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No 80 /February 2015<br />
The Old Stationer<br />
Number 80 - February 2015<br />
Peter Bullen 1927-2014
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Photographs taken by Richard Farrow during a recent trip to London<br />
2
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
The Old Stationer<br />
Number 80 - FEBRUARY 2015<br />
OLD STATIONERS’ ASSOCIATION<br />
LIST OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS 2014/2015<br />
President<br />
Roger Melling<br />
43 Holyrood Road, New Barnet,<br />
Herts. EN5 1DQ Tel: 020 8449 2283<br />
E-mail: melling@globalspirit.net<br />
Vice-President<br />
Peter A Sandell<br />
11 Maplecroft Lane, Nazeing, Essex,<br />
EN9 2NR Tel: 01992 892766<br />
E-mail: peter.sandell@hotmail.co.uk<br />
Past President<br />
David J Sheath Ksg<br />
12a Bolton Crescent, Windsor, Berks.<br />
SL4 3JQ Tel: 01753 855021<br />
E-mail: davidsheath@hotmail.co.uk<br />
Honorary Secretary<br />
Tony C Hemmings<br />
5 The Mount, Cheshunt,<br />
Herts. EN7 6RF Tel: 01992 638535<br />
E-mail: hemmingsac@hotmail.com<br />
Honorary Treasurer<br />
Michael F Hasler<br />
8 The Glebe, Weston Turville, Aylesbury,<br />
Bucks. HP22 5ST Tel: 01296 614352<br />
E-mail: mikehasler.oldstationers@gmail.com<br />
Hon. Membership Secretary<br />
Gordon V Rose<br />
39 King James’ Avenue, Cuffley,<br />
Herts. EN6 4LN Tel: 01707 872645<br />
E-mail: gordon.rose@talk21.com<br />
Honorary Editor<br />
Geraint Pritchard<br />
1 Willow Way, Toddington, Dunstable,<br />
Beds. LU5 6FD Tel: 01525 872166<br />
E-mail: geraintpritchard@msn.com<br />
Web Site Manager<br />
Michael D Pinfield<br />
63 Lynton Road, Harrow, Middx. HA2 9NJ<br />
Tel: 020 8422 4699<br />
E-mail: oldstationers@gmail.com<br />
OSA website: www.oldstationers.co.uk<br />
Honorary Archivist<br />
David D Turner<br />
63 Brookmans Avenue, Brookmans Park,<br />
Herts. AL9 7QG Tel: 01707 656414<br />
E-mail: d.turner@sky.com<br />
Ordinary Members<br />
Andreas H Christou<br />
22 Woodgrange Avenue, Bush Hill Park,<br />
Enfield EN1 1EW Tel: 020 8350 4857<br />
E-mail: andreashchristou@yahoo.com<br />
Tony Moffat<br />
1 The Fairway, Bar Hill, Cambs. CB23 8SR<br />
Tel: 01954 782366<br />
E-mail: tnymfft@aol.com<br />
Peter B J Sargent<br />
East India Lodge, 13 East Ridgeway, Cuffley,<br />
Herts. EN6 4AW Tel: 01707 873754<br />
E-mail: petersargent@ellispatents.co.uk<br />
Tim Westbrook<br />
7 Goodyers Avenue, Radlett,<br />
Herts. WD7 8AY Tel: 01923 857440<br />
E-mail: tim@timwestbrook.co.uk<br />
Honorary Auditors<br />
Chris Langford, Roger Engledow<br />
Clubs & Societies<br />
Football Club<br />
Vince Wallace<br />
23 Lovelace Road, Barnet, Herts. EN4 8EA<br />
Tel: 020 8361 0145<br />
Golf Society<br />
Peter J Bonner<br />
3a Mount Grace Road, Potters Bar, Herts.<br />
EN6 1RE Tel: 01707 658016<br />
E-mail: peter.bonner@ntworld.com<br />
Apostles Club<br />
Stuart H Behn<br />
l67 Hempstead Road, Watford,<br />
Herts. WD17 3HF Tel: 01923 243546<br />
E-mail: stuartbehn@hotmail.com<br />
Luncheon Club<br />
Michael D Pinfield<br />
Details as Website Manager<br />
E-mail: oldstationers@gmail.com<br />
SC School Lodge<br />
Michael D Pinfield<br />
Details as Website Manager<br />
E-mail: secretary7460ugle@gmail.com<br />
Magazine<br />
Publishing Adviser<br />
Tim Westbrook<br />
Details as above<br />
Design & Production Manager<br />
Ian Moore<br />
Homecroft, Princes Gate,<br />
Pembrokeshire SA67 8TG<br />
Tel: 01834 831 272<br />
Email: ian@outhaus.biz<br />
Website: www.outhaus.biz<br />
Printer<br />
Stephens and George<br />
Contents<br />
Regular features<br />
Editorial/ Dates for the Diary 4<br />
President's Address 5<br />
Correspondence 19<br />
Far as you roam<br />
Why we spend nearly half the year<br />
in Lanzarote 35<br />
Three Peak's report 35<br />
Norway revisited 40 years on 39<br />
Special features<br />
Luncheons 6<br />
President's Day cricket match 7<br />
OSFC Annual Veteran's Day 9<br />
Old footballers never die, they just... 10<br />
Reunions<br />
Class of '44/ Class of '51 12<br />
1952 Cohort 13<br />
Class of '53 14<br />
Class of '60/Call for Class of '55 15<br />
Recollections of the Class of '63 16<br />
70th Anniversary of Operation<br />
Market Garden 17<br />
The Stationers' Crown<br />
Woods Academy 18<br />
Old Stationers and all that jazz 27<br />
What might have been -<br />
magical memory 27<br />
Tin pot memories Muswell Hill<br />
Primary School 28<br />
First World War memories 29<br />
Robert E Howard's rarest book 31<br />
A miracle from the south ...<br />
the truly deep south ... 31<br />
The Book Hunter by Dick Phillips 32<br />
Secondly from Graham Ling's letter<br />
PSA and prostrate cancer 33<br />
Food for thought 33<br />
Walking football initiative 34<br />
Clubs & Societies<br />
Golf Society 10<br />
Lunchtime Comment Club 11<br />
Varia<br />
News of former staff 44<br />
New members 44<br />
Changes of address 44<br />
Obituaries<br />
Peter Bullen 45<br />
Brian Simpson 46<br />
Roy Tremlett/Alan Aris 47<br />
David Watterson/ Denis Hamment 47<br />
Supplying items for publication<br />
Text: Please supply as Word or typed documents if<br />
possible. Images: Supply as original images or hi-res<br />
(300dpi) digital files in tiff, jpeg or eps format.<br />
Post or email to the Editor, Geraint Pritchard:<br />
see Committee page for address details.<br />
3
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
It is very interesting<br />
to note that individual<br />
Year Groups that have<br />
started a Reunion once<br />
usually after 50 years<br />
or 60 years since the<br />
first year at Stationers'<br />
Company's School,<br />
have been holding<br />
further Reunions regularly. This has been a very<br />
successful way of introducing new members to<br />
the Association and also swollen the numbers for<br />
the Luncheons and particularly for the Christmas<br />
Lunch. In the Year 2014, the '44 Year had a Reunion<br />
and have held this for many a year. In addition, the<br />
1951 starters met again, with 1952 having three get<br />
togethers, albeit in small groups, as well as the 1954<br />
starters having a reunion as they have done since<br />
2004 which means they have held the event for<br />
over 10 years continually. Also it is good to record<br />
that the 1953 starters held their first gathering in<br />
2014. Now there is an intention for 1955 starters<br />
to hold their first one in 2015, marking sixty years<br />
since they commenced at Stationers'. That is five<br />
consecutive years all holding reunions. We are also<br />
aware that there is at least one other in 2015, which<br />
is a very successful method of recruitment. Bear in<br />
mind the last pupil to join SCS was in 1981 which<br />
makes the youngest Old Stationer the age of 45<br />
years! Therefore all recruitment is most likely to be<br />
in the age bracket of 50 to 75 years of age!! So the<br />
forecast year of 2056 for the existence of the OSA<br />
is still possible for the few left to continue to meet<br />
in the second half of this century.<br />
This is because of the dedication and support, as<br />
well as the foresight of some very active members<br />
in the various sections of activities of the Clubs,<br />
particularly the OSFC and the OSCC together with<br />
the OSA and its forerunner SOBA, that encouraged<br />
and fostered membership of the Association itself,<br />
particularly on retirement of Footballers and<br />
Cricketers from their Saturday Games. One of the<br />
main characters together with others on Committee<br />
at the time was Past President PETER BULLEN<br />
who was instrumental in change at that critical<br />
time of introducing the OLD STATIONERS'<br />
ASSOCIATION and the Clubs, particularly the<br />
Football Club and the Cricket Club being more<br />
autonomous from that time. Sadly we record the<br />
death of PETER in this magazine but on the other<br />
hand give thanks for his major contribution with<br />
others to a strategic change in our organisation all<br />
those years ago! From observation and comment,<br />
within and particularly outside the Old Stationers'<br />
Association, is a unique organisation. Listen to all<br />
those who look in from outside our Association<br />
and can do nothing but admire our strength and<br />
fortitude in running an Annual Cricket Match and a<br />
Football Club, more than 30 years after the School<br />
was closed. Also an Old Stationers Association of<br />
500 membership today which is the envy of many<br />
similar organisations and has the potential to serve<br />
most Old Stationers for their lifetime and thus the<br />
life of the Old Stationers' Association. Yes, it is<br />
truly unique in today's world. Do not forget that<br />
uniqueness and may it serve and last while Old<br />
Stationers live on this planet. VERBUM DOMINI<br />
IN AETERNUM MANET.<br />
Geraint<br />
DATES for the DIARY<br />
AGM & ANNUAL DINNER<br />
Friday March 27th 2015<br />
Stationers' Hall, Ave Maria Lane<br />
LONDON EC4 7DD<br />
AGM 6.00pm. Annual Dinner 7.00pm.<br />
LUNCHEON MEETINGS<br />
Tuesday, 12th May 2015<br />
Imperial Hotel, Russell Square<br />
Wednesday, 9th September 2015<br />
Imperial Hotel, Russell Square<br />
Wednesday, 2nd December 2015<br />
Stationers' Hall, Ave Maria Lane<br />
PRESIDENT'S DAY<br />
Sunday, 30th August 2015<br />
43rd Annual Cricket Match<br />
Botany Bay, East Lodge Lane, Enfield, EN2 8AS<br />
Lunch 12.30pm; Match 2.00pm.<br />
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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS<br />
I concluded my Presidential address<br />
in last July's Old Stationer with the<br />
comment that 'there is now the<br />
possibility of a new Stationers'<br />
School rising like the proverbial<br />
Phoenix from the ashes'. Well, on<br />
8th October 2014, 26 Old Stationers<br />
attended the official opening of the<br />
Stationers' Crown Woods Academy.<br />
We were impressed by both the<br />
pupils and the amazing facilities<br />
that the school is able to provide. A<br />
truly worthy successor to the school<br />
we grew to love and value so much.<br />
The Old Stationers concluded the<br />
opening ceremonies with an<br />
impromptu rendition of the school<br />
song. There was some concern as to<br />
how this would be received but both pupils and those<br />
invited to attend the opening ceremony were very<br />
appreciative of our efforts.<br />
Your Committee is giving careful consideration as to how<br />
the OSA can best provide support to the new school. This<br />
is not a time for knee jerk reactions but measured<br />
consideration of the possibilities. Elsewhere in this edition<br />
are two pieces about the new school. One raises the<br />
possibility of the need to change our constitution in order<br />
to admit 'old' pupils from the new school. Your Committee<br />
does not have such a proposal at the present time and, if at<br />
any time there is one, there would be extensive consultation<br />
before this is given formal consideration. It is considered<br />
far more likely that the OSA would choose to use its<br />
experience and expertise to assist the school in setting up<br />
its own Old Pupils Association. It is important to reflect<br />
that the present first formers [year 7 in current terminology]<br />
will conclude their secondary education under the<br />
'Stationers banner' in several years time.<br />
They will have different aims and aspirations for an Old<br />
Pupils Association than those of us who went to a school<br />
that will have been closed then for nearly 40 years. The<br />
Committee will shortly be having discussions with key<br />
members of the Company who have been actively involved<br />
in establishing relationships with the school. We hope these<br />
discussions will clarify how we will best be able to support<br />
the school. We will want to raise the possibility of the<br />
school adopting our house names and our donating the old<br />
school cups that have been gathering dust for many years.<br />
The new school will require financial support and I hope<br />
that we can help here. With this in mind you should by<br />
now have received a brochure giving you more detail about<br />
the school and inviting you to make a contribution to the<br />
Company's support fund.<br />
It is now only two months to the end of my presidential<br />
year, so as always time flies. I never expected to be President<br />
but it has been both enjoyable and a huge privilege. I am so<br />
grateful for all the support so many<br />
of you have given me and the<br />
opportunity to attend several<br />
pleasant and interesting events.<br />
This included my first invitation<br />
which was to attend the Football<br />
Club Annual Dinner; this club<br />
continues to be at the heart of the<br />
Association even if, these days,<br />
there are few Old Stationers fit<br />
enough to play. This was a very<br />
enjoyable evening with a wonderful<br />
after dinner speaker. The Apostles<br />
Club also was kind enough to invite<br />
me to their lunch in October and<br />
we met in the wonderful<br />
surroundings of the library in the<br />
Chesterfield Hotel and enjoyed<br />
much discussion. Then, again in October, I was invited to<br />
join the Master and Wardens for lunch at the Hall. We<br />
were able to reflect on the opening of the new school and<br />
the Master and Wardens were very interested to hear about<br />
the support the OSA could provide for it.<br />
It was good to see so many of you on President's Day. We<br />
were blessed with good weather and it was an enjoyable<br />
cricket match. It's called President's Day but it should<br />
really be called the Gordon Rose Day! He works very hard<br />
to ensure that we have a great lunch and a good day's<br />
cricket. Thank you Gordon for all you do for the OSA. My<br />
thanks also go to Geoff Blackmore for organising the<br />
President's Team-something well beyond my capabilities!<br />
The luncheons held at the Imperial Hotel are other<br />
occasions when Old Stationers can renew friendships and<br />
generally catch up. The Master of the Company, lan Locks,<br />
was our guest at the September Luncheon when he spoke<br />
