As it was in the beginning… Retired Police Superintendent Adrian Sawyer 1953-1960 looks back to 1953, when he joined the School in Broad Street on a scholarship, to recall cherished memories and his gratitude for the opportunities and experiences that have shaped his life.
Above: Broad Street painting by SW Tart; The Schoolroom at Broad Street
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OElink magazine 2021
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utumn Term ‘53 at KES began on Wednesday 16 September and my mother, a seamstress at Titley, Son and Price in Cheap Street, had taken the morning off. We walked up Broad Street, past St Michael’s Church, The Saracen’s Head and Payne’s boot and shoe shop, soon reaching the entrance to Powells’ Yard. Powells made sweets! Next building on our left was King Edward’s School and, after a peck on the cheek followed by ‘Good luck, Son’, I stepped nervously through the gates, climbed the steps and entered the centuries-old doors at the left-hand end of ‘Broad Street’. After descending narrow stairs to the basement, I climbed the main staircase to the First Form classroom where Mr Willett, Second Master, was waiting to welcome boys from the Prep School and six or so new boys from local authority schools. Ewart Willett – ‘Pop’ Willett to the boys – was to be my Form Master and for the next five years he and Old Edwardian ‘Bill’ Burden would teach me Latin. I was amongst the cadre of new boys (‘scholarship boys’), having passed the Eleven Plus examination whilst at Widcombe School and then survived an interview with the Headmaster, the indomitable H M Porter. He taught English from Vth Form level and read Chaucer to us in medieval English, translating for us as he went. But this was later – I must return to ‘the beginning’. I knew not a word of French or Latin and soon encountered the first conundrum in a bewildering day. ‘Pop’ Willett led the way to Big School and seated the ‘First Years’ on the front desks. He left us in the care of Prefects – Head Boy was C R Chandler – and returned to the front hall, where he joined the waiting procession of masters. They soon entered Big School, gowns swirling, some getting caught on the vintage 1754 desks. There were prayers by HMP then Chandler rose and went to the lectern. He called the register at break-neck speed and shouts of ‘Adsum’ echoed around Big School. Believing that the responses were the
