Dr Barnardo's Watts Home was officially opened in 1950 for mixed family groups of children aged three to 15 years. It remained open until 1953

Mr. Paul Lenton who was house master at the Watts home wrote: “I was on the teaching staff at this school from 1950 until its closure in 1953. By that time the Naval training side of the school had been transferred to Parkstone,

“By the time I arrived there were some 100-plus boys in the main building, of secondary school age (some younger ones were accommodated in a couple of cottages, with a teaching staff of a headmaster and four assistants. “I was required to teach general subjects, but as my training specialised in PE and maths, I was responsible for the physical activities of the school both in the school curriculum and in the boys’ free time as part of my extraneous duties.

“The head of the home was a Colonel Dean. He was interested in cricket, so he liked me to organise an occasional match in the evening during the summer. “It was there I got to know Peter Parfitt, who went on to play for Norfolk, Middlesex and England. He was at Fakenham Grammar School at the time. At various times I played both with him and against him, as the family lived locally.

“I played in the village cricket team which, in fact, conformed to the type-cast tradition in that it included the local schoolmaster (me!), the village doctor, the vicar, the butler from the local hall, a farmer and various other worthies, the team being picked in the pub on a Friday night.

“I originally lived next door to the pub in a cottage owned by Barnardos, but later moved up to a staff house on the complex. “One of the incidents which stands out in my mind concerns one of the boys who had tamed a young jackdaw. “I was umpiring a boys’ match when it came to this boy’s turn to bat. As he took up stance to play, his bird spotted him from fully 200 yards away and flew over and perched on his head. “Reaching up and grabbing the bird by its legs, the boy walked up to me and handed me the bird saying ‘Look after this please, sir, until I get out!’

“It was also here I saw a feat performed I have never seen before or even heard of. A colleague of mine on the teaching staff, named Jerry Luke, claimed a hat-trick of victims, every one of them clean bowled.

During my time there, the cost of running the home became an increasing burden, so Barnardo's arranged with Norfolk County Council that the teaching staff became employed by the Education Department, which therefore became responsible for paying our salaries. It also meant that when the home eventually closed down (mainly, I think, because it came to be recognised that children could be cared for better in smaller groups, rather than large institutions), they were obliged to find us other employment, which meant me acting as a supply teacher until I secured a permanent post at what was then Sprowston Secondary Modern School as a PE specialist.”