THE GATEWAY AT HATFIELD PEVEREL
On Saturday, July 2nd 1949 memories of war-time evacuation were recalled at Hatfield Peverel .
It was to this Essex village that the School journeyed on September 3, 1939, and remained there till January 1943. Those three and a half years brought many problems both to the people of Hatfield Peverel and to the visitors, but the problems were solved or forgotten, and what remains now is a very pleasant memory of co-operation and friendliness. A Gateway to the village recreation ground was presented by the School, and was formally handed over to the Hatfield Peverel Parish Council by the Head Master, Dr Emrys E. Jones. and Mrs.Jones. Members of the Staff during the evacuation, who had since retired took advantage of this day to renew their acquaintance with the village. Present, too, were a number of scholars and many Old Scholars who, as boys and girls, lived in Hatfield Peverel during the war and who wished to renew their friendship with their former hosts and hostesses. After an informal exchange of greetings, Colonel Parsons, on behalf of the Hatfield Peverel Parish Council, opened the proceedings. In recalling the war-time
evacuation, of which he gave some details, he spoke of the high morale, good discipline, and friendly spirit of the Trinity Grammar School boys and girls. What might have been a very difficult time for both sides became a striking example of mutual help and co-operation.
The Head Master expressed his appreciation of the many kindnesses shown to members of his School by the people of Hatfield Peverel. They were grateful for what had been done for them, and wished to express their gratitude in some tangible form. After much consideration, this gateway had seemed to them all the best symbol of their thanks, and it gave him great pleasure that afternoon to present them with its key. When the people of Hatfield Peverel passed through that gateway to enjoy the pleasures of their recreation ground, he hoped they would recall that war-time period of helpfulness and kindliness-a kindliness which might be regarded as the gateway to some of the deepest and finest pleasures of life.
A speech was demanded from Mr L. A. Swinden, B.Sc., to whose untiring efforts and inexhaustible patience when in charge of the School at Hatfield Peverel much of the success of the evacuation was due. Mr Swinden, who was on the friendliest terms with everybody at Hatfield Peverel, spoke seriously for a moment or two in the same vein, and then restored the light-hearted mood by referring to his motor-bicycle, which still worked perfectly, thought not so liable now to startle quiet Essex byways.
Then Mr Claydon, Chairman of the Parish Council, formally accepted the gateway on behalf of Hatfield Peverel. He, too, recalled the war years, with their difficulties and problems now so largely forgotten, but with their spirit of friendship so happily remembered now. The gateway would be a permanent Memorial to that spirit. The stay of the Wood Green children in their village would be long remembered. He was happy to accept the gateway on behalf of the people of Hatfield Peverel. It would be the pleasure and the duty of the Parish Council to maintain the gate and to see that it was used in the proper way.
Then a move was made to the gate itself. There a final speech was made. It was by Mrs Wilkinson, the only woman member of the Parish Council, who spoke for the housewives of Hatfield Peverel. The evacuation had not been an easy time for them, but its difficulties had been overcome and she was happy that the work of the housewives of her village was so greatly appreciated.
With that final remark, Mrs Wilkinson unlocked the gate, the crowd passed through, and in a few minutes the singing of the National Anthem brought the ceremony to an end. Held in brilliant sunshine, the proceedings were marked by the greatest good humour and cordiality. One note remains. Nothing was said about the design of the gateway. It should be recorded that it is a replica of the entrance gate to the School playground in Wood Green.
60 years on, on September 3rd 1999, another coach from Wood Green with old Scholars and their friends and families arrived in Hatfield Peverel on a trip organised by former evacuee Ken Coleman (sadly no longer with us), to present a plaque to be mounted on the gateway in remembrance of the School’s close association with the village.
The plaque reads :
Trinity County School, Wood Green, London
was evacuated to Hatfield Peverel for most of
the 1939-45 War
We received a warm welcome and generous hospitality
This gate was presented as a visible token of our thanks.
Almost 70 years on, on the 22nd April 2009, 12 members of the Old Scholars Association attended a buffet lunch at the Wheatsheaf in Hatfield Peverel, followed by another trip down Memory Lane, and to renew our longstanding friendship with the village
