Laindon High Road School - More Photographs of its Destruction

More Photographs of its Destruction

As was said by David Merchant the pictures tell the story.

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  • You just assume some things are going to be there for ever, a sad shame. I was there until 1975/6, unfortunately we moved away when I took my final exams so after the last exam I lost touch with all my chums. Their names becoming a bit sketchy.
    I remember the playground with the railings where the tuck shop was.
    Ironically I’m now a school caretaker and Mr. Partridge lived next to the school until three years ago when he moved away. Looked exactly the same and still spritely going out for walks everyday.
    The only other teachers I remember are Mr. Jones (math’s) and a French teacher (Mr. White ?) had a ruler he would smack the desk tops with.

    By Steve Barwell (23/03/2023)
  • Hello Shaun, I haven’t seen you since you left the school. I too can’t remember a roof on the pool, I remember getting wet in and out of it. Liked Mr Partridge and have been in touch with him until recently, Mr Gane, Miss Jones was a firm favourite in English.

    By Ivor Dallinger (23/11/2019)
  • A roof was added to the swimming pool in 1972. It certainly had a roof when my children attended the school in the 80s.
    http://www.basildon.com/history/schools2/lainhsch.html

    By Nina Humphrey(née Burton) (03/07/2018)
  • I think the heyday of LHR was just before my time. I was in the first ‘Comprehensive’ intake, we were all failures of the eleven plus and as others have noted deemed only good for being plumbers or plasterers!! Therefore in hindsight, it is no surprise with how we behaved. I left in 71/2, I remember that bullying was rife and experienced a few uprisings. The teachers were a varied bunch, one married one of the girls in my form. Another had an affair with my Mum. Some did their best, I would mention Mr Partridge and Mr White. I left when the school failed to provide me with my first year of A Level classes. We were not expected to gain this level. What happened to the roof for the swimming pool? From 1st year to 5th year I spent many an enterprise raising funds to put a roof on that pool. Never happened. What happened to all that money.
    Any old friends that wish to contact me feel free, do wonder what happened to all you lot.

    By Shaun Watts (03/07/2018)
  • I went to this school late 70s early 80s it’s so sad to hear it is no longer there 🙁

    By Charmaine (03/03/2018)
  • So sad to see this.  I moved out of Laindon in 1977 when I got my first house.  I got married in 1976.  I remember the school so well.  I started in 1967 and left in 1971.  My mum (Ruby Lyons – nèe Linard) went there as well in 1941 and she left in 1944.

    By Keith Lyons (22/07/2017)
  • Sad to see much of the buildings now unrecognisable but there seems to be many areas that I wouldn’t have known anyway. There must have been a lot of alterations and additional constructions since I left in 1962. The last time I saw the school was in about 2000 when I attended a reunion, however it was in the evening and being dark at the time I didn’t get to see much of the buildings. I met with many old friends and others who were not. I also met my old form teacher Mr Burch who actually remembered me! I must have been an outstanding pupil?

    By Donald Joy (12/02/2017)
  • The craft classes in this school laid the basic foundations for future metal workers, carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers, mechanics, cooks, dress makers, artists, gardeners, to name but a few of the seeds of usefull life skills that this school planted with the help of the great teachers. The school was dubbed as turning out fodder for the building industry. These former pupils that took up a trade, have done really well for themselves, me included! You don’t see a poor builder, plasterer, carpenter or a plumber. Alway skills that are in demand throughout the land and indeed the world. All these trades are brought together to build a home for you to live in. Secondary school crafts are now continued in our colleges nowadays.  I don’t know if basic craft skills are still taught in local schools. The classrooms have banks of computers in them and not work benches, teaching metal work/carpentry. Perhaps there is no need, as we make very little in this land anymore, we seem to import everything from China, thank the Lord for China! I guess if China ceased to exist we would be in real trouble! Especially the £1 shops. 

    By Robert Springate (11/02/2017)
  • It still amazes me that we have all these detailed LHR demolition photographs on the Laindon website but hardly any at all of the interiors of the classrooms, hall and workshops when it was fully functional. I went back to the school in 2002 when there was an active janitor in the building and he allowed me to take some photographs, annoyingly these were on colour film which I cannot now locate at home. What would be better though are photos of the inside of the school with pupils either at work or at play, similar to the ones Nina posted of her final year. I know that Valerie Boatwright took some brilliant photos of her class, mainly lazing around outside on the field, starring people like Joe Borowski and Terry Stolworthy. I’ve got one of 5X and 5X2 in 1963 but again it’s taken in the quadrangle and posed with Mr Day and Mr Rees. I’ll drag it out soon, it does contain some stars like Dave Gowlett, Mart Brown and Geoff Heather together with girls Jacqui Sheppard, Susan King and Pat Brummel from the two classes. If you could pick just one day from any year at LHR to return I wonder which one it would be. Mine would either be our Christmas party in 1960 when Poetry in Motion was Number 1 or that visit to Stratford on Avon in April 1961. Very happy days, all of them.

    By Richard Haines (11/02/2017)
  • I went to this school from 1958 leaving in 1962 with no paper qualifications, but I had gained a damn good education. From day 1, I was insolent, disobedient and awkward to the point of being rebellious. This made my time here rather difficult for me a lot of the time, no-one to blame but myself. However, having said all that, this still proved to be a most enjoyable time. Not only that, but as already mentioned, I did come away from there with a good education and a fair bit of knowledge and ability. One thing LHR did teach me was how to learn and I did a heck of a lot of that thereafter.

