In 1946 the school was run by the Controller Captain Slimming, and his wife who
acted as matron (It is interesting to note that he insisted he was Controller and
not headmaster -
In the first world war Slimming had been a 2nd Lieutenant in the 25th Divisional Cycling Corps, then a Captain in the Royal West Surrey Regiment, finally a Captain in the RAF.
Slimming’s wife died in about 1947 but he soon married the new matron, Miss Rankin. Slimming was a tyrant and beat any erring boys with a cane or heavy leather strap on the hands or bare buttocks. The school was assembled to witness these beatings.
In general the school was run more like a prison than a comforting home for boys who had recently lost their fathers and none of whom wanted to be there.
The cook , Mrs Doyle, produced food that was absolutely awful. Ghastly Spam (with gristly inserts) and rotten Polish eggs were often on the menu. The quality of the eggs didn’t improve much when the lion quality scheme was introduced. Boys ate great quantities of bread and jam. Meat was always 90% gristle. Sunday lunch was usually cold grisly mutton, nasty tasting mashed potato and yellow piccalilli pickle.
There was no formal education at the castle at the start. Boys went to normal day
schools in the district. Pre -
Every month under Capt.Slimming’s regime the boys had a shoe inspection. If he considered that a boy had unduly worn the soles or bent down the backs, then the boy was whacked across the head with the shoe.
Slimming’s shoes were always highly polished.
On one occasion the boys in the Salmond dorm were making a great din after lights
out. The boys in the adjacent Tedder dorm, maturer by a couple of years, were talking
reasonably among themselves, when the door opened and Captain entered. These older
boys were in mortal fear, but he simply said, "Keep on talking," and crept on his
knees across Tedder floor so as not to be seen through the glass window of the swing-
