Schooldays memory of when Frank met Len
As the new pupils arrived rather nervously on their first day at a Shropshire school, which was itself new, they were greeted and directed by the head boy, who would become famous.
Our feature telling the story of the D-Day experiences of Len Murray, who became the general secretary of the TUC in the 1970s and 1980s, has prompted veteran journalist Frank Fuller to get in touch to tell us about his schooldays encounter with Len.
Frank, who is 89 and lives in Market Drayton, said: "I went to Wellington Grammar School at the start of the new term in September 1940.
"The school – what had been the Boys' High School – had moved from the premises in King Street to the new buildings in Golf Links Lane, where the new grammar school for boys was created in 1940.
"The war was on, of course. The building was more or less finished but still needed work to be done on it when I got there as a new boy in September 1940.
"When I arrived Murray, who I was told was head boy, was directing new boys. There were two classrooms for new boys and he was directing operations along with the prefects – you know, where your peg was in the cloakroom, and things like that.
"He was not known as Len then. He was Lionel Murray and he was in the sixth form.
"I lived in Wellington and as I came up to the school with other boys from my area I thought he was a master. He would be 18 or approaching 18, and I was only 10.
"Although I didn't get to know him at all, we respected him at a distance, as he was head boy and of course senior prefect. He never had to discipline me.
"The prefects wore light blue caps with 'WGS' on them while we wore navy blue caps with light blue bands around them."
He recalled that Len lived at Hadley.
Frank said the class system at the grammar school was unusual.
"I wouldn't be adamant about it, but I think it started off with Form 2, and was then 3, Remove, and then 4th Form.
"The headmaster was Mr N.A. York Lodge. The deputy head was the head of history Mr Martin, who was known as Cassy Martin. Mr York Lodge was followed by Mr Cloke, who was followed by Mr J.P. Thorp – these were the three headmasters during the war years.
"As younger masters were called up, they were followed by women teachers, which was simply unique for the grammar school. Because of the war there were women teachers present from 1940. I remember one of them was Miss Alban."
Frank says he thinks that had the new buildings at Golf Links Lane not been taken over by the school in 1940 they would have been seized for war purposes.
He says the premises in King Street, where the Boys' High School had occupied one side of the building and the Girls' High School the other, were taken over entirely by the Girls' High School after the boys' departure in 1940.
