Gerry rekindles school memories
10th March 2009
Gerry Hughes, born in St Michael's Close Lyneham during September 1955, who is currently working for BBC Radio Swindon and BBC Radio Wiltshire, took the opportunity to revisit Lyneham Primary School, to rekindle fond memories of his childhood days when the infants school first opened. Gerry's father, was the first caretaker at Lyneham Infants School, when it opened on 6th September 1965 and was previously also at the Junior School as caretaker since 1953. Gerry remembers the early days of his school life, as if they were only yesterday.

A visit was arranged between Andy Humm, web designer to Lyneham Village website, and School Business Manager Mrs Kate McFarlane, to allow Gerry to reminisce about the past and see how the school has developed since his father left the caretaker's post in 1981.

Gerry who currently broadcasts on BBC local radio started his first steps with radio, by doing some recordings in his bedroom at the caretakers School Bungalow, which was built at the same time as the school opened.

Gerry progressed onto Swindon Hospital Radio in 1974, where he created a soap called "Acrebury". He voiced all of the characters, many of which were inspired by local people that he had met in his first job at an agricultural company. It ran for eleven years. Gerry joined BBC Wiltshire Sound, as it was called then, in 1988. He was asked to resurrect his soap in 1994 where it ran for six years, and 1,558 episodes, gaining him a Guinness World Record. His ability to voice characterise 85 plus voices led him to perform characters in tapes of short stories and radio drop-ins.

When the Infants School opened, there were ten teaching staff, lead by headmistress Miss Vicky Parr, who spent the first day of term getting the newly built school ready for the children to start the next day. There was so much preparation to be done, unpacking and cleaning the building, by a dedicated team to get conditions right for the regular school children and 53 newcomers who were enrolled the next day. Being a new build the central heating was turned on early to assist with drying the plaster and cement work, to remove the damp feeling for the children.

A few months ago, while we were compiling a profile of Gerry Hughes for this website, we suggested to him that we would arrange a visit to the school as there have been some major changes since he left the bungalow in 1981, including the amalgamation in September 2007 of the former Infant and Junior Schools into the newly named Lyneham Primary School. Gerry has driven past the school on many occasions visiting local friends in the village and noticed how much the school has changed externally by the newly built link building which has recently been completed.

Stepping into the new entrance to the Primary School, Mrs Kate McFarlane greeted Gerry, before he started revisiting the classrooms, corridors and offices around the new and older parts of the school. Memories came flooding back straight away as Gerry recalled the school smell had not changed, he said " I am amazed the smell of the school is the same as when I was here all those years ago, the smell of books and school paint was so distinctive"

Gerry was reminiscing and was enthusiastic about the way the school has developed and proudly showed his personal photographs of his mother and father to school teachers and spoke about his early days here. He proudly told teachers that the school traditions have not changed and mentioned that the school was well known at Wiltshire County Council for being a very proud and clean school, something that has not changed today. He did mention that his mother and father, keen gardeners, would probably dislike the change as much of their vegetable plots have made way for additional classrooms and office facilities. The number of children attending the school has grown quite condsiderably since its inception, hence the building expansion.

Old cupboards have been altered into new rooms, dividing walls knocked down and some Pratten style classrooms removed. The old staff rooms had been changed and classrooms were generally the same. But the children today seem so small in comparison to then as he has grown taller since his first days here. He recalled the cloakrooms were exactly the same, with rows of metal pipe railings supporting coat hooks, with metal grill cages underneath and a small bench for the children's shoes and sports wear.

A strong memory that triggered shivers down the spine and made hairs raise on the back of the neck, was when Gerry recalled the former Headmaster Mr Phillips name when entering his former office. A disciplinarian and 'old school style' gentleman, tall with tight curled hair, often seen smoking a pipe was renown for his strictness in his school master days. Gerry remembered him very well and the current staff mentioned sometimes in the corridors and his old office there is a strong smell of pipe smoke in the room. These strange experiences are supported by the current caretaker's wife who mentioned while locking up the school one evening she also could smell the pipe smoke and she thought there was a strange presence of someone else in the room. Was it Mr Phillips, returning to spread an eerie ghost throughout the school rooms, we don't know but it's a mystery!

Gerry and Mrs McFarlane spent time painstakingly looking through old registers, log books and artifacts to refresh names of the previous staff and pupils. Various names triggered fond memories of friendships and some of the staff who worked at the school. He was introduced to one of the cleaning staff who has worked at the school for over 21 years and they shared memories of the bygone days. Equally, Gerry spent some time revisiting his old bungalow, located in the school boundaries, to speak the current caretaker's wife Mrs Lisa Brown and she gladly showed Gerry around the property to share his memories of his early recording days in his back bedroom.

Gerry summed up his afternoon visit "I had a great afternoon with so many memories flooding back of my time at the school as a pupil and living there.  One thing that struck me was that the Junior School had exactly the same smells that I remember !!!""

We would like to express our thanks to Mrs Kate McFarlane for sparing the time to allow Gerry to share his memories at Lyneham Primary School and Mrs Brown for welcoming Gerry to the Caretaker's Bungalow.