May - Old Scarborians

44sion Les paid a nostalgic visit to Hanley Castle.Although at school my favourite subject wasHistory, I always had the greatest respect forLes as a teacher of French, and contact withhim in later life made me realise what a kindand thoughtful human being he was. If I mayquote from a letter he sent me you will seewhat I mean:“I thank you both for your kind letter and for themost interesting enclosures about the school(Hanley Castle), for the HMI’s Report of 1936, andthe photostat. I can hardly say how deeply grateful Iam to you for at last giving me an opportunity tosee what I should have been allowed to see fiftyyears ago. When I arrived, I was merely told to geton with it and to create my own discipline. Forthree years I used to sit down almost every eveningand think back to my own school days and say:‘How should I have liked this to be taught to me?’In the First Form it needed simplicity, humour, andas much connection with their day to day life aspossible, and as much spoken French and simpleaccompanying actions as possible. It would havebeen most helpful to know in detail what the HMI’sthought of my efforts. However, I now know, andthe knowledge of it gives me a deep sense of satisfaction.”“The French Connection” now takes me to thepresent day. Reading the Centenary Edition ofthe Magazine, I saw the article by John Hall,writing from Notre Dame de Cenilly, France.Two years ago, my wife and I bought a holidayhome, or maison secondaire, at Carentan, asmall town about 30 miles south of Cherbourg.Fierce fighting took place here just after D Dayinvolving the American 101st Airborne Division.(You can see one version of the events inpart 3 of Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster “Bandof Brothers”). Anyway, John Hall’s home isjust 20 miles from Carentan. I have been intouch, and hope to visit him next time we goover.My final reflections concern Bon Clarke, for Itoo experienced the gentle side of the sternGauleiter of Stalag 10. I was one those invitedto 8b Oak Road to play table tennis and borrowbooks. I remember discovering Sellar andYeatman’s “1066 And All That”. Some of itshumour stood me in good stead years later asa History teacher. I also recall that Bon used totease his cat with an imitation mouse called JoeLewis made of black insulation tape. Anotherthing about Bon Clarke was that he had a“gammy leg”, and he rode to school on a bicycleon which only one pedal went round. Therewas a rumour that he had been wounded inthe First World War, but 1 never heard himtalk about it. Now comes an attempt at a finalconnection.Ever since my school days I have been interestedin Military History. In retirement mywife and I made a pilgrimage along the WesternFront in our motor caravan. Starting atYpres, we moved southwards to Vimy Ridge,the Somme, Chemin des Dames, and on toVerdun. I have read many books on thishaunting subject. One I possess is “The WesternFront” by Richard Holmes. Before appearingas a book it had been a BBC TelevisionSeries in 1999. Some of you may have seenRichard Holmes on Television presenting alsothe War Walks series. Anyway, in the bookRichard Holmes when recounting the 3rd Battleof Ypres (1917), often called Passchendaele,writes as follows:The battle looked different to participants. LieutenantFirstbrooke Clarke of the North Staffordshireswrote ‘I suppose to people at home it was a finevictory. Well, so it is but they don’t see the deadand wounded lying out and they don’t have 9.2’sbursting 10 yards away, machine-gun bulletsscraping the parapet. I lost 17 of my platoon (4killed) besides casualties in the rest of the company.I was so sick of it that I cried when I got back.’Can any Old Boy confirm that this was Bon?The Christian name Firstbrooke is so unusualthat there can surely be no one else? Those ofyou who studied German will recall that weused a book which he had written. It wascalled ”German Grammar for Revision andReference” by Firstbrooke Clarke. For some