In 1954, a four-year-old boy walked through Annemount’s doors for the first time. Seventy years later, Alan Cohen still remembers his teachers’ names, the headmistress’s cat and the thrill of winning the Long Jump. As the school celebrates its 90th year, he looks back on his five years here.

“They will rename the school Alanmount”

Alan‘s story with Annemount began before he had even started. In the summer of 1954 he was playing in the garden of the family home on Norrice Lea with his sister Ann, then in her final year at the school. Aged four, Alan made what he calls “the very reasonable declaration that when I start going there they will rename the school Alanmount.” Sadly, he adds, “this step forward was never taken.”

That autumn he joined Miss Oliver’s class, in the room at the back that is still where new pupils start today. He was learning to write his numbers, and on reaching 14 he announced that he would soon catch up with his brother Clive, ten years his senior. It was, he admits, “an ambition that I only gave up with some reluctance in later years.”

He doesn’t remember ever feeling lost or alone. “Miss Oliver was very kind.” Before long he was walking home for lunch on his own, with just enough time for Listen with Mother at 1.45pm before heading back.

A prize, a cat and a love of history

In December 1955, Alan was summoned upstairs to the headmistress’s flat. There he was formally introduced to her cat and presented with his first prize: a copy of Tally Goes Joy-Riding, the adventures of a little orange training plane. Inside, Miss Jamaiker had written: “Prize Awarded to… Alan Cohen for very good work in Form III.” Seventy years on, he still has it.

It was in Miss Marigold’s class that he discovered his lifelong passion for history, which he announced to his new friend Julian Graff in verse: “History, history, too good to bistory”, borrowed, he suspects, from the Murray Mints advert of the day. The boys later became blood brothers, “apparently with no lasting ill effects”, and Julian is still his closest friend today.

Silver cups on sports day

Sports day brought Alan‘s first sporting triumph: first place in the Long Jump in 1957, and again in 1958. Ada, the family nanny he describes as “my second mum”, photographed him in the garden proudly holding up his cup. He still has both, though “only the black plinth on the 1957 model has gone missing over the years.”

His final year was spent in The Study with Mrs Laing, and history was still his favourite subject. He and Julian must have seemed keen students, because Mrs Laing invited them both to tea at her home in the Suburb.

Back through the door

On visits to the Suburb, Alan has often stopped to look over the hedge into the school garden. In July 2025, at the invitation of Deputy Head Aiden Griffin, he finally came back inside with Ann, visiting from South Africa, and her grandson Ben. It was the first time in decades.

With builders at work on the upper floors, plenty had changed. But not everything. “Despite the new colour schemes, brighter than in my memory, the essential shape remains, even the Study room, in a corner of its own at the rear.”

The visit brought a history lesson of its own. Alan learned for the first time that Annemount was purpose-built as a school in 1936, with a hint of Arts and Crafts and William Morris in its design. Miss Jamaiker led the school from the day it opened until 1993, which makes 2026 Annemount’s 90th year.

As Alan puts it: “We remember much and with pleasure, and we also learn a lot.”