Roger Munyard (1950) was at Ardingly College from 1943-50. Based in the Junior House (JH) during the war, he moved to the Senior School in 1946, where he was in C Dormitory (Lewington House).
I arrived at the Junior House with my mother on the first day of the winter term in 1943, at age 11. As we walked through the door, there was a boy on duty and he greeted me with “Hello Mouse”. The nickname lasted for the remainder of my days at Ardingly.
We met the JH headmaster, Mr E Winnington-Ingram (known as Winnie), and I was handed over to a pupil who took me up to Drake Dorm, where I occupied the first bed on the right for that term. Heating was sparse except in the dayroom. Our dress compensated for it because we all wore heavy sweaters especially designed for JH.
JH was a friendly environment and as far as the war was concerned, we were really unaware of it apart from food and clothes rationing. The diet was mainly processed food like spam, corned beef, powdered potatoes and margarine and the like. And at the end of every day cocoa and buns were served in the main dayroom before bedtime.
Food rationing meant that the Tuck Shop was our main outlet for any treat. My Dorm Master was Joe Stowe, to whom we handed over our pocket money at the beginning of the term. He recorded this in his little book and thereafter every Friday night before lights out we queued up to request a hand out, usually about one shilling (ten pence nowadays). That was enough for a penny bun daily from the Tuck Shop – the best buys were the lardy cakes, absolutely delicious!
Parcels of food from home were greeted enthusiastically and in many cases were shared among friends. Occasionally someone from Ardingly village would come down to the school gate and sell fresh fruit. Word soon got around and we filled our shirts with lovely gooseberries or plums.
I am very hazy about lessons and where they were held, but memories of leisure time are much clearer! It was mostly spent on the JH bricks kicking or throwing a ball about, playing cricket or just racing around. Sometimes we put on roller skates and played tag. In the Summer term, on Friday evenings, we played release-oh in the scout garden woods behind the squash court, and Winnie joined in chasing us.
On VE day, the surrender of the Germans in Europe, there were of course celebrations nationwide. We had a huge bonfire.
When I moved up to the Senior School, most of the masters were different. The headmaster was Rev Crosse (known as “Tilt”) and the senior staff were all too old to have served during the war, but at the end of my time at Ardingly there began a gradual change in the staff and some young replacements arrived. The wartime headmaster retired and was replaced by Rev G Snow. He was very tall and started to change many things.
Our parents were allowed one leave weekend each term, from Saturday morning until evening Chapel on Sunday. Because of petrol rationing it was difficult to travel and many did not see their parents at all then. Mine used to come and take me to Brighton or Haywards Heath where we stayed in an hotel overnight.