about the Company's involvement with the new school.<br />
Michael Murphy, the Principal of the school, also attended<br />
and spoke very interestingly about the school's history. The<br />
Christmas Luncheon at the Hall was particularly well<br />
attended with over 100 present. We are all very grateful to<br />
Alan Green for organising these lunches so superbly over<br />
many years. Quite understandably he has decided it is time<br />
to hang up his 'Knife and Fork' but we hope he will<br />
continue to join us at these meals. Mike Pinfield has agreed<br />
to take over from Alan; so the lunches will continue. If you<br />
have not done so please come and join us. You will be very<br />
well received. Any Old Stationer is welcome even if he is<br />
not a member of the OSA.<br />
Sadly it has been my privilege to represent the OSA at the<br />
funerals of Old Stationers. In July I attended Peter Bullen's<br />
funeral. I did not know Peter but I have been told that he<br />
was instrumental in creating the Old Stationers Association<br />
as we know it today. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude.<br />
This magazine includes a full obituary. I also attended<br />
Brian Simpson's funeral which was particularly poignant<br />
5
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
as Brian was in my year. He will be well known to those of<br />
you who attend the Annual Dinner since for many years he<br />
was a very efficient Toastmaster.<br />
It is very pleasing to hear of increasing numbers of year<br />
reunions which have resulted in new applications for<br />
membership. The Committee is always looking for new<br />
ways to communicate with the membership and it would<br />
be good if we were able to assemble a list of year group<br />
convenors. Some of you are known to the Committee but<br />
if you, or you with others, perform this role for your year<br />
group, would you please let Tony Hemmings, our Secretary,<br />
know. It would give us another channel of communication.<br />
Previous Presidents have reported the dedication and<br />
commitment of our committee members, particularly our<br />
key office holders. After consultation with the two<br />
immediate past Presidents and the incoming President we<br />
are proposing to introduce an award for 'Outstanding<br />
Service to the OSA'. This would be regarded as a special<br />
award that would only be for exceptional service and<br />
therefore not necessarily granted every year. The award<br />
would be made at the Annual Dinner.<br />
Thank you all for your hospitality over the last year. It has<br />
been great to meet so many of our members. Please forgive<br />
me if I don't remember your name next time we meet-a<br />
function of age!!<br />
Best wishes to you all.<br />
Roger Melling<br />
Class of (circa) '47<br />
Class of ‘62<br />
Behn, Stuart<br />
Bell, Chris<br />
Bensley, Stephen<br />
Bewick, Don<br />
Bodley, Tony<br />
Chew, Ray<br />
Copus, George<br />
Dent, Geoff<br />
Eccles, Reg<br />
Engledow, Peter<br />
Engledow, Roger<br />
Forrow, Andrew<br />
Green, Alan<br />
Hasler, Mike<br />
Hawkins, Peter<br />
Amold, Graham<br />
Baldwin, John<br />
Behn, Stuart<br />
Bell, Chris<br />
Bensley, Stephen<br />
Bewick, Don<br />
Blackmore, Geoff<br />
Bodley, Tony<br />
Bone, Dan<br />
Bonner, Peter<br />
Bothwick, Peter<br />
Brady, Michael<br />
Broadbent,<br />
Adrian<br />
Cave, Richard<br />
Chew, Ray<br />
Clarke, Nigel<br />
Cleak, Steve<br />
Clydesdale, Peter<br />
Copus, George<br />
Davies, Reg<br />
Deane, David<br />
Dent, Geoff<br />
Eccles, Reg<br />
Engledow, Peter<br />
Engledow, Roger<br />
Evans, Michael<br />
Fiddy, John<br />
Forrow, Andrew<br />
Forty, Richard<br />
Fry, Bob<br />
Gallagher, Liam<br />
Geering, John<br />
Geering, Phillip<br />
September Lunch<br />
Attendees<br />
Hemmings, Tony<br />
Jaggers, Terry<br />
Lane, Leslie<br />
Lincoln, David<br />
Linford, Alec<br />
Melling, Roger<br />
Moffat, Tony<br />
Mote, Michael<br />
Mullender, Keith<br />
Murphy, Michael<br />
Partridge, John<br />
Perry, Harold<br />
Pinfield, Mike<br />
Redman, Peter<br />
Rose, Gordon<br />
CHRISTMAS Lunch<br />
Attendees<br />
Gilligan, David<br />
Gray, John<br />
Green, Alan<br />
Harris, Bob<br />
Hasler, Mike<br />
Hayward,Ian<br />
Hemmings, Tony<br />
Hersey, Dick<br />
Hobbs, Graham<br />
Hudson, David<br />
Humphreys, Brian<br />
Hunt, Alan<br />
Jaggers, Terry<br />
Jarvis, Peter<br />
Jeffreys, Alun<br />
Jones,Ian<br />
Lambert, John<br />
Lane, Leslie<br />
Lawrence, Martin<br />
Lincoln, David<br />
Mash, Tony<br />
Melling, Roger<br />
Metcalf, David<br />
Meyrick, Ian<br />
Miles, John<br />
Mitchell, Derek<br />
Moffat, Tony<br />
Mote, Michael<br />
Mullender, Keith<br />
Mulley, Jim<br />
Partridge, John<br />
Phillippo, Richard<br />
Pinfield, Mike<br />
Powell, Tony<br />
Saunders, Michael<br />
Sheath, David<br />
Simmons, Roy<br />
Tapping, Geoff<br />
Taylor, Tony<br />
Turner, David<br />
Wandrag,<br />
Malcolm<br />
Watcham, Peter<br />
West, Mike<br />
Wilkins, Chris<br />
& The Master<br />
and Clerk<br />
Prazsky, Peter<br />
Presland, Steve<br />
Pritchard, Geraint<br />
Rawlings,<br />
Graham<br />
Redman, Peter<br />
Rose, Gordon<br />
Sandell, Peter<br />
Saunders, Michael<br />
Shaw, David<br />
Sheath, David<br />
Simmons, Roy<br />
Soames, Barry<br />
Spinks, Harry<br />
Steff, Rick<br />
Taylor, Tony<br />
Thompson, Ross<br />
Townsend, Jim<br />
Turkington, Roger<br />
Turner, David<br />
Wade, Nigel<br />
Wandrag,<br />
Malcolm<br />
Ward, Stan<br />
Watcham, Peter<br />
Welch, John<br />
Westbrook, Tim<br />
Wheeler, John<br />
White, Terry<br />
Wilkins, Chris<br />
Wilkinson, Brian<br />
Williams, Colin<br />
Wilson, Richard<br />
Winter, Peter<br />
6
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Football heroes of yesteryear and David Turner!<br />
President's day cricket match<br />
Sunday 24th August 2014 - Botany Bay CC<br />
And Then There Were Five<br />
Epping CC (139 all out) beat Roger Melling's OSA President's<br />
XI (84 all out) by 55 runs With five of the successful side of 2013<br />
'unavailable' - James Mote and Andy Douglas were on an<br />
'Anniversary Weekend', Martin and Oliver Slatford were on<br />
holiday, and John Jackson was at a wedding - a much changed<br />
side was initially selected to represent Roger Melling's OSA<br />
President's XI However, when Gary Page (who played in 2012)<br />
and Ilyas Malick (who was Man of the Match in 2013) 'cried off<br />
having had operations earlier in August, the squad was starting<br />
to be 'stretched to the limit'.<br />
Then, when Gordon Rose advised that JJ, who had match<br />
managed the Botany Bay side for the last three years, would be<br />
away for this year's game, the alarm bells started ringing, and<br />
they got louder when the match manager was asked, in the week<br />
before the game, whether the OSA had anyone who could play<br />
for the opposition!! Subsequently, the (almost) inevitable<br />
happened and three days before the game Botany Bay conceded<br />
that they were unable to raise a team.<br />
However, Botany Bay officials, in consultation with Gordon<br />
Rose, approached the Club Cricket Conference, to find alternative<br />
opponents, and Epping CCs Sunday XI were identified<br />
and selected. Despite the Match Manager's reservations, Epping<br />
turned out to be ideal opponents, who respected the day, the<br />
game, and the spirit of cricket!! After yet another excellent lunch,<br />
hosted by our President, Roger Melling, and masterminded by<br />
Gordon Rose, it was agreed to play a 'declaration' game, and on<br />
winning the toss, the Epping CC skipper decided to bat - after<br />
being prompted!!<br />
Our new ball attack was Tim Westbrook (who last took a wicket<br />
in 2011) and debutante Neil Jervis - who last played cricket in the<br />
1990s!! As we had been told Epping had two Saturday First XI<br />
players, when their opening bat, Dan Sly raced to 19 in the first<br />
three overs. it became obvious that he was one of the two - and that<br />
was confirmed later. However, Tim Westbrook made the initial<br />
breakthrough removing the other opener, courtesy of a gulley catch<br />
by Tony Pigden - although the look on Tony's face, when he held<br />
it, gave us a clue that he was as shocked as the rest of us!!<br />
Despite that, the 'turning point' in the Epping innings came<br />
three overs later, when Neil Jervis (1-35) persuaded the ball to<br />
keep a little low and bowled Dan Sly - which (probably) stopped<br />
us having to chase in excess of 200. Whilst neither Epping's<br />
numbers three or four looked as 'cultured' as their opener, their<br />
third wicket partnership of 38 started to take the game away<br />
from us, and was only broken when the hard-hitting Sam Rashid<br />
(the second of their first teamers) was well caught by Ross<br />
Blackmore, at deepish' mid-off, off the bowling of Tim<br />
Westbrook, who ended up with 2 for 33. Five balls later, the<br />
batsmen sensed the opportunity of a second leg bye as neither<br />
Terry White (from slip) nor Tim Westbrook (from fine-leg)<br />
looked to be able to stop it, but an excellent chase and throw by<br />
Terry resulted in Richard Slatford demolishing the stumps and<br />
Epping were 71 for 4.<br />
7
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Tony Pigden 3 milliseconds from completing his innings!<br />
Whilst our double bowling change - introducing Robin Baker<br />
and Jack Cox - did not pay immediate dividends in term of<br />
wickets, they conceded just seventeen runs in their first eight<br />
overs, to slow the Epping score rate. Then, yet again, we took two<br />
wickets within five balls - one caught by Jack off Robin, the<br />
second bowled by Jack - and Epping were 116 for 6.<br />
After a couple of 'lusty blows' by the Epping number eight, Sam<br />
Easton, we wrapped up the innings in the space of fifteen balls,<br />
as Epping collapsed from 134 for 6 to 139 all out. Both Jack<br />
(2-31) and Robin (4-32) bowled superbly and Tony Pigden took<br />
his second gulley catch to take the tenth wicket - although this<br />
time he looked very comfortable and not at all shocked!!<br />
After the obligatory teatime team photo, during which a number<br />
of 'offers' to open the batting were declined, Geoff Blackmore<br />
and Tony Pigden opened the OSA President's XI innings.<br />
Whilst Geoff played their opening bowler with a straight bat,<br />
Tony was bowled in the third over, having commented that "...<br />
he chucks it...". After the game cricketing 'aficionados' Steve<br />
Young and Tony Hemmings confirmed Tony's suspicions, but<br />
how neither umpire even considered it a possibility, remains<br />
unknown!!<br />
Despite not seeing the 'suspect' action, Geoff can now only<br />
conclude that it accounts for the reason he managed not to see<br />
three full-tosses - the last of which hit him in the ribs as he<br />
advanced down the pitch towards the bowler!! This prompted<br />
Geoff's bat to be thrown and telling the opposing keeper, that<br />
whilst the keeper thought it was accidental, given the control the<br />
bowler had shown in the previous five or six overs, had Geoff<br />
been umpiring in a League game, he would have removed the<br />
bowler from the attack immediately, as he deemed it to be<br />
deliberate.<br />
Even though they were encouraged by the captain to remain<br />
with him at the crease until the commencement of the last hour,<br />
both Terry White (5) and Richard Slatford (4) were adjudged<br />
lbw, and when Ben Cox was bowled first ball, the OSA<br />
President's XI were 'in a hole' at 30 for 4. Whilst Jack Cox (7)<br />
looked comfortable for five or six overs, when he and Ross<br />
Blackmore (6) were bowled in the same over, we started the last<br />
hour at 56 for 6, with Sam Rashid, their First XI bowler, having<br />
taken five of the six wickets in an unchanged spell.<br />
Despite the OSA President's XI still needing eighty-four runs<br />
off the last twenty overs - with just four wickets in hand -<br />
Epping CC were in no mood to loosen their grip on the game<br />
with further bowling changes, until Geoff Blackmore dragged<br />
the ball on to his stumps - off the aforementioned Rashid - for<br />
Roger Melling’s Old Stationers’ President’s XI for the 42nd Fixture<br />
Back Row (L>R): Dick Hersey (Umpire), Ben Cox, Neil Jervis, Ross Blackmore, Jack Cox, Richard Slatford, Bob Cole (Umpire).<br />
Front Row (L>R): Tony Pigden, Robin Baker, Don Bewick, Roger Melling (President), Geoff Blackmore (Captain), Tim Westbrook, Terry White.<br />
8
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
the side's top score of 16. However, if Geoff thought he could<br />
now go and put his feet up - having been on the pitch for over<br />
four and a half hours - he was mistaken, as he was then required<br />
to 'run' for Robin Baker, who had played (and bowled) despite<br />
back problems.<br />
Both Neil Jervis and Robin looked relatively comfortable, but the<br />
inevitable happened, as following a 'mix-up' with the runner, all<br />
three batsmen ended up at one end, and Neil was run-out for 5.<br />
There were no such dramas with no. 10 Tim Westbrook, but<br />
soon after Robin was caught at mid-off for our second top score<br />
of 9, and the 'last rites' were not far away. Whilst Don Bewick<br />
looked secure, Tim Westbrook showed us glimpses of his 1970s<br />
batting prowess with two wonderful on drives for four, but when<br />
he repeated the shot aerially, he was also caught at mid-on, and<br />
the game had been lost by 55 runs.<br />
For once, the weather hadn't interfered with the game, and<br />
whilst Epping CC (our fifth opponents for this fixture following<br />
Old Stationers' CC, Old Stationers' & Sahibs CC, Botany Bay<br />
CC and Old Elizabethans CC) were too strong for our depleted<br />
eleven on the day, they played their part perfectly - unlike Old<br />
Elizabethans in 2009 and 2010!! However it is crucial to the<br />
longevity of the fixture that Botany Bay CC (or one or two of<br />
their senior members) 'grasp the nettle' and arrange an Invitation<br />
XI well in advance of the game, and not rely upon getting a side<br />
out in the week before!!<br />
Let's hope our younger and 'regular' cricketers are available in<br />
