THIS PAGE COLLECTS INTERESTING REMARKS
FROM MAILS PERTAINING TO WISBOROUGH LODGE DAYS
do we look back on thee before our man's race is halfway run!" ('Moonfleet' by Meade Faulkner)
At public school, as far as I can recall, use of first names was rare. (Steve)
Shaun
is digging into the lower strata of school memories and unearthing questions of
great moment! For me, the really big one is, did I recall have a sixer or an eighter?
I can't remember, but I was deeply into conkas (BTW, is this from an Oz transplant
of a conker tree?). I had once collected half of a largish hemp sack full when
living in Cambridge, and insisted on taking to when we moved to Roffey Park, between
Horsham and Crawley. On arrival, the park had dozens of conker trees (AND nut-bearing
sweet chestnuts) , and no one else to collect them but me!! Heaven... but no one
to play conkers with. So that's perhaps partly why I was packed off to prep. school.
I do recall playing conkers at Wisboro', and know I once managed to get some conker
kudos... but I too had lots of failures first. I think we tried to find some vinegar
to soak them in, but had to give up. This was supposed to make them really tough...
based on what the feared (and disliked) Mr. Wreford told about his little punishment
sticks... which he told us soaked in vinegar and with which he hit very hard across
the top of one's hand, usually three times. It caused nasty welts to rise on finger
and must have hurt like hell, judging by the reactions of his victims. I managed
to avoid this by mouse-like behaviour. Wonder what Wreford taught? (He is seen
standing in the background of a sports day photo in which Mac. and Brook are conferring).
As to the weir... it was not far from the school and the general area indicated
seems right to me. Remember that there was also a kind of large artificial pond with bricked sides in a
field not far away where juniors were first taught to get used to the water...
it was a large square with about 2 ft. or so of water, and masses of horrible
green weeds growing in it. We had to go in naked, I recall... before graduating
to the weir, where the dreaded test was to be dragged along on a canvas loop hung
from a pole by Colonel K., while breast stroke was supposed to be practiced. The sysgtem was so primitive that I never
did learn to swim at Wisboro'. I used to envy that (reserved towards me) boy Cobley,
who was an accomplished swimmer. He did 'the submarine' out in the deep river....
floating on his back, raising one leg (i.e. the conning tower or mast) and gradually
sinking from sight.
We certainly did the 'triangular' walk to apex, Newpound common.
Once it was a 'route march' that way, had to jog and walk, jog and walk in the
rain... the whole school. We also walked a few times to where the main road crossed
the Arun (or its tributary perhaps) Esp. when the floods were on one year... whole
trees were carried down and the water was just inches below the bridge. I also
wonder just which subjects we were taught at Wisboro'. Latin, French, English,
maths, nature studies (one of Miss Oliver's fortes besides English?) I recall...
also geog. and history surely (who taught those?). There was not other science,
no chemmy or physics, I'm sure. We probably had art, again Miss Oliver? (Shaun,
you'd know?) (Rob)
Addendum: I was contacted by a former pupil called John Robin Rourke, who wrote:-
"Just for the record:-
I do remember that Mr.Wreford's nickname was "Bully Beef" as he was often known
to hit the occasional boy with a drum stick across the back of the hand. I know as
I was on the receiving end on the odd occasion and bye george it brought tears to
your eyes.
By the way I am the boy 5th.from the right on the bottom row of your 1946 photo.
I am sitting head turned slightly away with my hands together back to back."
To the above, Stephen Harvey commented: "Surely Bully Beef was the nickname of Mr Edwards? I don't think I knew Mr Wreford, but I'm very familiar with the name Bully beef."
I agree with Stephen that it was Edwards who was called Bully Beef, and his stature confirmed the nickname. (He was also oddly valled 'Birdie Edwards') I do remember Wreford using his horrid little stick on the fingers of a boy in my class, whose name I forgot. It was shocking to see the huge red and purple welts it caused. (Rob)
"I was fascinated by the dress of the Blue Coat School as they walked the station platform. All the vivid orange socks highlighting the dowdy navy blue heavy smocks tied by a white cord..." " The school was Christ's Hospital, near Horsham. It had a Schools class railway engine named after it, which is more than the school I went on to (Sutton Valence, in Kent) did. A friend I made many years later, who went to Christ’s Hospital, never lets me forget that his school had an engine and mine didn’t!" So I reply that at least we didn't wear skirts. Such is the nature of boarding school wit, eh? Stephen Harvey"
I recently did another Google search on 'Eardenstowe', which
produced a web page that contained the CV of someone called Robin Sparks,
who apparently went to Eardenstowe as an evacuee in 1942. There are neither
backward nor forward links from the web page and no email address, so I have
not found out anything more. I wonder if the name means anything to you, Fraser,
as I believe you started there in 1942. The web site address is:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080215202728/http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~rsparks/rscv.htm
(discontinued) ttp://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~rsparks/rscv.htm. Stephen
Eve, I do remember your
Father well, I do believe He and McD had a shared interest in shooting and
that he had both a shotgun and a .22 rifle. I think they used to shoot around
the large field at the back, part of which was the playing fields. I do not
remember signing the book your father was given. My father occasionally stayed
at the pub by the village pond and I do recall him saying that he used to
have a few drinks with some of the masters when he use to stay, possibly your
Father was one. Did your Father stay on to when the School closed?
