I HAVE just read the Guild Messenger winter '97, which my sister handed on to me. Being a Goldings Old Boy, aged 72, I am very interested in the article by Fred Barnes about the boys buried in Waterford churchyard. When I was at Goldings, during the war, a bomb was dropped on the bandmaster's house. He was called Mr Battel, he was killed in the bombing. We lined the route for his funeral at Waterford Church. Around the same time I was in the sick bay, run by Sister Noakes, with ear trouble. I cannot remember his name, but one of the boys died from septicaemia, and was also buried in Waterford churchyard. (see below Ed)

I was in Buxton House and started to train as a carpenter, but due to the war ended up at Gravesend Sea School and then the Merchant Navy. I remember Mr Patch and his dog pulling him on his bike; film shows in the gym, marching to Hertford Church on special occasions,  Sunday walks around Bayfordbury and seeing dogfights in the sky. We had trenches on the sports field, and grew potatoes, which we had to pick. Then there was Mr Brushy Barnes, the washhouse attendant. Good memories!

Harold Bell.
Goldings, 1940‑42

BARNARDO GUILD MESSENGER SUMMER 1998/99

The boy to die while Harold was at Goldings was one William Claude Clark Oxland aged 17 who passed away on  21-07-1941