13 lines
1.5 KiB
Text
13 lines
1.5 KiB
Text
[chris-before]
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== Chris Before
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I grew up in a pretty conservative, middle-class home. We went to the local Methodist church (Saint Andrew's Worcester) on a Sunday, then went to my Grandparents for lunch. When I was 6, we moved down near Gatwick Airport. At this point we never joined a new church, but that never troubled any of us. We just continued with our standard, middle-class lives.
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My mum always had ideas that I should go to really good (also know as private) school. After looking at a few, my parents sent me to Great Walstead School, near Haywards Heath. As an aside, I am absolutely convinced this school was at least a major inspiration for Lindbury Court School in the Jennings novels.
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Initially I went to Great Walstead as a day pupil - it was only 15 minutes away after all. I started there the summer of the 1987 storm that destroyed a huge number of trees in South-East England. I did four terms as a day pupil before my standard middle-class lifestyle was shaken to its core.
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The following Summer, when I was 10 years old, we went on holiday to Greece and that was effectively the end of my parents marriage. As a result I returned to Great Walstead that September as a boarder.
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Great Walstead was (and is) an amazing school that stands out from others in many ways. It is settled in the heart of "The Weald" in West Sussex amongst a couple of hundred acres of woodland. This woodland played an integral part of our school life. Yes results and grades mattered, but they tell only a small part of the story of life at Walstead.
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