The 51 school photo would be the last one I was in as I left before
the following summer term and always thought that the school closed at the
end of that school year after the summer term as Mr McD was already turning
the school into a small farm. Shaun tells us that he went back to the school
later I think it was in 53 and the gym had become a piggery, well I remember
it was turned into one when I was there and I distinctly remember laying sawdust
in the gym which McD tried as bedding for the said pigs, increasingly McD
had me helping with the livestock, pigs, chickens and geese, which maybe was
why I left before the end of the school term, my Father not liking the way
his fees were spent.
You mention the butterfly man, possibly the master 3 in from the
left in the 51 school photo. He used to be at the bungalow, and bred great
big green moths, Indian moon moths I think they were called. I especially
remember him because he used to tell me that Hartland, which is where my family
originally came from, was the one of the last strongholds of the large blue
butterfly in this country, which has since become extinct, but has now been
reintroduced elsewhere in Devon.
Ad the 51 school photo: The master 4 th in from the left is Mr
Pratt, he was still there when I left and had a sister who lived in Woolsery,
a village about 15 miles west of Bideford. At the end of one of the Autumn
terms he decided to visit her for Xmas and took me with him by coach to Bideford,
but there was heavy snow and after a horrendous journey we made Exeter late
at night and had to stay overnight . Usually at the end of term he would take
me from Victoria station which was where the school train came in to Waterloo
where I would travel to Exeter, he used to leave me at the station and I used
to have about an hour to wait, once he forgot to give me the ticket!!!, being
only around 10 at the time it was quite traumatic but it was sorted out and
I got home safely. He called into the New Inn (he hotel my Father had in Bideford)
in around 62 to 64,but I never saw him since. He was in fact my last contact
with anyone from WL until Shaun and I made contact recently. Does anyone remember
the school train, sometimes we would drive up from Devon for the new term,
but other times I would go by train from Exeter to Waterloo and then by taxi
to Victoria to get on a special school train that seemed to have children
from all the schools in the world going back to school on that one train.
All for now David.
Something recently triggered a long-forgotten memory of what it was like being at Wisboro'... I often felt oppressed by the 'out of bounds' rule. I took no riding lessons or had any other way of getting beyond the school limits on my own... except for when we went swimming (seldom), for walks and to Church (but under strict control) or - once - when I went scrumping at night to the farmers' orchard beyond the big playing field. I recall often wishing very much that I could see a bit of the wide world out there... and I even told my friends that Wisboro' was "a concentration camp"!
However, in my last term I became a day boy and the utter liberation of being able to move about unhindered - and even to get a bike to ride and visit on (to the Sherlock's farm, for example) was tremendous!
Hope all are well!
Rob
A couple of points: I seem to recall that the piano was moved to the Library (temporarily perhaps?) where we sang Carols. Also one Christmas I played the part of the Virgin Mary in the school Nativity Play. I had to sing the Coventry Carol solo and achieved such a good result that the Father of some boy who was in the audience gave me Half-a-Crown (2/6d) after the show!
In addition to pea-shooters there was also the potato gun which was quickly abolished due to the consumption as ammunition of essential fodder.
Your research is all most enlightening.
George
Re. H.M.S. Victory Rob, I thought the ship was in dry dock at Portsmouth and not in the Isle of Wight as you mentioned. I remember MacD gave each boy half a crown for eats for the day ( pepsi 6d and 2d back on the bottle, mars bar 4d, and so on ) but De Precourt went straight over to the news kiosk and bought a jumbo colouring in, joke, and crossword book for the magic sum of 2/6d. Moments later MacD asks young De P Where did you get that? Over there sir! was the reply. Well, MacD did his block with abuse a plenty "You'll just have to starve, dear boy" was the outcome. I can't remember if any Samaritan helped the kid out along the way. (Shaun)
Which de Précourt was it who blewed his dosh, Shaun? I'd guess it was dP minor? I have also wondered how we got our hair cut during term, and figure there MUST have been a visiting barber. (Rob)
Hi! to all I can not remember, for the life of me, where and when the school barber presented himself or herself - a total blank, fellas! I remember matron or the assistant matron doing the nail cutting rounds at bedtime and no more. (Shaun)
Dear Rob
Can you remember a master who came to the school for a short period, possibly only a term, late '46 or early '47, with a rugged complexion, I mean 'rugged'. I have a feeling his name was Charters or something like it, ring any bell? I ask you this as I remember Miss Cowlishaw and he, during leisure hours or breaks, frequently would be sitting or reclining on the grass in the sun in the area between the classroom and the rifle range. Needless to say we boys were intrigued by the affair.
Regards,
Shaun
Rob,
I remember the day of the Oxcam Boat Race 1947. Miss Oliver was wearing a pinned dark blue rosette whereas Miss Cowlishaw sported one of light blue.
Shaun
There was a very very attractive, well-built (i.e. smashing figure),
blonde who used to play rounders (or some such) most vivaciously, after we
had all been put to bed with lights-out on a summers evening. I always thought
she was making a line for Mr Brooks who was one of the staff members who didn't
miss the opportunity for this sporting frolic on the athletics field. I'm
damned if I can remember her name - she was an asst matron I believe but only
for a short period of time. The master who had a limp, and was mad about cricket
(must have played because he was on close terms with many professional county
players including Les Ames of Kent and England fame) was Mr Pratt who appears
in the 1948 photo I believe.
Have a look at www.kwtelecom.com/heraldry/hersoc/hsprog.html you
will find a link with Brooke-Little and Constance Egan. George Harvey.
My father, Harry Sinclair Brook, was a young maths (and possibly
games master) from 1948 ish to 1951. My mother , Pat Brook, was matron during
this time. Mr. MacDonald was my godfather and I was christened in the local
church. We lived in a low white building, it looks like a pre-fab on photos,
behind the main building. I visited Wisborough Green in 1987, the lodge has
been divided up into two homes. No trace of the school is to be seen, but
I recognised the front of the building from old photos my mother still has.
