Blue skies

Steve Moody: … for starters, how about watching Spitfires and

Messerschmits flying over during the summer of 1969 as the film ‘Battle of Britain’ was being shot at Duxford? I work for easyJet at Luton as a Boeing 737 Captain, having been an Air Traffic Controller for many years after being thrown out of the School, switching to full time professional flying in the mid 1980s.

Angus Willson:You have given a great example of what I had in mind.

I certainly do remember the Battle of Britain planes overhead and cycling to Duxford to see the ground film-sets. I have attached two pictures, but how they came about is a bit vague – I guess I was present when they were hand-processed by Peter Clifford or Christopher Prince.

I also remember when a proto-type Concorde flew very low over the school. We were fifteen minutes from the end of an exam in the New/Essex block and the room emptied spontaneously to go outside and see it.

Fiona Wood [Adler]: Wasn’t it always hot in the summer in the old days? …memories of sitting out on the field after exams listening to “In the Summertime”.

Shân Lancaster [Poynder]: The ice cream kiosk on the edge of the field. Weren’t we running it the year of decimalisation? I remember being left in charge of it with all this funny money….

Geoff Barnard: I worked in the Ice Cream kiosk two summer’s running. We got paid virtually nothing, so must have been doing it in a vain attempt to gain status or free ice cream. There was one famous incident where the takings didn’t add up properly, which was traced to the cash bag being dropped in the lower playground en route to the office, and some of the money mysteriously rolling down the drain.  Honest guv!

Christine Brown, Gill Kruger [Price], Steve Pitcher, Simon Colbeck – serving tea, I think.

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