Charney Hall School, Grange-over-Sands

It was after Sunday lunch, sweets in hand, that we had time set aside to write home.  “ Dear Mum and Dad,  Thanks for sending me this week’s Eagle comic. At 4.5d it is good value and I really enjoy reading about Dan Dare and the Mekon, that green man with a big green head. We played football against Rossall this Saturday and got thrashed 4-0 as usual and I met the great Stanley Matthews. He is their coach now as he plays for Blackpool.* Courtesy Daily Mail I’ve cut my middle finger on my left hand. We were chopping up matchsticks with chisels in the joinery shed and I was about to pick up some when Milburn’s chisel missed a matchstick and stabbed me instead. He didn’t mean to but Mr Hirst had to take me to the doctors in Cartmel and I had one stitch in it. The cut was very long and extended from my knuckle to the tip of my finger. Mr Duncan was incandescent but I told him it wasn’t Milburn’s fault. It’s now bandaged up with a splint so I’ll have to write with

Charney Hall Old Boys - Published Articles John Michael Castle, dentist and angler https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/tributes-pour-in-for-much-loved-dentist-1-1166711 Derek V Alexander http://www.hambo.org/kingscanterbury/view_man.php?id=6 Arthur Adolph Baerlein https://gw.geneanet.org/pfdm?lang=en&pz=israel&nz=fleischmann&ocz=1&p=arthur+adolph&n=baerlein Charney Hall Old Boys - War Records Hubert Podmore https://www.masonicgreatwarproject.org.uk/legend.php?id=2440 https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/13040 Thomas Haworth Preston http://www.cpgw.org.uk/soldier-records/thomas-haworth-preston/ Philip Overend Simpson http://www.winchestercollegeatwar.com/archive/simpson-philip-overend/

Updated Sept 2021 Updated July 2023  Being sent away to boarding school was a baptism of fire. For the majority of new boys who were usually no more than 8 years old, it was most probably their first experience of being separated from their parents and it could prove traumatic. The first two weeks were the worst when feeling homesick and losing sleep could lead to emotional upset which in turn could be manifested in a physical form: crying, wetting the bed, irregular bowel movements...... A watchful eye was kept on all new boys by Matron who was well briefed at spotting any potential problems. Even Barbara Duncan, the headmaster’s wife was known to occasionally show compassion and reveal the maternal side of her character.* However after parents had said their goodbyes, depositing your trunk packed full of crisply ironed school clothes, neatly labelled by your Mum, the school timetable took over and life followed a predetermined set pattern - meals, lessons, sport, homework

Gary Wolstenholme MBE (1960-   ) Professional Golfer Attended Charney Hall 1967- Gary’s mother was matron at Charney Hall between ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Wolstenholme

Rev 26 Feb 2023 : Mr Vanderkist’s photo added Rev 13 Mar 2024 : Photo of Shooting Range added        Charney Hall, Grange-over-Sands, a Preparatory School - Part 1 I was there between 1953-58. To some, the masters, the end of WW2 must have seemed just like yesterday but to me as a boy of 9, dressed in my new school outfit - a Charney Hall cap, grey wool suit, white shirt, maroon tie and snake clasped striped belt, it was a generation away.  I remember the school with both affection and trepidation, with its limestone buildings, its location at the top of Charney Well Lane with a magnificent view south over Morecambe Bay, the giant monkey puzzle tree on the left of the beech hedged drive, the smell of cut grass , the inspiring sunsets over Morecambe Bay, the tidal bore, the walks along the promenade and through the ornamental gardens and on Hampsfell, Ruth the cook, Charlie and Herbert the gardeners, slugs and countless greenflies in the lettuce, picking red berries