2015, so we can look forward to competing again - especially as<br />
one of 'my class of 1965' is likely to be next year's President.<br />
Geoff Blackmore<br />
OSFC ANNUAL VETERAN'S DAY REUNION<br />
The Old Stationers' Football Club Reunion took place on<br />
Saturday 11 th October 2014 at the Queen Elizabeth Ground in<br />
Barnet. Among those seen at this Annual Event were Pas<br />
Acierno; Keith Allen; Peter Bennett; Don Bewick; Geoff<br />
Blackmore; Terry Butler; Nigel Clarke; Dave Cox; Dave Deane:<br />
Bruce Donaldson; Pat Dunphy; Dave Edwards; Rudi Ellis;<br />
Dave Gilligan: Mike Hasler: Tony Hemmings; Dick Hersey: Ray<br />
Houldsworth; Marsden Hubbard; John Jackson; Peter Jarvis;<br />
Alun Jeffreys; George Jones; Grant Mathias; Ian Meyrick; Mike<br />
Mote; Geraint Pritchard; Gordon Rose; Mark Tansley; Jacque<br />
Toumany; Vince Wallace; Tim Westbrook; Chris Wilkins.<br />
On a glorious afternoon 33 of the former players turned up to see<br />
teams turning out in the familiar OSFC strip that was worn all<br />
over London from as far away as Bromley (Old Bromleians) and<br />
West Wickham and Carshalton in the South of the Capital to<br />
Kew, Lensbury and Bank of England in the West, Easthamians<br />
in the East and local to Underhill, East Barnet, Winchmore Hill,<br />
Norsemen and Crouch End Vampires in the North not to forget<br />
all the other regular fixtures with teams in between these points.<br />
It is a sad day to remind ourselves that very few actual former<br />
pupils playing has dwindled to one or two these days as anno<br />
domini has taken over. Few of us<br />
ever reached a playing age of 60<br />
years like Jim Townsend and<br />
many did not play till 50 years. If<br />
the youngest pupil at Stationers'<br />
was 11 years old in 1981, the last<br />
year of entry to the first form,<br />
then by a simple calculation in<br />
2014, no Old Stationer, who was<br />
a former pupil, would be younger<br />
than 44 years of age. A number of<br />
Old Stationers' have played in<br />
excess of their 44 years, Mark<br />
Tansley and Liam Gallagher to<br />
name two. I now await all those<br />
who reached this milestone to<br />
notify the Editor so that a<br />
comprehensive list can be<br />
collected for a future article in<br />
this publication.<br />
Saturday 11th October 2014 - Queen Elizabeth Ground, Barnet<br />
My thanks to Gordon for collecting the names of those attending<br />
today and thanks to PAT DUNPHY for arranging the refreshments<br />
as usual for the Veterans.<br />
GP<br />
A free kick awarded on the 6 yard line looks promising but sails over.<br />
The crowd give a muted response to this set back<br />
9
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
OLD FOOTBallers never die,<br />
They just...<br />
Last November, Tony Hemmings was presented with the<br />
Amateur Football Alliance's Long Service Award for 30 years<br />
service as a referee, thus emulating Brian Humphreys, another<br />
Old Stationer to have received this award.<br />
Having kept goal for OSFC since leaving school, Tony retired in<br />
1981 but soon suffered withdrawal symptoms and joined the<br />
squad of 'Club Referees' (Dick Hersey, Keith AlIen, Harry<br />
Wright, Bill Goodacre, Gordon Rose et al) officiating the lower<br />
XIs' home matches. In those days, the Club ran nine teams in<br />
the Southern Amateur League and because the League were<br />
rarely able to appoint referees below the 5th XI, the Club relied<br />
on this squad to cover their remaining home games. After a<br />
while, he decided that managing 22 players as a referee was no<br />
more taxing than facing 11 opponents as a goalkeeper so he took<br />
the referee's course and examination and, once qualified, was<br />
placed on the AFA's referees' register for regular appointments<br />
in their competitions and representative matches. Gradually,<br />
promotions ensued and, in 1990, he became a Class 1 referee.<br />
From that point onwards, opportunities came along to officiate<br />
in higher levels of football and to join the panels of Tottenham<br />
Hotspur, Arsenal and QPR to referee their Youth Academy<br />
matches, as well as the occasional 'plum' invitation, such as<br />
refereeing at both the old and new Wembley Stadiums,<br />
tournaments in 10 other European countries and one in Brazil,<br />
lining to Premiership referees in pre-season friendlies and even<br />
in one testimonial game. Tony continues to remain active,<br />
expecting to do more than 60 games this season, and is looking<br />
forward to a tournament in Spain in May.<br />
A number of OS footballers have gone on to take up the whistle<br />
and Tony is joined in the current crop by former 1st XI players,<br />
Grant Mathias, Pasquale Acierno and Geoff Blackmore, who<br />
officiate in the Ryman and Spartan South Midlands Leagues in<br />
addition to AFA competitions.<br />
Old Stationers' Golf Society<br />
2014 SEASON’S REPORT<br />
Our season started in April with the Pairs Competition. Not<br />
having played previously at Hendon we were pleasantly surprised<br />
by the course despite being it being muddy. The scoring was very<br />
respectable with a remarkable six pairs having identical scores.<br />
After a hiccup, caused by creative completion of scorecards, two<br />
of our associate members, Terry Jackson and Charles Wallis, were<br />
declared winners, shading our Geoff Blackmore and Steve<br />
Presland.<br />
In May we had our now annual match against Old Tollingtonians<br />
at Aldwickbury G.C. We managed to beat them for the first time<br />
in four attempts. The scores for OS counted towards the<br />
Champion Golfer’s Shield, first donated in 1923 by the OSFC.<br />
Colin Walker scored an exceptional 40 points to take an early<br />
lead.<br />
The June event was our match against The Stationers Company<br />
at Theydon Bois G.C.. We lost in 2013 and planned to recapture<br />
the handsome cup (the former Hickledon Cup) this year.<br />
However, two excellent rounds by the Company, one by a former<br />
master, sealed our fate and the company ran out convincing<br />
winners. The course was excellent, and it is suggested that we<br />
re-visit it in 2015.<br />
In July we played Bruce Kitchener’s course – The Bedfordshire.<br />
The reception and the course were excellent and we played the<br />
second round of the Champion Golfer’s Shield. Geoff Blackmore<br />
scored well and took over the lead in this season-long competition.<br />
The away trip in August was at the Weald of Kent, just south of<br />
Maidstone. Whilst offering exceptional value, the accommodation<br />
and catering were very average. The course was very tricky and<br />
not a little frustrating due to ditches on many of the holes<br />
running across the fairways at between 150 and 180 yards – just<br />
sufficient to gobble up the shots of our average golfers!<br />
In September we played the final shield event at Aspley Guise<br />
– one of our favourite courses. Despite having no showers in<br />
operation and playing on recently dressed greens, it was a fine<br />
day in both senses of the word. Sadly Colin Walker, the leading<br />
contender to Geoff Blackmore, could not wrest the lead from<br />
him and Geoff ran out the winner of the Champion Golfer’s<br />
Shield. The individual winner of the day was your Secretary, just<br />
Tony Hemmings receives his 30 years Referees Long Service Award<br />
Team Blackmore starring Steve Presland and Ian Meyrick<br />
10
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
DATE<br />
TIME<br />
(1 st tee)<br />
LOCATION EVENT COST<br />
7 th April a.m. Redbourn GC Pairs £38<br />
12 th May p.m. Crews Hill GC Match v Old<br />
Tollingtonians +<br />
1 st Shield Event<br />
22 nd June p.m. Brickenden Grange GC 2 nd Shield Event £49.15<br />
13 th July a.m. Essendon<br />
( Old Course)<br />
shading out Tim Westbrook<br />
on countback (32 points).<br />
In late October we again<br />
competed in the three man<br />
team event at Brookmans<br />
£51.75 Park. The trophy – donated<br />
by Old Owens – was won by<br />
Geoff Blackmore’s team,<br />
which included Ian Meyrick<br />
and Steve Presland. They just<br />
pipped Tim Westbrook’s<br />
£51 team of Colin Walker and<br />
Paul Batter (guest), despite<br />
both teams scoring 79 points<br />
– a clear 10 points ahead of<br />
the third team (Alan Nowell).<br />
Tim, however, won the<br />
individual prize with a<br />
magnificent 38 points –<br />
playing off a handicap of 10.<br />
In view of the consistently<br />
high scoring of Geoff, Steve<br />
and Ian, they will have substantial cuts to their handicaps in 2015.<br />
Match v Stationers<br />
Co.<br />
16/17 th August p.m./a.m. Thorpeness GC Away trip £74<br />
(shared room)<br />
3 rd September a.m. Broke Hill GC Final Shield Event £49<br />
28 th September a.m. Theydon Bois GC Guest pairs £47<br />
27 th October a.m. Mill Green GC Team (3) event £37<br />
Geoff receiving the toilet seat golf trophy<br />
In summary, this was a successful season with several new<br />
members joining the Society, some of whom are associates and<br />
some Old Boys. We number around 25 with typically 15-20<br />
players competing in each event.<br />
The weather was less kind to us than in previous years, but was<br />
broadly good. We are now planning the programme for 2015 and<br />
have already fixed two events. First is the match against The<br />
Stationers Company will take place at Essendon (their choice!)<br />
in July 2015 and the away week-end will be 16/17 th August<br />
(Sunday/Monday) at Thorpeness GC.<br />
Peter Bonner<br />
Secretary OSGS<br />
Lunchtime Comment Club 2014<br />
The Lunchtime Comment Club (founded in 1919) had as<br />
their Guest Speaker in October 2014 the Right Reverend Dr<br />
Stephen Platten (pictured right) who joined Stationers' in<br />
1957.<br />
Stephen was ordained in 1976, spent several years at<br />
Lambeth Palace, became the Dean of Norwich and then<br />
enshrined as Lord Bishop of Wakefield. A member of the<br />
House of Lords, Chairman of the Anglican Society of<br />
Rome, two sons both ordained and his wife Rosslie cares for<br />
children with special needs. The post as Bishop of Wakefield<br />
was dissolved in Spring of this year, due they say to boundary<br />
changes, and Stephen, now sort of retired, is Honorary<br />
Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of London and Rector to St<br />
Michaels in Cornhill. He now lives in London but keeps his<br />
main house in Berwick upon Tweed.<br />
We, at the Lunchtime Comment Club, much enjoyed his<br />
presence and he spoke mainly about his years at Lambeth<br />
Palace. He also said "I lost my school, lost my job and lost<br />
the wonders of being full time in Northumberland": Let's<br />
hope he has time to come to some OSA functions.<br />
For those who may be<br />
interested, the Lunchtime<br />
Comment Club has been in<br />
existence since 1919, meets<br />
three or four times a year<br />
and our home for the past<br />
fifteen years has been the<br />
RAF Club in Piccadilly.<br />
Recent Speakers include<br />
Frederick Forsythe, Michael<br />
Howard, Gerald Ratner,<br />
George Davies, Kate Adie,<br />
Norman Lamont, etc. Please<br />
look at our website www.<br />
lunchtimecomment.com.<br />
So far fifteen Old<br />
Stationers' attend on a<br />
regular basis so please join<br />
the throng.<br />
Alan Green<br />
11
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
REUNIONS<br />
Class of '44<br />
16th July 2014 - Piccadilly, London<br />
On a very sunny summer day 12 Old Stationers arrived at the<br />
RAF Club (courtesy of John Miles - member) in Piccadilly for a<br />
lunch to celebrate some 70 years since the group of eleven year<br />
olds waited on the top terrace in the company of the school<br />
captain to begin a new life as pupils in the first form at Stationers'.<br />
The previous night there had been an air raid by 'VI doodlebugs',<br />
so that the lack of sleep combined with excitement and some fear<br />
of the unknown meant we were somewhat subdued. These<br />
memories though did not disturb us as a pre lunch drinks were<br />
imbibed. We were sad to hear that Mike Butterfield, Ray Mansfield<br />
and Gordon Rose were unable to attend as they were unwell. All<br />
present sent their very best wishes for a speedy recovery to them.<br />
If anyone knows the whereabouts of Alan Aris of our year lately<br />
living in Crouch End, please contact me.<br />
A delicious lunch proceeded and copious glasses of wine flowed<br />
together with reminiscences and days and events gone by.<br />
John Miles designed and had printed a celebration menu as below,<br />
complete with the school emblem.<br />
Another lunch has been booked for Wednesday the 15th July<br />
2015. The photograph shows standing Stanley Ward, Brian Kill,<br />
Ernie Stone, Brian Cranwell, David Mariano, Alan Powell, Arthur<br />
Field, John Miles and John Sparrow - seated - John Sheen, Bill<br />
Croydon and Tony Tight.<br />
Tony Tight<br />
class of '51<br />
14th October 2014 - Cheshire Cheese, London<br />
The 1951 intake enjoyed yet another Reunion, at the Cheshire<br />
Cheese, Little Essex Street, off Fleet Street/The Strand. Those<br />
present were:<br />
L to R (see photograph): Anthony Cirsch (out of shot), Dave<br />
Cowling, Richard Wilson, Dick Hersey, John Partridge, David<br />
Turner, Don Bewick, Alan Marshall, Ian Moore & Alan Canham<br />
With our number somewhat reduced, we did not have the first<br />
floor of the pub all to ourselves, the other long table being taken<br />
by a group of ladies from “down under”. But it was an amicable<br />
arrangement, introductions were made, and the ladies only just<br />
escaped our rendition (if that’s the right word!) - of the school<br />
song - as they were the first to leave. A good time was had by all<br />
– with some of us, reverting to the downstairs bar, delaying our<br />
departure until around 4.30.<br />
As regards absentees:<br />
Steve Ling had hoped to attend but was unable to as suffering<br />
from a kidney complaint, awaiting dialysis; Dave Rowland was<br />
still in recovery from having operations on both knees and Bob<br />
Howis, from Switzerland, who came to our initial Reunion, was<br />
