Farid Shams - I remember when in the 70's .....
On a summer vacation in the summer of 1970, our parents made a special visit to Durlston Court School and they were sold on the idea to enrol my twin brother and I in the school for the next school year.
My twin brother (Hamid) and I were only 10 years old when my parents decided to pack our bags and board us on an international flight from Iran to England. I vividly remember the day we arrived at the school and how scared we felt.
With a very limited knowledge of English language we tried to communicate and make friends as soon as possible.
The first few weeks were incredibly difficult and over whelming, and it only got more difficult once then Headmaster "Mr. Onslow" decided to split us up and assigned my twin brother and I to different dorms and student groups. I recall different student groups wore different colour ties and competed against each other in sports and other extracurricular activities. The days and nights dragged on at first as we looked forward to weekends when we could go to Bournemouth and visit with my mother and sister.
It was a very difficult time before we started to understand the language and communicate with the other students. My twin brother and I only saw each other in classes and during recess times. It was about a month before we settled in and felt more comfortable. Our passion was playing football and we soon made many friends on the field. Sunday afternoons were the most memorable for me, when we all piled up in a small TV room and watched the English Premier league games.
After graduating from Homefield College (close to Christchurch) we moved to United States in 1978 and have lived here since. Back in 2002 I flew back to England for summer vacation and made a special trip to Durlston Court schools in hope of reminiscing my school days so many years ago. It was amazing to see the buildings, the dorms, classes and the cafeteria again. It all seemed so much smaller to me now than it did when I was only 10 years old. My biggest surprise was to find a mix of boys and girls attending the school now. I guess there is no longer a need to dress up the boys in girl attire to play in the yearly rendition of Pirates of Penzance!
I haven't had much luck remembering the names of the students in our class, but they all played a big role in my life and my memories of our school years (1971-1973) at Durlston Court. I hope to be able to visit Durlston Court schools again on my next trip back to England.
Farid Shams
