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Tene Propositum
SUMMER TIMES
The Journal of the
Old Scarborians’ Association
Members of the Association are former pupils
and members of staff of
Scarborough High School for Boys
Volume 69 – May 2015
Old Scarborians’ Association
Web address: http://oldscarborians.org
Price £3.00 1
www.MsAglobalsolutions.com
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SOLVING ISN’T SOMETHING WE DO AT
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WHAT WE DO AT
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SUMMER TIMES—MAY 2015
EVENTS DIARY 2015-16
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2015
The AGM will be held on THURSDAY 3rd December 2015 at 7.00pm at
Scarborough Rugby Club. All members are welcome.
ANNUAL CHRISTMAS DINNER 2015
FRIDAY, 4th December 2015, at 7pm for 8pm, at SRUFC, Scalby
Road, Scarborough. (The club premises are between Scalby and
Burniston on the right hand side of the road after leaving Scalby village)
Price £27 which includes limited wine. All Members are welcome. Please
use the enclosed form and book as soon as possible.
Contact Bob Heaps with any queries, 01723 365597,
E-mail: bobheaps@Yorkshire.net.
ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENTS 2015
Dates for 2015 will be Dr Meadley Cup, Thursday 21st May and the TA
Smith Cup —Stableford, Thursday 13th August, both at North Cliff Golf
Club. A dinner will follow the second event. Please contact Dave Ellard
for further details. 01723 373116 E-mail:dave.ellard@ic24.net
ANNUAL BOWLS MATCH 2015
FRIDAY, 28th August 2015. Manor Road Bowling Club. Please contact
Chris Found for details 01723 882343.
E-mail: chrisdfound@btinternet.com
LONDON LUNCH 2016
PROVISIONALLY, the London Lunch will be held on Friday OR Saturday
depending on venue — 8th or 9th April, OR 15th or 16th April.
Full details and a booking form will be enclosed with the November 2016
issue of Summer Times. Please keep these possible dates free in your
diary.
Please send items for the November 2015 Summer Times to Peter
Newham, (address on page 2), as soon as possible please, but to reach
him by 15th August 2015 at the latest, to fit in with holidays, print
schedules etc. Items sent by e-mail are of great help, otherwise please
type or write your letter and mail it on to him.
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CONTENTS
DESIGN & LAYOUT
1. Events Diary
2. Contents/ Committee Contacts
4. Editorial & Presidential
6. Oﬃcers Reports
8. Press and PRO/ Hon Life VP
9. From Here & There
19. Scarborough Lunch at 80
20. Patrick Argent
21. Obituaries
28. Donald West and the Scarborian.
29. Brian Razzall and Easter Parade
31. We don’t need no Edyukashun
36. Don Barnes’ Travels
39. Ian Scott further writes
41. 1938-39 Football photo
42. ATC
44. The Scarborough Dinner
45. Class of ‘54
45. Westwood
47. In more reflective moments
51. Famous former literary pupils
52. Appreciations 1964 The Scarborian
54. Books and Study
55. Nostalgia
56. After a good lunch!
57. Late obituary—Ted Lester
59. Trivia
David Fowler
Farthings Publishing
8 Christine House
1 Avenue Victoria
Scarborough. YO11 2QB
Tel: 01723 365448
E-mail: dgfowler@farthings.org.uk
SUMMER TIMES
PRODUCTION:
EDITOR
Peter Newham
‘Badger’s Rise’
8 Southcrest
Hunsbury Hill
Northampton NN4 9UD
Tel: 01604 767895
E‐mail: the.newhams@btinternet.com
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
2015/16
PRESIDENT
Howard Acklam
19 Redcliﬀe Close
Osgodby
SCARBOROUGH YO11 3RG
01723 584061
E-mail: Howardacklam@hotmail.co.uk
VICE-PRESIDENT
Peter Newham
‘Badger’s Rise’
8 Southcrest
Hunsbury Hill
Northampton NN4 9UD
Tel: 01604 767895
E-mail: the.newhams@btinternet.com
SECRETARY
Bob Heaps
67 Newby Farm Road
Newby
SCARBOROUGH YO12 6UJ
Tel: 01723 365597
E-mail: bobheaps@yorkshire.net
TREASURER
Chris Found
Pinewood Cottage
Silpho
Scarborough North Yorkshire.
YO13 0JP
Tel: 01723 882343
E-mail: chrisdfound@btinternet.com
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COMMITTEE:
BOWLS
ARCHIVIST
INDEPENDENT REVIEWERS
Chris Found
Pinewood Cottage
Silpho, Scarborough YO13 0JP
Tel: 01723 882343
E-mail: chrisdfound@btinternet.com
Peter Berry
Paul Allen
SUMMER TIMES EDITOR
POSITION VACANT.
A VOLUNTEER REQUIRED
URGENTLY PLEASE!
01723 362633
01723 355389
MAGAZINE ADVERTISING
Chris Found
Pinewood Cottage
Silpho Scarborough
North Yorkshire. YO13 0JP
Tel: 01723 882343
E-mail: chrisdfound@btinternet.com
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY
Geoﬀ Winn
‘Kingfishers
5 Beech Court
North Street,
Scalby,
Scarborough, YO13 0RU
Tel: 01723 362414
E-mail: Winn.geoﬀ@talk21.com
Peter Newham
‘Badger’s Rise’
8 Southcrest
Hunsbury Hill
Northampton NN4 9UD
Tel: 01604 767895
E-mail: the.newhams@btinternet.com
WEB SITE MANAGER
http://oldscarborians.org
Bill Potts
3636 Edison Avenue, Apt 104
Sacramento
CA 95821-2750
USA
Tel: +0019165149974
E-mail: wfp@wfpconsulting.com
PRESS & PUBLICITY
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE
MEMBERS:
Patrick Argent
Flat 3, 11 Fulford Road,
SCARBOROUGH YO11 2SH
Tel: 01723 501151
E-mail: patargent@yahoo.com
Colin Adamson 01723 364373
Patrick Argent 01723 501151
Mick Bowman 01287 634650
Don Graham 01723 850177
SPORTING EVENTS - GOLF
Dave Ellard
74 Longwestgate, Scarborough
YO11 1RG
01723 373116
Dave.ellard@ic24.net
HONORARY LIFE VICEPRESIDENTS
Frank Bamforth
Mick Bowman
Chris Found
David Fowler
Maurice Johnson
Peter Robson
Geoﬀ Winn
01723 364432
01287 634650
01723 882343
01723 365448
01262 470272
01723 859335
01723 362414
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EDITORIAL
Whilst this Editorial can hardly be
described as a literal appeal for new
blood for the Association - and indeed, when I joined
some mere 14 years
ago I deluded myself that I then was
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed myself (eheu fugaces labuntur anni!); it is an
obvious truism that if the Association
is to remain in rude good health a further injection of enthusiastic "younger"
members is very much needed, not
only to keep the contributions to the
Magazine afloat, but to bolster and
augment the Committee in their work
on behalf of the Association.
Much of this work is unseen and
therefore unacknowledged, but for
many years, going back before my
time, a small hard core of dedicated
Oﬃcers, to whom we owe a debt of
gratitude, have contributed a great
deal of time and eﬀort to its organisation. Whilst long may they continue to
do so, an influx also of willing younger
Woodlanders would greatly add to the
Association and it's eﬀective continuance. Howard, our President has, I
know, tried to canvass interest among
Members, and I make no excuse for
using this Editorial for further preaching the message.
As a Member whose own school life
spanned both Westwood and then
more
marginally
Woodlands,
(although I plead guilty to a basic allegiance to the School in the Valley), I
am conscious of the essential combined nature of our history, and that
our remaining future increasingly will
revolve round life at Woodlands Drive
as we know it!
However, here endeth the lesson, at
least for this Edition, on the basis that,
as ever, all contributions from whoever, wherever and whenever gratefully
received!
Peter Newham (1954-61)
Editor
PRESIDENTIAL
Another
year
passes and the
Old Scarborians
Association is still
alive and kicking,
even though the
School
closed
some forty two
years ago.
Once again I must pay homage to all
those on the Committee whose regular
attendance has helped us to continue
and I give my special thanks to all the
Oﬃcers of the OSA - Peter Newham
(Vice-President and Editor of Summer
Times), Bob Heaps (Secretary), Chris
Found (Treasurer), Geoﬀ Winn
(Membership Secretary) and David
Fowler (Publisher of Summer Times).
I would also like to thank Dave
Ellard for organising the annual Golf
Competitions at North Cliﬀ Golf Club
and Chris Found for organising the
annual Bowls Competition at Manor
Road Bowling Club.
Regarding Committee Meetings, I
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would like to put on record the regular
attendance of Peter Robson (even
though he ‘retired’ from the Committee
some while ago) and Mick Bowman,
another former Oﬃcer of the OSA who
continues to travel from Guisboro’.
*I understand that Peter has recently
moved away from the area and will not be
able to make future meetings, though he
should be in attendance at the London
Lunch. These two, along with other
members of the Committee, also always turn up at our twice yearly
‘Stuﬃng Meetings’ when we regularly
still send out approximately 500 copies
of Summer Times to OSA Members
throughout Britain and overseas.
It has also been very much appreciated that Members have continued to
support both the Scarborough Christmas Dinner - where we had over seventy Old Scarborians in attendance last
December - and also the London
Lunch; though we would always be
delighted to welcome more attendees
at both these functions.
The London Lunch in particular has
seen numbers diminish somewhat
over the years and we need to continue to encourage as many as possible to
attend - particularly those from the
Midlands and the South to further
supplement the regulars who travel
from Scarborough and points north.
We have had a wonderful regular venue over the last three or four years at
the RAF Club - though we may be
having a change in 2016, subject to
suitable arrangements being made.
In fact Chris Found did look into the
possibility of having the ‘London
Lunch’ at York in order to try and
boost the numbers attending. Alt-
hough generally in agreement that it
was a very good idea, the Committee
have voted to retain the London Lunch
in its present form (in London) at the
moment, though the York option has
not been ruled out if numbers in London continue to decline in the future.
The 2015 London Lunch will again be
held at the RAF Club in Piccadilly.
The Scarborough Christmas Dinner
held at the Rugby Club continues to
attract good numbers and it has been
excellent to see that a goodly number
of ‘younger members’ have attended
over the past two or three years. The
venue has proved excellent for both
the Dinner and for our Committee
Meetings over quite a few years now,
and helps continue our Associations
links with Scarborough RUFC.
It is noted that Peter Newham is
continuing to ask members for ‘copy’
for Summer Times; though somehow
the magazine still seems well filled
with relevant print running to its usual
64 pages. So please do support Peter
(along with David Fowler) by putting
your memories ‘on paper’, and help
continue the flow of relevant memories for print in the magazine. It would
be particularly relevant if more of the
‘younger members’ of the OSA could
apply themselves to this task - it is
those younger members who we need
to attract as the future of the OSA - in
particular, these being former pupils
who attended the ‘new’ school on
Woodlands Drive. The Members who
have written in from that era, have had
‘diﬀerent’ but still interesting things to
say and their memories are just as relevant as those of their forebears.
I look forward with cautious opti-
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mism to the continuing future of the
Old Scarborians Association.
Howard Acklam (1960-64)
SECRETARIAL
Firstly a belated
Happy New Year to
you all and I hope
you enjoy this edition of ‘Summer
Times’ as I know
many of you by the
phone calls and other correspondence I get, sincere thanks
go to our editor Peter Newham and
also David Fowler whose hard work
ensures the continued publishing of
the Magazine.
The Association had a very successful Christmas Dinner at the Scarborough Rugby Club with nearly 80
attending. This continues to be a very
well attended event and if you have
ever thought you may like attend
please do so; you will be made very
welcome and may meet some old and
new friends , I know I do every year.
I do get requests from time to time
from Members trying to connect with
old school friends and I try to help out
when I can, our members have migrated to all parts of the UK and indeed
the world so if anyone would like to re
connect on their travels, I am sure
myself or Geoﬀ Winn could put you
in contact if you wish. I must thank
Geoﬀ for his sterling work in tracking
down former pupils and persuading
them to join the Association, I am sure
he would appreciate any help doing
this if you could help.
At the time of writing I am trying to
organise the London Lunch which
falls this year on April 11th; this is the
same day as the ‘Boat Race’ which
starts at 5.50pm so I myself am hoping
to try and get to watch this event as I
have never seen it live before, I will
give a report in the November edition.
We discussed as Committee earlier
this year a possible change of venue as
numbers are dwindling, or even holding it another location? York was suggested, so if any of you have any ideas
please feel free to contact myself or
any of the Committee..
Bob Heaps (1967-74)
TREASURIAL
We are jogging along
living oﬀ our fat but
keeping our expenditure well under control. A small profit of
£37 was made on the
Christmas
Dinner
mainly thanks to the
generous Member who did not attend
but sent £100 towards the cost of wine.
Our stock of ties is almost exhausted
but I have just placed an order for a
further 50 of the same design at the
request of the Committee. At present
we have £8,280 in the bank most of
which is on deposit at a very derisory
rate of interest. Any suggestions from
Members of how to get a reasonable
rate of interest on our accumulated
funds will be gratefully received.
Geoﬀ Winn continues to hound quali-
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fying non-members for a subscription
and I must congratulate him on the
small trickle of successes which he has.
A decision has been taken to subsidise
the London Lunch slightly and I hope
that this will bring in a few extra diners.
Chris Found (1951-59)
MEMBERSHIP
SECRETARIAL
The past six months
seem to have been a
relatively
quiet
period on the membership front, but I
am sure I shall regret having said
this when a new
rush of membership applications flood
in!! I can always dream.
However, I can report a few new
members and would particularly mention one of these. When we were
putting the last issue of ST to bed, the
copy for Chris Garner came up and
someone on the committee said “I
think he has moved permanently to
the Algarve”. I checked this with
Simon Ward and it was in fact correct
so, as I was about to leave for the
Algarve, I agreed to meet him for a
drink at Four Seasons Country Club in
Quinta do Lago where we are both
members, to hand over his copy personally. Little did I know that on that
same day I would meet Brian Stanley,
another old boy, on the local golf
course as we had been drawn to play
together in the weekly Country Club
competition. Brian was just over for a
few days’ golf with a business friend
so it was pure chance we had been
drawn together. It turned out that Brian had been going to the club for nearly as long as we had, but on diﬀerent
weeks so our paths had not previously
crossed. When I realised he was not an
OSA member, I passed over to him my
copy of ST together with a membership application form extracted from
Chris Garner’s copy. No pressure, but
if you come across an old boy who is
not a member in similar circumstances,
please make sure you encourage him
to join.
Amongst those who have died, I
would especially mention my predecessor as membership secretary, Colin
Hurd, who passed on an exemplary set
of records for me to follow.
New Members
Brewer, Peter
1970-73
Parkin, Stephen
1942-49
Stanley, Brian
1970-73
Ward, Duncan
1967-74
Re-discovered
Robinson, Bryan
1964-71
Deceased
Ankrett, Frank
1946-52
Bennett, Stuart
1947-55
Bland, Jim
1942-49
Holmes, Frank
1937-45
Hurd, Colin
1952-58
Lester, Ted
1933-39
Speight, Jack
-
Wiﬀen, Carl
1939-47
Some of the above have died this year,
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too late for obituaries to be written.
Please let our ST editor have your
recollections of a contemporary for the
next issue.
Geoff Winn (1949-56)
PRESS AND PUBLIC
RELATIONS OFFICER
The November AGM of the Association marked the retirement as Press
and Public Relations Oﬃcer of a committee stalwart, Maurice Johnson
(1941-6) on his move to Nottingham.