in recovery from his recent hip replacement operation.<br />
Of the others, Michael Brady was making the most of his new<br />
boat in Malta; John Taylor away in Australia; both David Coville<br />
and Les Reardon were in Spain most of October (although not to<br />
each other's knowledge!) and Bill Scherer in Jersey; Roy King was<br />
Class of '44 – Standing l to r: Stanley Ward, Brian Kill, Ernie Stone, Brian Cranwell, David Mariano, Alan Powell, Arthur Field, John Miles and John Sparrow<br />
seated - John Sheen, Bill Croydon and Tony Tight<br />
12
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Class of '51 – L to R: Dave Cowling, Richard Wilson, Dick Hersey, John Partridge, David Turner, Don Bewick, Alan Marshall, Ian Moore & Alan Canham<br />
in Amsterdam giving a paper on the Dutch supermax prison -<br />
and catching up on the remodelled Rijksmuseum - and Keith<br />
Woodley – recently honoured with an OBE, for services to Bath<br />
University, was in York, due to family commitments.<br />
Other apologies were received from:<br />
Michael Davis (from Adelaide), Roger Croughton, Mike Bonner,<br />
Dave Hall, Bill Houldsworth, Brian Whitehouse, Peter Lloyd, Ray<br />
Stavrou, Terry Weatherley, David Davies and Michael Facey.<br />
Nigel Wade very much regretted he was unable to attend because:<br />
“....Rita and I are attending the 120th anniversary celebrations of the<br />
Women Writers and Journalists Society. This consists of a service at St<br />
Brides off Fleet Street at 11.30 am. However, the Stationers<br />
connection will not be forgotten, because we shall be joining the<br />
WWJS membersand their guests for luncheon at Stationers Hall at<br />
1.00 pm. We shall raise a glass to toast the Class of '51 and sincerely<br />
wish that you all have a jolly good time.”<br />
Don Bewick<br />
Dear Geraint,<br />
1952 Cohort<br />
canondavidfinch@btintemet.com<br />
9th January 2015<br />
I append below a report of the meetings of the 1952 cohort held<br />
during 2014. I have been encouraged to arrange further meetings<br />
during 2015. We have lost one member, John Harris, and one has<br />
"disappeared", George Malynicz. I have been given the email<br />
address of Keith Buckley but he has never responded. For the rest<br />
of us, it seems an email circulated among us gains responses from<br />
across the globe!<br />
My report:<br />
Fellow Old Stationers (1952 etc), I am writing to report the<br />
meetings of this past year, 2014.<br />
Monday, 21st July, six of us met in the Premier Inn Restaurant,<br />
York Way, Kings Cross. The date was to coincide with a visit to<br />
the UK by Les Humphries, that veteran cyclist who even today<br />
can be found pedalling on either side of the Atlantic. Les is now<br />
a Canadian and lives in a rural area west of Ottawa. He retains a<br />
rich sense of humour. Present were myself, Les Humphries,<br />
Richard Osborne, Michael Shaw, Michael Smithwick and Roger<br />
Woollett. Photo attached.<br />
I had not seen Roger since 1959 and here we were sharing a<br />
lunch table 55 years later. Saturday 4th October again, six of us<br />
met for lunch at Kings Cross. Myself and Cidge Cole, David<br />
Jowitt, David Maclean,Terry Pearson, John (Bill) Williams. Two<br />
of our party were in London briefly, David Maclean who I had<br />
not seen since 1959 - was in the UK on a brief visit from<br />
Australia - I had forgotten his gift of mimicry and we had a great<br />
deal of laughter - and David Jowitt who was also visiting the UK<br />
briefly from his home in Northern Nigeria where he is the<br />
Professor of English and a serious author on Catholic matters.<br />
A feature of these lunches is the way the years fall away and we<br />
are able again to enjoy the friendships of our school days and to<br />
learn the way the years have or have not treated us. Tuesday, 9th<br />
December. I met with Les Humphries in Kingston, Ontario.<br />
Visiting my granddaughter, Ellie, in Toronto where she is<br />
studying for one term as a part of her BSc course at Keele<br />
University, Les and I had lunch together. Joining us was Arthur<br />
Morewood from the 1955 Stationers intake. He was acting as<br />
Chauffeur to Les. It was a good lunch - so good that I missed my<br />
13
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Class of '53 reunion – Back row: 'Ginner' Johns, Tony Richards, Ben Batchelor, ?, MacPherson, Russell, ?, Smith, Rich Tyley, Geoff Tapping, Mike Hasler.<br />
Middle row: Richard Muir, Graham Arnold, ?, Hayman, Pierre Essaye, Peter Redman<br />
Front row: Alan Green, Tony Taylor, Wyn Griffiths, Dave Cox, David Metcalf<br />
train back to Toronto by some 50 minutes! It was not the alcohol,<br />
but the stories which kept us oblivious of the time.<br />
As a warning to other travellers, deep snow struck 24 hours later.<br />
I was fortunate to get home to the UK on time.<br />
On a sad note, John Harris died at the end of January and his<br />
funeral was at the Ruislip Crematorium, Ruislip, West London.<br />
So, to those I have met this year, thank you for making the<br />
journey and for collaborating in making the meetings. I have<br />
been asked to arrange a meeting in 2015 and will gladly do so. I<br />
seem to have lost touch with George Malynicz and Keith<br />
Buckley has not replied to my email, please acknowledge this<br />
email all of you, for it comes with every good wish for Christmas<br />
and for 2015.<br />
as ever, David Finch<br />
Dear Mr GP<br />
CLASS OF '53 REUNION<br />
alan.green61@btintemet.com<br />
7 February 2015<br />
After fifty plus years those who joined the School in 1953 and<br />
are still on this planet met together in October 2014 at the<br />
Imperial Hotel for a Reunion. Some twenty three attended, with<br />
two arriving from South Africa, one from Germany and another<br />
fitting it in with a regular visit from Canada. Only four of the<br />
attendees meet at the normal Old Boys functions and the<br />
majority had appeared almost out of the blue. We stood, we<br />
shook hands and we tried to remember faces and sports and<br />
families but the more we stood the better it all became.<br />
I think it was thoroughly enjoyed by all and, with some luck, we<br />
might try the same next year.<br />
Regards<br />
Alan Green<br />
CLASS OF '60 REUNION<br />
Richard Tyley & Chris Seabrook<br />
This summer saw the reunion of a group of Old Stationers from<br />
the 1960 to 1967 era. Prompted by the fact that Simon Westbrook<br />
was visiting from California we tried to organize as many of our<br />
year group as possible and ended up with six actually willing and<br />
able to attend. The Far as You Roam group covers California,<br />
14
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
metonomy, personification and antithesis but am not sure if a<br />
combo can be accepted, or whether this is a newly discovered<br />
genus, or horror of horrors, it was just plain missing from Gus’s<br />
definitive sheets. Given that the OSA membership includes<br />
most of the highly educated population of great Britain, I am<br />
sure there is an answer out there or more likely, more - than one<br />
answer! I throw out this challenge to Old Stationers to identify<br />
the underlying figure of speech for the next magazine edition.<br />
Results to be determined by the credibility of the solution<br />
provider, or popular vote, if more than one is prompted to<br />
respond.<br />
Simon Westbrook<br />
Russell, (rear of ) Richard Muir, Cox, Richards<br />
Spain, Cheshire, Cambridge and well as the more traditional<br />
Greater London area. The attendees from left to right were Bob<br />
Bird, John Aanonson, Simon Westbrook, Alan Holmwood, Terry<br />
Carroll and Simon Kusseff. Unable to attend were Richard<br />
Smith, Ted Powell, Paul Westley, and Robert Coulter.<br />
The group met for dinner at the Green Dragon in Potters bar, an<br />
excellent location just off the M25 for a widespread group<br />
commute. As a temptation to prospective attendees, Simon<br />
circulated his old Gus notes and figures of speech, still in pristine<br />
condition after all these years. Interestingly (or not), a couple of<br />
days later in the Times art supplement was a remarkable figure<br />
of speech "... Albery cuts the coronation scene, thereby heightening the<br />
dramatic irony of the final ravishing love duet as the sublimely<br />
beautiful follows the disgustingly repellent.” I see hints of<br />
CLASS OF '55 REUNION<br />
The intake to the school in 1955 has never had a reunion.<br />
At the AGM/Dinner at the Hall in 2014 John Fiddy and<br />
Peter Bonner were tasked (railroaded!) with the organisation<br />
of a sixtieth anniversary reunion.<br />
This will be held in early September in London at a precise<br />
time and venue to be determined (Friday 4th September?).<br />
At present the less than dynamic duo are compiling a<br />
database of email addresses. If you are a 55er then please<br />
email either John Fiddy(john@johnfiddy.com) or Peter<br />
Bonner (peter.bonner@ntlworld.com). When you do so<br />
please advise of other 55ers that you are in contact with or<br />
have details of.<br />
Peter Bonner<br />
Class of '60 reunion – Bob Bird, John Aanonson, Simon Westbrook, Alan Holmwood, Terry Carroll and Simon Kusseff.<br />
15
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
recollections of the class of '63<br />
The class of '63 assembled for their fiftieth reunion in October<br />
2013. Some of their recollections proved interesting. Time does<br />
not seem to have dulled these memories. I suppose it's well<br />
known that a characteristic of dementia is heightened memory<br />
of fifty years ago, while a few of us had no idea of our way home.<br />
I was shocked that so many of my classmates hated school.<br />
While I don't look upon schooldays as the happiest days of my<br />
life, I enjoyed the quirky security of my education at Stationers.<br />
Others had a quite different experience. It could be that the<br />
amalgamation of Stationers' and Priory Vale schools to form one<br />
giant comprehensive in our fourth year proved an impediment to<br />
achievement that many failed to overcome. Anyway, many<br />
former students I contacted declined my invitation, and even<br />
some who attended proclaimed their dislike of Mayfield Road.<br />
The first thing I was reminded of was nicknames. These were<br />
unknown at my Primary School. Some teachers were called<br />
(when out of earshot) by a Christian name, sometimes theirs but<br />
more often than not a misnomer. Examples were "Joe" Symons,<br />
"Sid" Holmes, "Sam" Read, "Jack" Rimmer, "Gus" Thomas and<br />
so on. Others were more creative. There was "Jesus" Cook,<br />
"Beak'; Davis, "Peanut" Bartlett, "Jimmy Bean" (Mr Grant) as<br />
well as the more curiously named "Humbert Yapp" (English<br />
teacher Mr Hay). Some of the boys had nicknames too, such as<br />
"Tish" Allen and "Doe" Braham who were in my form, Form 1.<br />
Some boys could mimic teachers' voices and mannerisms well.<br />
Gus was a favourite. Shouts of: "You're in!" in a nasal, strangled<br />
whine were common. When west countryman "Davey" Court<br />
was appointed as Head of Maths these impersonators had a field<br />
day. He sounded like Robert Newton as Long John Silver. Cries<br />
of: "Thart goes over thart, thart goes into thart, thart gives us the<br />
answer .... Gorrt it? - do it!!" were heard throughout the<br />
corridors. This could have been a foreign language as far as I was<br />
concerned. Copying my homework answers from another boy<br />
one day "Davey" asked me how I had worked out my solutions.<br />
"Slide rule, sir", I cried with what I thought was great presence<br />
of mind. "To two decimal places?!?" he scolded me with great<br />
derision.<br />
Tom Waples wrote a great verse about "Gus" Thomas the Latin<br />
master, who would sometimes perch on the edge of a desk in the<br />
front row when addressing us. The class held its breath waiting<br />
for the desk to give· way. The rhyme went:<br />
"Thomasus satibus<br />
Upon the deskolorum.<br />
Deskibus collapsibus<br />
And Gusus on the floorem!"<br />
Happy days!!<br />
Terry Miles amused us with many of "Beak" Davis' learned<br />
sayings. Terry is not sure that his recollections are 100% accurate<br />
but he remembers phrases like: Dolls eyes and flypaper; Strangled<br />
earwigs on toast; Bilge, Barge, Balderdash, Poppycock and Piffle.<br />
That reminds me of the Isle of Wight vicar who returned after<br />
an absence and said to his congregation that it was nice to see the<br />
old Cowes faces!<br />
Don't chew that ruler - the last boy who did that died by inches;<br />
Stop eating that ruler - it's Wednesday not CHEWsday; I'm not<br />
as green as I'm cabbage looking; And of course his favourite<br />
opening of: "Avez vous faire un devoir pour aujourd hui?" And<br />
the hapless student's reply of "Non Monsieur."<br />
Beak would follow up with "Quel dommage!" The inevitable<br />
detention would follow. He was also rumoured to tell new boys:<br />
"You must Be Careful (pronounced Beek Areful) how you talk<br />
about masters' nicknames!"<br />
Derek Montague recalled "0" level Biology lessons with WAC<br />
Rees. He remembered that the class had a test each week. It was<br />
WACs way of getting boys to learn 'by rote' because as the boys<br />
used to ask their own test questions they were invariably the<br />
same questions asked from one week to the next. The student<br />
who came up with an original question was not too popular!<br />
Boys reported their marks to WAC at the end of the test. Often<br />
they "inflated" their marks. Then one 'day the back row boys got<br />
a conscience about doing this and reported their true test mark<br />
- only to find that a detention followed as a consequence!<br />
A favourite recollection of mine concerns Mr Topley's (nickname:<br />
"Uncle Lightning") Geography lessons. In the third year the<br />
cleverest boy in our class was probably Ollie Bradley, but he<br />
hated Geography and didn't make any effort in the class. Mr<br />
Topley would look at his work, then turn on him and say:<br />
"Bradley, this writing gives me earache! My cat could do better<br />
than that with gloves on!" He would often then make students<br />
