UNBELIEVABLE

Yes, there was arrests made for prostitution during the closing years of the school. I won't say which (AHEM) young lady and her friends were involved, however as all old boys will remember, there was only 1 place you could find girls, close to the school. Try to remember... Go on. If you can't I will e-mail you with the name, you'll kick yourselves. (There is no way I am getting into an argument with Norfolk farmers about publishing their daughters name in the website)

Yes, there were arrests made for (ahem again) being over fond of spanking boys. Mr Burton went 'inside' for being a bad lad, as did a couple of others. Mr Slade had a collection of whips and belts on his wall, and would let boys select their punishment 'weapon'.

Food poisoning DID happen a few times, and here is the reason why: If you remember all the lush greenery all around the school, where Mr. Chainey used to grow fresh veg, you will probably also remember that WE never got to eat it. That tight fisted ownder of the school had it all sold, whilst we ate frozen veg' and meat, supplemented every night with vitamins from the school matron.

There were beating performed with the school oar. Teachers who did this were Mr Burton and Mr Slade. Mr Kaufmann had a shoe leather sole that he preferred to use.

(recollection) I remember getting the slipper once from Mr. Slade (not in any of the pictures) whom I believe was one of at least four "deviant" staff of that school. He had leather whips on his walls for Pete's sake!!! And if I remember correctly, every Prefects had to have a name for him to give the slipper to at the end of each day that he was supervising..........that...is not normal.

The Holly bush. It was a school tradition to be thrown, often with some force, into the school holly bush on your birthday, and how we would all envy boys with a birthday in the school holidays, however once you were over 14, on your birthday you got thrown into the school pond. A massive 20" long ornamental pond, filled with water lilies. Often boys would run away when faced with this. Then the other boys would be encouraged to chase down the boy, often with the help of the teachers, and would, or course, get hurled in.

The main classroom for the Junior school, was linked to Mr Burton's office (deputy head and sadistic pervert) by a thin partition wall. When a boy was due for punishment we would all have to be quiet, and you could hear the crying and screaming from the other side of the wall.

What was it all about, all that lining up? We had to form lines for every meal, for assembly, for classes, even for supper. I suppose it was the military ethos of the people who ran the place. Only when you became a prefect could you avoid lining up. It is interesting to think of the ways our time was so regulated at DHS. It was more like the philosophy of the armycamp or prison than a school.I suppose they were more interested in control than education. (CS)

Someone mentioned the strange and painful toilet paper. I think it was called Jays Cloth and you cause yourself considerable soreness if you were not careful with it. The worst thing was if you were in the toilet for something serious and a prefect wanted in. We had no right to a leisurely toilet in those days. Come to think of it not much has changed as my 5-year-old won't let alone nowadays either! (CS)

When I was at the school there were two Turkish boys, sons of generals in the Turkish army, sent to get a top hole British education. They could speak no English, so ,of course, we helped them. When they came to class on the first day, the teacher asked something like Good Morning to them and they replied "Thank you fucking much, sir". Of course we taught them all kinds of slang. The other interesting thing was that they had never seen the sea. When they first saw it they went crazy and jumped in with all their clothes on. (CS)

Boys used to often try to escape into the woods on the walk to church on sundays. It was vaguely remimiscent of the old Paul Newman movie "Cool Hand Luke", with the prefects and teachers (the guards) trying to stop those of us on the chaingang from making a bid for freedom from religion. This was mainly because the service was long and boring. On other occasions, boys who were homesick or being bullied used to do a bunk. They were sometimes found miles away. The only person who really got out was Kenny Heyscot. Kenny was your original skinhead, Doc Martins, no hair, the lot. One meal time, Kenny had an argument with Ivor Powell. Ivor made a run for it, and Kenny whiped out a flickknife and threw it at Ivor. It flew over the the assembled diners and sunk into the door by Ivor's head vibrating dramatically. For this Kenny achieved the remarkable feat of getting himself expelled from DHS. Jammy sod! (CS)

The food was so bad that some prefects bought Pot Noodles into school, and tried to make them with hot tapwater. Needless to say extreme sickness followed.

The school academic record was so bad that in 1978-79 only 1 boy managed 1 O Level.

During periods when the school term clashed with busy holiday times, we were not allowed to use the main field, as the school owner rented it out to caravans.

We had to do the cross country run from the age of 7. The entire course was about 4 miles or so.

(MORE TO FOLLOW SOON)