Maurice, during his tenure, has done
so much not only to raise our profile
with the local Press, allegedly by a
combination of charm, bribery and
coercion, but also to promote, encourage and even subsidise the London
Lunches at a number of prestigious
venues. His contribution will be much
missed, but we hope to see him as a
Member for many years yet!
It is pleasing that Patrick Argent
(1970-3) a member of the Committee,
has "volunteered" to take over the function, though the now mere weekly
nature of the Scarborough News does
little to assist! A Profile of Patrick appears separately in this Issue.
CORRIGENDUM
Apologies to Norman Overfield,
whose obituary of David Howden
appeared in the May 2014 Issue of the
Magazine, for the inadvertent transposition of several sentences in the final
paragraphs. Fortunately they, which I
would like, whether true or otherwise,
to blame on the computer transition
from Microsoft Word to Publisher,
rather than careless proof reading, did
not significantly alter its sense, nor
appeared to be noticed by any other
reader, assuming there to be such!
HON. LIFE
VICE-PRESIDENTS
Whilst it is not usual in the Magazine
to reproduce the perhaps pedestrian
Minutes of Committee meetings of the
Association, the recognition at the 2013
Annual General Meeting of the sterling service given by several of its long
-serving Oﬃcers by the award of Hon.
Life Vice-Presidencies should be more
expressly acknowledged within the
Association than by the mere increase
in the names so listed on Page 3 of the
Magazine, which Members may not
have noticed.
Geoﬀ Winn and Chris Found have
served and continue so to do to in several capacities, including respective
terms as President, and rightfully have
now been recognised and joined the
other distinguished Oﬃcers, past and
present, who would and should figure
on what used at School to be known
as “the Honours Board” , if we had one,
(though happily some of the original
School boards still remain in existence,
so - Sic, not yet Transit Gloria Mundi!)
-In addition to both Geoﬀ and Chris
serving terms as President of the Association, both have put in long service
in other posts and continue so to do,
Geoﬀ currently as Membership Secretary assiduously searching for, cajoling
and coercing the new membership we
need to keep the Association going
(even 3 more on the night of the Annu-
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al Dinner), and Chris continuing to
juggle the finances as Treasurer and
ensuring that we remain financially
healthily afloat!
The Association continues to owe a
real debt of gratitude to them both !
yesteryear last time and I believe ended up in a casino till quite late!
Many congrats. on another excellent
edition of Summer Times. I do hope
more 'Woodlanders' decide to put pen
to paper about their times at SBHS.
FROM HERE AND THERE
Rick Ware (1956-63)
writes…..
John Whitehead (1961-8)
writes…
(…. and attaches the following picture, to
which one is similarly tempted to append
a further Shakespearean quote from Jaques
in “As You Like It” in respect of the Seven
Ages of Man in relation to second childhood, as demonstrated by his apparent
close empathy with what he assures me
are his grand-children’s furry friends,
Keith and Boris! )
Inspired by the picture and report of
my near-contemporary Mike Corbyn
refusing to grow old gracefully (ST
vol.68 p.36/37) and the Shakespearean
misquote (ha!), I thought I’d own up
to being similarly aﬄicted with falseyouth syndrome. Wind back. Does
I enjoyed Ian Scott's piece. Hopefully
that will flush out yet more contributions from younger Old Scarborians.
Could you forward this to him please.
I stand corrected by Richard Watson
about Robert Palmer and Shetland,
(but why let false memory and the
truth get in the way of a good story ) ?
PS. I now think a sweet tax would be a
good idea!
Ian Scott
responds…
I'm glad there's
been some response.
I've had a couple of
personal emails too.
Old School friends
like Mick Mulvana
and Dave Ward,
whom I hope should
be booked in for the
December reunion
dinner. I'm looking
forward to the giving and receiving of
insults as a continuation of last year! We
had a great time
recounting stories of
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anyone else remember at Westwood a
quiet and good-looking boy called Allen Palmer? At age 15 he formed a
group called,’ The Mandrakes’ and later
became known world-wide by his first
name, Robert. Well, at about the same
time another musical group within the
School was preparing for fame.
This was to be a jazz trio comprising Steve Male on saxophone, Malcolm Trott on piano, and me on
drums.
We rehearsed at Steve’s
mother’s dance studio on Valley
Road. Malcolm was very good and
Steve was ok. I was clueless and,
anyway, only had one drum.
After leaving school and having
practiced a bit (and acquired more
drums), I was somehow recruited
into a local group.
My first outing with The Musketeers
was at the ‘El Sombrero’, formerly the
old so-called Rollerena down Vernon
Road. (On guitar/clarinet in that
group was local architect, Dennis
Hitch who has since played drums
around Scarborough everywhere and
with everyone and, I hope, still does).
I don’t remember if we had a second
gig – probably not.
Groups were sprouting up like
mushrooms about this time and the
scene in Scarborough was dominated
by Jonty and the Strangers and The
Sherburn Panthers.
I was lucky enough to hook up
with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson and
his group, The Wildcats’. (I’m sure
Marty Wilde was mighty relieved
when we changed the name to The
Flames). We then became The Dave
Kirby Five. Dave was a Londoner, a
bit of a wide-boy but he had performed at the Star Club, Hamburg
and had a great R & B repertoire.
At some stage Derrick ‘Chow’
Boyes joined us on piano. Both
Hutch and Chow were brilliant and
in 1966 went on to play with Dave
Bowie’s band The Buzz at London’s
iconic Marquee Club.
Venues we played most often
were;
the ‘Condor Club’, (now
‘Bacchus’) Scarborough’s own Cavern Club down narrow steps from a
Greenfield Road entrance. The shortlived ‘2 Flite Club’ in London Inn
Yard. (more narrow steps, two flights
going up this time). The ‘Candlelight’
at the bottom of Bland’s Cliﬀ was
another and we played each Thursday at The Belle Vue Club, Filey;
(narrow steps again, down with awkward dogsleg).
I hope these names stir some memories with my contemporary ‘old
Scabs’ who may have frequented
these now-defunct dives. Perhaps
even seen us play. In 1965 in an
amicable split I was replaced by
Dave Pinkney of The Panthers who
was really a much better drummer.
Dave disappeared and the group was
re-christened The Tennesseans.
I eventually sold my drums and
that was goodbye to all that, or anyway so I thought.
Come 2002 and with lots of water
under the bridge I’m overdue for a
mid-life crisis. I spot a second-hand
drum kit in Cash Convertors. Having vetoed a Harley-Davison or a
mistress on noise grounds, Sally (‘er
indoors) suggests I just buy them and
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stop beating the cutlery on the table,
pounding on chair-arms etc. and
generally driving her mad. So that’s
what I did. Now, three drum kits and
12 years later, I’m lucky enough in
retirement to keep busy gigging and
having a great time doing it. The best
thing is that when I take the stool
and pick up the sticks - I’m 17 again.
Only now I can actually play the
darn things.
So - Malcolm, Steve! If you’re
reading this, how about we give that
jazz trio another try? You’re only
young twice after all!
Alan Green (1937-44)
writes......
(The Secretary’s Report in last October’s
Issue referred to a very generous contribution toward the cost of wine at the Annual
Dinner made by Member Alan Green, and
his accompanying latter, which is now reproduced below)….
“Brief note from 1937 vintage.
Thank you for Summer Times May
2014. Read with interest, as ever, noting
only in passing the shrinking number
of recognisable names. They say that
nostalgia ain't what it used to be, but
it's certainly alive and well in this
household - perhaps not a lot else to
keep minds occupied.
The Association keeps in good heart,
thanks to all you energetic Committee
Members, which brings me to Frank
Vokes, query 1938 vintage, and good
friend of over 60 years. Do you have
any news of him please? We corresponded and met up periodically right
back to Scarborough Cricket Festival
post war period, occasionally meeting
up with Steve (J M Stephenson, also
1938) for visits to the Palm Court for
the Christmas Dinner until Steve died 3
or 4 years ago. Frank married a Dane
and spent his academic years at Trondheim University, ended up as Emeritus
Professor of Geology, his life work
since graduating from Leeds. I've lost
touch when the annual exchange of
Christmas cards dried up from his end
in 2010/11, whilst we continued until
we gave up last year. Telephone calls
produced nil response. There were 2
daughters, both in jobs in Norway but
we never had contact details. Any information would be welcome.
Aside from Frank, I noted a few errors
in Summer Times, hardly earthshattering, but it is obsession with detail that keeps my brain active or pointless!
Peter W Hugman He was 1940-43 (or
44) not 46. He went to sea as a 17
year old cadet with the Ellerman
Line and saw war service in both
the Atlantic and Pacific. 5 Service
medals to prove it!
John (JD) Farquahar (1934 -41) did not
die aged 87. He was born in 1923
and died, aged 90 in 2013. He
spent 2 terms at Wadham College
Oxford in my time (48-52) on a 2nd
Devonshire
Colonial
Service
Course. I can record some hilarious goings-on at Wadham, chiefly
with attractive nurses at the John
Radcliﬀe Infirmary. John was married briefly to one of them, during
his Forestry Service in Tanganika.
He had a car in Oxford, a new
12
Morris Minor, a rare treasure
among us impecunious undergraduates. a lovely man, a life full
of varied interests.
John Beck (37-44) - an observation,
not a correction! My exact contemporary. They lived in Scholes Park
Drive, not far from my old home
at Ivanhoe, Burniston Road. I
knew John's house well, delivering
newspapers for 2 years from Cross
Lane Post Oﬃce, but never seeing
beyond the front door.
DF Saunders (not JF) Exeter College
Oxford - soccer Blue Captain of
Pegasus when they won the Cup
at Wembley (1951) against Bishop
Auckland I think. A full house. I
was there.
Desmond (DC) Connor (37-44?) If not
reported already, Des died on 2nd
May 2014 aged 85. Born Sept 1925.
Another contemporary. Des went
up to University (University College Oxford) home to Steve,
Frank Holmes, David Francis and
several other Old Scarborians. His
death was recorded in the Times
07 May 014 - he died in Exeter
Hospice. I have kept in touch with
his sister Rosemary (SGHS) who
lives in Letchworth and who
taught our son Alastair during
part of his 9 year stay at St Christopher's; slightly nutty vegetarian
school where Michael Winner, expupil, claimed he ate grass during
his wartime stay at the School. The
boys used to sneak out at lunch
time for pork pies and sausage
rolls at the nearby corner Post
Oﬃce shop.
Sorry if I've gone on a bit. At 88 I'm
more long-winded than ever. Happily Shirley and I are relatively fit,
if slightly bored after 55 years of
travel and only a half acre of garden to keep us in trim. In decent
weather I can manage 3 hours of
strenuous work a day with hedges
and tree hacking the main problem. The vegetable patch has produced to date 50 pounds of courgettes, a good amount of runner
beans, lettuce, spinach etc. I've
planted 400 leeks which should
see me through the winter, and
then some!
Scarborough, sadly, is a bit too far to
contemplate for the Dinner or to
see my sister Brenda up in Burniston (handy for the Dinner - not an
expensive B and B). Do hope you
have a successful evening on 5th
December. The finances look very
healthy without adding to the pile
so, perhaps you could utilise the
enclosed donation for a glass or
two of wine for all the thirsty visitors. I doubt you will be entertaining many teetotallers on the
night!”
Bruce Rowbotham (1961 1966)
inspired by the reference in the previous
Magazine to the Birthday tea for Bill
Foord writes in his praise….
I was browsing online through the
November 2014 edition of Summer
Times and I was struck by a couple of
obituaries of lads I remembered from
13
my era, a plea from the Editor for contributions and a report on the 90th
birthday tea for Old Scarborian Bill
Foord.
It's more than 50 years since I last
saw Mr. Foord and I will be one of the
thousands of pupils that passed
through Friarage School during what I
now know were his 33 years of service
there. Here are some of my memories
that are thankfully too soon to be an
obituary, but might make print and
ease the burden of the Editor.
From September 1955 to July 1961 I
was at Friarage Junior School whilst
Mr Foord was teaching.
He was a tall and athletic man who
wore circular horn rimmed specs and
commanded respect from everyone.
Firm yet tolerant, he was a natural
teacher who really understood children. Together with Mr. Bogg they
also ran the football team. The team
trained at a dingy gymnasium hall,
that is still there in St Sepulchre Street,
twice a week after school. Teams of “3
a Side” practising Trapping, Heading,
Chesting and Passing. Our first game
of the 1960/61 season was played after
school at Overdale. Mr. Foord had a
Ford Consul car with a column gear
change and bench seats. Somehow this
car, together a Standard 10 belonging
to our music teacher, Mr Greeenley,
managed to transport 3 teachers and
11 boys to Overdale School. Long before seat belts, smaller boys sat on the
knees of the bigger lads, everyone had
boots with their laces joined together,
worn like bootlace scarves around
their necks.
With eternal encouragement he
coached and coaxed us from the sidelines as we suﬀered a 6 – 2 defeat from
the formidable Overdale. The season
progressed and we finally finished as
runners-up to Overdale at the end of
the season.
As the spring of 1961 came our class
was issued with a cricket bat and 3
wooden stumps set into a wooden
block to take into the playground.
Thereafter the most valuable currency
any boy had in his pocket was a tennis
ball, the final ingredient of a game.
With a 10 minute break in the morning
we could not play cricket in the usual
tedious 5 day format, or even the 1 day
20/20 format. Instead we played the
frantic “Tip it and Run” to ensure everyone had a chance to bat.
60 Fielders ran around at a furious
pace chasing the ball whilst those
tempted to field closely hoping to take
a catch also had to dodge the bat as it
was flung down by the batsman
sprinting to the bowlers end. Any ball
bouncing back oﬀ a wall had to be
caught one-handed. Amid all this an
equal number of girls skipped, ran
around or played their own games in
oblivion. Collisions or being hit with
the ball were frequent, yet no one ever
got hurt. Skinned knees were the norm
in those days.
Mr Foord coached us in bowling
technique and must have winced inwardly at the eﬀorts of the batsmen
who were obliged to lash wildly at
every delivery. At his encouragement I
became a “Junior Member” of Scarborough Cricket Club. I gave him 7
shillings and 6 pence for the subscrip-
14
tion and he obtained the membership
for me. The membership card was a
small red folded card that brought reduced entrance fees to matches and also
use of the nets at North Marine Road
every evening after 6pm.
It was in the nets that we could concentrate on our batting. This time with a
proper cricket ball and wearing pads
and gloves. All very professional. That
summer I bought my first cricket bat
from Appleton and Days in Huntriss
Row; he showed me how to prepare
and maintain it with linseed oil.
Mr Foord taught me how to polish
the ball and use the seam as a bowler,
also the basic “Forward Defensive
Stroke” as a batsman, so that I could
defend the wicket in a measured way
without the frantic panic of dropping
the bat and running to the bowler's end
every time I touched the ball. The final
benefit of Junior Membership came in
September
with
reduced entrance
fees during the Annual Cricket Festival
to see teams like T.N. Pierce's X1, Yorkshire v MCC, Gentleman v Players, and
of course The Tourists. For a small boy
armed with an autograph book this was
heaven and knowing Mr Foord somehow managed to get my autograph
book into the Pavilion. Yes - I still have
my autograph book and it's precious
contents!
The better you came to know him, the
more you saw his humorous side.
When two 11 years old protagonists
were caught settling their diﬀerences in
the school corridor I remember his
voice booming out, “George Westwood...
If Douglas Ram's arm was meant to be
twisted up his back..... he would have been
born that way...” Well that brought an
end to that!