like Bradley write out the alphabet in his best handwriting.<br />
Other boys were given the same exercise.<br />
Graham Vickers remembered that his parents wrote to Mr<br />
Baynes (the Headmaster) expressing their desire for Graham to<br />
learn some Geography rather than revise the alphabet in every<br />
lesson!<br />
Concerning Mr Topley's nickname, "Joe" Symons had a habit of<br />
making it clear to boys in his class that he knew Topley's name.<br />
He often taught Economics in the Geography Room. Mr Topley<br />
would occasionally send in boys to collect maps and other<br />
equipment he wanted while "Joe" was teaching there. When the<br />
boy had completed his errand "Joe" would send him back yelling:<br />
"You better move like lightning, lad!"<br />
We remembered our mischievous fun in class by keeping a<br />
league table of misdemeanours committed by various boys.<br />
These were usually kept by Frank Clapp and won by Jim Butler,<br />
and it was a job requiring a most conscientious attitude. Boys<br />
were awarded 10 points for a detention, 6 for 100 lines, 4 for 50<br />
lines and so on down to 1 for a mild rebuke. These competitions<br />
had names like the "Rao Reward" (Maths), "Kinky Cup" (Latin),<br />
"Chin Chart" (French) and so on.<br />
Great fun, and I don't think they were ever discovered by the<br />
masters. Unlike many of my fellow students I enjoyed all this so<br />
much I went on to become a teacher myself. I can't help<br />
wondering what OFSTED (the schools' inspection body) would<br />
make of all this. The three part lesson, starters and plenaries were<br />
unheard of. I am afraid that many of the lessons I experienced<br />
would be classified as "Unsatisfactory" today. But I got a much<br />
broader, more rounded education than children get today. At 18<br />
I had a better general knowledge than most Sixth Formers today.<br />
I acquired a great love of Geography and History from some<br />
teachers of those subjects. And I continue to attend Old Boys'<br />
events today!<br />
I look forward to our next reunion with anticipation.<br />
16
70th Anniversary of<br />
Operation Market Garden<br />
On D Day June 6th 1944 the three tanks and fifteen men of 4th<br />
Troop 'B' Squadron 4th17th Royal Dragoon Guards landed on the<br />
Normandy coast. Our amphibious DD tank (ambitiously named<br />
on the side 'Cooks Tour') had been swamped during the landing<br />
and had been replaced by a conventional diesel Sherman. Three<br />
months later we had reached Holland having motored 500 miles.<br />
We had been in action during the bitter fighting in Normandy,<br />
were involved in the crossing of the River Seine, carried out a<br />
recce of the City of Lille to be met by an ecstatic crowd in the<br />
Place de la Republique and been in action in Belgium. Out of the<br />
original fifteen crew and three tanks, seven of our comrades had<br />
been killed, two missing, three wounded and two paws, and had<br />
seven Sherman tanks destroyed by enemy action.<br />
The German West Wall fortifications, known as the Siegfried<br />
Line was 480 km long and ran opposite the French Maginot<br />
Line from Basle to Cleve. It was constructed to delay an offensive<br />
so that reserves could be brought forward and was a formidable<br />
obstacle with tank defences and block-houses.<br />
In order to outflank the German defence line an operation by<br />
Montgomery to establish a bridgehead across the Lower Rhine<br />
at Arnhem was endorsed by the supreme commander, Eisenhower,<br />
to commence 17th September 1944. Called Operation Market<br />
Garden it comprised a parachute offensive with ground support.<br />
The ground offensive, Operation Garden, was to commence at<br />
the Belgian-Dutch border, proceeding via Eindhoven, Uden, and<br />
Nijmegen to Arnhem, the front being only one road width wide.<br />
British XXX Corps was to attack down the road, with British 8th<br />
Corps and 12th Corps on either side of the narrow corridor<br />
being carved out by XXX Corps.<br />
The airboume offensive, Operation Market, was to take place at<br />
points along the same road, the US<br />
101 st Airborne Division dropping in<br />
the area of Zon, Veghel and Uden,<br />
capturing the bridges over the<br />
Wilhemenia Canal and the Zuid<br />
Willemsvaart Canal. The US 82nd<br />
Airborne Division was to capture the<br />
bridge over the Maas at Grave and the<br />
over the Waal at Nijmegen and to<br />
dominate the high ground known as<br />
the Groesbeek Heights between<br />
Nijmegen and the German border.<br />
The British 1st Airboume division<br />
was tasked to capture the bridge at<br />
Arnhem and to establish a bridgebead<br />
across the Rhine. All went horribly<br />
wrong however; the 1st Airborne was<br />
dropped too far away from the<br />
Arnhem Bridge. The main purpose of<br />
a parachute drop is surprise, but this<br />
was not achieved as the 9th and 10th<br />
SS Panzer Divisions were refitting in<br />
the Arnhem area. To add to the<br />
difficulties the radio connection<br />
between the commander Major-<br />
General R E Urquart and the 1st<br />
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Sketch map 1: The Market Garden Plan<br />
17 September 1944 in Belgium<br />
Airbourne failed. He was trapped in a house for 24 hours to<br />
evade a German patrol and therefore losing command of the<br />
operation.<br />
The object of Garden was to meet up with and relieve the<br />
airbourne troops who had been dropped to capture the bridges at<br />
Grave, Nijmegen and Arnbem. We were to follow the Guards<br />
Armoured Division who was leading the assault. The problem of<br />
course, attacking on such a narrow front with a long tail back,<br />
was the possibility of flank attacks by the Germans cutting off<br />
the supply route and reinforcements. As we motored north alerts<br />
became frequent and it was necessary to stop and take up<br />
positions behind trees lining the road. The US 82nd Airborne<br />
had successfully taken the bridge at Grave so we pushed on to<br />
Nijmegen, which we reached without any difficulty.<br />
The bridge across the River Waalat Nijmegen<br />
We parked in the open square just before the bridge. The town<br />
was obviously short of food and we were besieged for anything<br />
we could spare. The Dutch Resistance put in an appearance<br />
solemnly parading around the square two Dutch girls with their<br />
heads shaved, who had consorted with the German troops. It was<br />
a pity the Resistance had nothing better to do. (During the<br />
liberation of Rugles in France the<br />
Resistance were shaving heads in the<br />
high street. One of our tank<br />
commanders told his gunner to fire<br />
the machine gun over the perpetrators<br />
to put a stop to it, but in error he fired<br />
the main gun scattering everyone at<br />
great haste.) Later when we had<br />
returned to Nijmegen I was detailed<br />
to pick up some potatoes from a<br />
nearby Nunnery. The nuns had taken<br />
the two girls into their protection and<br />
given them wigs to cover their shaven<br />
heads.<br />
It was decided to cross the river by the<br />
rail bridge. Whilst we were waiting to<br />
go across, our eo-driver was found<br />
wandering about with amnesia. The<br />
Squadron Leader sent him to casualty<br />
from whence he was invalided home.<br />
The Squadron pushed on with the<br />
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry<br />
riding on the tanks in an attempt to<br />
reach the Polish Airborne Brigade at<br />
Driel to the west of Arnbem. It was<br />
extremely hot and dusty. The column<br />
17
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
of tanks was held up and it transpired later that two enemy<br />
'Panther' tanks, thinking that it was one of their retreating units,<br />
joined the column, but were soon knocked out by an infantry man<br />
with a 'Piat' anti-tank gun. Dusk was approaching when the<br />
leading tanks ran over mines set by the Polish Airborne, but<br />
happily there were no casualties. We dismounted and spoke to the<br />
Polish troops who gave graphic accounts of their recent hand-tohand<br />
fighting and how they swam across the river when outflanked.<br />
The village of Driellay was opposite to where the British 1st<br />
Airborne had landed. We found a billet in a deserted house with<br />
a cellar next to the embankment. During the night the area came<br />
under heavy shelling so much of the night was spent in the cellar.<br />
The next day an attempt was made to get a DUKW - a 'Duck' or<br />
an amphibious truck into the river but the operation was<br />
abandoned as it became bogged down in the soft mud of the<br />
riverbank.<br />
That night I spent the small hours of the morning on guard. I<br />
wandered from the house to stretch my legs. When I was in the<br />
middle of the road a star shell turned the pitch black of the night<br />
into day. I stood stock-still feeling very exposed and hoping that<br />
I would not be spotted, but it soon went out and the night<br />
returned to peace and darkness. During the day we watched<br />
'Dakota' aircraft, flying nose to tail and very low, dropping<br />
supplies to the beleaguered Paras on the other side of the river.<br />
We received instructions to take a Polish Brigadier back to<br />
Nijmegen. That meant going straight back along the road we had<br />
come along, with the possibility that it was under surveillance by<br />
German troops. We put the Brigadier in the eo-driver's seat,<br />
which was vacant, and commanded by the Troop Leader, went<br />
hell for leather down the road. Unfortunately fallen overhead<br />
telegraph wires that festooned the road caught the commander<br />
across the mouth, knocking out some of his teeth, but we pressed<br />
on. After arriving at Nijmegen with the Brigadier we were told<br />
to go back along the road to Driel.<br />
Next morning we attacked towards Arnhem along the top of the<br />
embankment, but had to withdraw because of the heavy enemy<br />
opposition. General Horrocks, XXXX Corps commander, went<br />
up the church tower at Driel and decided to abort the operation.<br />
We went south of Arnhem to what was described as 'the Island'<br />
and harboured in an apple orchard.<br />
When we were leaving the house we had been staying at Driel,<br />
the Troop Leader warned everyone that the clock in the china<br />
display cabinet was not to be looted. I forgot my small pack and<br />
had to go back for it. Exiting the house I noticed that the clock<br />
was very conspicuous by its absence. 4th Troop survived Operation<br />
Market Garden relatively unscathed, but our luck did not hold.<br />
By November our tank had been destroyed by enemy action, the<br />
other surviving tank destroyed, another of our comrades killed<br />
and four wounded including myself.<br />
4th Troop ceased to exist.<br />
Hugh Cecil Newton 1933-41<br />
The Stationers' Crown Woods Academy<br />
It was a real pleasure to see such a large turnout of Old Stationers<br />
at the formal opening of the Stationers' Crown Woods Academy<br />
(SCWA). Some were surprised at the level of the turnout, but<br />
others understood the strength of feeling that still exists about<br />
the closure of our school and the need to see at least some of the<br />
values, experience and, yes, traditions that we have amassed in<br />
our lives, shared with the next generation.<br />
Having been involved on the edge of the process to form and<br />
fund the new school, it is very clear to me that the Stationers'<br />
Crown Woods Academy has a great chance of being one of the<br />
most successful schools in the country. It has ambitious goals,<br />
great leadership, good governance and solid backing from the<br />
educational authorities that oversee and manage it. The<br />
Stationers' Company has committed to providing not only<br />
significant financial support but also professional guidance and<br />
direction. There may not be much of an opportunity to catalyse<br />
support for either Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspurs, but the<br />
students are already receiving broad support and encouragement<br />
from members of the Stationers' Company as far as their future<br />
careers are concerned, particularly in those industry sectors<br />
benefiting from digital technology.<br />
From recent feedback, it is clear that this form of help is being<br />
well received and there is a massive opportunity for the OSA to<br />
play its part. The age gap between Old Boys and young students<br />
is not blocking progress. We have so much to give in the form of<br />
our time, ideas, contacts in the work place, donations of<br />
equipment and, of course, our money to be spent on specific<br />
projects.<br />
The first in-kind donation in the form of photographic equipment<br />
has just been made and I am proud to say it has come from an<br />
OSA member. One day, I would like to see the SCWA organise<br />
an Old Pupils' Association along the lines of the OSA, the<br />
re-emergence of our school's Cock House Cup to recognise<br />
success within the new school, the singing of a school song<br />
which embodies the ethics of determination and friendship as<br />
ours does, frequent visits by OSA members to the new school to<br />
assist in projects, career guidance and, maybe, shared sporting<br />
activities(?).<br />
Everyone who attended the school opening was stunned and<br />
moved by the singing of our school song at the end of the<br />
ceremony. It demonstrated the unreserved support for this bold<br />
endeavour by those who stood on the school platform and sang.<br />
We have so much to give and there is a school out there that is<br />
ready to welcome and receive our support, in whatever form it is<br />
offered.<br />
Tony Mash<br />
18
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
CORRESPONDENCE<br />
65 Glemsford Road<br />
STOWMARKET IP 14 2PW<br />
27th July 2014<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
Thank you for your card – great to hear<br />
from you after all these years.<br />
I am home from hospital now after a 6<br />
week stay and concentrating on my<br />
recovery which will take a few months.<br />
Progress is slow but positive.<br />
