In the 1950s and 1960s, married members of staff and their families were accommodated in a collection of small huts that were built originally to house the Officers and Senior Ranks of the USAAF Hospital. These 'chalets' were of flimsy plasterboard construction, of a size comparable to a caravan, yet they were permanent homes for dozens of families throughout the year (including the Norfolk winters).  The photo above, taken from the water tower, shows Chalets 108-113 (back row) and 117-120 (front row) in the North East corner of the grounds.

Paul Boothroyd's Story

I was born in Chalet 77 (30 P) on 19th August 1962 and the Enlisted Men's living hut (33 P) [on the What's Left? page - Ed.] is the nearest thing I've seen to the house (!?) where I was born.  I remember the chalets being a dark maroon colour rather than the blue seen on the WCRemembered picture.  I'm not sure whether that means you are going to have to make another section for people born in the College grounds!

My father, Keith Boothroyd and mother Janet are still alive and well and live in Marple, Cheshire; I'm in Stockport.

I understand my first couple of years were spent in Chalet 77, so if there is anything you wish to know about life in such a place, (or anything else WC-related) I'll ask my parents. I'm sure they can draw you a plan of the chalet.  There were 5 of us living in that chalet for a couple of years until we moved to a freshly built number 10, Staff houses Which we lived in until 1972 with the Andersons and Mills family on either side.

Keith has been a prolific and keen photographer since the mid 50's, mainly with Kodachrome.   I know he took pictures of the Goettingen trips he went on, amongst other trips & other WC related stuff.

Having been born and lived in Wymondham College for my first 10 years, it's a very special place for me which I periodically revisit.  I particularly love the cine film of 'a day in the life' [Moving Pictures].  I may not have known any of the pupils, just the staff and their children, but so many of the photographs are like yesterday to me.

My recollections are different, such as the trauma of being taught at Morley school by Doc Staveley's wife. Opinion of Doc Staveley seems to be of a kind man, and I remember his Rover well.  Mrs Stavely had saluki dogs which lived in a basket behind her desk as she taught.  How many other kids were made to do Scottish country dancing to the sound of a 78 wind up gramophone I wonder?

How about Steven Rutherford (another son of Keith), getting stuck up a tree and most of the staff community coming out to watch as the ladder went up.  Another strange memory was of one of Mr Wolsey's sons throwing a stone at me which left a nice scar on my chin that I still cherish to this day.  There was a patch of concrete (to the West of Lincoln hall ?) which was used for the yearly bonfire with members of staff pitching in with different Nov 5th food treats. Saw the first moon landings on the Bowman's colour television as we only had black and white. Not much point really as it was just black and white with a green tinge.

Interesting recollections of my father's noisy shoes on the WCR site (sticky feet). For as long as I have known him, my father has had a pair of what he calls veldtschoen.  They have particularly thick leather soles and I imagine the ones he had in the 60's would have clonked and creaked their way down corridors while he did dorm duty.

The only staff member I think my Dad is still in touch with is Mike Doughty, although there may be others.

Paul Boothroyd

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Wymondham College Remembered