Residents were treated to an entertaining and informative presentation on Thursday evening by Peter Ibett, archivist of the Old Masonians Association. Peter is an old boy of the Royal Masonic School for Boys which used to occupy Royal Connaught Park from the turn of the century until 1977.
The School was founded to provide education for sons of freemasons who died or became impoverished. Its sister school the Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth is still thriving to this day and Peter talked about some of the items which used to be here, such as the War Memorial at the top of the drive and the Charity statue from the stairs in JFK, which have been moved to the girls' school so that they can be preserved safely.
Life at School was very different in the 1960s when Peter was a pupil. He explained that the underground subways, which can still be explored today, were originally to allow the maidservants to move around the school without encountering the boys. Quite what harm a chance meeting would have done is anybody's guess! In like fashion when married housemasters were permitted in the latter years of the School, the washing lines for their houses were hidden from view in case the sight of ladies' under-garments caused hysteria among the boys.
The talk enlightened us all about the rich history which this development enjoys and we can now look upon our homes with a different perspective of how they were used in times gone by. We are extremely grateful to Peter for giving up his time to come and talk to us and we hope to see him around in the future. Thanks also to Trevor Sherling and his committee for arranging this event and to all the many residents who turned up to make this such a successful evening.
