[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

Dad went to West Preston State School, which I understand was the original name of your primary school. In 1999, he wrote down some memories of his schooling:
"My first schooling was at a kindergarten held in the hall of the Baptist Church on the corner of Cramer St and Gilbert Rd, but when I turned four I went to West Preston State School, left there after grade 6 in 1939 and then to Coburg High School in Bell St in 1940. The state primary school seemed mostly to be staffed by elderly ladies, none of whom had any sense of humour, and one or two younger teachers, who gave us some hope that school was not all bad. Sport was virtually unknown, but we played cricket and football in the gravel-surface playground, which was (and still is, at a recent sighting) a very barren place in which to bring up young children. We played alleys on the gravel and a game played with great interest in late spring was 'cherry bobs', where the stones of cherries were thrown into a small cavity excavated in the ground, aimed at your opponent's bobs which were placed in some geometric order. To hit one was to win it, not to hit was to lose the one which had been thrown. The school building externally is barely changed from more than 60 years ago, except that some rather nice open upstairs verandahs now are enclosed, just to make the architecture even worse, presumably. I doubt that cherry bobs is played there these days, lacking somewhat in sophistication, but maybe alleys survives?"