My parents have very fond memories of their time there and I feel
a sort of link because this is where I was born. My father is now 77 and lives
in a small village near Whitley Bay, Northumbria. He carried on teaching all
his life. My mother is 76 and still lives near Carlisle. Lime House School
still exists and is quite big these days. We lived in a house in those grounds
until 1970. I have lived in Düsseldorf, Germany since then. It made my evening
to discover the site and would love to hear more from you, or look at photos.
Yours sincerely, Eve Brook-Stamm.
Daily Telegraph: Deaths MACDONALD.—Myfanwy (née Griffith-Jones), widow of Donald, died peacefully at home on March 30th. Funeral Service at Wells Cathedral on April 19th at 2.15 p.m. No flowers; any donations to Wells Cathedral Music Foundation.
I suppose one always has a tinge of regret to see the passing of those who had any input into our development. We can be grateful to Myfannwy for supplying the dog biscuits which were meant for hounds but provided additional sustenance for us undernourished pupils! Best wishes to you all - George
"I was there from 1946 to 52. Shaun Mather (and I) were good friends and used to stay with each other during holidays, but I had never seen or heard from him once we left until entirely by chance a year or 2 ago I found him via the internet in Australia where he had been since 1955.We since E mail each other from time to time. He reminded me that Allan Ayckbourne is the famous playwrite.
I went home on Sunday leave with Hammond once and coincidently
Sherlock probably Minor, I remember the Farm, I also went home with Gadd a
number of times whose parents had a very big farm at Fittleworth. I was also
quite friendly with Ricketts and I believe Woodham was a very good cricketer,
a number of the names are familiar such as Hart, Cobley, Rhodes, but only
that. I went on to another boarding School and all those years at WL prepared
me well but of course I did not like it much and did not send my children
boarding. I was sent all the way from Bideford in north Devon and in the later
years would travel home by train from Waterloo on my own having been taken
from Victoria where the School train went by a Mr Pratt who may have arrived
to teach after you left.
I of course remember Mr & Mrs MD but only Miss Oliver of the staff
in the 47 photo. According to Shaun the School was closed in by 1952 when
he stayed with the MDs for 2 weeks and was been farmed, I left in 52 and the
last couple of terms there were few pupils and The MDs seemed to be more interested
in farming then. I have driven past in about 68 and also a couple of years
ago and all the land alongside the road is now developed, in fact it looks
as if all the outbuidings are now private houses, the main building is still
there.
I went on the Birmingham University and then worked for about
a year for what was then BMC in the export development division, but after
a year of 9 to 5, I came back to Bideford where we had a hotel, which I sold
in 71 and have been in financial services since, now working from home when
golf or fishing permit. We are hoping to become Grandparents in April."
David
Pennington.
Rob wrote: "The many grades of relative friendship or the contrary were nearly all at a non-verbal level too... and we knew exactly how far we could go with all boys 'above' us in age. I was not allowed to use 'Tunny' or 'Molly' of course... strictly forbidden. Though French didn't mind sometimes when I used his nickname ('Mouse'). I am pleased to read a lot about the great improvements in private schools nowadays, especially since the credit crunch, having to compete in kindliness and liberality to keep their pupils! How limited the milk of human kindness was in those days - I only have to think of the MacDonalds! But there was Miss Cowlishaw, Brooklittle and Brookie too.
I recall an incident I may not have mentioned. One day the de Precourts arrived with a wind-up gram. They had a limited supply of 78s but all were heard endlessly. There was 'Felix kept on walking', 'Sur le pont, d'Avignon', another French song I forget, and 'Buttercup Joe'. I learned to sing Buttercup Joe with the same country accent, and can still do it. It went: "Fr'OI can milk a cow and drive a plough. For Oi can reap or mow. Oi'm as fresh as the daisies as grown in the fields, an they call me Buttercup Joe."
Many years later I found this song quoted in the novel 'Cold Comfort Farm'.
Late spring of 1947, after a snow-laden winter - it actually snowed on Easter Day in April - the thaw came. It caused massive flooding across much of the UK, and not least the Wisborough area. The Arun nearly washed away the bridge on the main road between the Green and Billingshurst direction and Miss Oliver took us in a 'crocodile' along the road to a bridge over the Arun where the torrential flow was very dramatic and noisy. It has swept awaymaterial and even felled large trees. (see images below of that bridge today 2014). Many pupils had worked the handpump when the lodge's cellar flooded massively around the time most were leaving for hols. Only about three or four of us remained for about a week longer, and Berry (the farmer's lad) was one of them. I took a hand on the pump, but it took an age to get the level even to drop noticeably. See the bridge as of today where the Arun raged in 1947:-"
David I'm sure you'll forgive me if I say that for me one of the most fascinating things about the photo of you and Shaun Mather in August 1949 (with your crumpled shorts and snake-buckle belt) is the car in the background. It suddenly dawned on me that its profile is way ahead of its time for the late 1940s, and I can't identify it. The sharp-edged styling made me think of a Triumph, but there's no model of that era that fits. It also looks a lot like a Citroen - but one from the late 1950s or 1960s! Whatever it is, the styling would not have been out of place many years later - or even now. What was it? (I do hope you know the answer, otherwise I shall be plunged into endless research!) With best wishes Stephen PS: Are you a butterfly enthusiast? I am, and a member of Butterfly Conservation (Hampshire & Isle of Wight Branch).
