Page Compiled February 2008

All images and text copyright © to Goldings Old Boys reunion members

What do I remember?

Mostly that my father was always willing to lend a hand, he was always helping someone. If there were any functions to be
organised he was there to help. He used to teach the boys to swim he trained them in the cricket team and trained the ball boys also
going with them to Wimbledon. He worked on the school Pantomimes, helping with the production and painting all the backdrops
and making props. (He worked for a time shortly after the war for a Theatre Co. and learnt to paint backdrops).
He ran evening classes for boys and staff, who wanted to learn more about painting or pottery. When there were trips, like for
instance to London to the circus at Christmas he would go too. He attended nearly all the dances with my mother. He often played
cricket and was always at the matches when the boys played.

Most of these things were done in his free time but he never thought twice about it he just did it. It was probably as he himself had
been a Golding’s boy and wanted that the boys had a good time while they were there. He wanted that everyone could have things
that he didn’t have as a boy, the same applied to us children he tried to always give us a good holiday and provide the things we
needed. I think as well though he just really enjoyed doing those things.

One thing he had learned in the war was to play the trumpet. He had played in a jazz band for the BBC in Malta where he was
stationed during part of the war. I remember one year he and several other staff members formed a jazz band I think one Christmas
and played at the school one evening entertaining the boys. He drove us all mad practicing the trumpet at home.
His two passions though were art and classical music. He had a room in our house that he used as a studio. He spent hours painting
and listening to music. I would often sit and listen to the music and watch fascinated as a pictured slowly began to take shape.
Sometimes he didn’t seem to be aware of his surroundings my mother would come and take the brush out of his hand and make him
come and eat, he hadn’t heard her calling so engrossed was he in his painting. We all found it funny at the time.

One thing I remember well, which in later life helped me a lot in school was that he would sit in the evening at teatime and tell us
stories, in fact kind of histories about famous artists or musicians. He would show us pictures they had painted and would later play
us the music. I always found it very interesting and would ask for more. When I went to grammar school later in Devon my teacher
was astounded that I knew all the artists and their works.

I never remember him being bad tempered or losing his temper he was a very mild mannered man he loved a good joke and was
always laughing. At home he always gave the impression of having no cares or worries. I know there were times when things got
him down. Around the end of his time in Goldings as headmaster he found it hard going sometimes but he seldom showed it, at
least not to us. I think there were many boys who owed a lot to his teaching and it’s nice to think that many perhaps are living
happier lives partly because of him.

Steve Sheppard

As young children we would be sitting around the table after a meal and Dad would start telling us about his boarding school days.
At that time there were a number of popular books around about boarding school or the ‘Famous Five’, so it sounded very grand
to us.

He told us about crystal radio sets, the aerials of which would be attached to the bed springs. There was also a dirty laundry basket
kept under each bed and in that would be hidden any edible gifts from ‘home’ or apple collections. When the coast was clear and
someone was keeping “diggy eye” (Goldonian word for watch out) the boys would go out onto the roof and sit in the middle of it
between the two pointed roof parts on either side. There the food would be shared and a midnight feast enjoyed.

It was many years later whilst walking through Goldings with my father that he asked me if I remembered those stories and then
shocked me when he said that it was here at Waterford that they had taken place. He had lived there from the age of 11 – 16 and
just gone ‘home’ to stay with foster parents in Stradbroke in Suffolk. He learned carpentry as a trade and left to become a
cabinetmaker in London before having to join the army in the Second World War.

After the war my father became an art teacher in a large north London secondary school but moved to Goldings when he saw a job
advertised there. He taught in the school block and ran the art classes. A small stained glass window remained above a window in
the main building for many years that was made by some of the boys. Reggie (?) painted the ceiling in the old conservatory until
damp destroyed it.

My father was instrumental in helping to create the Goldings pantomimes and many of the staff helped with costumes, make up and
other support. He painted all the back drops and helped to make the props. The pantos were a popular event for many years –
Snow White, Mother Goose, Robinson Crusoe and a special feature of songs that were performed at Barkingside.

We supported all the dances and nearly always attended chapel on Christmas morning; watched the school band march the boys
around the front lawn; saw father Christmas step out of the papered over fireplace and distribute presents and saw the Christmas
pudding being serenaded into the dining block in front of the big bass drum. In later years when very few boys remained at Goldings
over Christmas we would invite them into our home to spend it with our family.

He enjoyed a game of cricket and took part in matches against TV celebrities. All in all he was very keen to give the boys anything
that he thought would make their Goldings time more enjoyable and memorable. Later he became Headmaster of the school block
and was approached by Barnardos to take over the principal’s job when Mr Wheatley retired. His love of painting and the desire to
have the time and motivation for that made him turn it down.

Jo Griffiths nee Sheppard

My younger Sister says she doesn’t remember much of Goldings she was younger than us.
But she did come up with a couple of things that I had forgotten

My father and Bob Newton were good friends and they organised a lot of things together, Bob Newton ran the Verney
so when there were events there he would go along too. They also held dances and my sister remembers Bonfire Nights and the
Christmas card he made which I believe I found on your Website. Then there were Holidays which we as Kids also went on the
one my Sister remembered was in Scotland again with Bob Newton his family and ours We took a group of the boys to do their
Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. I remember trudging across Scottish mountains sweating in the heat and then ending up getting
lost in a forest. I also remember one other holiday which I think was in the Chiltern Hills camping in a field next to a wood.

C. Sheppard

Mr Sheppard’s children Steven, Josephine, and Christine, remember their father and his time at Goldings

Mr Sheppard and his wife Ray as they entered Goldings

Steven Sheppard recalls

Mr Sheppard Children remember