I left Mr. Foord and Friarage School
in July 1961 and went on to the Boys'
High. Until I read the November Summer Times, I never knew that Mr Foord
was an old Scarborian himself and this
might explain his most significant act in
steering my future. After sitting the
second part of my 11 plus I must have
been a borderline case as I was called
for an Interview at Woodlands. I had 3
days notice and every lunchtime beforehand Mr Foord coached me through a
series of mock interviews. Of course on
the day, my parents did their best,
sending me oﬀ in my best clothes and
polished shoes, but surely the advice
and guidance of Mr Foord carried me
through. When I left Friarage School
I'm sure I said goodbye to him and all
the other teachers but maybe I forgot to
say a big enough thank you. So here
and now I want to say, “Mr
Foord. Thank-you Sir.”
Dave Hepworth (1951-8)
writes …
2CRR ... 8 DAYS
MY WHOLE world changed soon after
leaving School - I got my first set of
wheels!
It was a very modest set, a 1936 Austin Seven, but to me it was priceless,
worth every penny of the 30 quid my
Dad paid for it. There were many funny little tweaks long - forgotten by
modern motors.
For a start, the windscreen opened
outwards, which was very welcome
on a summer's day, and the wiper
blade (just the one! ) could be moved
by hand in emergencies. Also, the
15
back seat was inflatable, just the job
for sitting up Oliver's Mount holding
-a young lady’s hand while watching
the lights of Scarborough. It certainly
beat the back row of the Odeon. But
I digress !
Best of all to me, was the registration plate - the unforgettable CRR 8.
The car had previously been owned
by a local insurance agent, and was
already a familiar sight as it rattled
round town. It was to become more
so.
But first plans for my pride & joy
were quickly dashed. Far from whipping smartly from story to story in my
job as a junior reporter on the Scarborough Evening News, my Editor
told me in no uncertain terms that I
couldn't charge expenses for petrol.
UGH!
So it was to be a just a funmobile
No problem. Friends like Freddie
Drabble,
Chris
Found
and
sundry members of the Rowing Club
enjoyed the freedom that CRR 8 gave
us. There was a memorable moors trip
16
down the 1-in-2 hill to Littlebeck. The
return journey was more of a struggle,
but we MADE it. And Sutton Bank
also took a lot out of the old girl but
again we struggled to the top in clouds
of steam ... Freddie and I even managed a week's holiday to Norwich and BACK. A slipping clutch all the
way home wasn't much fun, though.
But no-one could forget a certain
Old Scarborians' Christmas dinner at
the St Nicholas Hotel. Afterwards we
were all in VERY high spirits, and
singing young gents hung from every
bit of the old girl as I roared round the
Square trying frantically to shake them
oﬀ. I managed to lose them all safely,
but the metal No Parking sign someone had thoughtfully hoisted onto the
roof was still there. As we shot across
Newborough at midnight into Freddie's road the damn sign fell oﬀ the
roof with one hell of a clatter. I got
Freddie home OK, but didn't hang
about to wave goodnight!
Among my best memories though,
was when I was summoned to serve
on a Coroner's jury. As I collected my totally unexpected - five bob fee from
the Coroner's oﬃcer, I asked why I
had been chosen. He replied with a
grin: "D'you remember getting a parking
fine six months ago? Well that's where
your name was picked from, “adding:
"But I'll have your guts for garters if that
ever gets into print."
It never did -UNTIL NOW!!!
Maurice Pennock (1944-9)
writes
via Geoff Winn
Looking at some of the old photos
(page 18) brought back a few memories, though dimmed from well over 60
years ago. One in particular I think I
remember vaguely was when we
played cricket against Coatham School
Redcar when I was captain and it
seemed I made a fine decision. I had
just taken oﬀ one of our quicker bowlers and Llewelyn, a slow bowler, had
bowled just one over. We took a wicket at the other end and in came a big
strapping player – their umpire was a
teacher who had just left Scarborough
High School that term for a post at
Coatham. As he passed me he quietly
said put Jackson back on as this batsman “murders” slow bowlers – I did
this, although it would have looked to
be a strange decision, but it worked as
we got him out that over and we went
on to win the game!
The Old Scarborians won the prestigious Hospital Cup in 1944 with a
team which included Ted Lester and
Geoﬀ Dennis. I remember seeing this
match when Mr. Rossington took an
absolutely superb running catch in the
outfield at the Trafalgar Square end at
North Marine Road.
Ted Lester’s
father was our family’s butcher and I
was thrilled when he got me Ted’s
autograph – I would be 12 then – little
did I realise that a few years later I
would be playing table-tennis both
with and against him. As well as playing cricket for Yorkshire he also became their scorer for many years. I
think he will be about 92 or 93 now
and I understand he was at a gathering
last year which might have been the
Yorkshire Awards in Leeds!
In 1950/51 there was a table tennis
17
team called Quads which comprised
later Old Scarborians Peter Robson,
Don Barnes, Ron Hutchinson and
myself. Peter was our star man with a
62% winning record - the other three
of us were all under the 50% mark but
we still finished a creditable fifth in the
first division. Peter’s wins included
one over Ted Lester who was one of
the top players in Scarborough when
we beat the team which finished second – and he also won the Junior singles that season (Ron was Runner-up).
A newspaper cutting I have shows that
a 17 year old D.W.Barnes won that
title the following year actually beating Peter in the final.
One teacher on a photograph I
remember as being very popular was
Norman Stoddard. When he took us
for PE he would often let us play hand
-ball and if one side was losing badly
he would join in and play for them. I
also remember seeing Mr. Freeman
with his arm in a frame after being
shot. I found a photograph of 46/7
with Mr Freeman (without the frame)
and of the Colts Rugby team of 46/7
with myself on it which surprised me
greatly as I was scared stiﬀ of playing
the game and am sure I just got rid of
the ball very quickly by kicking it
away. Dave Hodgson is on that same
photograph. He later became a keen
fell runner winning the 1958 and 1960
Burnsall Fell Races, his time in 1960
remaining the amateur record for 10
years. According to an article in the
Yorkshire Post he finished fourth in
the 1958 Three Peaks Race, and later
was president of the race’s association.
The race web site does not seem to
mention this but states he finished
second in 60/61/62 & 64, and ran it 21
times!
My brother Dennis was a
keen rugby player and was in Old
Scarborians teams for some years after
leaving school before sustaining a very
bad knee injury which ended his playing days. He continued to be connected with the game until his death in
1998 being a keen supporter of Maidenhead Rugby Club. Another photo
on the website has Mr. Bradley on it –
he was head of the prep school when I
joined. A very tall man, who would
pick us up if he wanted to talk to us
eye to eye.
Photos next pages:
Firstly, the Rugby team 1947: back Mr Freeman, Cudworth, Langrick,
Pennock, ? , Hodgson, ? , middle Wharram, Stanley Wallis , Haddington, Ffoulkes, Pickering, ? , ? , front Howard, Green
U 14 Cricket 1946: back - Burden,
Moore, Mr Colenutt, Hartley, Langrick, ? , ? , Bremner, Frank, Pennock,
Turner, front - Jackson, Barnes
Colts 1947 : back - Frank, Cudworth,
Llewelyn, Burden, Watson, Turner, Mr
Hovington, middle - Edwards, Atkinson, Pennock, Jackson, Dixon, front Rines, Barnes
2nd XI 1948 : back - Mr Hinchliﬀe,
Turner, Watson, Brown, Stockdale,
Moss, Pennock, middle - Frank, Llewelyn, Greenwood, Lee, Featherstone,
front - Bastiman, Burden
Peter Berry has also produced the
attached with names. The only one
missing is the sunburnt boy on the
18
back row. The others are as follows:
Back; Lionel Howden, Ron Colley,
Bertie Bassett, ? , Billy Barton, Mr Francis
Middle;
Don Barnes, David Merri-
weather, John Yeadon, Peter Midgley,
Barry Dove
Front; Walter Rogers, Gordon Pottage
19
SCARBOROUGH LUNCH –
WHEN YOU ARE EIGHTY!
Following a lunch at Scarborough on
the 22nd of October last attended by
Peter Berry (1945-50), Peter Robson
(1945-53),
Colin Moore (1945-50),
Derek Fawcett (1944-50), and Barry
Christopherson (1945-51), Peter Berry
has forwarded the following exchange
of reminiscences:-
20
Colin Moore writes ;It was good to meet some faces from
the past. Pity some had to miss. Enclosing
images taken yesterday (see photos) not as
good as I had hoped... The lighting wasn't
a help, but at least everyone is recognisable.
Peter Berry writes :It was great to talk to two who I had
not had a proper conversation with for 64
years ! Colin is at the back on both photos
and the others left to right are Deryk Fawcett, Barry Christopherson, Peter Robson and Peter Berry. Sadly three called oﬀ
late for medical reasons but sent their regards and hope to attend in 2015, which
will be 70 years since we started at SBHS.
Apart from a very enjoyable chat the points
which arose are as follows. Where do we
hold next year’s lunch? York was the only
suggestion because of train accessibility,
but , so far as I know, we do not have a
resident who could arrange. I thought
Scarborough would attract more than Lincoln but I was wrong for a variety of reasons. Who runs the lunch which would
depend on venue. When do we hold it? The
only suggestion is the first week in September. I avoided the summer because of grandchildren only to lose at least one who goes
away for the winter. It was my first conversation with Deryk for 64 years! He
stayed at The Southlands in West Street
because his daughter wanted to visit. I still
have my Arnold cap but the blazer has disappeared! I had hoped for a larger attendance because of family etc. connections but
all these years later they must be thinning.
Obviously we are all getting older and our
old pals are spread South Coast/London
Area/West Country/Midlands and Yorkshire which makes travel diﬃcult. If they do
not want to make a holiday here we shall
have to compromise, but where? Even
those that live in surrounding villages are
thinning, as Peter Robson goes further
north to live near family. If you know the
answer please let us know. The early September suggestion was to fit with a holiday
in the Dales. Come for a coﬀee if you visit
Scarborough or something stronger if I pick
you up !
Peter Midgley writes :I did visit Derek Fawcett a few years ago
when I went down to Henley to play golf.
He lived very close to the course. You must
have been disappointed that several of the
class had to drop out. Here’s hoping something can be organised for next year! We
must have been very smart in our new uniforms from Beales when we all started 70
years ago!
PATRICK ARGENT (1973)
Committee Member
Dublin-born Patrick Argent is a
graphic designer,
design journalist,
events organiser
and college lecturer. Educated in
schools in Dublin
and London, with
his parents he emigrated to Yorkshire
in the 1960's and continued his education at Scarborough Boys High School.
After training in art and design at Scarborough Technical College, he studied
design at Hull College of Higher Education before establishing his graphic design studio in 1983.
His clients have included English
Heritage, Alan Ayckbourn, Royal
21
Shakespeare Company, Asda Stores
and McCain Foods, amongst numerous
companies and organisations. As a
journalist he has written regularly for
The Independent newspaper in addition to contributing to various professional design journals and websites in
the USA, Holland and Britain since
1996.
He is a former editor of CSD magazine, the journal of the Chartered Society of Designers, the professional institute for design in the UK.
Since 2000, he has regularly organised lectures on design by many leading industry figures that have included
Sir Peter Blake, Sir Christopher Frayling and Milton Glaser amongst others.
In education he has taught graphic
design at University of Lincoln and at
Yorkshire Coast College and has acted
as an academic adviser to the University of Hull. He currently teaches parttime at Scarborough Sixth Form College.
OBITUARIES
Jack Speight
Extracted from the
Scarborough News 20th
November 2014
“Farewell to Jack
Speight”.
One of the most prominent former education
figures in Scarborough
has recently died at the age of 93.
Jack Speight was the former Deputy
Headmaster at Scarborough Boys High
School and latterly Deputy Principal of
Scarborough Sixth Form College.
He was born John Granville Speight in
Leeds in 1921, the oldest of three children. He grew up with his brother
Derek and sister Ann in the deprived
area of Holbeck in the city where his
parents ran a corner shop. By his own
determination and with much encouragement from his family, he succeeded
academically, attending Cockburn
High School. Showing a lifelong keenness for all sports, in particular rugby
union, cricket and boxing, he achieved
the title of schoolboy boxing champion
of Yorkshire.
Entering higher education he enrolled as an undergraduate student at
Leeds University, gaining a degree in
Physics. Unable to serve in the armed
forces due to a perforated eardrum, he
spent the period of WW2 working at
the Cavendish laboratories in Cambridge, despite having had ambitions
to be in the Royal Air Force. After the
war, joining the teaching profession as
his vocation, he began his career at
Morecambe Grammar School as a science teacher in addition to coaching the
rugby and hockey teams. During this
period he met his first wife Ina, also a
teacher, who he married in 1948.
Living in the region, he greatly enjoyed walking in the Lakeland hills as
an activity in his spare time.
After the birth of their first son Cliﬀord,
the family returned to his West Yorkshire roots, where Jack taught physics
at Castleford Grammar School. His
passionate love of sports continued,
playing in both local and county rugby
teams in addition to a role as a school
team coach.
22
After his wife's father became ill and
being advised that the sea air world be
beneficial for his health, the family
moved to Scarborough in 1955, Ina's
parents joining them to live in their
house in Scalby Road. Jack and Ina's
second son Robert was born in 1956.
An unforgettably commanding and
influential figure to thousands of local
grammar school pupils, Jack Speight
taught in Scarborough for almost 30
years, initially at Westwood and then
at the then newly built Boys High
School in Woodlands Drive from 1959.
In his much admired teaching as a
Physics Master, although being precise
and thorough with theory, it was in
his particular use of practical work, in
experiments and meaningful demonstrations that he brought the subject
alive, inspiring many of his pupils to
become scientists and engineers. With
the introduction of the comprehensive
system into secondary education in the
mid-1970's, he joined the Sixth Form
College until his retirement in 1985.
Ina died of a heart attack in 1979 at the
age of 58. In his retirement his main
interests were that of golf, being a
member of the North Cliﬀ club and as
both a committee member and chairman of the MS society. He married his
second wife Priska, in 1983 living in
Newby.
Jack's first son Robert died in 2007
after living most of his adult life in
Spain as a teacher and musician in
Granada and Madrid.
Richard Seymour, one of the
world's leading industrial designers
and a former Scarborough Boys High
School pupil, remembers Jack Speight,
stating: 'We knew him as 'Digger'. Noone knew why, but it had a vaguely malevolent ring to it. A calm figure of authority
on one hand, but nemesis to the miscreant
who would dare step out of line. The
thought of being hauled-up by the Headmaster was a chilling-enough thought, but
to cross Jack Speight was something too
scary to contemplate ... even the other staﬀ
used him as a symbol of righteous retribution. 'Who would have guessed that behind this mask of authority lay a delightful
man of warmth and dignity? He came to
my last talk at the Library and smiled at
me from the audience ... how the wheel
turns!"
Also referring to his 'Digger' moniker
known to so many, former pupil Peter
Lassey recounts: "I remember it being
traditional to have a nickname for the most
colourful of our teachers and Jack was one
of those, notorious for his iron hard demeanour and discipline. Underneath, of
course, was a hugely compassionate man
and one who I have always remembered for
his patience advising me during a critical
period at the end of my time at the school"
Howard Acklam, current President
of the Old Scarborians Association
(OSA) for former pupils and staﬀ at
the Boys High, in paying tribute said:
"He was well respected by many of the
students he taught, over his many years at
the school in which he always instilled a
great sense of purpose."
Graphic designer and teacher Patrick Argent recalls: 'Jack Speight was
the overlord, the absolute rule of law within the Boys High School. The archetypal
image of the authoritarian school master,
yet he was also this mild-mannered, quietly spoken mentor whose pragmatic, no-
23
nonsense wisdom gave everyone a sense of
direction, drive and commitment in our
studies Essentially he made us all proud
to be part of the then grammar school
system."
Honorary Life Vice-President of the
OSA Mick Bowman also commented:
"He was a major character and had a positive influence on all those who knew him.
