St Michael's Church of England School, Granville Road, Southfields

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 22 Apr 2012

It was here that I first started school - back in the 1950's. In those days the school had an extensive garden and we spent many hours - in the warmer months - out of doors. Much of the garden was given over to the growing of vegetables - and so looked much like allotments. There was a fish-pond and an aviary; we kept rabbits and even (for a while) goats. One detail has to be mentioned, as it casts light on mid-20th century expectations: gardening lessons were for boys only - the girls, poor things, spent long hours indoors doing needlework! It saddens me to see that the school building has been extended in almost every possible direction - encroaching on both the playground and (I assume) the garden. In this shot, the portion of the building furthest to the right, set back somewhat from the road, is a fairly recent extension - built in similar style and materials to the original building of 1911. Before the days of Dutch elm disease, there was a great old elm tree in the school playground, near where the lamp-standard now stands. That and another elm have both, of course, gone - but so has a hornbeam, and a Prunus or two. See also: Image

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