| In this eclectic and entertaining collection of papers,
poems, articles and correspondence, John Wilcox gives voice to a century of
schoolboys (now girls also), former pupils and teachers who, at one time or
another, shared the vicissitudes of life at Alleyn Court, a family run prep
school in Essex. More than a conventional history, Impressions of a
Family School is an evocation of an age seen through the eyes of
children and their teachers: their enthusiasms, innocence and
anxieties, their observations of a changing world and their cricket...
From a generation which sacrificed its innocence on the Somme to the
present day, the contributors report moments in one hundred years of Alleyn
Court - a school founded by the author's grandfather - and provide a
commentary on the wider world. There are entertaining (and not always
reverential) reports of former pupils, some of whom have achieved celebrity
status in later life, some who will be known only to their friends.
Many items from the school magazine are included as they would have
appealed, (and no doubt still appeal) to the humour of a pupil readership,
the parents and predecessors.
Above all Impressions of a Family School is an affectionate
tribute to schooldays, which will delight anyone who reads it.
Stephen Morris |
To order a copy of the book,
please download and print this form. |
