Taken from the 1977 Anniversary Edition of The Monovian

In 1917 when I became a pupil at the Monoux School in High Street, the Headmaster was an Army Captain on active service. The School Cadet Corps, in Khaki, paraded with dummy wooden rifles twice weekly on the Selbourne Recreation Ground, commanded by members of the Staff resplendent in full officers uniform. Barrage balloons floated in the skies to discourage raiding Zeppelins and Fokkers, while at night a huge naval gun at Higham Hill crashed shells at them. Long food queues lined up at High Street shops and stalls or at newsagents to buy papers with frightening lists of Army casualties in France.

In 1915 the Essex County Council took over the administration of the School. Previously, Monoux was a traditional Grammar School with fee-paying pupils, most of whom had transferred from preparatory classes at the Girls' High School to Form 1 at Monoux. As time passed, Forms 1, 2 and 3 were phased out as boys with scholarships came in increasing numbers. They started in Fourth Remove. Staff changes became necessary: there were eighteen in my time.

Under Mr. King, who followed Mr. Miliward as Headmaster, the foundations were laid for the highly organised and successful School, which transferred to the present building. Monoux owes a great debt to A.H. Prowse who ensured that the finest traditions of the Old School were retained in its new form. A majestic fi~re,he combined a generous spirit towards Staff and pupils with firm discipline. He was held in great respect and affection. His friend, "Wally" Toplis, a great teacher although very deaf, also gave fine service to the School. His detention "parties" in Room P were famous. Men like J.S. Arthur, Dr. Lloyd and J.W. Cowley advanced Sixth Form attainments and the first Open Scholarships to Oxford were won by Philip Askey and Tom Cowling.

The original building had good laboratories. There was a Woodwork room also used for Art and four classrooms. To accommodate the sudden influx of scholarship pupils, five wooden classrooms were built covered with corrugated iron. We called them "Tin Tabernacles". As in the old rooms, all were gas-lit and heated by open coal fires in whose ashtrays chestnuts and potatoes could be baked.

On Wednesday afternoon we streamed down High Street, on foot or bicycle, sometimes riding three-up, until one of these overloaded machines crashed into Garnham's china stall. It was one-up only after that. We used all thirteen pitches on the Elms simultaneously for football.

Sports Day was a great social occasion with hundreds of parents watching. We entered individually for as many events as we wished: no specialising then. Heats were all run on the same afternoon. We finished with House relays and tugs-of-war. There were splendid prizes.

The House System dominated. There was a coloured piping round the cap badge (the only uniform) denoting our House. We all knew to which House a fellow belonged: we remember them now, more than half a century later. It was a friendly, well-mannered School. There was never any kind of discipline problem that a "hundred lines" or a period of detention could not settle.

Generally, the years following the War were full of hope and rejoicing and this spirit of optimism was reflected in the School. We heard that a new school building was in the offing, but were not very interested, being quite happy as we were, even with the odour of onions and vinegar wafting across the High Street, the smoke and noise from the Great Eastern Railway, and the excitement of the "moving crowd" around the stalls with their flaring naphtha lamps greeting us as we left school on a winter's evening. We were content with the Old School.

G. Grantham