AFSOUTH Map

Here is a map of AFSOUTH can you find the school building? It's in the lower left of the screen.

Teachers

(Credit Susan nee Gates Dominy) I was in the same form at the school for the entire time I was there (from 1961 - 1965). There were a dozen children of assorted ages and nationalities: Serpil from Turkey and John Kumantarakis from Greece among others. I think English, Italian and French were the only subjects I was taught for all four years - I am not sure I actually went to a maths class after the first year. During the last year I spent a great deal of time supervising little kids and not much time being taught anything. It is hardly surprising that I remember little about any of the teachers - certainly none that taught any core subjects.

There was Lulu Bench, a wonderful cockney lady, who taught us cookery for a little while. Her husband, Bill, was a giant of a man who had a pair of miniature dachshunds that totally ruled his life. Lulu was an avid animal advocate and used to yell at locals who beat their poor old bag-of-bones donkeys up the hill where she lived (Via Oratzio). On one memorable occasion she got the whip away from one hapless man and gave him a good thrashing.

Freddy Andrew's father taught us ballroom dancing for a term or two. He had a broad Glaswegian accent and a limp. It was mostly girls dancing with girls and boys hanging around the edges wide-eyed with horror at the prospect of being pulled in to participate. I am not sure we got beyond waltzing before he gave up.

There was a rather sour faced old lady (she was probably 23 or 24) who taught us music among other things. I disliked her intensely and the feeling was heartily reciprocated. I don't know what I did to provoke her into whacking me over the knuckles with the THIN edge of a ruler, but I probably deserved it. I took my bruised hand home and my father went nuts. Mr. Brotherton appeared at the house that evening and Miss Sourface had gone by the end of the week. I didn't know whether to gloat or hide my face in shame for having been responsible for her dismissal. It was years later I learned that the incident had been used as an excuse to send her back to U.K. Apparently she had become a bit of an embarrassment to the British contingent - not a good representative of how a proper young lady should behave - turns out the girl knew how to party!

Writing Skills

One of the skills Headmaster Tucker tried to encourage in the students of the fourth form was original thought. He did this by assigning compositions all of which recorded in a bluebook identified as R.A.F. Form 619. Most college graduates would recognize this immediately as a bluebook. Unfortunately the paper in the books was not of the highest quality had a tendency to snag. As a result, at least in my case, the pen tip freshly dipped in ink well would always leave a very large smudgy drop. Fortunately the headmaster did not take off or poor penmanship. If there is an award for penmanship I most certainly would've won! Tucker would always read every composition and often will leave his comments in red pen along the side. Additionally he would check with a red or blue pencil indicating he read it. I include an example of one barely legible effort .

We often had to read our compositions out loud to the class. I did well for original ideas but spelling and neatness not so much. I must thank my mother for having hid my composition book away for all those years. It is clearly the worse for wear but may be the only surviving document from the school the year I attended.

Period Photos

While I have no pictures of the school of my own I recently obtained several pictures of Naples from the time I was in the school in recently uncovered family slides. Expect to see these in the next few weeks as I dig through them and convert to digital format.

It's nice to see new followers I would be pleased to offer all of you the opportunity to add your own memories to the blog. You can send them to me or post them on your own (let me know so I can set permissions).

More Pictures

Daphne provided more pictures and says of them, " These photos were taken on a day trip to Rome. We should have most of the names already from the previous school photos. The extra boy with glasses standing behind the bus is called John Morris. Also on the photo with Mr Brotherton, his wife is in front of him and to the right is Mrs Woods who was our Italian teacher. On the photo with me and another girl, she is the daughter of Mrs Woods."

A Floor Plan of the School

(click link for larger picture)

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v12/Lensman/?action=view&current=RAFSCHOOLJPG.jpg

This is a floor plan of the school from memory. I have no recall of how the first form was laid out but it did have a large number of nap mats.

The Headmasters office had thin wood walls and glass windows all the way around. The single chairs just outside of the head masters office was the holding area for naughty children.

Map reading

Flt LT Tucker would occasionally run out of planned lesson content even though he was always prepared. On one occasion, we finished the mathematics assignment with a hour to spare. The rest of the school was gainfully employed and we were not to be left to our own devices. Tucker left the room and came back with military maps and for the next hour we learned how to read contour lines and map symbols. We even leaned how to manage the magnetic deviation shown on the map to orient it with a compass. I still wonder if he did not plan it because we discovered that mathematics was good for something practical. It could be actually fun! Some of life’s most useful skills are learned by accident.