Further to the conversation I had with Geoff Hill at the School Reunion 2007, I hope the school gets around to fully restoring the the Tom Cowan (1970) memorial gates entrance to the school garden. Geoff H. - my restoration offer remains open if you wish.

Former pupils who lived near, and/or attended St. Peter’s may be interested to know that Ron Jeffries has produced a fine history of the church in a delightful little booklet, lavishly illustrated with colour photographs. It is selling for only £1.50 and will be on sale at the Flower Festival where Christmas Cards featuring his photos of the church will also be available.

The booklet is on sale at £1.50 per copy. All profits on the sale will go to St. Peter’s Church.
Copies may be ordered from Ron Jeffries, 37 Spearpoint Gardens, Aldborough Road North, Aldborough Hatch, ILFORD, Essex IG2 7SX (TEL: 020 8599 7250).
Cheques should be made payable to St. Peter’s Church. Please add postage within the UK as follows: one/two copies – 24p; three/four copies – 40p; five/six copies – 60p.
St. Peter's BROADSHEET may be viewed at http://www.stpetersah.org.uk/

I would like to give a big thank you to all of my teachers at William Torbitt: Mrs Mullinger, Ms Moseley, Mrs Blaize, Ms England, Mr Harris, Mrs Dignon, Mr Bell and Mrs Kay. Every staff personnel helped in my steps to secondary school.

Hi Miss Moseley, Mrs Blaize and Miss Reynolds! I am doing great in my first year at ICHS, the schoolwork is quite fun and i am learning a lot. I always think about William Torbitt and i miss the school but i am very happy at ICHS.

sincere best wishes to Pauline who does such a magnificent job creating and maintaining this web site. Happy 60th tomorrow!

A photograph of the grave at Barkingside-Old cemetery, Longwood Gardens, Barkingside has now been added to the Findagrave website http://www.findagrave.com/

I am surprised to find no mention of Mrs. Swain anywhere on this site (or if there is, I have missed it). She taught the senior class, the 10-year-olds, during the war years. She was the best teacher I ever came across. She really knew how to inspire her pupils and to encourage them in all sorts of interests. I heard of her again several years later in 1953. I was abroad at the time, and my mother told me she had met her. I believe she had retired by then.

I was so sorry to have missed that opportunity to meet up with some of the ex class mates I saw in your photos I will be in England next year to see my family I hope to visit the old school then. Thanks for all the memories I played Boots in a Christmas Panto during the early fifties cant remember the date but it did lead to real theatre work and some TV here in NZ Thank you. John

I was particularly pleased that three of my classmates who had missed the Diamond Jubilee party because I hadn’t traced them in time, came along on 9th September-Alan Nicholls, John Beard and Stephen Foster. Stephen Foster and I had been pals at school; he had a Post Office account with about seventy pounds in- that was a lot of money then! Each weekend, he would raid it and we would spend Saturdays and Sundays going up to London on the tube to visit all the museums, Cathedrals and places of historic interest. He came along on the 9th with that very Post Office book.

One of the photographs shows my wife and me with Peter Young. Also in the photograph are Marlon Barrow (7) my grandson (on the left) who is now a pupil at the school, with his mother (second from left) Heather Barrow, my daughter, who was also at the school. So this shot shows three generations of the same family all at the Torbitt - Ron Jeffries went there in 1937, Heather Barrow (nee Jeffries) in 1971 and Marlon Barrow in 2005). Ron Jeffries TEL: 020 8599 7250 Email: ronjeffries@hotmail.com