Asher - if I remember correctly the reason Pem was not allowed to scoop most of the cups in the summer of 1948 was that he had passed his fourteenth birthday and was thereby outside the official age range for the events, which is perhaps not wholly unfair (though only Pem can tell us how he saw it!). On thieving for food, I also used regularly to scoop demerara sugar from the little bowl on the staff breakfast table after the last staff member had left the room. And why did the MacDonalds keep their dog biscuits in a bowl in the hall? Isn't that rather odd? (Steve)
Gosh - I'd completely forgotten that Mrs Mac's name was Myffanwy. Stephen
The swimming hole at the Weir must have been somewhere on the tributary of the R. Arun. There is no road to the spot so there must have been access by private arrangement with the school. (Shaun Mather)
I really cant remember where we walked - it seemed a long way though! Steve, I concur with you entirely on the site of the weir, and remember nipping into the village shop for a small bag of lemonade powder whilst marching crocodile fashion for our swim on hot days, and trying not to get too far behind the procession which would have resulted in some penalty - probably be banned from swimming on that day! (George)
Rob wrote to all: "My trip to Wisborough last October was partly a success... I would have liked to have prepared it better, but it is tough to arrange things at my distance from the scene and not knowing when we would actually arrive or if we'd have time etc. One wish I had was unfullfillable as it was pouring cats and dogs... but I had wanted to go down to the river and see if I could find and photograph the weir. I did find out from the lady church warden, however, that the canal along the Arun there is under major renovation (with EU funds). One thing that impressed me very much - not least due to all the horrific changes England is undergoing (motorways, suburban sprawl and much worse - you name it) - was that I could see NO CHANGE at Wisboro;' whatever except to the 'old school' of course."
Addendum: "Sometime in the mid 60s while visiting UK and driving through the South, I re-visited Wisborough Lodge with my wife and a friend to see what might be there. The whole school, apart from the white house and the grounds on that side, was still there and unoccupied. I could see into the changing and wash rooms which were very dingy and seemed greatly to have shrunk. The old classroom building were there and the gym store. It was clear that much of the grounds had been fenced off, probably sold." Rob
Who remembers trying to make toast out of the scrape-on-scrape-off margarine bread - one piece per boy only - during breaks? One put it on the radiator in that smallish room where the tuck boxes were kept... and it eventually became a wee bit crusty, if you were lucky. Anyone ever get to stay in the small tower dormitory. I spent just a couple of nights there, don't know how that occurred. There were five largish dorms.. I slept in four of them on different terms. There were three in the main house (one at rear near sick bay, one above the Mac's lounge and one adjacent to it) and two at the White House or Bungalow (all sounds magnificent... actually just an early prefab). From the bungalow, some daring soul, can't say who (tho' I seem to recall Asher was along, no? Raw hunger could have driven him.) got several of us to go out apple scrumping one moonlit night... in a farmer's orchard behind the main playing field. The apples were sour.. cider apples and unripe and just could not be eaten. (Rob)
Rob, I do recall attempts at toasting the bread+marg spread over cylindrical
paraffin heaters which were used in the (unventilated) dorms on winter nights.
The resulting midnight feast tasted of paraffin but what the hell! I dont
think this exercise would meet modern day H & S standards.
I never really liked conkas because I recall that my
hand frequently got a rather painful bashing from the opposition - if it was Cairns
that was probably deliberate. On reflection this was probably how they all became
champions at that sport. Rob, I do recall attempts at toasting the bread+marg
spread over cylindrical paraffin heaters which were used in the (unventilated)
dorms on winter nights. The resulting midnight feast tasted of paraffin but what
the hell! I dont think this exercise would meet modern day H & S standards. Mrs
Mac's father (who resembled Spencer Tracey) and was very Welsh used to give some
talks on Current Affairs on Saturday mornings from time to time. I well recall
a talk on the Groundnut scheme in Tanganyika. ( in my later life I joined the
colonial service and became an Agricultural officer out there - but not growing
groundnuts!)" (George)
Mrs Mac's father (who resembled Spencer Tracey) and was very Welsh used to give some talks on Current Affairs on Saturday mornings from time to time. I well recall a talk on the Groundnut scheme in Tanganyika. ( in my later life I joined the colonial service and became an Agricultural officer out there - but not growing groundnuts!) George
As to the weir... it was not far from the school and the general area indicated seems right to me. Remember that there was also a kind of artificial pond in a field not far away where juniors were first taught to get used to the water... it was a large square with about 2 ft. or so of water, and masses of horrible green weeds growing in it. We had to go in naked, I recall... before graduating to the weir, where the dreaded test was to be dragged along on a canvas loop hung from a pole by Col K., while breast stroke was supposed to be practiced. I never did learn to swim at Wisboro'. I used to envy that reserved (towards me) boy Cobley, who was an accomplished swimmer. He did 'the submarine' out in the deep river.... floating on his back, raising one leg (i.e. the conning tower or mast) and gradually sinking from sight.
We certainly did the 'triangular' walk to apex, Newpound common. Once it was a 'route march' that way, had to jog and walk, jog and walk in the rain... the whole school. We also walked a few times to where the main road crossed the Arun (Newbridge near Billingshurst). Esp. when the floods were on one year... whole trees were carried down and the water was just inches below the bridge.
I also wonder just which subjects we were taught at Wisboro'. Latin, French, English, maths, nature studies (one of Miss Oliver's fortes besides English?) I recall... also geog. and history surely (who taught those?). There was not other science, no chemmy or physics, I'm sure. We probably had art, again Miss Oliver? (Shaun, you'd know?).
