Oxford, opened in 1934.

Mr Granger, whose own nickname was ‘Granny’, writes: “I can remember entering Southfield – the entrance was by the toilets. In the first classroom you came to, ‘Dicky’ Dyke taught carpentry, then there was a spare classroom which Harold Spicer used for music.

“Then came ‘Conk’ Hill for chemistry, Heafer for physics and ‘Cocoa’ Kohler for art. Coming back, there was the hall with a stage and then the gymnasium, with showers and toilets for the playing field.

“On the opposite side, we had ‘Oris’ Slater and ‘Brookie’ Brookfield, both maths, ‘Ticker’ Teasdale for French, Mrs Hills for English, ‘Jack’ Brashour for history, ‘Mac’ McCourty for Latin, and Johnny Aldis and ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins for geography. Johnny Aldis also took gym classes.

“In the offices were Flemming, the headmaster, and Perry, the deputy head. There was also a clerk – I think his name was Baldwin.

“I played rugby for the school and went swimming at Long Bridges. Southfield had sports on Wednesday afternoon and we came to school on Saturday mornings.

“We had a boater to wear during the summer and a cap in winter. But this didn’t last long. Wednesday afternoons came back to schoolwork and the boaters were stopped because we used them as skimmers.

“So it was caps all the time.”

Mr Granger, who lives in Long Crendon, near Thame, remembers Johnny Aldis forming a Scout troop, the 43rd Oxford, which soon became a Sea Scouts’ group. He recalls: “It was a very busy Scout group. We used to go to Youlbury camp site at Boars Hill a lot. We went to the jamboree in Holland.

“Johnny Aldis had a friend in Lymington who had a six-berth sailing boat so we cycled to Lymington quite often and sailed around the Isle of Wight.

“We went camping many times, to Jersey, Devon and elsewhere. We also cycled to London for various Scout events. We had to be careful because all the roads had tram lines and you could get caught in them.”

The group acquired a sailing boat and canoe, but had nowhere to store them, so Mr Aldis contacted a farmer at Iffley, who had fields alongside the river. The boys were allowed to use part of the land, where their parents spent weekends building a quay for the boats and a large hut with room to sleep 12.

Mr Granger recalls: “We spent a lot of time in the hut, often sleeping there at night, getting up in the morning and having a dip in the river before going to school. We also helped the farmer with his harvest – that was part of the agreement.”

The Scouts also put on stage shows for parents in the school hall, and entertained patients at nearby hospitals, often performing the hornpipe.

Mr Granger was a pupil at the Oxford Municipal Secondary School in St Ebbe’s, which amalgamated with the Central School for Boys in Gloucester Green to form Southfield.

Southfield merged with the City of Oxford High School for Boys in 1966 to form Oxford School on the East Oxford site. It is now known as Oxford Spires Academy.

After leaving Southfield, Mr Granger continued to play rugby and after five years in the Navy, he joined the Old Southfieldians’ rugby team before retiring at 30.

Now aged 95, he reports: “My knees tell me I have played a lot of rugby!”