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1956 School Photograph

I don’t know any of these pupils as I left school in 1950. The biggest difference is that  in 1950 there were 113 pupils, in 1956 there were only 58, with a very small percentage of girls.

There are a number of comments on the web site from pupils that were at the school in the late 1950s, so I thought that this photo would be of interest to them.

If you recognise yourself, or anyone else, or have memories of the college at this time, please leave a comment below.

Click on the photograph to open a large version in a new window. Click again on the image to further enlarge.

Preston College 1956
From the private collection of Jane Harrison
Preston College 1956
From the private collection of Jane Harrison

Comments about this page

  • Brian Hough – it’s very kind of you to bring these photos up. With regard to the 1956 photos, the top photo is L-R: 1. James Coleman. 2 Dennis Stevens. 4. Eugine Simmons. 6. Christopher Simmons. 9. John Williams. Middle row L-R: Miss Martin 2 Bastock snr. Mrs Bastock snr 6. Keith Langston 7. Geller 10. Robert  Robinson. 11. John Sherrington. Bottom row L-R: 2 Phillip Bastock. Bottom photo, top row L-R: 4 Alan Penny. 6 Aubrey. 10 Alan Groizard? 11 David Scarrat. 12. Appleyard? 15. James Carlisle. Second row L-R: 5 Carol Hardy. 9 the Matron. 10 Charles Hardy. 12 Mr O’Neil. 13. Fanny Bastock. 14 Major Bastock. Thanks again Brian.

    By Dennis Stevens (22/09/2012)
  • Hello Brian. Sorry, my mistake, Charles Hardy is sitting to the right of John Sherrington top photo middle row at number 12.

    By Dennis Stevens (24/09/2012)
  • I’m in the top photo, amazed to see all your faces, what memories. Good luck.

    By John Williams (27/09/2012)
  • Well done Dennis, you have named quite a few. I think John Williams wants you to guess where he is in the top photo.

    By Brian Hough (29/09/2012)
  • Hello Brian. Top photo middle row, Miss Martin, Mr. Bastock, Mrs Bastock snr. Teacher? and R.Tattersall. Remember lots of names and faces; brings back lots of memories .

    By Richard Tattersall (04/10/2012)
  • Top photo, last on the right standing is Dusty Miller but I could be mistaken.

    By Pablo Muller (27/01/2013)
  • Not wanting to take anything away from mybrightonandhove.org.uk and thanking them for all the help of getting us together, I would like to offer the possibility of unlimited free space in one of the many websites that I own http://www.amnesiainternational.net here we could place photos from our old school and any comment or blog and try to get some sort of network going. I also have a very good contact with Google so that any articles that I upload usually get quickly into the Google index. My e-mail space has no limit so please send to me photos and comments and we’ll go on from there, I have copied the cricket photo and started a new page in the English section of amnesiainternational.net under Preston College.

    By Pablo Muller (28/01/2013)
  • Hi, thought I would add my contribution to the old schoolboys and girls that were there in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I remember so many of you its surprising! Happy to make contact with anyone who might still remember me. Harold K.

    By Harold Kayser (20/05/2013)
  • Very nostalgic to see the photos, I was there from Sept 1957 with my brother Bobby and friend Saleem, I had to leave as during the mass X-ray I was detected with a spot on my lung and was later operated upon in London! Maj. and Mrs. Bastock look exactly as I remember them, we used to try and raid Mrs. Bastock’s tuck shop and pinch the delicious Wagon Wheels! My nickname is Sonny, and the boys and girls may remember me by this name. I would love to hear from the boys and girls who were there during my time and remember me.

    By Fazal Irshad (10/01/2014)
  • There are now over 12 members of the “old boys/girls” College club which met for their first scheduled reunion on November 2nd 2013 at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton (where else!). The event was awesome as over 50 years have passed since many of the pupils were at Preston Park and Paxhill Park, near Lindfield, between 1955 and 1964. Drinks and a nosh up followed at Donatello’s Italian restaurant and there are two further meets proposed for 2014. If there are any more of you “oldens” who happen to read this please do not hesitate to contact me Harold Kaiser (Kayser now) via my email address: diangabbyk@hotmail.co.uk  
    On behalf of the group members and myself we would be elated to hear from you.

    By Harold Kayser (12/01/2014)
  • There will be a scheduled second meet of the enlarged membership of Preston College “Oldies” which again will be held at the Royal Albion on Saturday the 22nd March 2014 with an expected turnout of around 15 to 20 pupils (sorry,uniforms unnecessary). As appointed secretary I extend our cordial invitations to any new faces who would like to join us around 12 noon onwards to enjoy a buffet nosh up, plonk etc and share what I can only describe in one word “awesome”. Wives/Partners are also welcome to a buffet nosh up too.
    Contact me for further details please..diangabbyk@hotmail.co.uk  Thanks,

    By Harold Kayser (16/01/2014)
  • My name is Richard Benson, I was at the school from 1953-1955. I remember some of the pupils who were older than me: Alan Penney, Pat Turnbull, Richard Tattersall, and an older girl who was very good at the high jump! I went there because my mother knew Charmian Compton who used to baby-sit for me.  She and her brother and sister were at the school. My mother threatened to send me there if I continued to misbehave; well I did end up being sent there! I did not like the place very much and I remember my first day there very clearly. I was too shy to ask where the lavatory was so I pee-ed in the shed in the playground. The Major slapped my face and called me a filthy individual. I knew the word “filthy” but “individual” was not in a 7 yr old’s vocabulary! I thought it was something terrible! I wrote home to my mother saying “I must be taken away from this orful place I have been called a indyvijull”! A short while later I ran away in the middle of the night but was captured by a policeman on a Velocette motorbike quite near the Grand Hotel, just before the Major arrived in his shooting-break car to transport me back to the school, where I was caned! I remember the crocodile walks to the church which had a flagstone surround which a small boy could crawl under all the way round the building. It was quite frightening especially when trying to get round the right angled corners. I did it for a bet and thought I’d never get round and would end up as an unfound skeleton! I also remember several French pupils attending for a while on some kind of exchange programme. My abiding memory of them is that they smelled awful! Another silly memory is sitting in the airing cupboard in the girls’ bathroom whilst some of the older girls tried to get chilblains by walking in the snow and then dunking their feet in hot bath water! Does anyone remember the sacks we put milk bottle tops into, or the burnt custard with a prune in the centre? Whatever else it did it prepared me for living in the real world later. Memories? Very mixed, depending on how much wine I have consumed! 

    By Richard Benson (30/01/2014)

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