Who remembers trying to make toast out of the scrape-on-scrape-off margarine bread - one piece per boy only - during breaks? One put it on the radiator in that smallish room where the tuck boxes were kept... and it eventually became a wee bit crusty, if you were lucky.
Anyone ever get to stay in the small tower dormitory. I spent just a couple of nights there, don't know how that occurred. There were five largish dorms.. I slept in four of them on different terms. There were three in the main house (one at rear near sick bay, one above the Mac's lounge and one adjacent to it) and two at the White House or Bungalow (all sounds magnificent... actually just an early prefab).
From the bungalow, some daring soul, can't say who (tho' I seem to recall Asher was along, no? Raw hunger could have driven him.) got several of us to go out apple scrumping one moonlit night... in a farmer's orchard behind the main playing field. The apples were sour.. cider apples and unripe and just could not be eaten. Now for some hot toast and sweet cocoa!" Rob
Swimming:
We used to walk through to the village and turn off somewhere in the middle.
If you look at www.streetmap.co.uk I reckon it is the little lane just to
the right of the P south of the main road. I thought that we used to swim
in a pool about 100 yards above the weir pool not actually in the weir pool,
the water was usually muddy, and I believe Mr Edwards used to take us mostly.
I actually learnt to swim there.
Marbles: I especially remember the marble craze as while running across the
playground I stepped on a large one, fell flat on my face, chipped a front
tooth and have had problems with both of them, they are now both long gone,
I also flattened both lips and had to have stiches in the lower and could
only take liquid through a tea pot spout for about 3 or 4 days.
The Cricket game I thought was called OWZATT! There was also a craze on Dinky
cars, which maybe was followed by the marbles as I think I swapped a car for
some marbles but maybe it was the otherway round and I was behind the times.
Walks: Usually in crocodiles for miles. I am sure we would walk the triange
of the B2133 to Hughes Hill down to Farm Park with variations. Quite often
we would cross the road and go up the lane to Harsford Manor. I think the
wood shown to the west of the lane was where Mrs Oliver used to take us for
Cubs outings and build a fire and cook dough stuck on sticks. Do any of you
remember going to a a sort of Cub/Scout jamboree on a hill overlooking Crowdrey
Park, I believe it was for a couple of nights in Tents. David
There was a back staircase that went from somewhere to the right of the serving hatch to the first floor near the dorm/sick bay at the back. I can clearly remember Kay, the boy who drowned, going up that staircase rotating a white dinner plate between his hands in imitation of a London bus driver (route no. 56 comes to mind, but probably falsely). Kay, who was obviously a London boy, often played that game.
Back to the tower dorm, where Shaun says I was once a prefect in charge. I can't remember that, but I can remember reading 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' in that dorm, probably after lights out in the summer term, and very creepy it was.
Do you all remember such phrases as "Er - stung up - don't force!" (Cairns)? And how everything was the best something or other "out" - as in "I reckon Wren's have got the best nests out."
And how about 'wishing spoons', which had a spine down the underside of the bowl?
And the distinctive way Mr Mac held his cigarette, clasped low between the fingers near their base, while drawing strongly on it. The little things that stay in the memory while so many greater ones fade! Steve
I certainly do recall the use of the 'out'. I think I used it long after leaving Wisboro'. In fact my wife tells me it is standard English! I don't recall the Cairns phrase, though. Nor 'wishing spoons'. But now you say so, Stephen, I can just see Mr. Mac. holding his fag! He also used to prowl at night, down past the bungalow, and we could track him by the glow of his cig. Odd words that come to mind are 'a swiz' (a trick or swindle), 'a whizz', 'super-duper', 'spiffing' and 'spiflicating' (of exceptionally good things).
As a response to these fascinating details conjured up from the depths, who remembers what I think was called 'house cricket'? It was a small set of scorebook plus a couple of peculiar silvery-grey and heavy cast iron dice with perhaps 8, 10 or 12 facets... each being inscribed with a symbol. One dice had numbers of runs and extras... no-balls, byes, leg byes. The other had a number of sides indicating nothing, but one each had B for bowled, LBW, C, RO (run out), S(tumped). I don't recall what caused one to have to the throw the second dice. It seems to me that perhaps Asher owned the set I sometimes borrowed? The game was rather unsatisfactory since dismissals were too frequent to compare with cricket proper. I think two persons could compete somehow too...
Marbles! A marbles craze took over at least part of the school. I managed to obtain some small red clay 'marbles' when home on a weekend and eventually played myself into the glass marble class of competitor. There were some with internal patterns and colours, but the owners were chary of playing against plain glass marbles, so a compensatory score was worked out... one coloured for three plain glass etc. I know I played quite a number of people while it lasted.
Of course, there was a paper dart and 'swallow' plane craze, then origami paper cubes filled with water as bombs. There was also a signalling craze one misty autumn... Henschelwood had a real Aldis lamp and ruled the roost with that. Other obtained torches and even another Aldis. The peashooter craze was quickly stamped down by the staff! Another craze was the making of 'tractor tanks' (don't know what we called them) with one cottonreel with serrated edges, a bit of candlewax lubricating between a rubber band and a stick. You wound it up and it crawled off and negotiated quite uneven territory.
I also recall that our form put on a play (completely forget which it was) where I had the lead... but I went down with measles the night of the show and never performed. I was quarantined in sick bay for a long time (a week) and was not allowed to read for days due to danger to the eyes. I was really scared I'd become blind and kept them shut while praying for deliverance! By the time Barry Dustin and Nicky Borrisow were allowed in, I felt like Robinson Crusoe finding Man Friday. Rob
The indoor cricket game with two little faceted metal rollers was called 'Owzat!' I thought it was rather good (and certainly more fun than the real thing).