Education and the world are poorer for his
passing."
Freddie Drabble, solicitor and leader of The Sons Of Neptune marine
conservation group, added his own
tribute in stating: "There were few indeed on the SBHS staﬀ who you might
have regarded as a friend. 'Digger' was
that exception as his approach was on a
man-man basis, not master and pupil. He
was a man with no edge. What you saw
was what you got. "That to me was an
exceptional gift in a schoolmaster in the
1950s. I have no doubt that he ever
changed. He didn't have to. He injected
the common man approach into the classroom. There are far too few with the
'Digger' common touch"
Jack Speight died peacefully on 3rd
November at the Rambla Nursing
Home on Scalby Road in Scarborough
where he had lived for the last ten
months of his life. He is survived by
his wife Priska, his eldest son Cliﬀord
and his grandchildren Joseph and
Ellen”.
James Arthur Bland
(1942-9)
(a reflection by J G Lee)
Jim (above) was a well respected
and popular pupil at Scarborough
Boys’ High School from 1942 to 1949
having previously been at Central
Primary School. During his time at
SBHS he was a member of the School
Army Cadets and was in possession of
a number of “Best Shot” trophies.
However his major “trophy” of this
period was to meet Rita Jackson, aged
13, at a Youth Club Event at the
24
Olympia taking part in square dancing. Rita was his partner at the dances
and throughout the rest of his life. Jim
and Rita were married at St Mary’s
church in Scarborough in June 1954
and, whilst living in South West Yorkshire their two daughters, Angela and
Julia were born. Scarborough never left
their blood because Rita’s parents’
house in Tennyson Avenue became
their base for holidays with much time
spent in a beach chalet on the North
Side. In later years grandchildren
Vicky, Sarah, Ben and Charlotte revelled in active holidays, organized by
Jim. Great grandson William arrived
too late for the beach hut, but, nevertheless, thrilled his great granddad.
Neville Thompson’s meeting with
Jim in their first year at SBHS led to a
life-long friendship between their families. He and Jim attended a school camp
at Gunnerside which was also attended by a group from the AngloNetherlands Sports Association from
Flushing. Jim and Neville used to cycle
prodigious distances, including rides to
York where they visited Neville’s relatives. Apparently during 1943-1945 the
central reservation on the A64 dual
carriageway was used for storage of
ammunition, what appeared to be large
shells. A good job that the road conditions were such that there was very
little traﬃc to contend with ! Once Jim
had learnt to drive he used to borrow
his Father’s Lanchester to take Rita, Joy
and Neville for country drives in North
Yorkshire. Happy memories!
In his final year Jim was a Prefect
and, as was the fate of most of us on
leaving school, he went into the Army
on National Service, being posted to the
Army Preliminary Education Corps,
where in Oswestry, Bodmin, Norwich
and Colchester he taught those with
literacy diﬃculties. On leaving the
Army Jim joined Marks and Spencer as
a trainee. (This begs the question, “was
his Army role a good preparation for a career in retailing”). Jim spent the rest of
his working life on a tour of North and
South-West Yorkshire, training in York
and Bridlington before holding managerial posts in Harrogate, Sheﬃeld,
Bradford, Wakefield,
Rotherham,
Chesterfield, Castleford, Keighley and
Dewsbury.
Although I knew Jim during our early years at School we did not become
close friends until we both became involved in Drama and Music.
Jim
achieved “stardom” very early with his
cameo role of Dick Deadeye in the
School production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore (produced by
Gerry Hovington and musically
directed by Arthur Costain). This was
the first time that Jim’s acting ability
and superb bass voice came to the notice of the wider audiences attending
the performances. The following year
he starred as Macduﬀ in the “Sam Rockinghorse” (alias Eric Rice) production
of Macbeth. In this role Jim’s large stature and strong speaking voice made for
a great performance – this was particularly realistic when, one evening during
Macduﬀ’s sword fight with Macbeth, a
front row member of the audience was
heard to say “How do they do that? It
looks like real blood!” Truthfully, it was
and Jim’s forehead had to be plastered
as soon as he left the stage. However
25
the show, in true tradition, carried on.
The following year the chosen performance was Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. This gave Jim the
opportunity to sing the role of Pirate
King, which he performed in outstanding fashion, with his big stature, strong
deep bass voice topped by a huge,
black curled wig and a large “Jolly
Roger” flag. In this production I played
the tenor role of Frederick and Jim and
I had a wonderful time rehearsing and
performing the duets in the show. One
feature I remember well was the
“Paradox” trio where we were joined
by “Ruth”, a contralto, played by one
of the Junior boys, which received
acclamation at every performance. The
“female” lead , a soprano, was another
Junior called Ben Cook, who I believe
was the Head Chorister at St Mary’s
Church, and his rendering of the solo,
”Poor Wandering One” was outstanding
for a treble.
During our time in the 5th and 6th
forms Jim and I both took singing lessons with Claude Keeton, the organist
at St Mary’s Church, and conductor of
both the Scarborough Symphony Orchestra and Choir. We were always
encouraged by Arthur Costain, who
began to arrange for us to perform at
various concerts and Speech Day. This
was a bone of contention with me because Jim always got to sing “macho”
songs – often from the repertoire of
famous singers like Owen Brannigan
and
Geraint Evans eg. “Drake’s
Drum”, “Leaning”, whilst I, who
was the rugby playing, athletic guy,
had to sing songs such as “Linden Lea”
and “English Rose” – not good for the
image! During this time “Brad”, Mr
Bradley, the Deputy Head, asked Jim
and I to visit several of the old peoples
clubs in Scarborough, which we continued with for two years, to sing for
the folks after their afternoon tea. One
of the duets we sang was “The Gendarme Duet “; this was great fun and,
yet again, Jim’s voice was most impressive.
A few years ahead of Jim and I was
the very well known local bass, Don
Kynman who is a former pupil of
SBHS, and I cannot help but say how
lucky the High School was to have
Don and Jim, two outstanding bass
singers, through its doors during such
a short period. Don and Jim both sang
as “semi-professionals” after they left
school, Jim’s audiences were mainly
in Yorkshire Working Mens’ Clubs
and Rotary Functions.
In more recent times Jim and Rita
went on numerous cruises where they
re-visited their love of dancing and
have joined me in Cheshire, on an annual basis, in order for us to visit Buxton for the Gilbert and Sullivan three
week festival. A real joy.
Jim will be greatly missed, particularly by family, but his sense of fun,
kindness and great singing talent will
live in our memories. It is true to say
he was “The Pirate King”.
Colin Hurd (1952-8)
Howard Acklam writes….
I had an E-Mail from the Rugby Club
earlier this afternoon. I'm very sad to
report the death of Old Scarborian
Colin Hurd. He hasn't been well for a
26
long time but always battled bravely
on in stoic fashion. A great friend of
Colin's from his Rugby days - Brian
Collinson - who some of you will
know, also passed away very recently
and I'm sure that will also have been a
big blow to Colin. Colin played rugby
for the School as well as the Old Scarborians in their regular Boxing
Day games against Scarborough. He
also played for Scarborough 1st XV
over many years, playing or the Club
from 1958 to 1966. He was also President of Scarborough RUFC
during 1988-89.
of the Association for a number of
years"I started playing Rugby at Scarborough
in 1958 and played mainly for the 1st XV
until 1968. I was then persuaded to play
for the veterans team for a few years and
finally retired in 1975. After that I was
Secretary of the Club from 1973 to 1979
and President in season 1988-89. Since
that time I have done very little because of
work commitments.
I played cricket in Scarborough from
1967 to 1981 mainly in the second team
but for some seasons in the first XI. From
1975 to 1979 I captained the second team
in the East Yorkshire Cup competition. I
was mainly a batsman and scored over
5000 runs during my time at Scarborough.
I served on Scarborough Cricket Club
main committee from 1977 to 1998, a continuous stint of 21 years, ending up as
Vice Chairman mainly to do with the
cricket side of things. Before that I played
at Cloughton and have now returned there
as Secretary.
After I retired from Scarborough
Building Society I took a temporary seasonal job at the Town Hall helping in the
cash oﬃce counting and banking the cash
from car parks etc. I am married to Kate
and have a daughter Nicola and a son
Richard."
Stuart Bennett (47-55)
Our thoughts will be with his family .
Extracted from the committee profile of Colin published in Summer
Times of May 2003, - Colin having
served as a Committee member and
subsequently Membership Secretary
From the Rose Bruford
College website
“We were saddened to hear of the
passing of Stuart Bennett on 28 January 2015.
Stuart was a pioneer in the theatre
27
for young audiences sector and was instrumental in developing the Theatre in
Education (TiE) movement in this country in the 1960s and 70s.
collection of film and written material
from his days at the Cockpit to its archive and was on the advisory committee for the Centre when it was established in 2011.
Despite recent ill health Stuart continued to be an active advocate for theatre in its broadest sense and his towering
frame and seemingly unending energy
will be greatly missed by those who
knew him”
Bill Redman (1946 – 54)
Stuart joined Rose Bruford College
in the mid 1970's, teaching on our BA
Theatre Arts programme before becoming Director of our groundbreaking BA
Community Theatre Arts programme.
In 1982 Stuart took up the role of
Director of the Cockpit Theatre in London and then went on to work as the
Refugee
Theatre
Co-ordinator
at
the Inner City Theatre, Hackney.
He taught and wrote about working for, by and with children and young
people and in 2005 edited the book
'Theatre for Children and Young People: 50
Years of Professional Theatre in the UK'.
Stuart continued to have a longstanding relationship with the College
which he continued most recently in his
support for our Theatre for Young Audiences Centre. He donated an extensive
writes;
Stuart was a man of many talents. Over
the years we went our separate ways
and certainly we did not always agree
on educational matters, but there was a
bond created at the SBHS and
Westborough Methodist Chapel Youth
Club which never disappeared and as
we reached our seventies we revived
this friendship with warmth.
Stuart was a talented sportsman. He
played rugby for the 1st XV for three
years and was a Victor Ludorum. When
he did a spell of teaching in Leeds he
played at Moortown Rugby Club, but
despite his promise at club level, his
interests were elsewhere.
It was typical of Henry Marsden that
he should casually suggest that Stuart
should apply to read English at Downing College, at that time under the eccentric Fred Leavis certainly the most
prestigious English department in the
country. Stuart was successful and after
two years National Service in Germany
where he was a radio mechanic and developed a lifelong passion for Wagner,
he took up his studies.
After Cambridge Stuart had a suc-
28
cession of jobs - BBC radio producer,
Probation Oﬃcer, teacher, before he
found his true vocation - the role of
drama and the theatre in education. At
school and at college I had not been
aware of such intense interest. He had
been Polonius to Steve Williamson’s
Hamlet, but I suspect that it was in his
work after university that he developed
this passion for 'Theatre in Education.'
In the volatile field of drama Stuart
made an impact. He lectured in the
Community Theatre Arts Course at
Rose Bruford Drama School and became Director of the Belgrade Theatre
in Education Company in Coventry
and later Director of the Youth Arts
Centre at the Cockpit Theatre, London.
Inevitably he became politically committed in Equity and the Drama Teachers Association. In 1992 he became
Head of Education at the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. Former colleagues at his funeral ceremony testified to their debt to Stuart as a source of
inspiration.
Stuart could be stubborn. He refused to retire and continued to teach,
write and motivate. He refused to accept that he had cancer and remained
positive to the end. He refused to remain in his London hospital and released himself to attend an Old Boys'
dinner in Scarborough. He had marked
in his diary the date of this year's London Dinner. His interest in the Old
Boys' Association and Scarborough
remained undiminished.
Our sympathy goes to Teresa and
his children who looked after, with
love and care, such an in independent
spirit.
DONALD WEST AND THE
SCARBORIAN
Several copies of "The Scarborian" from
1935/6, including the May 1935 first
Issue under that title, have recently
been forwarded by Michael West, the
son of Old Scarborian Donald West.
Donald, who died in 2013, was School
Captain in 1935, then attaining a State
Scholarship.
The Magazine, which was principally a School Magazine, also records the
formal rebirth of the Association in that
year, and includes a final few pages
devoted to its activities, which were
largely sporting. The first Annual dinner was at the then Cambridge Hotel with three substantial courses for 4/6d;
and, interestingly, Donald's copy of the
menu contains the autographs of many
attendees, including the Headmaster H
W Marsden, who extolled the virtues
of the Association, which he hoped
would prosper into the future - a correct prophesy given that this year is the
80th Anniversary of the reformed Association!
A printed application form for Membership (at a princely 2/6d) was also
attached (and it was diﬃcult to resist
the temptation to now send a completed copy to our Membership Secretary
Geoﬀ Winn with half a crown in some
Old Money to provide him with food
for thought!)
29
BRIAN RAZZALL and
EASTER PARADE
And of the girl I'm taking to the Easter
parade.
Michael Herman (1937-47)
I wonder if anyone
has memories of
the school revue
held around Easter
in 1938 or perhaps
1939, and of Brian
Razzall
leading
the performance?
A detail of wartime history unlocked my recollections
of it some years ago, and they might be
of interest.
I entered the Prep as an eight-year
old in September 1937. The Christmas
school plays under Eric Rice were well
established by then, but they were followed once - and in my recollection
only once - by a revue at the end of the
winter term, held in a church hall halfway down Westborough, perhaps in
Falsgrave. Its theme and theme-song
was ‘Easter Parade’, the tune and lyric
we still know well :In your Easter bonnet, with all the
frills upon it,
You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.
I'll be all in clover and when they look
you over,
I'll be the proudest fellow in the Easter
parade.
On the avenue, fifth avenue, the photographers will snap us,
And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure.
Oh, I could write a sonnet about your
Easter bonnet,
It had been written by Irving Berlin for
a musical comedy in New York in 1933,
repeated in London under another
name in 1935. We must have all got to
know the lyric on what we then called
‘the wireless’. It appeared later in the
‘Easter Parade’ film of 1948 with Fred
Astaire and Judy Garland, and you can
still buy innumerable versions of it on
CDs and DVDs.
I hardly remember anything about
the revue as a whole. I have a dim recollection that there was
a school
orchestra as part of it, conducted by
Harry McNicoll who taught history
under Biﬀ Smith, and I have memories
of Dennis Pennock and perhaps Bernard Barrett from the Prep among the
violins. Was the school orchestra an ad
hoc creation, or did it have a continued
existence? Even if it did, it must have
expired with the war. But everything is
dominated by the memory of Brian
Razzall who acted as compere, and
must have been a gifted comedian. My
recollection is that he more or less
stopped the show, with the audience
shouting ‘give us more Razzall’. I had
never known anything like it. I remember that my father, taking me as a
fatherly duty, reported at home what a
surprisingly good show it was. I wonder whether any programmes and
notices of the performance survive.
Razzall was a senior boy, about to
leave school, and this was my only
knowledge of him; but with an impressionable eight-year old the memory
stuck.
30
Came the war, and Razzall was
killed in 1943. He had become a Fleet
Air Arm fighter pilot, and was lost in
the battle over the landing at Salerno.
Harry Marsden usually announced
such wartime losses briefly at the
morning assembly and did not normally produce substantial obituaries; but I
recall that for Razzall he produced a
moving notice for The Scarborian, the
more impressive since it was exceptional. It reflected his deep feelings about
the wartime deaths, and his eye for
quality.
Razzall was of course one among
many, and the world moved on. In the
General Election of 1945 his brother
Leonard Humphrey unsuccessfully
stood as Scarborough’s Liberal candidate, and lost (Gilly Gray stood for the
party in the School‘s imitation election
and of course won). I believe Leonard
was a barrister and became a Taxing
Master, an oﬃce for the oversight of
barristers’ fees. His son is now Lord
Razzall, a life peer, prominent in the
Liberal Democrats.
