May - Old Scarborians

34CAMPSRobin Hoods’ Bay where we got rained out.Wensleydale going for long walks.Cairngorms, the best of all, walking throughthe heather and the mists, through valleysand along tops of mountains.SPORTSCross Country Always seemed to have fun,never remember if anybody won or whetherwe were actually supposed to race on coldand wet Oliver’s Mount.Shinty A couple of games of Shinty with aprimitive type of hockey stick.Cricket I did get 5 wickets for 4 runs orsimilar in a house match. Never really gotinto cricket at school although I keenly followit now with the mighty Aussies. On the6 th April 1986 I played in a charity matchwith the likes of Jeff Thompson, Ashley Mallett,Doug Walters, Frank Tyson, MaxWalker, Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh, DennisLillee and David Hookes to name a few, onthe Adelaide Oval, South Australia. Namesto conjure with. I was hit for a number ofsixes.Tennis Was always envious of Hargravesand Hodgkinson who were able to leave theschool grounds and play tennis.Athletics I think we had a few meetings butapparently I didn’t shine, as I don’t rememberthem.Basketball Used to enjoy the few games weplayed in the gym. A pity we couldn’t haveplayed more. Played for the company teamin Adelaide but was interrupted by a wellflightedball breaking my little finger.Boxing As a result of a fight in the top playgroundI was ‘volunteered’ to join the BoxingClub where Ron Leng was in his element.After a bit of practice I was‘volunteered’ to fight Henry (Ding Dong)Bell in the school hall. Henry is in the RugbyTeam photos, a muscular nuggetty typewith muscles of steel. The boxing sessionwas highlighted by, and I distinctly remember,those whirling dervishes Leonard Norton-Wayneand John Moorhouse as noted intheir ‘Times’ report. It may have been on thesame bill where Henry and I sparred aroundfor a while pretending to be boxers whensuddenly Henry and I swung and hit eachother at the same time. I think Henry hit meharder than I hit him but even so the rest ofthe fight was at arms length.Gymnastics Was never keen because assoon as I was upside down that was unknownterritory.Rugby Best left ‘til last. Played throughoutmy time at the school as George/Barrie Jubbsentries in the photo fashion stakes show.Barrie Jubbs and I used to compete for positionsin the scrum. I remember one daywhen Jock had Barrie and I run the length,or half, of the rugby field and picked me forsome reason, I think to play Sevens. Theaway games were always a worry to me as Iwas a poor bus traveller. Games at Oliver’sMount, school or inter school, were occasionallya problem as I would have to leavemy greengrocery delivery run, in reasonableweather, to cycle to the Mount only to findan enveloping mist and I was the only onethere, the game had been cancelled. Stilldon’t know how the others got to know.ARTSNote, not too much emphasis on the Artsalthough enjoyed the school plays. Did a bitof painting. Costain’s singing classes.Extra activities. The school, it seemed likethe whole school, had a mock election. Theremust have been a General Election due. Iwas somehow elected as the Labour candidate.At the time there was a major nationalstrike or situation, which nobody couldsolve. Of course eventually at each meetingsome smart Alec would ask me what Iwould do to remedy the situation. I wouldbluster through trying to get onto anothersubject. Nowadays the answer for every-