How well I remember the marbles craze: in my memory at least, during my last term (c. 1948), I swept the board and had captured virtually all the marbles there were to be had. I feel this was because I'd discovered a way of playing that I fear may have been illicit but certainly worked. I've never really understood marbles!
How odd that some staff members have remained almost unmentioned in these discussions: Captain Dalton (Latin) - aka Cappy Dolly - who had a Flying Standard: I used to remove fag ends from its ashtray for re-rolling into bog paper, stuck with stamp hinges, for 'smoking'.
And Margaret Cowlishaw - aka, to me at least, as Teragram Wahsilwoc (her names in reverse) - a brilliant teacher, who taught biology in addition to the subjects mentioned previously by others. Steve
Can anyone recall being told in class all about the atomic bomb and nuclear research... scary stuff about the Russians having got the A-bomb and about coming H-bomb, as well as the terrifying cobalt-coated bomb (the doomsday weapon, in fact)? I certainly do... and I wonder if it was not the unconventional Mr. Brooke-Little himself who told us? Rob
Rob - I was in your class when you were told about the Russain A-Bomb. I, too, was shit scared and thought I wouldn't see adulthood. The master was not Brooke-Little but Goldie who had the air of doom and gloom in the first place. A-Bomb + Goldie = A Nightmare. Shaun
So the cadaverous-looking Mr. Goldie was the one who put the fear of hell into us! He must have been rather hopeless for such a job if he was so insensitive. I never took a liking to him. He had a very small son, called Diddi, who was always getting underfoot at the bungalow... and getting sorta kicked by some, poor lad.
I was only on one scrump, Shaun... and we were not caught. I seem to recall that there had been too much chat about it and I kept away next time, as I reckoned that the staff may have twigged us by then. Rob
I was one of the apple scrumpers and one night we were caught red handed by Mrs Brook who observed us on our return through the filtered light from her kitchen window and as a result Mr Brook was at the bedroom door switching on the light awaiting our arrival through the open windows, four of us at least. I feel that we were punished the following day with a caning from the headmaster. Re. Who taught what?
Brooke-Little (English), Brook (Maths), Edwards (Latin), Long (History), Oliver (Botany), Rev.Randall-Williams (Divinity), as for Pratt, Goldie, Capt. Dalton, Col. Kennedy and Hodby, I cannot remember. Someone taught French, who?
Yes, at one stage I was in the Tower Dormitory. The room had a two step split level floor with an archway, basically two rooms used as one. There were 3 beds to front (window) section and 3 to the rear. Steve was the prefect in charge whilst I was served my time in the small Tower. Shaun
I thought the pub in WG was called the Three Kings - were there 2 hostelries in such a small village? (George)
There are two pubs in WG: the one on the main road is the Three Crowns (in those days a Friary Meux house). The other, on the north corner of the village green, is the Cricketers, but I cannot remember our school walks ever going past it. In my memory at least, we walked mainly west, east, and south of the main road (A272). Steve
Now there is also a pub on Wisborough Green called 'The Bat and Ball'! (Rob)
"Remember those compulsory afternoon walks? We must have, on occasions, walked to Newpound Common, back down to Wisborough Green, past the CRICKETERS ARMS and then back into school. On other occasions it looks as if we walked to Stood Green, down to Burdocks and back via the shortest route to school. On one of these walks ( where?) we would pass a magnificient Horse Chestnut tree which in the autumn produced the biggest CONKAS one could wish for.The master who conducted the walk would determine as to whether we could fill our pockets with conkas, if they were in a good mood. Miss Oliver was pretty good and gave us a five minute stop around the tree. Hey, Rob! you were a conka fan with high ratings of 'sixers' and 'eighters'. My conkas would generally split open on the third strike or the fourth go with luck. The Cairns boys were the experts at the game with ' teners' plus to their credit. Asher, how about your conka rating or were you into the Marmite and dog biscuits while the attention was diverted to the silly business of slamming at each other's conkas? By the way, the photo of you is excellent but can't see the likeness of old as one sees in Steve who hasn't changed one iota, maybe a little more portly, though. What a tidy desk!" Shaun
"The Dandy - Who did you cadge your copy from? I always managed to get a copy off HOBBS with payment by way of sweets on a designated tuck shop day.
In which comic did the Adventures of Desperate Dan appear? maybe it was in the Beano. Film Fun was also in the school circuit. Hey, Asher, you're well entrenched into the publishing business, how about a journal on The Adventures of 'A'hab, the 'A'rab? Thanks, fella, for correcting me re. 'conka'.
Rob, no doubt about you, your memory is excellent. Yes, I was one of the apple scrumpers and one night we were caught red handed by Mrs Brook who observed us on our return through the filtered light from her kitchen window and as a result Mr Brook was at the bedroom door switching on the light awaiting our arrival through the open windows, four of us at least. I feel that we were punished the following day with a caning from the headmaster. Re. Who taught what?
Brooke-Little (English), Brook (Maths), Edwards (Latin), Long (History), Oliver (Botany), Rev.Randall-Williams (Divinity), as for Pratt, Goldie, Capt. Dalton, Col. Kennedy and Hodby, I cannot remember. Someone taught French, who?