I have no other
knowledge of the family.
That could have been the end of the
story, until I came by chance to an addition. It was in a memoir published in
1995 by a New Zealand oﬃcer (‘Cappy’
Masters) about the Dominion’s allvolunteer contribution to the wartime
Fleet Air Arm, and it includes an account of Razzall’s death and part of his
oﬃcial report on it of 15 September
1943. Razzall and Masters were sublieutenants aboard the carrier HMS
Unicorn, flying Seafires, the nautical
version of the Spitfire, and part of the
fleet supporting the Salerno landing.
With two other pilots they were flown
to Sicily to collect replacement
Seafires , and the group of four took oﬀ
for the 240 mile flight back to the carrier over water with Razzall leading
them. They met a group of American
Mustang fighters which made to attack
them and forced them to use up fuel
escaping at full throttle. Visibility then
deteriorated and after an hour and a
half Razzall contacted an RN vessel for
a course to the carrier. The stilted language of the oﬃcial report then conveys the group’s agonising failures to
find the carrier and the unsuccessful
attempts to get emergency directions
with fuel running out. They eventually
turned for the Italian coast but Razzall
ran out of fuel and sought to bail out
about seven miles before reaching it.
Masters writes that ‘I shall never forget
the simple but poignant message that
Brian Razzall relayed to us as he was
about to bale out “I’m getting out now
chaps. Best of luck to you”. . . . What happened when he disappeared into the
hazy fog no one will know.’ Masters
speculates that with a dead engine he
might have got trapped by the back of
the cockpit and dragged down by the
centrifugal force. His body was never
recovered.
Of the other three, one
bailed out and the other two (including
Masters) were able to crash land virtually on the battlefield. The account is in
A.O.’Cappy’ Masters, Memoirs of a Reluctant Batsman (London: Janus, 1995).
So it is a sad story: death not in heroic aerial combat, but in war’s manifold
risks and confusion: one of so many
almost unrecorded tragedies. I add it
here to complete my memories of Raz-
31
zall, ‘Easter Parade’ and the School orchestra. Can any readers add to them?
Was it really the outstanding success I
remember, and if so why was it never
repeated?
WE DON’T NEED NO
EDYUKASHUN!
Ian Scott (1962-70)
writes…..
‘THE BEST YEARS OF
YOUR LIFE’
………. or so our parents and elders
told us way back when. In response to
Dave Eade’s article in the May 2013
edition of Summer Times, I decided to
put a little thought into his suggestion
that we have a wealth of information
from experiences gained in all diﬀerent
spheres of the education world. I am
old enough now to see ‘new ideas’
being suggested that were, in fact, common practice back in the 60’s when I
was at the Boys’ High School! I do
admit that my knowledge is somewhat
limited as I remained teaching at the
same school from 1974 until I retired
two years ago! Why, you may ask, did
I remain in one establishment for my
entire teaching career?
Well, after completing my geography
degree in London, I decided to apply
for a PGCE at Hull University, (sorry
non-teachers, a Post Graduate Certificate
of Education or teaching qualification!) I
had missed the North, having been
‘Darn Sarf’ for three years. I thought I
possibly may teach, or even run my
parent’s hotel in Scarborough, as my
father had just passed away. On completion of my post grad year in ‘ull,
(during which I still managed to travel
home most weekends to play rugby for
Scarborough and to generally socialise),
I started to look for a teaching post in
or around Scarborough. Impossible!
That area of North Yorkshire was an
elephant’s graveyard for teachers. I was
even looking as far away as Ripon,
Northallerton and York, with no success. It was then that a friend and fellow Old Scab, Richard Watson, (son of
the late Bob) got in touch and informed
me there was a geography teaching
post available at his school, Kirkham
Grammar in Lancashire. Ideal, I
thought. I phoned, arranged an interview and was oﬀered the post. Why,
then, did I accept a job ‘over the border?’
Well, I have to confess, I was actually
born in Lancashire, but made the pilgrimage east with my parents, when a
child of only seven. So I was, and still
am, a naturalised Yorkshireman! However, in the 1970s, I did have a fiancée
teaching at Raincliﬀe! Problem? …..
you bet! Especially as the previous
year she was teaching in Manchester
and had moved for us to be closer together! I do know every inch of the
dreaded M62!
The deciding factor was the type of
school Kirkham was. It was similar in
ethos to SBHS but much older. It even
looked a little like Greyfriars in the
Bunter books! It was founded in 1549
but on a diﬀerent site. It was a voluntary aided grammar school. For those
who didn’t study the boring history of
education…. (9.00 am lecture on Mon-
32
days Hull Uni ….. often not made by
me!) These schools were run by a
local education authority but owned
by the school’s governors. The school
trust itself paid about 25% of the
costs. The boys (yes, it was single
sex) were selected by the much maligned 11+ exam and we had an intake of two forms, each of about 30
pupils. Not dissimilar to the High
School in Scarborough, when I started many years ago! Yes, it was selective and ‘yes’ it did cater for the more
academically able. Elitist? Well yes,
I suppose so, as entry was based on
intellectual ability! If you failed the
much feared exam …. You went
down the road to the Secondary
Modern.
So
in
1979
with
‘comprehensivisation’ taking place all
over the country, Lancashire Education Authority oﬀered to make us the
junior part (the first two years!) of a
larger amalgamation with the local
secondary modern. This was despite
the fact they had no 6th form on their
site, as we had. Our school Governors decided that ‘it was not a good
option to amalgamate’ so they decided
to ‘cease to maintain’ or go it alone and
revert to independence as years later
the LEA would probably have decided to eventually have their secondary
school on a single site and give ‘The
Grammar’ back to the Governors’
Trust! Consequently Kirkham Grammar School ceased to be LEA maintained and became an Independent,
Co-educational School. The irony of
this was that the pupils already
attending KGS had to have their
whole education paid for by the LEA,
even up to 18, which most of them
did! So this guaranteed a certain
financial income over the transition
years of early independence, in a
locality where there were many competitors both in the private sector and
two selective, free grammar schools
all within 23-30 miles!
I stayed there for my entire teaching career! 38 years at the same establishment because it oﬀered similar
opportunities to what I can remember I had at SBHS. Yes, we did play a
lot of competitive sport (too much
some would say!) Extra curricular
activities were abundant. Music, drama and outdoor pursuits thrived.
Staﬀ voluntarily gave their spare
holiday time to take ski trips, French
tours, music and art trips to Europe
and New York and, of course, numerous rugby, cricket and hockey
trips all over the world! Yes, it was a
private school and all these quite
expensive activities came on top of
the termly fees for education and
there was also the option of boarding
for those living further afield or in
the armed forces. Elitist again, but
based this time on wealth even
though an entrance exam had to be
taken! Any economist amongst you
may realise that all available places
had to be filled for the school to be
economically viable and private
schools rarely publish their entire
entrance examination results!
I recently started to compare and
reflect on the variety of opportunities
we all had back in the 60s at SBHS, at
33
the state-funded Woodlands Campus
(a word not used in those days….. far
too American?) Not just the academic
curriculum we followed, with the usual core subjects with options for General Certificate of Education, Ordinary
Level, (as it was then). But I remember
Russian being taught along with
French, German and Latin (what has
happened to modern foreign language
teaching in our state schools in recent
years?). All three sciences were oﬀered
and not the watered-down, wishywashy General Science as taken nowadays! I seem to recall the A stream
(nowadays called banding, rather than
the divisive streaming!) took their English, Maths and French O levels in the
4th form (now year 10!) and then added
English Literature, Use of English and,
I think, Statistics in the next year! This
was about 10 or 11 O levels for the
brighter boys by the time they were 17!
But what else did our SBHS education
give us outside the classroom environment?
We had a Sixth Form Union which
organised regular, joint meetings with
the girls from the Girls’ High School
over at Stepney. I seem to remember
visiting speakers, films, debates and
even joint dances were allowed. The
end of term often saw a ‘Revue’ on
similar lines to ‘Beyond the Fringe’ or
‘Monty Python’ well before Cleese, Palin and Chapman et al, but just as silly!
All these were written and performed
by budding thespians from our 6th
form. The ‘Noel Speakeasy’ was based
on ‘Gangsters and Molls.’ I believe ‘The
Untouchables’ TV programme was popular at the time! We also celebrated
the end of A levels with a rousing chorus of a song written by the late Rob
Southwick of ‘Mandrakes’ fame:
‘Sunny Days and Summer Nights, now
the exams are through….no more worries,
no more strife…!’
‘We’ve finished our A levels, now is the
time for revels….. Straight to the man
called Pete, his belly hides his feet….’
This referred to working at a local ice
cream establishment during the summer hols!
Certain sketches had to be vetted by
the Head, Percy Gardiner, and I remember a classic quote he used from
his services career which has stayed in
my mind ever since: ‘We used to have a
saying in the army, Scott – you can have
wit without sh**!’ He objected to certain names we used in a spoof of
‘University Challenge’ – ‘Emily Shaftswell
and Leica Rabbitt were not exactly ‘Billy
Bigbollocks’ (quote PAG) but he didn’t
really like Isaac Hunt or Hugh Jarce!
What exactly was the UNA Youth
Group? I seem to remember having a
car treasure hunt and ending up at a
country pub for a booze up! Was this
before the days of the breathalyser and
drink driving? Or was this just another
excuse to meet girls from the Convent
or Girls’ High and to see how many
we could fit in a car? The winner was
Rich White with nine in a mini! The
other times we invited females to our
all male bastion up at Woodlands was
for the annual dramatic productions.
Initially it was the late, great Samuel
Rockinghorse, but later on in my 6th
form time it was a young English master called Tim Hulse, who took over
the Rockinghorse reins. ‘The Alchemist’
34
in modern dress was a huge success
and a photo has been produced in this
magazine and is also on the Old Scabs.
web site. This was followed the next
year by ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’
another great production and then
‘L’Avare’ by Moliere. I never understood that play when I failed French A
level in 1969, but in English as ‘The
Prodigious Snob’ it seemed to make
sense!
I suppose what I am trying to say is
that we were all very fortunate at
SBHS in having quite a well thought
out and varied education back in the
dim old days of the 60s when the
much-maligned 11+ selection exam
was still very much in evidence. The
academic push was there but also
there was the opportunity to enjoy
competitive sports (as long as it was
rugby and cricket or athletics!). There
was also a wide variety of extra curricular clubs and societies along with a
wealth of educational and leisure trips.
Admittedly sports trips never went
international as they do nowadays, but
the world was a much larger place
then and cheap packages and overseas
flights had not become as accessible as
Having experienced many changes
throughout my teaching career, I can
say honestly that not all of them have
always been for the good of all. For
instance the introduction of GCSE in
1988, I thought it was a little less demanding, (certainly in my subject,)
than the old O level and unquestionably did not always stretch the more
able student. I remember the first task
on the NEA Geography Paper 1 in
1988 was a simple map of the National
Parks of England and Wales. The pupil was then asked ‘How many National
Parks are there?’ – this was to test if the
less-able could count, I suppose? Not
‘What is a National Park and describe
their distribution’ as it would have been
set at Ordinary Level! – that would
have been far too diﬃcult for the less
able candidate!
I agree that the old O level GCE and
CSE catered for completely diﬀerent
abilities, just like the secondary grammar, modern and technical did in the
50’s and 60’s. But the ‘bog standard,
one size fits all’ will never work in
education, where we are dealing with
a wealth of diﬀering individuals, characters, interests and personalities. I
truly believed in the initial aim of the
Comprehensive system to oﬀer all
children all possibilities and every
opportunity, whether academic, sporting, social or whatever, to see where
‘every child could achieve and gain
success’. This was to replace the anachronistic system of labelling a child
‘success or failure’ at the tender age of
11. To reduce outlay and running
costs, the educational bean counters
decided to provide this revolutionary,
new system under one roof with the
creation of ‘super comps’ some with
over 1500 pupils! But have they really
worked?
Yes, there are both good and bad
State schools, just as there are in the
independent sector. Changes are ongoing, some for the better, as many
schools now are deciding to become
City Technology Colleges, Church
Schools, Specialist Sport or Performing
Arts schools and ‘Academies’ or ‘Free
35
Schools’ which have ‘opted out’ of
Local Authority control. Does this
remind you of a similar, previous system? Am I experiencing a certain déjà
vu here? There has even been a recent
suggestion that some state pupils
should attend certain classes, (in, say,
Mandarin!) at the nearby private
school… I thought ‘Assisted Places’
disappeared years ago?
I remember when Gordon Brown
was PM wanting pupils from the local
comps to share the benefits of attending Combined Cadet Force and similar
activities like the Duke of Edinburgh
Award that public schools enjoyed. At
that time I was the Commanding
Oﬃcer of Kirkham Grammar School
CCF and the PM thought a liaison between schools would ‘prevent feral
youths roaming the streets’ (Quote). He
suggested this without any funding or
provision of staﬀ from the neighbouring school! Our parade was after they
had finished school at 3.00pm! and
none of their staﬀ were prepared to
attend…. as they say in Yorkshire ‘Tha’
never does owt for nowt! The proposed
link between our schools never materialised! I believe since then, only three
State Schools in all UK have initiated
cadet contingents using MoD funding!
If I knew the answer to this educational conundrum, I would be the Secretary of State. As a mere teacher of 38
years experience, I think that over the
last 30 years or so, politicians from all
parties have altered the system. They
have tinkered with diﬀering policies,
introduced innovations (and reintroduced older ideas!) and transformed
the future of our children and are now
realising that, compared with the
standards of education in many of our
European partners, we are no longer
leading the field as we were a few generations ago. Even some of the less
developed countries in the world have
more successful education systems. I
am sure that anyone who has visited
the Far East, Hong Kong, Vietnam,
China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia… (need I go on?) will have seen the
pride that their children take in, not
only their school and education, but
also their appearance in school uniform. Stand outside the local secondary school in the UK and compare!
However, in defence of the independent sector, there has been a huge increase in pupils from overseas, especially the Far East, seeking places at
our established Public Schools! Significantly, private education is a product
that the rest of the world is keen to
acquire. Pupils from the booming
economies of China, Korea and even
Russia are a fast expanding cohort. A
dozen or so independent schools, led
by Harrow, have even set up lucrative
branches and franchises in the Far
East, selling British excellence in education at a premium.
Yet what the world covets is often
much criticised in this country. If state
education were uniformly excellent,
like many of the remaining state grammars, the new academies and top performing comprehensives; then independent schools would have no reason
to exist and probably would struggle
to survive. Bad schools do not exist
because there are good ones ‘creaming
oﬀ the best’ and the good ones cannot
36
be blamed for the bad being bad. Not
until all state schools achieve standards
of genuine excellence and reject a culture of tolerating mediocrity or
‘levelling down’, will the situation
change. Parents, meanwhile, should be
free to choose their children’s school,
and not be pilloried for doing so.
Rant over…. I hope that has been
food for thought and we all still value
what we gained from SBHS, even if it
was merely lasting friendships? Was
our school well ahead of its time or am I
slightly biased? Please feel free to respond with your feelings, memories,
gripes, whinges and comments on your
experiences of the educational system of
either today or yesteryear. I look forward to responses and reaction to my
beliefs.
Just a little post script for those of a
more socialist persuasion – in 1965 there
were more working class Oxbridge undergraduates than today! Don’t get me
going about the lowering of university
entrance standards for State School students!! That could be another article!
