Following the 11 plus exam I started at Watford Central School in the first year intake of August 1947. At the end of my third year, mid 1950, we pupils simply closed our books, dried our pens, and with absolutely no ceremony whatsoever moved to Bushey Grammar School, starting the new term in September 1950.
It was as simple as that, all the traditions painfully evolved and ingrained within this ancient establishment were dissolved at a stroke.
The building for the new Bushey Grammar School was started just before the war and suspended at first floor level for the duration.
In 1948 construction resumed and was almost finished when we moved in. As I recall we were given an extra two weeks holiday to allow the builders time to get the roof on.
Some of the outbuildings were still at the foundation stage, and for a long time we ate our school dinners on folding tables in the corridor. Nevertheless it was a splendid light and spacious building and to the credit of all rapidly became an excellent grammar school.
What surprised us at the time was that only two or three teachers at the Central School moved with us to the new school. The headmaster, Mr Lilliman, retired and the remainder of the staff presumably retired or found employment elsewhere. In turn the name Bushey Grammar vanished, suffering its demise in the mad rush for comprehensive education.
From the front the building appears unchanged and is now called Queens School. It is located on the north west side of Aldenham Road, about 500 yards before the junction with Bushey Mill Lane going towards the A41.
One of the most impressive features of the old Central School was the huge gilt lettered oak panelled honours boards bearing the names of all the head boys and girls, and of those bright enough to matriculate, right back to the year dot.
Could the boards still be there? Today the school exterior remains virtually unchanged, having escaped the ravages of redevelopment in Derby Road, at least for now. It presently bears the name Watford Central Primary School.
In my day the Central School playing fields were located in Greatham Road almost opposite the Meltonian Wren "Cobra" works, recently revisited in these columns. You always knew where you were by the pungent smell of polish solvents which permeated the cricket pavilion and the surrounding countryside.
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