Yes, at one stage I was in the Tower Dormitory. The room had a two step split level floor with an archway, basically two rooms used as one. There were 3 beds to front (window) section and 3 to the rear. Steve was the prefect in charge whilst I was served my time in the small Tower. That's enough to ponder!" Shaun
Asher wrote: I am thoroughly enjoying reading all the isoterica - I am just sorry I cannot participate: my memory is a total blank on walks, conkers, weirs, tuckshops, etc., but do keep the memories coming - maybe something will strike a chord. I envy you guys your apparent total recall. If we weren't the same age, I would blame it on my anno domini. I had no patience with Dandy, Beano and the rest of the comics. I was enthralled at the time with the Biggles books and read them under the blankets with a torch.
Shaun recalls much more of who taught what than I could. I remember that Col. Kennedy taught elementary Latin and French. Miss Cowlishaw taught English. Mr. Mac. took Latin and maybe sometimes maths? I have no figment of recollection of the names Hodby, Long or Randall-Williams. I guess the last-named was the vicar (was he the one who sometimes used his arms as if under attack by hornets?) Robert
... one of my aunts became a GI bride and went to the States after the war. She sent me a food parcel packed with all the things you could not get in the UK at that time. Chocolates, dried fruit etc. The mistake made was to send it to WL as all parcels had to be opened in front of MD, or any way he was there this particular time. He took one look at the contents, announced that it must be shared with the rest of the school and marched off with it under his arm, it was never to be seen by anyone again. I am sure He and Mrs MD had it all. David
Asher's memory of the cold at Wisboro' concurs with mine. Blue knees in short trousers until one reached the age of 11, I recall, and could don long trousers. I think there WAS once ice on the hand basins in the changing room outside the dining hall. For a time there was no hot water for showers or for hand washing before meals. The 1947 big energy/coal crisis must have been the culprit. When it was granted at last, I recall how France taught us to squirt a fount of water from our cupped hands. Much practice before mastery... I am now a dab hand at this! To counteract the cold, we pulled our thin worsted grey jersey sleeves down and held them over our clenched fists! This practice was looked down on by certain powers-that-were. The food was sparse indeed. The one slice of bread scraped dry of margarine at 'teatime' only made me the hungrier. Rabbit (esp. head and eyes) as the most dreaded serving for me. I went without dinner on the one day that I was unfortunate about this. Only once do I recall a second helping of porridge, even... almost echoes of Oliver Twist. The best supper was macaroni cheese... which I still make whenever my wife lets me (she holds it to be basically unhealthy). Rob
My father, Harry Sinclair Brook, was a young maths (and possibly games master) from 1948 ish to 1951. My mother , Pat Brook, was matron during this time. Mr. MacDonald was my godfather and I was christened in the local church. We lived in a low white building, it looks like a pre-fab on photos, behind the main building. I visited Wisborough Green in 1987, the lodge has been divided up into two homes. No trace of the school is to be seen, but I recognised the front of the building from old photos my mother still has.
My parents have very fond memories of their time there and I feel a sort of link because this is where I was born. My father is now 77 and lives in a small village near Whitley Bay, Northumbria. He carried on teaching all his life. My mother is 76 and still lives near Carlisle. Lime House School still exists and is quite big these days. We lived in a house in those grounds until 1970. I have lived in Düsseldorf, Germany since then. It made my evening to discover the site and would love to hear more from you, or look at photos. Yours sincerely, Eve Brook-Stamm.
"Eve, I do remember your Father well, I do believe he and McD. had a shared interest in shooting and that he had both a shotgun and a .22 rifle. I think they used to shoot around the large field at the back, part of which was the playing fields. I do not remember signing the book your father was given. My father occasionally stayed at the pub by the village pond and I do recall him saying that he used to have a few drinks with some of the masters when he use to stay, possibly your Father was one. Did your Father stay on to when the School closed?
The '51 school photo would be the last one I was in as I left before the following summer term and always thought that the school closed at the end of that school year after the summer term as Mr McD was already turning the school into a small farm. Shaun tells us that he went back to the school later I think it was in '53 and the gym had become a piggery, well I remember it was turned into one when I was there and I distinctly remember laying sawdust in the gym which McD tried as bedding for the said pigs, increasingly McD had me helping with the livestock, pigs, chickens and geese, which maybe was why I left before the end of the school term, my Father not liking the way his fees were spent.
You mention the butterfly man, possibly the master 3 in from the left in the '51 school photo. He used to be at the bungalow, and bred great big green moths, Indian moon moths I think they were called. I especially remember him because he used to tell me that Hartland, which is where my family originally came from, was the one of the last strongholds of the large blue butterfly in this country, which has since become extinct, but has now been reintroduced elsewhere in Devon.
Ad the '51 school photo: The master 4 th in from the left is Mr Pratt, he was still there when I left and had a sister who lived in Woolsery, a village about 15 miles west of Bideford. At the end of one of the Autumn terms he decided to visit her for Xmas and took me with him by coach to Bideford, but there was heavy snow and after a horrendous journey we made Exeter late at night and had to stay overnight . Usually at the end of term he would take me from Victoria station which was where the school train came in to Waterloo where I would travel to Exeter, he used to leave me at the station and I used to have about an hour to wait, once he forgot to give me the ticket!!!, being only around 10 at the time it was quite traumatic but it was sorted out and I got home safely. He called into the New Inn (he hotel my Father had in Bideford) in around '62 to '64,but I never saw him since. He was in fact my last contact with anyone from WL until Shaun and I made contact recently. Does anyone remember the school train, sometimes we would drive up from Devon for the new term, but other times I would go by train from Exeter to Waterloo and then by taxi to Victoria to get on a special a school train that seemed to have children from all the schools in the world going back to school on that one train. All for now David."