You asked about years at Stationers'. I was<br />
there from 1959-1964, following my<br />
brother Barry who was there 1955-1960.<br />
As you said, I was a keen footballer for the<br />
Old Boys and played occasionally for the<br />
cricket team.<br />
I got married in 1972 and moved out to<br />
Bletchley (now absorbed by MK), then to<br />
Chelmsford and to Stowmarket in 1982.<br />
The only contact I have with<br />
contemporaries is Pete Jarvis, 1962-1968,<br />
although he was not in my year (he is<br />
younger than me!) but we became friends<br />
playing football at Barnet for many years.<br />
Pete and Mad our son's godparents.<br />
Thanks again for your card, it was really<br />
appreciated.<br />
Yours sincerely<br />
Graham Eldridge<br />
Geraint<br />
peterlack@blueyonder.co.uk<br />
27th July 2014<br />
There seems to be misunderstanding<br />
concerning the background to the SCS<br />
closure.<br />
Sadly, it stems back to the Company's<br />
financially necessary but unforeseeing<br />
decision to opt from 'Voluntary Aided' to<br />
'Voluntary Controlled' Status. While<br />
'Voluntary Aided' the School could not be<br />
touched; once it was 'Voluntary Controlled',<br />
Haringey LEA from 1967 had total power<br />
of decision. When secondary numbers<br />
reduced, Haringey needed to close a<br />
number of secondary schools and chose<br />
SCS, less I suspect for political reasons<br />
than because for the building's age<br />
rendered it the most expensive to maintain.<br />
We must remember that Hornsey County<br />
School was shut down in the early 1950s<br />
and Tottenham Grammar later followed,<br />
although of the latter there still survives<br />
'The Tottenham Grammar School<br />
Foundation', which disposes of its funds to<br />
chosen educational good causes.<br />
Keep up the fine work.<br />
Peter Lack 1947-1955<br />
Peter is quite right it was the Company's<br />
decision which started as a statement made by<br />
the Company in the early 1940s and rumbled<br />
on through the 1950s and into the final<br />
decision being made by the Company in the<br />
early 1960s against the strong advice of<br />
S.C.Nunn, Headmaster from 1936-62,<br />
before Robert Baynes was appointed in 1962.<br />
Remember the Company sold a building on<br />
Ludgate Hill in 1956 for £650,000 with the<br />
reason given to support a school in Hornsey.<br />
They would have to find a maximum of<br />
£25000 out of a cost of £100,000 for the new<br />
laboratories, with Middlesex County Council<br />
finding the rest! £25000 was a figure of less<br />
than 4% of the sum of the £650,000 received<br />
for the sale on Ludgate Hill. Tottenham<br />
Grammar became Somerset School and with<br />
150 less pupils and an academic record much<br />
inferior to Stationers' was allowed to survive!<br />
Ed.<br />
Hi Geraint<br />
p.jam.jarvis@hotmail.co.uk<br />
27th July 2014<br />
Am forwarding herewith (I hope) a good<br />
picture of a building many OS will be<br />
familiar with. It was passed to me by one<br />
of the ladies at the BBCC who is a bit of a<br />
local (Enfield) history buff and who<br />
thought we might be interested. It was<br />
provided by Constance Webb.<br />
Best regards<br />
Peter Jarvis<br />
This was used by all pupils at Stationers'<br />
Company's School from 1942 till the School<br />
closed in 1983. One of the final football games<br />
played at Winchmore Hill was the Stationers'<br />
Former Playing Fields Pavilion at Winchmore Hill<br />
Staff Team against Enfield Grammar Staff<br />
just before Easter with a pupil of Enfield<br />
Grammar playing the 'Last Post' in the centre<br />
circle of the 1stXI pitch. This was one of five<br />
football matches played in that Festival of<br />
Football Week arranged by Marsden Hubbard,<br />
Head of PE at Stationers'. Ed.<br />
richard.braithwaite@manchester.ac.uk<br />
28th July 2014<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
I note a couple of references in the latest<br />
Old Stationer to Ashford Avenue, a short<br />
cul-de-sac which projects into Priory Park.<br />
This brings me to a vivid memory of an<br />
occasion when I was a third former at the<br />
School in 1944. I was in the garden of our<br />
house in Wolseley Road, near the top of<br />
the hill, with a good view of the Lea Valley<br />
across Hornsey and Wood Green. A loud<br />
staccato noise like that of a motor-bike<br />
without a silencer announced the arrival of<br />
a cruise missile ('V1', 'doodlebug', 'flying<br />
bomb'). I watched it come in from my<br />
right, then tip over and dive steeply to the<br />
ground. It exploded with a vivid orange<br />
inverted bowl-shaped flash, followed by a<br />
rapidly rising mushroom of black smoke<br />
with bits of debris whirling about.<br />
This V1 was the one which landed in the<br />
very centre of Ashford Avenue and<br />
destroyed most of it. All that was left<br />
relatively undamaged-looking were the<br />
four houses at the corners of each end of<br />
the Avenue.<br />
Those who lived in the rebuilt houses years<br />
later might be particularly interested in<br />
this memory!<br />
Best wishes,<br />
Richard S.W. Braithwaite.<br />
19
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
robskj@gmail.com<br />
12th August 2014<br />
I hope you are well. Just had a very quick<br />
trip back to the UK in the summer and<br />
took the family to see St. Paul's Cathedral.<br />
Thought I'd be a bit cheeky and so I<br />
contacted the Stationers' Company to see<br />
if I could visit Stationers' Hall and<br />
managed a quick tour, which was very<br />
pleasant. Don't ever remember being given<br />
much of the history at school, so it was<br />
quite an eye opener. Hope to join the<br />
Dinner one day, if we can get the timing<br />
right!<br />
I was just wondering whether you had<br />
managed to get any further with chasing<br />
up an email address for John Watson. I<br />
may arrange a trip to Australia in the next<br />
year or so, and thought it might be an<br />
opportunity to catch up with him. I would<br />
be grateful if you could see what you could<br />
do. I have been trying for years to locate<br />
him and don't want to miss this opportunity.<br />
All the best<br />
Keith Roberts<br />
STATIONERS'<br />
EXIT THE ROYAL BLUE<br />
alex.flemming@websmartware.com<br />
12th August 2014<br />
Hi Geraint<br />
Judging by the quality of the magazine<br />
content you seem to be improving in your<br />
post as Editor.<br />
Congratulations!<br />
While reading the latest issue I was struck<br />
by the number of things, especially the<br />
near romantic recollections of a number of<br />
Old Stationers on matters I never<br />
experienced – like the Rowing Club and<br />
the Army Cadets. Most of all I was<br />
inspired by the probability of a re-birth of<br />
the school in name at least under the<br />
auspices of the modern term academy.<br />
During my period at Stationers' (1964-<br />
1971) I entered the school having passed<br />
the 11+ to find a number of my new<br />
colleagues had not sat that examination.<br />
Having played for the Hornsey team at<br />
football a year earlier a number of my team<br />
mates were there too and quite a few people<br />
who knew whom I was too. There we were<br />
in our brand new royal blue caps and<br />
blazers 'Proud to be Stationers' although<br />
we had not learned the school song.<br />
We were soon introduced to strict<br />
discipline. My first two lessons brought<br />
teachers into my life who both announced:<br />
“You are not going to like me!” Messrs.<br />
Morris and Bartlett turned out to be<br />
excellent teachers, particularly the latter.<br />
We often wondered whether John Morris<br />
really belonged to this school environment.<br />
The wood panels listing benefactors,<br />
achievers (including H.W.Symons) on a<br />
panel in the library, the oil paintings of<br />
former headmasters and distinctly military<br />
manner of the staff added up to a rather<br />
special place. Commander Cutler as<br />
School Secretary rounded off the effect.<br />
Alas the ATC folded with the retirement<br />
of Fl. Lt. Lloyd so we were never able to<br />
use the shooting range. It was all awe<br />
inspiring, if indeed a trifle daunting. With<br />
all the traditions and obvious elite<br />
tendencies Stationers' was certainly a place<br />
to be for an inspiring young man.<br />
Things continued with some lingering and<br />
rather questionable rumours regarding the<br />
future of the school. H.Wilson Esq. had<br />
formed a government during 1964 with a<br />
small majority. This majority was increased<br />
heftily in 1966. From then on rumour soon<br />
became fact and from 1967 Stationers'<br />
gradually changed from an elite boys<br />
grammar school to a multiracial urban<br />
comprehensive. Forms 3, 4A and 5B<br />
became 3X, 4R and 5Z – the letter being<br />
the surname of the form master. There was<br />
to be no more grading either as streaming<br />
or in the form notation.<br />
Sporting prowess – notably running and<br />
athletics generally – improved for a short<br />
time with the influx of some wonderful<br />
athletes from the old Priory Vale. Marsden<br />
Hubbard and Mr. Salter were additions to<br />
the teaching staff from whom we benefited<br />
greatly.<br />
On the academic front access to Oxbridge<br />
became less of a topic and remedial work<br />
more the order of the day. Teaching<br />
secondary kids from other parts of the<br />
world, the 3Rs seemed to be the main aim<br />
of the school. As a member of the Upper<br />
Sixth I was supposed to spend any Study<br />
Period (official speak) in the school library.<br />
We understood that this was the instruction<br />
of the headmaster.<br />
When one day we were asked, no told to<br />
leave the library by a Mr. Craig who was<br />
introducing the class of first form lads to<br />
the concept of the book, things turned<br />
from bad to worse to unacceptable. We<br />
were studying for our A levels in an<br />
attempt to gain entry to university of our<br />
choice or the ones that had given us a<br />
so-called offer. Yet we had nowhere to<br />
study. I found myself a place at the back of<br />
the hall. Illegal by school conventions, yet<br />
there was no alternative. Indeed, things<br />
became so difficult that the Prefect<br />
contingent laid down its positions early in<br />
February - it was, of course, customary for<br />
the Lower Sixth to take over after the<br />
Easter break. G.N.Blackmore and his<br />
merry men were called to arms earlier than<br />
expected.<br />
Discipline had become a serious problem.<br />
The police seemed to be regular visitors to<br />
the school . Misdemeanours, we had not<br />
known before – such as drug pushers,<br />
pimping, a minor form of racketeering and<br />
extortion – became almost regular features<br />
of daily school life. The Headmaster and<br />
most of his staff had not been employed<br />
for this kind of situation.<br />
The pinnacle of power in the school<br />
R.D.Baynes once said of himself: “I am<br />
not the council's blue-eyed boy!” And for<br />
sure he had a major problem despite the<br />
lack of support from the council. A vast<br />
range of goals and abilities as well as a<br />
strong multi-racial and socio-economic<br />
backgrounds had to be accommodated.<br />
The school had grown in a short time<br />
from some 650 to almost 1300 pupils in<br />
two locations including a number of new<br />
single storey pre-fabricated buildings on<br />
the infamous wilderness and then a two<br />
storey structure on the second terrace. My<br />
fourth year was spent on the borders of<br />
Hornsey School (no more High there!) in<br />
a pre-fab and the Lower Sixth in an upper<br />
storey on the second terrace.<br />
No sir, this was no longer the Stationers'<br />
Company's School that I wanted to attend<br />
from the age of 5. Having grown up at the<br />
top end of Burgoyne Road (the other side<br />
of the railway bridge at Haringey West as<br />
was) I saw the boys in their royal blue<br />
blazers and vowed to be part of the crew<br />
– Wilson and his political agenda had<br />
other things in store. Even the last great<br />
investment assisted by the Company began<br />
to falter. Affectionately known by some as<br />
'the language factory' the lab began to<br />
crumble. At that time there were more<br />
languages spoken in the school than the<br />
technical institution could accommodate!<br />
Thus, as a first year pupil attending his<br />
first prize giving evening at Hornsey Town<br />
Hall - as was – I remember being highly<br />
impressed by the huge number of new<br />
Oxbridge undergraduates from the<br />
School. Other new undergraduates were<br />
also in large number. It felt like about one<br />
dozen Oxbridge undergraduates from the<br />
school and the rest to universities,<br />
20
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
polytechnics and other colleges with a<br />
small remainder going to the City. This<br />
was the place to be!<br />
My own Upper Sixth Form of 1971 sent<br />
three 3 people to Oxbridge and a further 3<br />
to university. What a change! I wondered<br />
if this was the goal of our Mr Wilson! In<br />
contrast to the official propaganda of the<br />
day, under this system achievement had<br />
been levelled down – not up! Maybe he<br />
just did not want us to emulate his own<br />
academic career!<br />
On a number of visits to the school I<br />
witnessed the gradual decay until on my<br />
last visit the old school had gone. The<br />
remnants were in the old Hornsey High<br />
Building with Stan Read in last post<br />
command. When I walked in – probably<br />
1982 – I was almost accosted by a security<br />
conscious member of staff – the<br />
rumbustious Mr Williams – ex Priory<br />
Vale. I introduced myself as an Old Boy<br />
and he inquired “Do you remember me,<br />
Williams the Belt?” Stan Read in what I<br />
knew in Miss Curtis' study (that is another<br />
story) kindly received me and as a parting<br />
gift presented me with a print of an<br />
etching of the School soon after its<br />
erection. This print is now framed and on<br />
my study wall including a pound and five<br />
pound note.<br />
What is all this rambling about?<br />
