BREAKS OF ROUTINE, TREATS, SUMMER FAIRS ETC.
Breaks in School Routine: Now and again there would be a 'treat', something to break up the tedium of the 8-hour days. Among the most memorable for me were:
1) Without warning one afternoon, lessons were cancelled and
there was a lecture from the stage of the assembly hall by a man who had some
eagles and hawks. He had trained them all and made a film with a storyline
using them, which he showed us. He was a hit because of his direct and open
approach to his audience. I'd like to have recalled his name, but can't. But
the main thing was that he had with him a wild golden eagle he had saved and
also a huge sea eagle, one of which he allowed to fly over us in the assembly
hall.
2) Being bussed to see a performance of Julius Caesar at a school not far from
3) Interesting and a welcome change was a visit to Romford gasworks with a science master. A better way to understand chemistry, a breath of the real work... but it ponged too!
4) One day prior to the General election of 1950 or 1951, the school was gathered in the assembly hall for a talk and film show put on by Tate & Lyle, the sugar manufacturers. The whole programme was propaganda against nationalisation by the labour government... who were threatening to do it to the sugar industry. We were all given badges with the words 'Keep the S out of STATE'. This campaign by the sugar giant became a hot political potato in the election. (Robert Priddy)
Prize-giving day, I believe it was, when all masters appeared on stage in their mortar boards and variously coloured ermine gowns at a rehearsal in the morning. All very impressive to those of us who saw them this peculiar regalia for the first time. Some strutted about on the stage like fighting cocks (Mr. Pilling?), until Mr. Newth swept in like an absolute monarch, but most of them tried to seem unconcerned and perhaps inconspicuous... especially one or two who had no gowns at all! (Robert Priddy)
SUMMER FAIRS
As the cover says, the Summer Fair of 1926 was opened by
Lord Lambourne (the one-time Lambourne Hall in
Does anyone recall any of the major exhibits at the RLS Summer Fair? The science labs would set up some impressive standard experiments year after year. I remember building a noughts and crosses machine with Richard Beattie under the supervision of Alan Woodhurst. This was just about as basic as you could get as it was completely hard-wired and, of course, impossible to beat. The best you could hope for was a draw. Some incredible prize was offered to any winner (there couldn't be any) and the machine proved very popular with parents especially! (Michael P. Large or John Hawkins?)
The only one that I remember is gas from the bench supply being passed through a soap solution to produce a large soap bubble that would rise to the ceiling. Before reaching the ceiling, it was intercepted by a flame that ignited the gas. It repeated automatically and was very impressive. (Peter Cowling)
I can recall a brass tap, alone and supported by a clamp in midair. A cunning glass tube fed water up to & into the tap outlet, and the obviously fell down the outside in a stream. It appeared magical to a 13 year old. (Phil Kingham)
I can remember one exhibit that John Chesney and I produced for one Summer fair. It was a photo graphic negative of the Initials RLS, positioned on a transparent rotating disk and as it revolved the x and y coordinates were obtained from a couple of photoelectric detectors (OCP71's I seem to remember.). This was then outputted to the two x and y inputs on an oscilloscope, and a sort of RLS logo was created on the screen. (Malcolm Damon)