There
was a very very attractive, well-built (i.e. smashing figure), blonde who
used to play rounders (or some such) most vivaciously, after we had all been
put to bed with lights-out on a summers evening . I always thought she was
making a line for Mr Brooks who was one of the staff members who didn't miss
the opportunity for this sporting frolic on the athletics field. I'm damned
if I can remember her name - she was an asst matron I believe but only for
a short period of time. The master who had a limp, and was mad about cricket
(must have played because he was on close terms with many professional county
players including Les Ames of Kent and England fame) was Mr Pratt who appears
in the 1948 photo I believe.
Have a look at www.kwtelecom.com/heraldry/hersoc/hsprog.html you will
find a link with Brooke-Little and Constance Egan. George Harvey.
This was 'our' Peter Fothergill-Payne:-
Though at Univ. of Calgary, he was MA Oxford... and I know Fothergill-Payne went to Oxford because I later met one of his contemporaries who knew him (Harold Stonex). He later taught at Eton in the 1960s as I spoke to him once on the 'phone around 1970 and he suggested I apply for a post there too.
I also think he would have taught modern European languages. He used to live in what is now Macedonia, which he told me was the 'best place in the world'.
Alan Ayckbourne? I asked Dad about him and he went to see him at his theatre in Scarborough a while ago..they wouldn't let him in so he blustered his way in and entered Alan's dressing room bellowing 'Ayckbourne sit down and be quiet' at which Alan said 'good grief, Brookie! ' They then had a pleasant chat about days gone by..Dad was given tickets for a production and they went their ways. He is very interested to hear anything I pick up from the site. Silvi ( the sibling)
Rob wrote: "One of my classmates for a year or so was Alan Ayckbourne, subsequently to become the famous playwright whose work was at one time the most acted in the world. Now Sir Alan Ayckbourne gave a charming account of his work on Hard Talk (March, 28 on BBC World)He told how, when he was 10 at his prep school, he adapted Anthony Buckridge's novel "Jennings at School" intending to take the role of the comical, gangling figure character Derbishire. But he caught a contagion and was in the sick bay, so never saw the production. But after it he leaned out of a window and asked a boy "What was it like" and got the bland reply "Oh... it was all right".
The fact is that I was dragged in by Colonel Kennedy as Alan's understudy, but on the day it was to be put on, I went down with measles and was quarantined alone in the sick bay (not in the same room as Alan). I had learned the ditty Darbishire wrote, well known to many schoolboys, "This time tomorrow where shall I be, not in this academy…" etc. but do not recall what else the part involved, partly because, I think, I was in a cold sweat of anxiety and prayer for three days because the matron had said I must not have too much light or read or I could go blind! (Rob)
NOTE: "Wisborough Lodge: Preparatory school attended by Alan Ayckbourn, predominantly as a boarding pupil from the age of seven. The school in Intimate Exchanges, Bilbury Lodge and its headmaster Toby Teasdale were apparently inspired by his experiences at Wisborough Lodge."
http://almanac.alanayckbourn.net/W.htm
Comments by Rob in reply to some of Shaun's photo identifications:-
"Not Skeats Major, Shaun, but Stuart, a clever, quiet fellow in my class for some time at least. Beside him is Cairns Minor (not major, not in my day). This Cairns was in my class and was my main boasting self-centered opponent is all things like cricket. He was red-haired, short in stature (as all Cairns were) and very up-front... quite a trial for me!) There were four Cairns - one had left already and was at Wellington (I think) - he was still know "posthumously" as Cairns Maximus. (A boy who has left Wisboro was as good as dead to the world!) He once came to a Sports' Day, so we saw the phenomenon himself, large as life. He was popular before anyone had even seen him... doubtless due to the Cairns' brother's adulatory stories! Cairns Major was known as 'Titch' and was a fifth former in 1948 (I reckon). Shaun identifies Cairns Minimus ('Mini-mouse') as Minor. That may have been due to there being only two Cairns left (more than enough, anyhow. Steve Harvey certainly had no time for any of them!).
I knew 'Rickki-tikki-taivi' quite well, as we were in the same class for years. I also knew Woodham and remember his batting and that he also played footer well, I think. His school number was 38 and mine was 39 (such trivia we recall), so we often sat beside one another in the changing room. My best friends were Chris Rye, Nicky Borissow and Barry Dustin.
I had forgotten entirely that there was a Churchill, but now I think I recall that we wondered if he had 'family connections' and were disappointed that he did not!. Clayton I had completely forgotten. The rest of the top row agrees with my identifications (made on the photo soon after leaving Wisboro'). Barry Dustin is correct, a bit tubby and had trouble at athletics etc., in which I was his pseudo-coach!
Gillingham I had listed as Guillame. I was confused, he once claimed that he was of Norman descent from a Guillame, and he was dark and Norman in appearance too. I knew him very well - same class for years. We called him 'Gillagogs' - God knows why.. and he hated it, so we had to stop. I stayed a weekend with him on his parents' small mixed farm in Kent once. It seemed too bucolic to me then, smelly and muddy, but now I think of it as an idyll that will never come again! I thought the name Gillingham was a mistake because it is also the name of a town in Kent! He always played the position of goalie at football, and I can see his rather morose yet proud expression now after saving a ball.
I identified Mange (presume it comes from 'manger') He and a boy called Perry once did a run and were caught somewhere after 3 days on the road. I was the first to meet them when they returned, in a loo in the main house one night after lights, where they were cleaning up. They were in tears, VERY sad. I told them everyone thought they had done a great, daring thing. (Rob)