Mr. J.E. Matthews - all things naval ... our waker-upper!! He was there long before the LCC took over. He taught us to make 'string' spillholders I remember and things like that ... clever ... all kinds of seamanship-type things ... knots etc. (John Tuddenham)   He is mentioned in the "Ships Nostalgia" website here.

Even in the "first" year of Woolverstone Hall he taught Seamanship and Navigation as adjuncts to Maths, Geography etc. He also taught us little boys to make incredibly complicated knots. (Ron Gould)

At the end of the Christmas Term, 1955, the School lost the services of Mr. and Mrs. Mathews, who - though one could hardly credit it to look at them - reached their time for retirement. In his time Mr. Mathews had been a birdman, one of those intrepid air-ship navigators, who risked their lives every time they left the mooring mast, but for the past thirty-six years he has dedicated his life to training young men for the sea. His last four years have been spent with what to him was the "new school," and his unstinting labour has been of great assistance to the successful running of the School.

In his retirement at Grays (within siren hoot of the Thames) he will spend his days increasing his already extensive knowledge of the poets, bird-watching and walking in the Essex countryside. We extend our warmest wishes to them and wish them the very best of luck in the future.