MEMORIES

Goldings was a great place to live, the building and grounds that not many young men had the freedom to roam. Sadly the renovations that have taken place have taken away the main allure of the old home, but no one can destroy our memories, and basically those are what we are looking for to add to these pages. Please send in your memories of your time at Goldings good or bad what ever your memories of your time at Goldings.

memories From old boys and staff the gob pages Click here to view
memories from the school Magazine The Goldonian Click here to View
memories of Goldings from The Barnardo Guild messenger Click here to View

Below are some of the memories we have stored on Goldonian Web.

ATTENTION! now hear this, now hear this: was it Mr. Batstone ex R.A.F who used to say those words over the school tannoy system, that was also used to listen to the pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline on 199 Mhz, The all day music station with DJs like Keith Skues and Tony Blackburn, both unknown DJs then about 66 we had Tommy Vance who had worked in the USA, remember those days? Like I said in one photo caption "we had James Brown in our days"

Memory: Poor old Pinhead must have been pulling his hair out, What little he had. I know he wanted to make Goldings more like a home from home than a Dr Barnardo's orphanage of past years that Thomas Barnardo wanted to change in 1876. Over the years he had fought to give us all that little extra, years before a building society took on the saying. We all slept in smaller dormitories on new style beds with a new age mattress. Each house had it's own Bathroom and toilets and a sitting room with TV. and easy chairs. This was Goldings in the 60s, The golden years as I call them. What are your memories? Sadly I will admit I took all this for granted along with the freedom we had within the grounds.

Aerial view of Goldings

Showing the church hidden amongst the trees bottom left. This shot was taken after a Goldings reunion when some of the boys had been scrumping on the Sunday. click on picture for an enlargement.

Torrent of memories

After reading the E. D. Rollins article. I just had to write. It brought back a torrent of memories. I was at Goldings from 1937 for two years, which I now know was the best thing that ever happened to me.

The article recalled Mr. Patch, the gym master, a real character. I participated in his boxing exercises. The gym was also used then for evening classes where all the trades studied theory of the trades. I went into the tinsmith's shop, where we learned what is now sheet metal work. Mr. De Boeck, who taught us, had a paralysed hand, but he could do more with the one hand than most could do with two. We learned to make tin and copper kettles and copper coffee sets (which we sold on a stall at Barkingside on Founder's Day each year). We made buckets, milk buckets, milk churns, camp boilers and dustpans. We had a forge and primus stoves and Saturday morning was spent polishing anvils, hammers and other tools. Most of the things we made then would be collector's items today; especially the crocodile metal trunks made for boys who were emigrating.

One day a man came from the De Haviland factory at Hatfield and, after examining work done. Selected four boys, three from woodwork and me from tinsmith's. to work at De Havilands. I can only remember one of them. Albert Moss. I left Goldings with a set of hand tools, which I still use regularly today.

Others I remember at Goldings are the wonderful governor. The Rev F. C. MacDonald: he always tried to make us look to the future; his church services were always suited to the young. Mr. White in the engineers' shop was the controller of a very large steam driven engine. He had a shock of hair equal to his name, and his engine shop was always immaculately clean. I remember the bootmakers they made all the boots and shoes for Barnardo's; the cabinet makers (where I first wanted to go) who made church furniture and the carpenters, wheelwrights and printers, including Mr. Perkins.

The things I remember most though were the complete beauty of the estate and the firm kindness I got from all there. I and my family will always be thankful that I went to Goldings.

Arthur George Deamer Goldings, 1937-39

The Barnardo Guild Messenger summer 1998

Arthur today photo taken 2004 he lives on the outskirts of Baldock, Hertfordshire.

Goldings in bloom-end of an era

HOW many times have we heard that old saying: 'Never visit the old places, you will be disappointed.' Well, we still do it. After 50 odd years, Goldings revisited was sad for me. Gone are the 200 boys, masters and staff. They were the very breath of the place.

As I approached it from the drive, my thoughts ran back to the days I walked from Goldings to Hertford and back with hardly a Saturday missed. Then as I walked over the bridge, with its balusters and view through the trees, the old building beckoned me, knowing its last days had arrived. Having reached the building, I found the heart of the house in decay. Of course it will regenerate again, but never the same as it was in the years I spent there when it was in bloom and we felt as one.

Victor Hunt Goldings, 1941-43

The Barnardo Guild Messenger summer 1998

It's a small world

When Goldings Old Boy, Mike justice. Ordered secondary glazing for his flat, at first he did not hit it off very well with the fitter who came to do the job.

They clashed and the fitter told Mike he'd been a carpenter all his life so knew he was doing. Mike quickly retorted that he too had trained as a carpenter - and that's when the penny dropped. The fitter recognised Mike from the BBC films and realised they had been together at Goldings. Mike's fitter was none other than Barry Hyland and the pair of them trained in the same carpentry shop. From that point the two men got on like a house on fire. Mike says: 'We reminisced about the carpentry tool boxes we made - Barry still has his and most of his tools - about being Wimbledon ball boys and about pinching apples and anything else we could get away with!' At the end of the day, Mike was highly pleased with the job Barry did for him. 'But then what would you expect from a carpenter trained at Goldings!' he asks.

Footnote: Mike Justice was awarded an MBE in 1995 for services to training in industry He was at Goldings from 1959-61.

The BARNARDO GUILD MESSENGER summer 1998

Now I'm glad I came across this article, as I have a major problem with so called tradesmen working in my house. My dear wife calls it my Barnardo syndrome, I used to employ carpenters and painters, for my small business but I got sick and tired of putting the work right of the so called tradesmen. They had never heard of the 'finish crowns all', or more to the point, they had not been shown or had the instructors to teach them the correct way. ED