    When I joined MENSA I achieved scores which rated me as having an IQ of 133 giving me a level above 98% of the population. So I did , obviously, waste a lot of my time while at school. Regrets? Maybe. But back to the school, yes I made it hard for myself, harder than it needed to be and at the time felt that I hated it. But to do this to it? NO! It was worth so much more than this, it deserved to be left standing and used for the good of the community. But when all is said and done it served its purpose in providing education for many hundreds of local children, who will all, no doubt be grateful for it. They will all, I’m sure, have fond memories of their own to hold on to and maybe even one day share with others. 

    By Donald Joy (14/09/2015)
  • Richard Haines 14/3/12 “these photos should be removed, they serve no purpose at all”. Sorry Richard, I have to disagree, they serve a very distinct purpose. They indicate that any fool can hold a position of authority and that any idiot can find employment as a planner! The proof, as they say, is in the proverbial pudding. 

    By Donald Joy (14/09/2015)
  • Sad indeed, thank goodness for happy memories, no one can destroy those.

    By Susan Guichard (20/07/2014)
  • When my brother Bob told me the school had been demolished it was quite a shock at first, but then thinking about it the school wasn’t as I remembered from the 1950s, but my memories will remain which is more important. Our school motto during my time was “To the brave and faithful nothing is difficult”, and although I can say it in Latin I’m a bit rusty in the spelling!

    By Pat Aspinall (26/02/2013)
  • To Harry -I did not know that the school had had another motto. What wonderful memories you must have of being there in its golden heyday. I started there in 1978. At that time the motto on our blazers was ‘ambuLA IN DONum vitae’. The capital letters I have used show how the word LAINDON appears within the motto. I can remember Mr Birch pointing this out in the very first assembly I went to. I think the motto meant ‘walk along the path of life’, or something similar.

    By Sarah Svatins (nee Rowe) (15/09/2012)
  • As commented’ MONEY rules. A pity we can’t do without it. A man made monster that has us all by the throat. To destroy such a useful and memorable structure as Laindon High Road school is little short of criminal.  I have many happy memories of my time at that place ‘Doing does it’ was its motto and school colours were green and gold. But there it is, all in the name of progress but it seems to be part of a campaign to eradicate the old Laindon that I and so many knew. 

    A bustling community that boasted three brass bands and a lively concert orchestra as well as several musical societies and a busy High Road with many useful shops. Looking back is said to be counter productive. Maybe it is but those certainly were the days. Memories however are with us all. Playing cricket in the playground with the teachers, singing in the school choir, even getting the cane occasionally for talking out of turn. I live in Exeter now and approaching my 90th birthday but memories of ‘High Road’ never die.

    By Harry Rossiter (13/07/2012)
  • Does anyone remember the Laindon Operatic Society and their wonderful Gilbert and Sullivan productions in the school hall?  It was my introduction to the world of music, and it was never quite the same when it moved to the community centre.

    By Mary Cole (nee Norman) (24/06/2012)
  • I went to that school in the 1980s and moved away from the area and then when I came back I was shocked to see that it had been knocked down

    By Karen Lloyd (10/06/2012)
  • I had heard about the destruction on the grapevine but very sad to see it in photos. I can actually see my old classroom on a couple with Mr Birch who taught geography and was my form tutor for two years. I am a teacher and know that in the next few years that primary pupil boom now will reach secondary age – where will they all go then?

    By Sue Halliday nee Daley (17/04/2012)
  • Oh my goodness how sad, but never mind all my old friends, all the bulldozers, uncaring authorities and countless tons of bricks and morter that now cover this site still won’t take away from us the funny, sad and wonderful memories we all have. 

    Lets hope in 50 years time the people living there now will remember and be able to pass on to their families, stories and fantastic memories similar to those that we now are passing on to ours.

    By Gloria Sewell (05/03/2012)
  • Sorry but I still think these photos of demolition should be removed from this website. They serve no purpose at all. There are lovely photos of how it was and we probably all have some at home somewhere with our friends or classmates in. Those photos are the ones that should be included and displayed please.

    Editor: I will put on all the photographs of the school that you can provide to show how important a part it played in the history of our community. However its demolition was a very significant event in our history and shows the contempt with which the desires of the community are held by authority.

    By Richard Haines (04/03/2012)
  • I still find it hard to believe that they actually did this!

    By Lee Jenkins (01/03/2012)
  • I know I hated school when there, but WHY did they RIP DOWN Laindon High Road School for goodness sake?

    There again, as I have learnt through a relative, money speaks MANY languages.

    By Brian Baylis (28/12/2011)
  • I not only feel it is very sad but also slightly crazy considering what may be happening very soon. Last week the Evening Echo printed plans for another 309 new homes to be built behind the new estate that stands on the grounds of our former school. Langdon Hills has very good primary schools but no feeder secondary school and children are having to be ‘bused’ out of the area to places like Shenfield or Billericay. Apparently, there had been plans for a new secondary school to be built either near Laindon Station or alongside the Tesco stores at Dunton, neither of which were followed through. With even more families soon moving into the area bringing their children with them, LHR will be missed more than ever. At some point, a new secondary school in the area is going to be a necessity.

    Editor: The developer of the proposed site was challenged on this and I was told that they had been informed by the Education Authority that there were adequate primary and secondary facilities in the area, but they should include a pre-school unit. 

    By Nina Humphrey(née Burton) (19/12/2011)
  • I recently passed the now housing estate, and COULD so easily have cried.

    By Brian Baylis (18/12/2011)
  • Did we really have to print these photos. We all have our memories of that school, lets treasure them. The houses they have built are nice, some are town houses built to a good standard, with some attractive green areas in front. On a nicer note, does anyone have the panoramic school photo of October 1958?

    Editor; Sorry if they are upsetting but they are part of the social history of the community and as such deserve a place on the site to show what has been lost.
    There will be a copy of the panoramic photograph on the site as soon as I can finish repair work on it.

    By Richard Haines (14/09/2011)

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