These memories of Chater School have been sent to Nostalgia by Barbara Sidebotham and her mother, Maureen Copeland, who both attended the Watford school.

Mrs Copeland writes: “I am Maureen Elizabeth Copeland, née Neale, and I can go back to January 1927 when I first set foot in Chater School, having been escorted there by my mother and older brother.

“My teacher was Miss Hutchinson and I played in the sand pit for quite some time after starting school.

“Teachers I remember are Miss Gaylor, who lived in Hagden Lane - she was an infant school teacher - and Miss Jump and Miss Naxton, who were junior school teachers.

“Miss Jump and Miss Naxton must have been very young when I was at school.

“On Thursdays I had violin lessons at lunchtime so my mother gave me a few pence to buy fish and chips after my lesson. Other days I went home to a stew my mother used to leave on the gas for me to eat.

“Sports day was held in the playground.

“My friends were Madge Hutchings, Kath Paver and Olive Batchelor.”

Here Mrs Copeland’s daughter, Barbara Sidebotham, recounts her own time at Chater School.

She said: “I joined Chater School in October 1949 aged five-and-a-half.

“I remember my first day at Chater very vividly because Miss Mason, the headmistress, wouldn’t allow me to sit with my older sister for lunch. I cried very loudly and was sent to stand in the hall on my own. I never got lunch that day.

“Miss James was my first teacher who allowed us to play with sand in the morning and then we had to lie down on the floor after lunch. I don’t think we learned much for the first few weeks.

“I remember Miss Green who taught me in the infants and saved me when I was ill in the outside toilets. I also remember Miss Gardener and Miss Offord. Miss Sennett became head in my last year of the infants.

“I also recall having to march round the playground carrying a Union Flag to celebrate Empire Day.

“Of the junior school, I remember having to huddle in the shed when it was raining for playtimes, looking at the eclipse supervised by Miss Naxton and a nature walk when Miss Naxton was admonished by the keeper of the watercress beds for climbing into them to catch tadpoles.

“Other teachers I remember are Miss Jump and Mr Warburton.

“When Chater School became co-ed I was in my final year and I remember having a crush on Mr Watson. Mr Arrighi coached us for swimming.”

What other memories of Chater School do former pupils have?