[Picture courtesy of Herb Symonds, Old Pastonian]

After registration each day, the scholars would make their way, Form by
Form, across the School Yard to the Assembly Hall for the morning service.
It was a light, airy building with a high roof and at the opposite end to the above view was an organ loft from which Mr Cutting provided a musical
accompaniment to the singing of psalms and hymns of the day. Our
proudest boast, Horatio Nelson, and our Founder, Sir William Paston,
gazed down approvingly upon the assembly from their lofty positions high
up on the walls.

“The Headmaster swept in through the door on the left of the stage and
took up up their positions with Mr Marshall at the central lectern. In front
of the stage stood the head boy and a row of prefects facing the rest of the
school, which was lined up with the lower forms at the front and so on.
We started with a short prayer, then a Psalm, followed by a reading from
the Bible by the Headmaster or his deputy. Sometimes the head boy, with
two gold bands on the cuff of his blazer, would read the lesson instead. Then we sang a Hymn: Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, a good
rousing hymn which we all liked! Followed by a ‘pep’ talk from the
Headmaster who always had plenty to say, it seemed! ”

At lunchtimes, the Assembly Hall became the School Canteen and a serving
hatch was thrown open on the right-hand side of the hall. The food was of
dubious quality, though nourishing, although soggy cabbage and runny
swede seemed to be the order of the day. Chips with everything? Not in
those days!

“We sat down on the hard wooden benches provided, it was like a picture out of a Charles Dickens’ novel, with our plate of unidentifiable food which
we were expected to eat. For ‘afters’ we had plums and custard, which was
good as, using our spoons as catapults, we propelled the stones at some
unsuspecting boy on another table.”

The Masters also ate in the canteen, having a table to themselves high up on
the stage, possibly thus situated to keep an eye on the pitched battle going on
below, as more plums stones rained down than arrows at the Battle of
Agincourt!

“On each table, boys were appointed to clear away, scraping leftovers onto
a single plate (difficult with so many leftovers!), and to gather up the
cutlery and the water beakers. Some boys would deliberately leave water
in the bottom of their beakers, placing another inside it and giving it a
good wallop, drenching all those around!”

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