DON BARNES (1946-53)
continues his 1966 travels
(see May 2014 Edition)
…French-speaking Haiti was a diﬀerent proposition. Ruled by dictator "Papa
Doc" Duvalier and his brutal "tontons
macoutes", Haiti had much poverty and,
because of recent bad press, few tourists. I found it an absorbing and exciting, if at times frustrating and unnerving, country. The Hotel Oloﬀson, at
which I had arrived with an American
37
friend from the plane, was an unconventional and intriguing Gothic gingerbread mansion in a lush tropical
garden on a hill overlooking Port-auPrince, the bay and the mountains. It
had been originally built for exPresident Sam, who, like many other
Haitian dictators before him, had, after
a brief period in oﬃce, come to a nasty
end by assassination. Al Seitz, the
owner or manager, an extremely relaxed and apparently easy-going guy,
had welcomed us with rum punch and
stories in his oﬃce, pointing out the
"Gielgud Suite" and the rooms occupied
by Graham Greene when he was researching his novel "The Comedians",
set, some of it, in this very hotel (the
"Trianon") and featuring among its
characters the manager himself
("Brown") and the little, simpering,
dancing, government tourist minister
who was to appear at the festivities
that evening. The hotel, known as the
"Greenwich Village of the Tropics", and
for some time a haven for actors, artists and writers, was later to welcome
Jacqueline Kennedy and Mick Jagger,
but not, unfortunately, when I was
there! Greene's novel had turned out
to be such a compulsive and savage
critique of the Duvalier regime that he
had swiftly become "persona non grata" in Haiti, though kindly remembered at the Oloﬀson.
A pleasant young taxi driver who
had attached himself to me, and who
was often to be found waiting outside
the hotel, became a helpful guide in
the teeming streets of Port au Prince
where the Iron Market was a magnetic
hub for the sale of all sorts of local
produce. A voodoo ceremony with
hypnotic drumming and subsequent
38
trance, and a cockfight in a small enclosed arena (cockpit I suppose), with
continuous betting on the outcome,
were both gripping if not entirely
pleasant experiences, but I was much
taken by informal exhibitions by local
artists of strikingly colourful and naive
paintings and the haunting Rara music
of groups parading through the streets
below my hotel. Drums, tin trumpets
and bamboo horns make a strange,
poignant sound.
"Rara music is a Lenten processional
music with strong ties to the Vodou religious tradition. It has been commonly
confused with Haitian Carnival since both
celebrations involve large groups of dancing revelers in the streets. Rara is performed between Ash Wednesday (the day
after Carnival ends) until Easter Sunday
(or Easter Monday in some parts of Haiti.)
Rara bands roam the streets performing
religious ceremonies as part of their ritual
obligations to the "lwa" or spirits of Haitian Voodoo."
One day I took a small military
plane to fly to Cap Haitien on the
north coast of the island. We were on
our way to visit the Citadelle of selfstyled King Henri Christophe. Early
the next day we travelled through sugar-cane fields about 20 miles inland to
Milot, transferring there to small horses for the guided ascent to the citadel.
The steep two hours climb up a rough
stony path, past tiny staring children
outside poor mud huts, was almost too
much for the old, scrawny horses, but
eventually the prow of the fortress was
in sight, thrusting majestically from
the mountain top and dominating the
plain which stretched to the sea. In
ditches at the side of the path we noticed abandoned cannons and shot.
The spectacular ramparts revealed
hundreds more cannon (375), with
British, French and Spanish inscriptions, and many pyramidal stacks of
cannonballs (15000), some left abandoned and at random in the overgrown and neglected interior. We enjoyed the breathtaking views and
heard the distant chanting of women
working in the fields far below. We
were regaled by our guide with horrific tales of Henri Christophe and the
construction of the citadel. A former
slave, he had played a prominent part
under Toussaint Louverture in the
slave rebellion of 1801 which expelled
the French plantation owners and established the first "black republic".
Having soon disposed of the president
Dessalines, Henri Christophe set himself up as "King" of the northern half of
Haiti, establishing a court and nobility
to secure his position. Conscious of the
need to defend his kingdom against
possible French incursions, he built,
with slave labour, a series of fortresses,
the principal one being the Citadelle
Laferriere, the construction of which
took 14 years and cost some 20,000
lives. In 1820, having suﬀered a stroke,
King Henri Christophe, afraid that his
enemies would avenge his cruelty,
took his own life, legend has it, with a
silver bullet and was buried in a pit of
quick lime in the courtyard of the citadel. A monument marks the spot. The
French never returned.
During the descent to the valley the
horses seemed more sure-footed and
we were soon able to stop at the ruined
39
Chateau of Sans Souci, Henri Christophe's grand palace, symbolising, one
felt, his delusions of grandeur with its
grand staircases, vast halls cooled by
underfloor running water conduits,
balustrades and formal gardens, evoking perhaps the status of Frederick the
Great.
"The Baroque staircase and the classical
terraces, the stepped gardens reminiscent
of Potsdam and Vienna, the canals and
basins freely inspired by Versailles, impart
an indefinable hallucinatory quality to the
creation of the megalomaniac king."
On reflection it is perhaps easy to
mock
the
pretensions
of
the
"megalomaniac king" and to deplore
his cruelty, but these are two remarkable edifices constructed by recently
freed black slaves. With its elaborate
system of water supply and cisterns
and its colossal defensive walls which
render the fortress well nigh impregnable, the citadel is one of the best
examples of the art of military engineering of the early 19th century. More
recently declared by UNESCO to be
World Heritage Sites, the citadel and
the palace could be thought of as
"symbols of liberty, the first monuments to be constructed by black
slaves who had gained their freedom".
Haiti had proved to be a captivating
place, doubtless rendered more exhilarating by the knowledge that Papa
Doc, who had recently proclaimed
himself “President for Life”, and his
conspicuous henchmen were not too
far away. I believe that was why his
mincing "Minister of Tourism" turned
up at the Oloﬀson dances, keeping an
eye on the newly arrived visitors.
Ian Scott further writes…..
(Attaching copies of documents which
most of us have long forgotten but provide
a nostalgic memory of life in a diﬀerent
world a long time ago…)
“I’ve recently been going through
some old files/drawers and found
something that you may find interesting, or may be suitable for the Archives.
I entered SBHS in 1962,
(Woodlands, of course!) and found
these rather interesting letters from
the Education Authority and also
from the Head, Perc. Gardiner (lovely
sentiment in the “what is expected of
new pupils”):
“ADMISSION TO GRAMMAR
SCHOOLS. 1962
Dear Sir (Madam),
I have to inform you that the Education
Committee oﬀers your child Ian Scott a
place from the beginning of next term
at Scarborough Boys High School . The
conditions on which places at grammar
schools are oﬀered are set out below.
(1) The pupil must be ordinarily resident within the administrative county
of the North Riding, and must be of the
age prescribed in the Committee's regulations.
(2) The place is oﬀered on the understanding that if the pupil's progress is
satisfactory he (she) will remain at the
grammar school at least until the end
of the Midsummer Term following his
(her) 16 birthday. If a pupil's aptitude
and ability are such as to warrant re-
40
maining at the grammar school beyond
that age, the Education Committee
hopes that parents will take the fullest
advantage of the facilities oﬀered by
the Committee and will not take their
children away from school at the age of
16. For pupils over compulsory school
age maintenance allowances are available where hardships might arise
through keeping them at school.
(3) The tuition given in the grammar
school, including the provision of text
books and stationery, is free. Further
benefits are available in cases of hardship; information as to these benefits is
given on the enclosed sheet.
(4) Where the distance between home
and school is not less than two miles, the
Education Committee will pay the cost
of transport. Where it appears that
transport may be necessary, a form of
application for a travelling allowance is
enclosed, which should be completed
and returned at once. In exceptional
cases, where the Committee considers it
impossible for the pupil to travel daily,
a boarding allowance may be granted.
(5) In any dispute or question which
may arise the Committee's decision
shall be final and binding.
If you wish to accept this place on your
child's behalf, will you please complete,
detach and return the form at the foot of
this letter. Please note that in addition
you must send his (her) birth certificate
(or a copy of it, which may be obtained
from the Registrar of Births on payment of a fee of 6d.), along with a
stamped addressed envelope for its return to you. No covering letter apart
from the form below is necessary.
Notes for Parents of New
Boys
2. The Autumn Term begins on Wednesday, 12th September, and new entrants
should arrive at 10 o'clock.
3. Pupils may cycle to school if they wish,
although cycle storage accomodation is
somewhat limited. Boys cycling are expected to take or to have taken recently,
the cycling proficiency test.
4. Midday meals are provided at school
for those who require them at a cost of 1/per day. Payments are made weekly on
the first day of each week. Occasional
attendance at lunch is not permitted in
other than exceptional circumstances.
Pupils staying for school Lunch are not
allowed outside the school grounds during the lunch break.
5. Pupils are expected to wear school uniform, details of which are enclosed.
Parents are asked to co-operate in maintaining a high standard in this respect, for
uniform helps boys to acquire a sense of
belonging to and pride in, their school.
6. Pupils must change into the regulation
dress for games and physical education.
7. Parents are asked to ensure that great
care is taken over books and stationary.
These are issued "free" to pupils, but they
are very expensive upon the public purse.
All books and equipment necessary for
your child's education are provided by
the Authority. However, it would be beneficial if you could furnish him with the
items mentioned below, which would be
invaluable personal belongings throughout his school career:- a Bible (special
attention to clear print), the Pocket Oxford Dictionary, A set of geometrical instruments. This need not be elaborate, but
41
should include compasses, protractor and
set squares.
8. A games and societies subscription of
2/6d is collected each term is used to foster
a number of out-of-school activities which
are an essential part of school life, and
particularly to meet the cost of entertaining visiting teams and substantial travelling expenses in away matches.
9. Homework in the first form should not
exceed one hour per evening except that at
the week-end a little more may be set. The
amount will increase gradually as the
pupil moves up the school. Parents should
ensure homework is done and provide
reasonable conditions for it.
10. Regular attendance is absolutely vital,
and boys should not absent except through
sickness or where the parents annual holiday time falls in term time. It is not possible to permit additional holiday except in
very special circumstances. Boys must
bring a note after absence addressed to
their Form Master. If absence exceeds
three days, the school must be informed,
either by note or telephone.
11. National Savings. There is a National
Savings Group at the School, its purposes
being to foster the habit of regular saving.
All new boys are encouraged to join.
1938-39 FOOTBALL
PHOTO (see last issue)
from Maureen Atkinson , daughter of
Old Scarborian and Yorkshire cricketer
Ted Lester (1932-9)
“Dear Editor, - My father Ted Lester
was delighted to see the photo submitted by Julie. He was able to name
all the Scarborough Boys High School
First team, as he was the goalkeeper.
He dates the photo 1938 or 1939. (See
p42)
Dad went on to be goalkeeper for
Scarborough. He played cricket for
Yorkshire and then became their scorer. He went to Bill Ford's birthday
party, and also named the football
team on the Julie Ellard photo as
shown.”
Geoff Lee (1942-50) also
writes…..
Photo on p18 of last Summer Times:Back Row (4 from left) I think is Ted
Lester (Played in goal for Scarborough
as well as cricket for Yorkshire)
Front Row(4 from left) I think is “Con”
Johnson – Geography teacher who
became MP for Rugby. As does Revan Tranter (194252 ) ….
I really must congratulate you, Peter,
on putting together such a fine
November issue of Summer Times.
With the upcoming May issue, how
fortunate readers will be that they no
longer have to wade through anything
from me (assuming they did in the
first place). By the way, in the photo
on page 18, without a doubt that’s
“Kong” (or “Con”) Johnson, second
from the right, front row –geography
teacher and future Labour M.P. for
Rugby. Splendid guy. And I’m pretty
damn sure that’s the famous Yorkshire
batsman Ted Lester, goalkeeper, third
from the right, back row. God knows
what team it was. Obviously Johnson
and Lester were adults (Ted left school
at 16) – as possibly were just one or
two of the others. Have you already
had some rather more enlightening
info. than mine?
42
NB: The original photograph is shown
again on the following page with
names as now established:
Back from left:
Dick Candler; Denis Saunders; Vic
Smith; Ted Lester; ? Hall; ? McWhan;
Front from left:: Peter Potter; Paddy
Waterhouse; John Fletcher; Jim Johnson; Bill Cranstone.
ATC
The Rev. Chris Ledgard (1952-59)
forwards the following extract From
AIRMAIL – (RAFA Quarterly Magazine October 2014) in connection with
the Article by Ray Kidd in the last
issue of Summer Times, and adds “ I
came across the enclosed review in the
Magazine and two days later Volume 68
arrived! You might like to make reference
to the review for the next Edition, It may
help Ray’s sales! Having been ATC chaplain at Brize Norton , Whitby and Selkirk
plus participation in the Scottish 50th
Anniversary Service at St Giles Cathedral
Edinburgh you might say I had a vested
interest!” :“Although the first air cadet unit was
raised in Bournmouth in 1928, the first
squadrons to be formed in a privately
funded national organisation were part of
the Air Defence Cadet Corps in 1938.
Thousands of youngsters joined and were
able to learn about aircraft, aerodynamics,
navigation, mechanics and other subjects
not taught in schools. The organization
was to become known as The Air Training
Corps (ATC) and as war loomed it was
considered a useful RAF recruitment tool
to attract potential airmen and ground
crew.
43
Throughout the war ATC cadets supported the home defences by fire watching, as
messengers and as observers, working
alongside the Home Guard, the fire services and other vital organisations During
the second half of the 1900s the corps continued to thrive. Girls were now included
and retired RAF oﬃcers and other ranks
continued to take an active part in each
squadron. There are now over 900 squadrons within the U K, providing the same
skills to modern youth and teaching them
the importance of personal responsibility
and teamwork via annual camps at RAF
stations, adventure training and flight
experience.
This book looks at all aspects of the Air
Cadet's history and tradition, including
the RAF sections of the Combined Cadet
Force attached to public and grammar
schools. It concludes with an analysis of
what subjects and courses are currently
available with many past and present
illustrations.
About Ray Kidd OBE:
Ray Kidd OBE joined 739 (Scarborough)
Squadron Air Training Corps in 1947.
Following national service with the RAF
and time with the Royal Observer Corps,
he returned to the ATC in 1964. Appointed to the Central and East Yorks Wing
Staﬀ in 1974, he was responsible for adventure training and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.
He was appointed to command the former
West Riding Wing ATC in 1980, followed
by the Central and East Yorks Wing from
1983 to 1988.
As a civilian, he has held many posts,
currently that of Wing President and
Corps Historian. From 1990 to 2002 he
chaired a D of E working party to foster
interest and participation in the Award by
Top: Ray Kidd, OBE and bottom the
cover of his book.
44
the three cadet forces. Ray is a life member
of the RAF Association, firmly believing in
the need for close cooperation between the
Air Cadet Organisation and Service charities. “
THE SCARBOROUGH
DINNER
This year a more welcoming Scarborough greeted attendees at the Annual Dinner at its usual venue, the
Rugby Club on Scalby Road, after the
frosts, snow, ice and high winds of the
last 4 years, culminating last year in
this humble scribe abandoning his
journey in the face of the railway network being brought to a standstill by
a flying roof at Doncaster station.
A welcome attendance of some 73
Members also provided the usual convivial if not progressively more boisterous gathering at which friendships
were renewed, anecdotes and updating of ailments cheerfully exchanged, and friendly abuse and gossip bandied between contemporaries,
to the accompaniment of good food
eased down by the usual necessary
lubrication! In fact, scabrous anecdotes
of several Members, whose names, to
protect them, inter alia from their
wives, will not be disclosed, included
the alleged claim that the pupils of the
various Girls schools could be identified by the colours of their respective
knickers (though whether this was
based on mere scientific observation,
close encounter or even collection is
not a matter for a family magazine
such as this!) Suﬃce it that this scribe,
with his keen Editor’s ear, overheard
in part even more lubricious tales of
our youth from another adjoining table, - and only the receipt of contributions to the Magazine (decent of
course) from those concerned will remove any threat of exposure!
