Down Memory Lane

We are always pleased to reconnect with Old Bordenians from whom we have not heard from in a while.  Dennis Fowle was at the School 1945-51 and as we reconnected, offered this thoughtful look at the standards back in the day:

"Is the General Certificate of Education (GCSE) easier or more difficult for students than the General School Examination (GSE) it replaced in 1988 in many schools?

I certainly am not brave enough to offer an opinion – but I can offer a few of the questions I had to tackle in the summer of 1950 at Borden Grammar School.

Thank you to Philip Drury (At School 1966 -73) for sending in his reworking of Adlestrop by Edward Thomas which reflects his memories of travelling to/from Sheppey on the train.

Dr Nigel Dickson (BGS 1968-1975) has provided us with an aerial view of Sittingbourne in 1964, which includes the school, originally published in the Kent Messenger. 

We often reflect on the adversity facing us in the current times and note the upheaval for the School and its students during the pandemic.  It is therefore timely to be reminded of a perhaps more disruptive upheaval when the School was evacuated during the Second World War. 

Steve Crump (1976 – 1982) contacted us to recount a unique story about Bryan's disciplinary approach.

In May 2020 we put up a photo of Form 4A of 1967 from Graham Harris. Brian Good (1964-69) has been in touch to provide a few further names to the list!

A recent article appeared in the Sittingboune local paper recalling an article from 75 years ago detailing the 1945 OBA dinner.

In September we published articles detailing the early life and school memories of Ron Swan, who attended the School 1936-1941. Ron's family have now provided a further and final instalment bringing us up to date with Ron, likely our oldest living Old Bordenian. 

Ronald_Swan_P3.docx

We recently published some pre-war memories of Ron Swan (1936-41) and we now publish the next phase of his time at the School, which includes evacuation to Pengam in South Wales. We are grateful, once more, for Ron for sharing these.