I wondered if so many Stationers who left<br />
school before 1967 have any real picture of<br />
what life became like at school. Standards<br />
dropped everywhere and the disappearance<br />
of the school – in the end – had become no<br />
loss.<br />
Thus, I can only wish the new Academy<br />
and the endeavours of the Company well<br />
for the future . There once was a great<br />
tradition that was engulfed by the<br />
ignorance and lack of foresight of so many<br />
who felt they had to doctor with our<br />
educational structure. It seems that the test<br />
of time has proved them not so right after<br />
all.<br />
Let us hope that these politically and<br />
doctrinally inspired misgivings that<br />
brought down Stationers ' in Hornsey may<br />
never reappear to upset this new beginning.<br />
All we can do is hope at least there will be<br />
somewhere for this hope to reside.<br />
Kind regards<br />
Alex Flemming 1964-1971<br />
I refer you, Alex, to Robert Baynes' book 'The<br />
History of the Stationers' School' Ed.<br />
STATIONERS FROM THE<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
PRIORY ROAD AREA<br />
peternolga@bigpond.com<br />
13th August 2014<br />
As always, I was delighted to receive the<br />
July edition of The Old Stationer. The two<br />
articles , 'Memories of Muswell Hill' and<br />
'Stationers from the Priory Road area'<br />
raised many memories of my boyhood in<br />
the area. I was born in Palace Road,<br />
Crouch End, and in 1936 my parents<br />
bought a house around the corner in<br />
Carysfort Road. One of my earliest friends<br />
in the same street was David Hornsby,<br />
who was a year behind me at Stationers'<br />
and who sadly died a few years ago. Doug<br />
Smith some years behind me, also lived<br />
there. I went to Rokesly Infant School and<br />
later the Crouch End Primary School.<br />
The area was blessed with plenty of open<br />
space in which to kick a football or play<br />
cricket, the latter often played in the street<br />
against a lamp post. There were few cars<br />
then! We had Priory Park, the playing<br />
fields behind the swimming pool in Park<br />
Road and of course, Alexandra Palace at<br />
our disposal. I joined the 79th North<br />
London Air Scouts whose Den was in the<br />
playing fields. The Scoutmaster was<br />
Henry Brazier who ran a building company<br />
in Tottenham Lane. Other members of<br />
this scout group were DAVID HORNSBY,<br />
the HOLDEN TWINS and COLIN<br />
CHAPMAN of motor racing fame. We<br />
survived the blitz, the house being damaged<br />
a few times from a parachuted land mine<br />
exploding in the playing fields, a bomb<br />
falling about four doors from us killing a<br />
number of people, a V1 bomb in Park<br />
Road opposite the hospital and a V2<br />
rocket in Cranley Gardens . I remember<br />
standing in the front porch with my father,<br />
who was an air raid warden, watching the<br />
searchlights seeking out German planes,<br />
the noise of anti-aircraft guns and the next<br />
day looking for shrapnel! Later in the war<br />
it was the peculiar noise of the V1 bombs,<br />
waiting for the noise to cease before they<br />
exploded on contact.<br />
NORMAN TAPLEY, another friend,<br />
lived in Priory Road. He attended<br />
Stationers' but left to go to the Mill Hill<br />
School and we lost contact thereafter. I<br />
have been fortunate in retaining contact<br />
with PETER SARGENT, MICHAEL<br />
SAUNDERS and GORDON ROSE. I<br />
was saddened by the death of PETER<br />
BULLEN from Peter Sargent. We all<br />
played for the OS Cricket Team and with<br />
the exception of Peter Sargent for the<br />
Football Teams. Peter gained fame as a<br />
Hockey Player. I had the privilege to be<br />
the first Old Boy to score a century for the<br />
club, Pelham Warner being the first player<br />
to do so.<br />
I left school and studied Engineering at<br />
the Northampton Polytechnic, part of<br />
London University and now the City<br />
University, I believe. ALEX MCKEON<br />
from Stationers', also studied at this<br />
college. We briefly corresponded some<br />
years ago after he went to the USA. After<br />
graduating, I had to do two years National<br />
Service in the RAF. I spent most of the<br />
time in Cologne, Germany as an officer in<br />
the Airfield Construction Branch where<br />
we were building airfields for the 2nd<br />
Tactical Air Force as a defence against the<br />
Russian threat. This was in 1954-55.<br />
Whilst in Cologne, I met Olga, a girl<br />
from Brisbane, Australia. She was working<br />
for the Australian Migration Office there.<br />
Little did she know she was working a one<br />
man migration scheme! I emigrated to<br />
Australia in early 1956 and we were<br />
married later that year. We celebrate our<br />
58th anniversary in October.<br />
We have been back to England a number<br />
of times over the years, notably in 1983<br />
when we attended the final gathering at<br />
the school before it was closed down and<br />
demolished. A very sad day for such a fine<br />
school. My years at the school were very<br />
happy ones inspite of the difficult times<br />
and I feel privileged to have had the<br />
opportunity to attend the school. I was<br />
pleased to read that the Company is<br />
sponsoring a school in the future which<br />
will bear the Stationers name. The present<br />
strength of the Association is a clear<br />
indication that many feel as I do about the<br />
school.<br />
Geraint, many thanks to you and your<br />
colleagues for continuing to produce such<br />
a fine magazine. The two articles I<br />
mentioned, were outstanding and evoked<br />
many memories.<br />
Kind regards<br />
Peter Moses<br />
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia<br />
Class of 1953<br />
anthony_cooper2002@yahoo.co.uk<br />
19th August 2014<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
I was interested to read the list of 'Class<br />
1953' in the latest OSA magazine. I was at<br />
Stationers' from 1953-1960. By modern<br />
standards I just wonder how the masters<br />
got away with what they did and what<br />
21
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
they didn't do! Some of them (no names)<br />
seemed so bored with their subject.<br />
I note included in the list was JOHN<br />
DUPERE: I seem to remember from a<br />
previous edition of the magazine, circa<br />
1977, that he had died at a very young age<br />
of 35. I don't know whether this can be<br />
checked?<br />
Also who should be included is JOHN G.<br />
GRAVENOR, with whom I was<br />
particularly friendly. Although he only<br />
joined the school in 1954 it was the end of<br />
the first year, so he was a member of our<br />
cohort, leaving with A Levels in 1960. I<br />
just don't know what happened to him in<br />
the intervening years.<br />
After leaving SCS I went to UCL for six<br />
years of Chemistry followed by post<br />
doctoral appointments at universities of<br />
St. Andrews, Leiden and KCL. The next<br />
36 years I spent at Kingston Polytechnic,<br />
later Kingston University from which I<br />
retired in 2006. I have since enjoyed eight<br />
years of retirement and keep myself busy<br />
playing the organ as ever – I used to play<br />
at assemblies at Stationers' – and training<br />
the choir at Fleet Parish Church. Previously<br />
I was organist at East Barnet Methodist<br />
Church where KEN SOUTHALL<br />
(teacher of French, 1950-1960)<br />
worshipped, Surbiton and then West<br />
Clandon, Surrey.<br />
I have been married to Louise for 46 years<br />
and have two sons and one granddaughter.<br />
My older brother, ROBIN COOPER<br />
was at Stationers' from 1950-1957, but<br />
sadly died in 2009 – which was recorded in<br />
your August publication.<br />
Hope that's of some interest.<br />
Tony Cooper 1953-1960<br />
Robin Cooper was a regular contributor to<br />
'The Old Stationer' often to the section 'As Far<br />
as you Roam' and stories of Stationers'<br />
Company's School.<br />
5 Croton Square<br />
SHERFIELD-ON-LODDON<br />
RG27 0SX<br />
20th August 2014<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
Having just read the latest magazine<br />
(No.79) I thought I would write concerning<br />
two particular articles to which I felt I<br />
could perhaps add something.<br />
THE AURORA BOREALIS<br />
I found John Ivey's account of his holiday<br />
in Norway most interesting. My wife,<br />
Kathy, and I have been to the Norwegian<br />
Fjords and as far north as Trondheim, and<br />
then across to Iceland. However, both<br />
holidays were summer cruises and whilst<br />
the scenery was absolutely stunning, there<br />
was of course no chance to see the<br />
'Northern Lights' or 'Aurora Borealis'.<br />
However, it did remind me that in a<br />
previous existence some 35 years ago,<br />
whilst working as a manager in the<br />
International Division of Williams &<br />
Glyns Bank, I had the amazing experience<br />
of seeing the 'Aurora' at its absolute best.<br />
I was flying back from Tokyo via<br />
Anchorage in Alaska and on the second<br />
leg of the flight we flew within a few<br />
hundred miles of the North Pole. Although<br />
it was night time and dark I looked out of<br />
the window to see what I can only describe<br />
as colour falling down the sky. I asked the<br />
stewardess about this and she said it was<br />
the Aurora Borealis like she had never seen<br />
it before. In fact the pilot made a low key<br />
announcement so that those people who<br />
were awake should not miss it.<br />
It is something I shall never forget but of<br />
all the best laid plans you just have to be in<br />
the right place at the right time – I count<br />
myself lucky.<br />
Graham Ling 1954-1961<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
35 St. Stephen's Avenue<br />
St. Albans AL3 4AA<br />
22 nd August 2014<br />
I've read the obituary for Eric Wareham<br />
with interest and sadness. Eric and I were<br />
in the 6th together 1942-1943, and were<br />
the only two boys offering German for<br />
Higher School Certificate in that year, so<br />
we came to know each other well. Our<br />
tutor was, of course, 'Sacco' Englefield,<br />
whom we both greatly respected. He<br />
generously made it clear that he would be<br />
available to help us at the School during<br />
the Christmas break, and I remember that,<br />
when the two of us arrived on the agreed<br />
date, we found him playing the piano in<br />
the School Hall with his usual<br />
accomplishment.<br />
I kept in touch with Eric for some years<br />
prior to his marriage, and last saw him at<br />
the reunion in Wisbech, (fifty years on<br />
from the initial evacuation) in 1989. The<br />
reunion was arranged by Murdoch, who<br />
was also a 6th form boy in 1942. Both Eric<br />
and his wife attended, and I remember her<br />
telling me how she had met Eric on her<br />
way to America and stayed with him ever<br />
since. It is clear from the obituary written<br />
by his son that their marriage was a very<br />
happy one.<br />
Thank you, Geraint, for enabling me to get<br />
in touch with Sylvia Mogg, who wrote<br />
that article on 'The Guest' (the play<br />
produced by the School in Wisbech) for<br />
the Old Stationer. Sylvia and I were pupils<br />
at Hornsey County School in Wisbech<br />
1939-1942, until I transferred to Stationers'<br />
for sixth form work. Sylvia was able to visit<br />
me in May of this year, on her way to her<br />
ninetieth birthday party the following day,<br />
and it was splendid to renew the contact in<br />
this way after some seventy years.<br />
Best wishes<br />
George Wells 1942-43<br />
OLD-STATS<br />
ronhorne@xtra.co.nz<br />
26 August 2014<br />
It was so upsetting to read of the passing<br />
of DENIS HAMMENT and PETER<br />
BULLEN. Although neither of them was<br />
in the same form as me, our friendships<br />
were built around our service together in<br />
the 2049 ATC squadron. Denis and I were<br />
Flight Sergeants and Peter a corporal and<br />
all appear in the original formation photo<br />
in the archives. I noted that the squadron<br />
had been camping in 1958 near Leeming<br />
on page 14. I have often wondered what<br />
happened to them after the school closing<br />
and whether they still exist and where.<br />
On my recent travels I visited the Mosquito<br />
Museum at Salisbury Hall where Peter did<br />
his initial training as an apprentice to De<br />
Havillands which stirred the memories of<br />
him. He bought a 250 BSA motor bike<br />
around 1944 and he kindly allowed me to<br />
try it. I rode it into the wall of the house<br />
adjacent to the school and haven't tried<br />
again since, luckily there were no after<br />
effects on either me or the bike. As<br />
previously noted in one of my letters he<br />
visited me in New Zealand in the 80s<br />
when on his honeymoon.<br />
Other items that caught my eye were the<br />
obituary of ERIC WAREHAM and the<br />
pictures on page 15 of Muswell Hill. As I<br />
mentioned earlier one of the former staff<br />
members in the village here was born and<br />
raised in Fortis Green Road not far from<br />
where our kids were born in Alexandra<br />
Park Road and her policeman father served<br />
in the Hornsey Police Station during the<br />
war with my wife's uncle. Small world eh.<br />
Regards<br />
Ron Horne<br />
22
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
OLD STATIONER JULY 2014<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
mikejohns@worldonline.co.za<br />
5 th September 2014<br />
Your excellent production brought back a<br />
few memories.<br />
To John Ivey's piece about Muswell Hill I<br />
would add:<br />
1. Leonard Lyle's – the gents outfitter<br />
(opposite St. James' Church) – where I<br />
worked as a Christmas relief while still at<br />
school.<br />
2. St. James' Church itself where I was<br />
married.<br />
3. Muswell Hill Station, at the top of<br />
Muswell Hill was part of the line which I<br />
used to use from Stroud Green until the<br />
line closed in July 1954.<br />
4. A shop on the Broadway with a coffee<br />
grinder in the window pushing out<br />
wonderful aromas.<br />
This shop was between W.H.Smiths and the<br />
United Dairies and called 'Martyn's'.<br />