It was particularly gratifying to see
an increasing attendance from the
"Woodlanders", who very much represent the future of the Association,
and hopefully will accordingly play a
similar increased part in its future organisation and activities.
In welcoming those present, Howard Acklam, our President, drew
attention to the splendid attendance of
Old Boys from far and wide, which
reflected the current health of the Association after so many years, and it
was gratifying that this included so
many "Woodlanders" who represented
the future and our continued existence!
He applauded both the eﬀort involved in the production of the Magazine by the Editor and David Fowler
and the continued hard work by the
other Members of the Committee, particularly the Membership Secretary
and Treasurer throughout the year.
A resumé of the sporting and other
events during the year, including the
London Lunch, was followed by a plea
for greater support for this in 2015,
and hopes for a subsequent venue at
the House of Commons In 2016. Support for the Lunch was essential to
ensure its survival. Acknowledgement of the sad passing away of several Members during the year was then
followed by the introduction of our
Speaker, old Boy Steve Williamson.
45
Steve then entertained us with a series
of amusing vignettes of his legal career
since School and University and referred to the continued bond with other
Old Scarborians, in particular the late
Gillie Gray QC, whom he regularly
encountered during parallel legal careers. Bonds such as these from School
had endured and were reflected in the
Dinner.
The informal exchange of reminiscences, stories, jokes and further renewal of acquaintanceship then continued into the night!
Among those present were....
ATTENDEES (E&O excepted):
Howard Acklam (60), Colin Adamson
(65),Patrick Argent (70) Phil Austin
(58), Guy Barnish (55), Barry Beanland
(50) Mick Bowman (54), J Brinkler (50)
Dave Burnley (54), M Cammish (52), I
Cook (71), A Copley (64), I Copley (63),
Peter Cook (62), Mike Corbyn (54),
Fred Crosby (49), Norman Davies (62),
Peter Dawson (50), Freddie Drabble
(51), Brian Devenport (56), Dave Eade
(55), David Ellard (69), Rodney Emms
(58), Peter Exley (57), Chris Found (51),
John Found (49), David Fowler (49), R
Fletcher (71), Jim Goodman (63), Paul
Gridley (54), Mark Harland (64), David
Hartley (65), Bob Heaps (67), Alan
Hickman (63), Joseph Jaconelli (58),
Bryn Jones (72), Mike Lester (49), John
Mann (50) N Martin (72), D McDonald
(62), Keith Milner (49), John Mitchell
(47), Roy Moor (62), Mick Mulvana
(62), Peter Newham (54), C O’Connor
(45), Norman Overfield (48), E Owston
(41), John Oxley (59), W Potter (69),
Alan Readman (59), Colin Rennard
(60), Howard Reynolds (48), Clive
Roberts (54), P Robson (45) Ian Scott
(62), J Settle (72), Ken Short (52 ), Albert
Storry (48), Malcolm Storry (46), Trevor
Thewlis (54), D Ward (65), Simon Ward
(62), G Wardell (72), Dave Watson (59),
Andrew Wilson (70), G Wilson ( 57), N
Wilson (72), Steve Williamson (49),
Mart Wilson (54) Geoﬀ Winn (49), Bill
Wood (58).
CLASS OF ‘54
As a demonstration that we are, at least
nominally, in the land of the living, the
pictures on the next page, taken on
Mike Corbyn's iPad at the Dinner,
features the vintage and well represented year of '54 as follows (left to right)Mart Wilson, Mick Bowman, Dave
Burnley, Dave Watson, Peter Newham, Paul Gridley, Mike Corbyn, Guy
Barnish, and Clive Roberts.
Mike very rashly also forwarded the
attached further picture of his adventures in Malawi, apparently explaining
the advantages of being an Old Scarborian and the attractions of the School
to a receptive, albeit gullible audience!
WESTWOOD
The Editor
The annual trip to Scarborough for the
Dinner in November gave time for a
nostalgic wander down the roadway
leading down to the Westwood School,
which, from the exterior, appeared just
as I remembered it and, hesitating by
the doorway, I was accosted by a
young fellow who I wrongly assumed
to be a mere student, (a sign of my
46
age!) but turned out to be a very
pleasant Lecturer in Fine Art and Art
History at the School of Creative Arts,
who now use the building as their
local Campus.
Talking to him, I did briefly cross
the threshold; the large hall now being
47
an almost unrecognisable theatre format, much as in the Alan Ayckbourn
Theatre in the Round days, but the
basic structure remained, the gym
however now being a library with
mezzanine floor. My host referred to
an archive of artwork dating back to a
period "between late 50's to early 60's,
which they would like to do something
with, and thought it might have something
to do with our Members" - Given however that the School moved to Westwood in 1959 this seems unlikely, and
I did not follow this up, though he also
referred to the opportunity of organising an Old Boys Tour in the future ,
which may be of more interest!
IN MORE REFLECTIVE
MOMENTS…
The Editor
In more reflective moments, I sometimes wonder how, when the recollection of where I put my glasses a few
minutes ago and the names of the
friends whom I regularly meet seem to
elude me, why many memories of life
some 60 years ago seem crystal sharp
to the point where I can reconstruct an
article for the Magazine, albeit that
there is some reassurance to me that I
appear not to be the only one, so maybe we are all in the same boat!
A
psychologist, or perhaps more ominously a gerontologist, may have an
answer, but perhaps it is best not
thought of in that context! –– the Past
may be another Country, but occasional excursions into the past may still
have considerable attractions, albeit
that the grandchildren may see it as an
amusing sign of advancing dotage!
Perhaps rather sad to contemplate a
lot of old men (Is there a collective
noun for this?) reminiscing about their
schooldays, ….. but we are what we
were …
C. H. BRADLEY
From the Scarborian
November (1959
“Brad.” was born at
Freiston in Lincolnshire
in 1895. Boston was his
home town. His brothers were farmers, and
farming was the background of his early life.
He was at home in the fertile fields of
the Fen country and his boyhood adventures were along the shores and
dykes of the Wash.
After leaving Boston Grammar
School Brad. was caught up in the
First World War and when Armistice
was declared he was with the advancing Armies in Belgium as 2nd
Lieut. in the Lincolnshire Regiment.
He completed his training as a P.T.
instructor at Sheﬃeld, after which, in
1922, he was appointed Games Master at Scarborough.
The High School then had just
begun; it was one of the two Schools
formed when the co-educational
Municipal School ceased to exist.
Scarborough was Brad's. first and
only school.
He was well suited for the post. He
had skill at soccer, hockey, cricket,
tennis, golf, fishing, camping, moun-
48
taineering; in fact, almost every outdoor activity except swimming. He
was of imposing height, 6ft.3+ inches, he had charm of manner and a
smile that could win anybody. From
the start it was evident that he was a
"born" teacher and had in full
measure the sense of vocation without which no schoolmaster can be
wholly successful. He identified
himself completely with the persona
of the School.
He understood young people and
was happy working with them. The
Games Master is, of course, in a fortunate position, because what he has
to oﬀer is always palatable. Under
Brad's organisation games flourished on a grand scale the early 20's
were the great period of School
hockey, with famous players in the
county teams; in cricket there was
Herbert Dennis and Eddy Lester of
Yorkshire; in soccer, Billy Nicholson of the Spurs and Denis Saunders, Captain of Oxford.
Brad. was at his best on camps,
where his special qualities as a leader and an organiser had full scope. It
might be said that logistics was his
strong point and there is no doubt
that, had circumstances conspired to
make the Army his career, he would
have risen high.
He was expert in fieldcraft and
could do any job there was to be
done better than anyone else. He
could inspire others to work for him
and he knew how to delegate
authority. His treks abroad were
planned with imagination. They
were an adventure and a lasting
memory for all who took part in
them. The high peaks were always
the objective; in England it was
Scawfell Pike; in Wales, Snowdon; in
Scotland, Ben Nevis; in Germany,
the Zugspitze, and it was fitting that
the culmination should be the summit of Mont Blanc in 1938.
When he gave up Physical Education towards the end of the War, he
taught in the Junior School. One
might have thought that the most
active period of his career was over.
In fact, it had not yet begun, for it
was at this stage that character alone
brought him honours and influence
which were not in the least of his
own seeking.
He was the unanimous choice of
the Staﬀ for the oﬃce of Deputy
Head Master; he was appointed a
County Magistrate and later became
Chairman of the Bench; he became a
teachers' representative on the Divisional Executive and Chairman of
the Further Education Committee.
He was Secretary of the local Scout
movement from 1922 to 1938 and
District Commissioner from 1938 to
1946.
He had always been interested in
the Youth Hostel Movement from its
beginning in 1930 and in time he
became a member of the National
Executive. His work was chiefly with
the International Committee and
when he became Chairman of this,
he automatically became a member
of the Committee of the World Federation of Youth Hostel Associations.
49
http://www.Farthings-publishing.com
dgfowler@farthings.org.uk
01723 365448; M 0779 1900 465
Why not Advertise in Summer Times?
Summer Times is published twice a year and is mailed to around 500
members, world wide. Additionally, the magazine appears on our
web site in colour. And the prices to advertise?
Full page outside back cover £70; Full page inside covers £65
Full page inside £55; Half page inside £35; Quarter page inside £20
Details from:
Chris Found,
‘Pinewood’,
SILPHO,
SCARBOROUGH. YO13 0JP
E-mail: Chrisdfound@btinternet.com
Phone 01723 882343
50
It is an astonishing tribute to his
personality and worth that, 4 years
ago, he was elected President of the
World Federation by the delegates
of the 22 nations concerned.
He begins his retirement by a voyage round the world, visiting Egypt,
India, Japan, the States and Canada
at the invitation of the Youth Hostel
Associations of those countries. Truly a wonderful career! “ H.W.M.
MR. H. RICHARDSON
Mr. Richardson was educated at
Heckmondwike Grammar School in
the West Riding and was the
School's champion gymnast. He entered Leeds University in 1912, graduating
as B.Sc. Honours,
Class 2, in Mathematics, and later as M.Sc.
In 1916 he came to
teach
Mathematics
and Physics at the
Scarborough Municipal School. As
he said "I came for three years. I have
been at the School 43 years. If I stay
much longer, I shall be getting into a
rut." He thus created a record for
length of School service. The old
"Muni" School was a very happy
place, the social side of its life being
particularly satisfying, and it
seemed to be a disaster when in
1922 the School divided into the
Boys' High School and the Girls'
High School in the Valley.
He has been closely connected with
the financial side of the School. He
started the War Savings Association
in 1916. He was Treasurer of the
School Games Fund from 1922 to
1959 which paid for all the School's
games fixtures. From 1922-26 he
organised the School Clothing Department and after much diﬃculty
with the Patent Oﬃce he managed
to secure the registration as a trademark of the School motto "Tene Propositum", "Stick to Your Purpose".
In 1926 he was Treasurer of the
Leeds
University
Development
Scheme for the Scarborough area.
His other Treasurerships included
the School visits to the Wembley
Exhibition
in
1924
and
the
Festival of Britain in 1951; the School
War Memorial in 1948, the School
Jubilee Celebrations in 1952 and the
Isherwood Memorial Fund in 1954.
From 1929-33 he was the Careers
Master. From 1939-44 he was Secretary of the North Riding Secondary
Branch of the National Union of
Teachers and was School Correspondent for the N.U.T. until his
retirement. During the war years he
was a member of the Scarborough
Special Constabulary. He was on the
committee of the Old Scarborians'
Association. He was Housemaster of
Kingsley House for twenty years and
recalls with pride that from 1950-54
Kingsley won the premier award of
the Raymond King Shield for five consecutive years.
Mr. Richardson was appointed
Head of the Mathematics Department
in 1927 and his main task has been to
organise and teach Mathematics from
the 11-plus stage to University en-
51
trance. Mathematics is such a vital
subject for so many careers that every
eﬀort has to be made to enable boys to
reach the Ordinary and Advanced
Levels in the General Certificate of
Education. The "below average" boys
have been of special interest to Mr.
Richardson and he has seen many
successes achieved as the result of
hard driving and patient eﬀort. He has
found the most gratifying satisfaction
of long service to be that of discovering that there is hardly a career or
University success in which Old Boys,
now in responsible positions all over
the world, have not remembered their
debt to the Mathematics Department
in particular and the School in general.
"Pythagoras" was an obvious nickname. Since he was only 5' 2", he was
inevitably known as "Tich". The origin
of his other nickname of "Pike" is much
more obscure. His best known remark
was "Watch the board while I go
through it" and we shall long remember his masterly and humorous
presentation of School balance sheets.
The School owes him a great debt of
gratitude for his forty-three years of
quiet and loyal service and we wish
both Mr. and Mrs. Richardson long
and happy years of retirement. V.H.S.
FAMOUS FORMER
LITERARY PUPILS
The Editor
Whilst the days of our mixed sex predecessor Municipal School are now
long past the memory of even the oldest current Members, with the School
split having occurred in 1923, Articles
in previous Magazines on former
pupils which nevertheless seem to
have attracted interest include the
celebrated Authors Leo Walmsley
(1892-1966) and Storm Jameson (18911986)
The former, who travelled to the
School from Robin Hood's Bay, still
has
the
Walmsley
Society
(www.walmsleysoc.org/Leo.html)
devoted to his works and memory,
and his books are still available .
The 1935 film, "Turn of the Tide”
the first to be produced by J Arthur
Rank, scion of the Hull flour family,
was based on his novel " Three Fevers”. Its venue," Bramblewick" was
based on a thinly disguised Robin
Hood's Bay, where it was filmed, and
the competing relationships between
several fishing families, and starring
Niall McGinnis and Wilfred Lawson,
can also still be purchased as a historic
DVD.
Storm Jameson, a traveller from
Whitby to the School, whose first short
story, whilst still at School, was published in the then School Magazine,
and rediscovered recently and reprinted in Summer Times, has fared less
well at the hands of posterity. Despite
her over 40 books, being nationally
celebrated and surviving to a ripe old
age her literature has all but vanished
from memory. Her biographer, Jennifer Birkett, lists 47 novels, a handful
of plays, scores of articles, several critical or topical books and, tellingly, a
variety of memoirs and autobiographies. Indeed, the autobiographical
impulse appears to have been strong,
and many of Jameson's novels are
based on her own life. Reviewers
52
claimed that “this tension between the
fantastic and the real, between selfinvention and the bedrock of fact, is
characteristic of her writing... and
there was a lot of writing. Jameson was
unbelievably prolific”.
It was said that these two factors the sheer volume of writing, on the one
hand, and the quantities of autobiographical material, on the other - pose
formidable challenges to the biographer.. Hers was a life marked by
unrelenting hard work. The mass of
published material is an indication of
Jameson's work ethic as a professional
writer (and, at times, journalist, editor
and publisher) and of her need to support herself, her son by her first marriage, and, for a time, her second husband, Guy Patterson Chapman, as he
established himself in his own careers.
Out of curiosity, historic interest and
possibly even devotion to the Scarborian cause, your Editor has assiduously
trawled second–hand book shops with
very limited success in pursuit of her
output, but must report not only that
most proprietors had never heard of
her, or assumed she was male, that the
subsequent struggle through the
books, though very well written and
literate, did not really repay the eﬀort.
APPRECIATIONS FROM
THE AUTUMN ’64 ISSUE
OF THE SCARBORIAN
Mr. E. D. Colenutt
“Mr. Colenutt died on May 10th, 1964,
after a short illness. He was educated
at Weymouth Grammar School and
University' College, Southampton, and
had been Chemistry master at our School for thirty-three years. He had a
flair for organisation, and
for many years he looked
after the School Tuck
Shop in a highly eﬃcient
way. For as long as we can remember
he was business manager for the
school plays at Christmas which involved the most meticulous attention
to detail in the sale of tickets and the
allocation of seats as well as careful
control of the finances.
