THE splendid old Accrington Grammar School has gone but the memories are imperishable. Mine, from my arrival in 1939 to leaving in 1946, include two remarkable headmasters - the illustrious Dr C W Edkins, who mysteriously 'glided' along corridors as though on castors; 'Ben' Johnson, a perfectionist musician who was habitually appalled at our imperfect performance of morning assembly hymns.

I also remember the large chunks of classroom ceiling plaster which fell periodically and yet, incredibly, killed nobody; pupils' all-too-rare visits to the 'cinema' in Room 19, where we were entertained to such delights as: 'The Life of a Newt,' a visit to the Norwegian Viking Museum (filmed on holiday by Dr Edkins himself but so dimly illumined that no-one could distinguish the famous Viking longboat).

There was a long-promised film of the Manchester Ship Canal which jammed so frequently in the ancient projector that it had to be abandoned, largely unshown. But then - joy of joys! - as a bonus, an excerpt from Will Hay's 'Boys Will Be Boys.' The annual speech day, atmospheric amid its multi-coloured sea of hoods, gowns and house blazer colours, in Accrington Town Hall, was memorable always for our rendering of the school song, with its gently pretentious words and formidable tune.

In my day, there was no palatial library, no spacious hall and stage, no enormous sports hall, no arts theatre, no language laboratories, no careers suits - but a dedicated, gifted staff, first-rate teaching, disciplined study and an enviable record of university entrance.

These and many other qualities make me proud to be an 'old Accringtonian.'

NORMAN OLIVE, Willis Road, Feniscliffe, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.