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We went back to school after there was a notice in the paper. I don’t think we went back to the Capelles, but I do know we went to tearooms at the Picquerel, right at the end of Grand Havre, by the Salvation Army fortress as it is now. Our classes were all dispersed. I think there were 2 classes at the tearooms and there were some down at Salem. I know that we went later on to Ker Maria with several classes and then we went for a short time to a little room by the Catholic chapel at St Magloire, there was one class there I went to. Then we went to a place called the Salines, which was quite a large house up at Claque, and from there I went to Grand Maison at the bottom of the Rue Sauvage, Roussel’s vinery.

The schools were dispersed. The Germans had taken over the main school as a dormitory, or barracks I suppose. They turfed everyone out of the schools and we were dispersed, which was marvellous, because you got to know friends without the problems of big schools and knowing people, and as you moved on a year you went to another house, the schools were just rooms in the houses. The tearooms were a school for about 8 months and then the Germans decided they wanted those as well so we were turfed out of there.

The teachers moved around with the class. It must have been very hard for them, they could not move around, you had the same teacher for all the subjects. Whether this was normal or not I don’t know. The school was divided up for the whole of the Occupation. The first time I went to a ‘proper’ school was when I passed to the Intermediate, which was at Burnt Lane, and that was the first time I had seen lots of classes and lots of teachers all in the same place.
MALCOLM WOODLAND

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