After the war he organised Junior
Camps at Robin Hood's Bay and at
Bainbridge in Wensleydale, and the
success of Senior Camps was in no
small measure due to the eﬃcient
training which Juniors had received as
his campers. From 1956 onwards the
traditional Whit Camps in Scotland
became well-established and Edgar
took charge of the catering and cooking. He was never ruﬄed, his counsel
was wise, he shared responsibility and
as a railway enthusiast he was a
knowledgeable travelling companion.
For many years until 1959 he organised the school swimming and
throughout he was a stalwart of the
School choir.
Such loyal service for thirty-three
years has left a deep mark for good on
our school and as colleagues we shall
long remember his friendly tolerance
and deep sense of humour. V.H.S”.
Mr. H. F. Freeman
“Herbert Frederick Freeman came to
this school in September 1928 as a
53
young man straight from
Cambridge. He taught
mathematics here until
he left at the end of the
Summer Term of 1964,
and he was Senior Master from September 1959.
His approach to Mathematics was a
forceful one which compelled interest
and attention, inspiring both a liking
for the subject and respect for its
teacher.
Physically, "Ferdie" was, and still is,
wiry and tough. He was a useful
games player and he took great pleasure in the countryside, sometimes
spending holidays farming. On school
camps, he became the recognised leader on the Advance Guard and those in
the main party came to expect as a
matter of course that the camp would
be established and in good running
order when they arrived.
For many years Mr. Freeman was
responsible for the accounts and for
much of the oﬃcial "arithmetic" of
the school. It was he who was the
making of the tuck shop, taking it
over when it was in poor shape and
making it the feature of the school,
which it still is.
When Mr. Freeman became Second Master on the retiral of Mr.
Bradley, it seemed the ideal choice.
People felt that he had the qualities
for the job, everyone liked him, he
did not "get across" people. And
Mr. Freeman proved a good organiser; he took responsibility; he has a
temper, but he lost it much less often than most and he has left an
impression of forbearance and courtesy.
The School has lost one of its best
members. We should remember his
example and we will wish him
good health and much happiness in
his new home and job. J.R.L.”
Mr. V. H. Smith
“A graduate of King's
College, Cambridge, Mr.
Smith joined the staﬀ of
our school in 1927 and
two years later was appointed Senior History
Master, a position which
he has fulfilled with distinction ever
since. He immediately took a lively
interest in school activities and introduced the mock elections at general election times which have remained a feature of school life ever
since. He founded the school
library, organised the History Society and his Friday night discussion
group, at which numerous senior
pupils received their initial training
in public speaking, will be remembered by many with pleasure and
gratitude.
He was a very good camper and
missed few of the annual camps, at
home or abroad, which have been a
regular feature of school life since
before 1930.
From 1940 to 1963 he carried out
the arduous task of Editor of the
"Scarborian" and he was a familiar
figure at all school events which he
reported accurately and with evident pleasure. He became Ruskin
54
housemaster in 1940 and has also
been secretary of the Scarborough
branch of the United Nations Association since 1945.
He was secretary of the North
Riding Branch of the Assistant Masters Association for thirteen years
and also secretary of the North Riding Joint Four Secondary Schools
Association from 1932 to 1964.
These honorary posts involved
many journeys to Northallerton,
long discussions and delicate negotiations for which his colleagues
owe him a very great debt of gratitude.
Mr. Smith has been an excellent
colleague and a dedicated schoolmaster whose long period of devoted service will leave a deep impression on school life. We shall miss his
genial good humour and his great
wealth of information about schoolmasters' problems which he placed
at everyone's disposal. We wish him
a long, happy and healthy retirement. L.B.
BOOKS AND STUDIES
Editor
Am I alone in being a nostalgic anorak
in revisiting not only some of the venues of my youth, but also, and even
more questionably, some of the subject
matters of my studies, partly out of
curiosity and partly a desire to see
whether my responses and understanding 60 years on are still the same.
Amazon, Abe Books and use of the
computer means that much of the
relevant material is still retrievable
(though I am still trying to recall de-
tails of the specific Latin primer which
Jack Ellis used on us - anyone out
there remember it?) - unfortunately
however, in the context of French Literature, Maria Chapdelaine by Louis
Hémon, and Le Grand Mealnes by
Alain-Fournier presented as little fascination on a reread 60 years on as when
part of "A" Level French with Les
Brown and Harry Wilson, although
De Maupassant as a storyteller was
marginally more entertaining. Maria
Chapdelaine also suﬀers from being in
old style Canadian French, with its
own distinctive vocabulary, albeit that
this is cross-referenced in an addendum. In fact an appreciation of Le
Grand Mealnes featured in an article in
the Telegraph recently, which, had it
been available for plagiarism some 55
years ago, might well have contributed to a better exam result!
Geography, another of my preferences, still features "Monkhouse's Physical Geography," albeit many Editions
on, but with various chapters significantly changed in the light of advances in knowledge that make me feel
quite antiquated!
English literature as an "O"
level
subject presents less of a problem,
Dickens and Shakespeare remain a
constant, and, personally, repeated
involvement with the School Play,
with two years as prompter, means
that large chunks of Macbeth in particular still inexplicably come to mind
when, ironically, recollection of my
recent movements regularly eludes
me.
Whilst these specific works may be
of no interest to others, and with a
55
better memory I could maybe dredge
up more, I am sure there may be similar triggers to the past for other Members, though whether such a retrospective trawl has been similarly undertaken by them, or is even worthwhile, is questionable ( -- as would
perhaps be what a psychologist would
make of all this!)
Anyone else with anything to add on
this subject?
NOSTALGIA
by Mike Mansfield
(1952-60)
There seems to have
been a request from
some Old Scarborians for a little less
nostalgia
in
the
scribblings of contributors. This is a
pity for that may be
all the recollections we have and are
not seen as nostalgia by the senders.
I myself remember with pleasure
the visits to Gala Land the so called
underground umbrella for the crowd
on the South Bay beach to retire to
when the rain showers of a typical
Yorkshire summer occurred. For a
modest admission you could hear the
Don Pedro Orchestra with its Latin
American flavour and two or three
pneumatic ladies who gyrated in front
to mesmerise small and bigger boys.
There were the clown’s heads that
swung to and fro on a stall to swallow
balls to award prizes if you obtained
an unreachable score and the wax
works where the figures were approached down a corridor-like display
area. This was alright until you turned
round to leave and wondered if anyone moved behind you particularly
the ancient fireman with his brass
helmet that I remember well.
An amazing coin operated machine was the radio rifle a shooting
game that punctured a film still in the
machine that was projected onto a
screen several feet in front so that you
could obtain the result of your eﬀorts
when the game ended and the film
fragment dropped out for you to
keep. I wonder if anyone has one of
those today. There was also a small
roller coaster or big dipper with cars
that took two persons facing each other so that one always rode backwards
for a real thrill. Before the war in the
thirties there was an Aquarium and a
Camera Obscura close by I am told by
others much more antique than me.
Now when I visit Scarborough
and walk down from the South Cliﬀ
to the Valley Bridge I catch a view of
the old school and remember with joy
not the hard times battling the academic demands, but the practical
skills taught in Woodwork and Geometrical and Engineering Drawing by
Messrs. Dutton and Perry. In the loft
there is still a small table that I turned
the legs for on a lathe in the basement
woodwork room. It was then a very
modern piece that had a laminate top
made with two pieces of the new stuﬀ
called ‘Formica’, as the school only
had a few samples of this revolutionary material. It did not provide much
to further my chosen career in Clinical
56
Chemistry but now provides me with
hours of pleasure using my own
lathe after retirement.
The garage workshop is my hiding place as the wife cannot grasp the
idea of tools and a workshop in the
back bedroom. Good enough for
sewing but not woodwork. If only
modern educationalists would recognise the value of a couple of hours a
week spent in a workshop teaching
simple mechanical skills instead of
the value of running a travel agency
or worse still a ‘gym’ that charges
you for life shortening chemical diets
and overpriced trainers both shoes
and personal, then the modern man
would be able to rewire a plug or
replace a defective tap washer instead of being in need of professional
help.
However I still walk several miles
a week and eat lots of pies and Yorkshire Puddings, so life is not at all
bad. I will have to stop now or I
might remember some more of the
value of reminiscence.
AFTER A GOOD LUNCH!
In the absence of suﬃcient more
interesting
contributions
there
follows “mug shots” from the 2014
London Lunch of several Committee
Members, with name rank and number
as listed, taken by Howard, our PresiOBITUARY
dent, who is accordingly to blame for
TED LESTER (1933-9)
this, –– their inclusion as space fillers
by Mike Rines
perhaps encouraging other Members
to be more forthcoming with more
Ted Lester, who died on 23rd March,
exciting replacement material in
aged 92, was one of my boyhood hefuture !!!
roes and later a most congenial colleague in the Scarborough cricket
57
ream. He had had left the High School
before I joined in 1941, but I watched
him score a torrent of runs for the Scarborough club at North Marine Road.
He went on to play for Yorkshire 2nd
XI, where he again scored prolifically,
and took a lot of wickets with his oﬀbreaks. He had played one first class
game, against the RAF in the 1945 Festival, but his County Championship
debut was against Nottinghamshire at
Trent Bridge in 1946. And, because he
was my hero, I can still remember that
he got 47, caught Heane bowled Woodhead.
The Yorkshire Post’s J M Kilburn
commented that his drives were
‘rackety’ and, looking back on his style,
I recognise the description. He did
give the ball a sort of wristy slap, but
his late cuts and leg glances were of the
most delicate.
Yorkshire were very strong in those
days, and he did not yet get a regular
place. This left him free not only to
continue to play for Scarborough, but
also to play for the Old Scarborians
against local villages in the Evening
League and the Hospital Cup. This
was not something that was always
appreciated by other teams – particularly when Bill Foord was in the side
as well. I remember that in a match
against Cayton Ted was run out backing up, without the bowler having given him the customary gentlemanly
warning.
Cayton justified this dastardly act
on the grounds that it wasn’t fair for
Ted to be playing, and the Evening
News gave a lot of space to the furore
that followed. But Peter Robson recalls
Ted later suﬀered from a dirty trick
that had more serious consequences
than the Cayton incident. He was
nicely set on 37 at Bramall Lane against
Bradman’s all-conquering 1948 tourists,
and was run when he went down the
pitch to do some ‘gardening’. At a time
when the England selectors were desperate to find someone to fight back
against the Aussies, Peter reckons this
might have cost Ted dear.
In 1947 he became a regular member of the Yorkshire side, and in that
glorious summer when Denis Compton
and Bill Edrich tore up all the batting
record books, Ted was not eclipsed. In
only seven matches he scored
657
runs and came third in the national
averages at 73.00. He must then have
been very much in the test selectors’
minds. He scored centuries in both
innings at Northampton, a feat repeated in 1948 against Lancashire in the
Roses match, an achievement no other
Yorkshire batsman has equalled in a
Roses encounter. He was in even better
form in 1949 when he totalled 1,801
runs and hit his career-best score of 186
against Warwickshire at Scarborough.
He played in 232 matches for Yorkshire, scoring 10,616 runs and hitting 24
centuries, six of them coming in 1952
when he hammered out 1,786 runs and
averaged 49.61
He was regarded by those in the
know as the finest player of medium
pace bowling in the country. That
might sound like damning with faint
praise, but overlooks the presence in
those days of great medium pacers
58
such as Alec Bedser, Cliﬀ Gladwin, and
Reg Perks.
I suspect that one of the reasons
Ted did not accumulate more runs was
that he never forgot that cricket should
be played for pleasure, and he just
loved giving it a whack. In one Yorkshire v MCC Festival match, after Ted
had got a duck in the first innings, I
heard Alec Bedser, a generous and gentle Cockney giant, describe how he had
bowled him an easy one down the leg
side in the second innings to give him a
single to avoid a pair. ‘Do you know
what that facking Ted Lester did?’ he
demanded in his humorous Cockney
tones. ‘He only hit me into the road!’
In one game for Scarborough, late
in his career, Ted opened the batting
and was out to the third ball of the second over -- with his score at 26, including two sixes into that same road.
After quitting the first class scene,
he captained Yorkshire’s 2ndXI for a
number of years, and when he was too
old for that he acted as the county’s
scorer. Not many clubs can have had
such a loyal servant. He was also a
great all-rounder. He was at one time
the Borough’s regular goalkeeper and
was the town’s table tennis champion.
When Ted retired from County
Cricket, The Cricketer magazine printed
what might have seemed, to anyone
who did not know him, an outrageously extravagant tribute for the enjoyment and sportsmanship he had
brought to the game.
59
Above: Ted (centre) with Mike Rines (left) and Revan Tranter (right) taken at a
reunion at the old school building a few years ago. Revan is one of the world’s
leading authorities on Yorkshire cricket and has been a great Lester fan.
He was a great but very modest written to Councils :
sportsman, and at a time when there
were some pretty rough diamonds in 1. It's the dogs mess that I find hard to
swallow.
the Yorkshire team I never heard a bad
2. I want some repairs done to my
word about him.
cooker as it has backfired and burnt my
Ted leaves his wife Mary, and two knob oﬀ.
adult children.
3. I wish to complain that my father
twisted his ankle very badly when he
***
put his foot in the hole in his back pasTRIVIA
sage.
4. Their 18 year old son is continually
Ah, the beauty of the Engbanging his balls against my fence.
lish language !!!!
5. I wish to report that tiles are missing
Extracts from letters
60
from the outside toilet roof. I think it
was bad wind the other day that blew
them oﬀ.
6. My lavatory seat is cracked, where
do I stand?
7. I am writing on behalf of my sink,
which is coming away from the wall.
8. Will you please send someone to
mend the garden path. My wife
tripped and fell on it yesterday and
now she is pregnant.
9. I request permission to remove my
drawers in the kitchen.
10. 50% of the walls are damp, 50%
have crumbling plaster, and 50% are
just plain filthy.
11. I am still having problems with
smoke in my new drawers.
12. The toilet is blocked and we cannot
bath the children until it is cleared.
13. Will you please send a man to look
at my water, it is a funny colour and
not fit to drink.
14. Our lavatory seat is broken in half
and now is in three pieces.
15. I want to complain about the farmer
across the road. Every morning at 6am
his cock wakes me up and it's now
getting too much for me.
16. The man next door has a large erection in the back garden, which is unsightly and dangerous.
17. Our kitchen floor is damp. We have
two children and would like a third, so
please send someone round to do
something about it.
18. I am a single woman living in a
downstairs flat and would you please
do something about the noise made by
the man on top of me every night.
19. Please send a man with the right
tool to finish the job and satisfy my
wife.
20. I have had the clerk of works down
on the floor six times but I still have no
satisfaction.
21. This is to let you know that our
lavatory seat is broke and we can't get
BBC2.
22. My bush is really overgrown round
the front and my back passage has fungus growing in it.
23. He's got this huge tool that vibrates
the whole house and I just can't take it
anymore.
…And something else
Having reached that certain age, I have
been the recipient of a test kit from the
NHS Bowel Screening Programme.
Whilst I consider this to be a tremendous initiative in assisting in the early
detection of bowel cancer, how do I
answer my grandchildren when they
ask “did you enjoy Pooh-Sticks, Grandpa?”
A recent article reported that confectionary manufacturers were discreetly
shrinking the size of their chocolate
bars. Is the same thing happening to
men’s underwear, or am I getting old?
Has anyone noticed that, despite global
warming, lavatory seats are getting
colder?
1
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1
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