(Julian Hamer 14 from the right, seated)

The Otter School was founded by Mr. Graham Hinson and his wife Sheila. The School was at first called the Manor House School but as there was another school of the same name in Honiton the name was changed to the Otter School. The uniforms were gray with yellow gold edging on the blazers. The towns people called the school the canary school because of the yellow.

Historic Ottery St. Mary is in the beautiful Otter Valley about eleven miles from the ancient city of Exeter. Ottery St.Mary is surrounded by small villages and hamlets many of whose name reflects ancestry as old as Otterys :Wiggaton, Talaton, Alfington, Gittisham and Tipton St. John, West Hill,Whimple, Escot and Aylesbeare.

The Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in Ottery.

The old Manor House that housed the Otter School is situated immediately behind St. Marys Church. Other buildings used by the school included Sandrock house and the Wardens House. The Wardens House was suspected to be haunted both by the boys, some of the staff and the local townspeople.

Guy Falkes Night was a fantastic experience in Ottery St. Mary. Barrels soaked in tar were set alight and carried flaming on the backs of the men as they charged down the street. Apparently the wild ritual had some ancient historical association with the Black Death.

I attended the school for about two years before it went bankrupt. Until that time there had been government subsidies for private schools. That all changed with the natational election of the Labor Party in 1965. Many small schools could not make it financially without that assistance and I know of several that closed at that time or shortly afterwards. One was Mount Radford School in Exeter that I had attended prior to the Otter School.

One of the masters at the school was a remarkable man named Mr. Eric Williamson. He had been a city architect in Nottingham before he took an early retirement and moved with his wife Freda to Sidmouth, a beautiful coastal town a short distance from Ottery St. Mary. He was a friend of the Headmaster Mr. Graham Hinson and although officially retired he agreed to teach art and art history at the school.

Both Mr. Hinson and Mr. Williamson were founding members of the Sidmouth Cine Club and made some fascinating short films that they not only showed for us at the school but had a number of the boys act parts in them.

The school closed down in 1964 because of financial difficulties but I stayed in touch with Mr. Williamson and frequently visited he and his wife at their home.

Mr. Williamson was a learned authority on many subjects including medieval arms and armor, oriental art and antique furniture. To talk with him was a tremendously rich experience and inspired me not only to enjoy knowledge for its own sake but also to delight and appreciate the quality and fine craftsmanship of beautiful antique furniture.