Page 3 - Martin Holmes - Old Derbeian Article

Derby School & WWII
sprawling Dining Hall building with its kitchens at the back and a room at each end of the building. The one at the left-hand end became the tuck-shop and the other the masters’ common room. The entrance to the Dining Hall was in the centre of the façade.
From the Dining Hall entrance and facing away from the building you could look across the track through the camp to the huge sweep of lawn running down the gentle slope to the Assembly Hall building at the far end; to the right of the lawn was a series of buildings lining the road boundary of the camp. These were quarters for staff except for the far end one which was the Sanatorium where Matron and her minions held sway.
To the left of the main lawn were the dormitories; two sets of three with small lawns between the sides of them but a major lawn separating the ends of the two sets. On the river side of the separating lawn was The Main Block, a building divided into about four or five large rooms which were used as classrooms.
Beyond the Main Block was an area of unused land down to the Ashover Light Railway. This land was later used to build two more dormitories. The ALR was used to carry the metal from the Ashover quarries to the main railway line.
Across the ALR was the Playing Field which was big enough for several soccer pitches in winter and a 440 yard running track and cricket pitches etc in summer.
To the left of the track running through the camp to the river and below the Dining Hall was the Ablution Block for the first set of three dormitories, the Bottom Wood and a small-holding. Further back behind the Ablution Block they eventually built a Workshop adjacent to the Boiler House (the camp was reticulated for steam heating) and behind them was the Top Wood (an old quarry).
Life at boarding school
I knew from the very beginning at Amber Valley that I was in an alien environment. I had never been in a fundamentally all male environment on a twenty four hour basis, let alone one in which there was no rest from peer pressure.
I was used to living my life mainly in a female environment that was older than me and one in which conversation and activity focussed on their interests. Mother was an atheist and pacifist and I had often been with her to meetings and distributing pamphlets etc.
Being the only boy in the school excused attendance at religious ceremonies was an instant mark of difference; add to that my pacifist views, scepticism about Government propaganda, my obvious innocence of matters