Oxford Gardens School 1905 to 1913
Collection of photographs and memories collected from her family by Audrey Jones.
My grandparents, my mother and her two sisters lived at 1 St.Helen's Gardens in 1905. My Aunt, Evelyn Barnard was just 5 years old and it was her first day at Oxford Gardens Infant School which was right next door. When it came to break time, she didn't know where the toilets were so she went home. I am sure she would have been returned very promptly!
This picture is of a class at Oxford Gardens School in 1906. It shows another Aunt, Ethel Barnard who had just started school. She is the one in the sailor suit, in the second row.
This shows a class at Oxford Gardens School in 1908.
This shows Evelyn Barnard in a music lesson at Oxford Gardens School in 1913. She is in the front row, fourth from the left.
Another class in Oxford Gardens School. My mother is first on the left in the front row. She would have been 5 years old, 1908.
My own memories, 1939 - 1944
In 1939 when I was 5 years old I started school at Oxford Gardens. One of my main memories is of there being a large Wendy house in the hall where we could play. Another memory is of having to lie down on beds in the afternoon, presumably to go to sleep. I hated this.
In1939 the school was evacuated but my sister and I did not go; my mother took my sister and me to my father's home in Wales but we were not there very long and I came back to Oxford Gardens School. As the war continued we were going to and from the country and each time we returned I went back to Oxford Gardens.
We used to take a spoon and a cup and we would queue up with our spoons for malt and have milk in our cups.
I left Oxford Gardens in 1944 to go to Burlington School.
My sister, Beryl Jones, in the Oxford Gardens School uniform in 1950
Audrey Jones 2006