5. The Royal Oak in St. James' Lane<br />
(which you mention somewhere) which<br />
was owned by Tony Lane's mum. Tony was<br />
an OS but very heavily involved with<br />
Crouch End Vampires, not OSFC.<br />
Not sure whether the Red Cross<br />
establishment on Muswell Hill itself<br />
belongs to the John Ivey or Priory Road<br />
sections. Certainly in the latter I would<br />
mention ALAN BERWICK, OS cricketer<br />
and footballer, who lived more or less above<br />
the laundry in the picture on page 21.<br />
In the row of shops opposite the Victoria<br />
Pub was Cottingham's, the newsagents,<br />
which employed PETER CRITTEN and<br />
me as paper boys.<br />
Very close was Sorrell's the greengrocers,<br />
another of my former employers.<br />
SORRELL himself was an OS.<br />
I am coming to the 1953 Reunion and<br />
staying at the George in Cartwright<br />
Gardens, Bloomsbury. Could the website<br />
be corrected to record only a 10% discount<br />
now, not 20%? Apparently the hotel<br />
changed hands two or three years ago.<br />
Finally, could I be related in any way to the<br />
G. JONES listed as a late joiner to the<br />
1953 group, page 26? I certainly spent<br />
most of my time with them and in fact will<br />
soon be able to have attended reunions for<br />
two years, 1953 and 1954.<br />
Kind Regards<br />
Ginner (Mike Johns) 1954-1960<br />
Dear Keith<br />
don.bewick@hotmail.co.uk<br />
12 September 2014<br />
Just to say congratulations on your<br />
recognition on receiving your OBE in the<br />
Queen's Birthday Honours List – I noticed<br />
the announcement in the Stationers'<br />
Company's Magazine just received.<br />
Regards<br />
Don Bewick<br />
Dear Don<br />
Keith Woodley<br />
Friday, September 12th 2014<br />
Thank you for congratulations. I am now<br />
looking forward to a trip to Windsor<br />
Castle on 2nd October for the presentation.<br />
It was a great surprise but I felt very<br />
honoured and thrilled.<br />
Best wishes<br />
Keith Woodley<br />
johnwatson@westnet.com.au<br />
24th September 2014<br />
Hi Geraint. Well well! Sometimes good<br />
old email system turns up some unexpected<br />
results. I assume that you have retired by<br />
now but you never know in this day and<br />
age. Still pretty fit to be climbing those big<br />
English mountains? At least over here we<br />
do not have that temptation as the biggest<br />
hills here are about 300 metres.<br />
A quick potted version of life since<br />
teaching in Plymouth would be as follows.<br />
Gave up teaching to follow the money in<br />
Sales. This was followed by starting my<br />
own business in Devon which we ran for<br />
12 years and sold to the wonderful<br />
Americans. Nothing to do with geology I<br />
am afraid!! Ending up being bored I joined<br />
the UK government as a business adviser<br />
to keep the brain sharp. During this period<br />
met my second wife and still living in<br />
Devon. About 2001 it was very wet and<br />
cold and as Anne was actually born in<br />
Australia we sold up and emigrated to the<br />
big sun down under. Big wrench to leave<br />
our six kids but that is life. Here we are in<br />
Perth and once again did a bit of<br />
consultancy work which resulted in owning<br />
yet another business. From 2013 I have<br />
run this little operation and managed to<br />
get my son into the country despite our<br />
very difficult immigration controls. I have<br />
now passed the business on to him so am<br />
now free and easy and can concentrate on<br />
keeping fit, golf and playing bridge.<br />
Obviously with five kids and eight<br />
grandchildren still in the UK we make<br />
frequent trips back to them all. Generally<br />
it is the annual pilgrimage. It is then you<br />
realize how far Australia is from anywhere<br />
else especially here in Perth. But someone<br />
has to pay for our sunshine and beaches!!<br />
The climate certainly makes you feel 10<br />
years younger. Glad to hear that some of<br />
the geology pupils actually went on to do<br />
something in the subject. Pass on my good<br />
wishes to anyone who may recall me.<br />
Glad to hear you are well.<br />
Perhaps I will hear from you soon.<br />
John Watson<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
47 The Gill, Pembury<br />
Tunbridge Wells<br />
Kent TN2 4DJ<br />
7th October 2014<br />
We too enjoyed our week on the North<br />
Yorks Moors at the beginning of<br />
September. The weather was fine and we<br />
spent a lot of time along the coast between<br />
Saltburn and Filey. On the way up we<br />
stayed at Porch House (the oldest house in<br />
Northallerton where Charles 1st once<br />
stayed) with Glyn and Joanna Williams<br />
where they have been running a B&B.<br />
Glyn Williams has joined the OSA in<br />
recent time. Looking forward to seeing<br />
you again at next year's Annual Dinner.<br />
Until then, with all good wishes.<br />
Roger Phillpot 1956-1963<br />
Greetings Geraint<br />
dg2813@hotmail.co.uk<br />
4th October 2014<br />
I'm pleased that you found the article<br />
interesting as I did and that you will be<br />
finding a place for it in the magazine.<br />
(Please see article under 'News of Former<br />
Staff. Dr. David Clover.) I am sure that<br />
anyone attending the School between<br />
mid50s and 1960 will remember 'Fourleaf'<br />
well. Holcombe is a lovely place to live, as<br />
you may well have established for yourself.<br />
I was aware you had stayed nearby as I<br />
recall mention was made in an itinerary<br />
account of your travels that appeared in the<br />
magazine. I wasn't sure where. We decided<br />
to 'escape' to Devon 27 years ago not<br />
realising a close friend of mine from<br />
School, John Hopkins, had fled from<br />
London to Hayle in Cornwall about a year<br />
earlier. We have met several times since<br />
reconnecting and we're in regular email<br />
contact.<br />
I'm also in constant touch with Mick<br />
Dawson and his wife, and whenever my<br />
23
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
wife and I find ourselves back in London<br />
(approximately twice a year) we always<br />
find time to catch up with them both.<br />
Finally I was intrigued by the letter from<br />
Leslie McBride Singleton a) because he<br />
began at Stationers' the year after I did,<br />
and b) he had fond memories of Johnny<br />
Gore just as I do. It seems his memory is<br />
also indelibly printed on your consciousness<br />
as indicated by your reference that<br />
followed. I don't have Leslie's address but<br />
if you can provide one I will happily email<br />
a pic of the red book to which Leslie refers.<br />
Clearly I'm not prepared to part with the<br />
book itself as it is one of the few Stationer's<br />
possessions that I have. Sadly my red book<br />
does not have the distinction of a gold<br />
crest but it was definitely given to Latin<br />
students in preparation for O Level. Gore's<br />
instantly recognizable red scrawls are in<br />
evidence everywhere throughout the book,<br />
some marks better than others of course. I<br />
would be very surprised if anyone has a<br />
spare copy to part with therefore an<br />
emailed pic may be sufficient to satisfy<br />
Leslie's curiosity.<br />
Best wishes<br />
Dave Gordon 1957-1964<br />
FROM MY ECCLESIASTICAL<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
CORRESPONDENT IN<br />
THE NORTH<br />
peterkmills@talktalk.net<br />
13 October 2014<br />
Many thanks for your updates on your<br />
travels – recently received. Here in Haxey<br />
and the Parish Church in particular, we<br />
were joined about 3 years ago by a couple,<br />
Eileen and David Owers. I discovered<br />
yesterday that DAVID OWERS had been<br />
a pupil at Stationers'!! The only guidance I<br />
can give is that David is 79 – and which<br />
should help you to approach the records. I<br />
will be loaning him the publication you<br />
delivered when you called – but when I<br />
mentioned the 'Wakefield experience' he<br />
was of course aware of the bones of the<br />
situation but not of the history of Stephen.<br />
Regards<br />
Peter Mills<br />
Peter Mills, I have known for very many<br />
years since he and his wife arrived in<br />
Llandegfan, near Beaumaris in Anglesey as<br />
the Postmaster in the Post Office in this<br />
village many years ago, where my mother had<br />
lived since 1973. He was very much involved<br />
in the Church in Wales and became my<br />
'adviser' locally on Church matters in the<br />
Principality. Then, when he moved to Haxey,<br />
near Doncaster, Peter continued to keep me<br />
advised, now on Church of England matters,<br />
especially as he was aware that the former<br />
Bishop of Wakefield, Stephen Platten, was a<br />
Stationer ever since he was appointed to<br />
become the Bishop. Consequently, Peter has<br />
always kept me up to date on much of the<br />
major developments and changes in the<br />
Church of England and sent me much of the<br />
documentation as both he, and I alerted by<br />
Peter, kept me updated on a major change on<br />
the bishoprics of West Yorkshire. Thus, through<br />
cuttings in the Church Times I was able to<br />
provide a comprehensive understanding<br />
without precedent, of the process of<br />
amalgamation of three bishoprics to only one,<br />
in the Church of England. Thank you Peter.<br />
[Please see Magazine Number 79]<br />
Hello Geraint,<br />
johnbathurst@sympatico.ca<br />
20 th October 2014<br />
As LES HUMPHREYS (1952-1959)<br />
states in 'The Old Stationer No 79 (p 29),<br />
he has been unable to persuade me “to<br />
stump up a membership”. I have also<br />
eluded similar societies, e.g. Northampton<br />
Engineering College Alumni and the<br />
RAF Association. As usual, Les kindly<br />
lent me his copy of the magazine. Finding<br />
some interesting stuff therein (notably<br />
contributions by JOHN WARD 1958-<br />
1965 and JOHN AANONSON 1960-<br />
1967) prompts me to offer a few rambling<br />
comments. However, as a 1938-1943<br />
dinosaur and Wisbech veteran, I doubt<br />
many readers old enough to care a fig<br />
about them.<br />
In 1938, to handle increasing enrolment,<br />
construction of the School's wing was<br />
underway. First Formers were being<br />
temporarily accommodated in classrooms<br />
at a decommissioned girls' school of<br />
Victorian vintage located on the west side<br />
of Oakfield Road, near Addington Road.<br />
That meant a trudge back up to the main<br />
school for gym, the library, classes such as<br />
woodwork and art, army cadet corps<br />
parades, and in cases of serious<br />
misbehaviour, a chat with 'Josh'. Around<br />
the corner in Stapleton Hall Road was St.<br />
Aidan's Secondary School where,<br />
conveniently, my girl friend was a pupil.<br />
She, too, was at Wisbech. We bonded at<br />
Muswell Hill Junior School, better known<br />
as 'Tin Pot School' (p 22) due to the<br />
corrugated-iron cladding of its walls and<br />
roof. Built as a WWII temporary school, it<br />
remained temporary throughout WWII<br />
and then survived two more decades<br />
before preceding Stationers', St. Aidans<br />
and Hornsey High – where my sister went<br />
– into oblivion. (I warned you about this<br />
rambling).<br />
My attached photograph, taken in the<br />
spring of 1939, shows Form 1A of the<br />
1938 intake. This comprised of boys<br />
surnames with initials A-H while those in<br />
Form 1B were I-Z.<br />
Many of the younger OS will remember<br />
the above KEITH HEWETT as their<br />
schoolmaster while PETER BULLEN<br />
needs no introduction. I suspect that<br />
COTTRELL was HARRY'S brother<br />
GEORGE COTTRELL (p 25). PETER<br />
ASKEY, a dry humorist, was reputedly a<br />
son of the famous comedian Arthur Askey<br />
but in fact he was not. BARRATT and<br />
DAVENPORT were our two brightest<br />
brains. Also somewhere in the picture were<br />
AKERMAN, ANGWIN and BRADLEY.<br />
My friend LEO GATFIELD was later at<br />
university with me; we were also in the<br />
93rd North London and, at Wisbech, the<br />
2nd Stationers scout troops. The former<br />
was under the patronage of St. George's<br />
Church (p 21), our pre-war HQ being in<br />
the basement of the parish hall at the foot<br />
of Cranley Gardens, site of the present<br />
church. The hall was half-demolished by<br />
Hornsey's first 'flying bomb' on 16 th June<br />
1944. Our temporary HQ was the<br />
gatekeeper's cottage of Grove Lodge, the<br />
mansion on the east flank of Muswell Hill<br />
that was a wartime hospital. There I did<br />
hospital orderly and fire-watching duties<br />
– the latter referring to incendiary bombs,<br />
not living room fireplaces. Also in the 93rd<br />
NL and 2 nd Stationers' troops were<br />
JOHN SHELDON, who lived on Farrer<br />
Road, and JOHN WILLIS on Wood Vale,<br />
both ahead of me at school. I recall<br />
climbing Snowdon with KEN WILLIS,<br />
the latter's older brother, also a Stationer<br />
and in the 93 rd NL. I was running the<br />
93 rd NL cub pack in 1945/6, meeting at<br />
Rokesly School (p 18). One of the cubs<br />
was my brother, ANTHONY<br />
BATHURST 1948-1953, later also a<br />
Stationer. Our home was in Cascade<br />
Avenue, off Muswell Hill. Schoolmaster<br />
RODNEY NAYLOR lived three doors<br />
from us. (In the group photograph the<br />
juxtaposition of BACON and FRYER was<br />
doubtless unintentional).<br />
Ah yes – the Priory Road area, (p18 et<br />
seq). Starting in 1905 there were doubledecker<br />
trams running up from Turnpike<br />
Lane as far as the shops shown in the<br />
picture on page 21. Single-deckers<br />
continued up the west end of Alexandra<br />
Palace and its LNER branch line station.<br />
24
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Form1A in 1939: Front Row (7): Downton, Dickens, Bullen, ??, Gatfield, ??, Blurton – 2nd Row (10): ??, Askey, ??, ??, Hewett, Haynes, ??, ??, ??, ??<br />
3rd Row (8); Ball, ??, ??, Bacon, Fryer(?), Davenport, Cottrell, ?? – Back Row (9): Barratt, ??, ??, Archer(?), Anderson(?), ??, Bathurst, ??, Barrett<br />
The twin tram tracks were an open<br />
ballasted railway, with an adjacent<br />
handrailed footpath, along what is now<br />
Alexandra Palace Way. In those days motor<br />
vehicle access to the Palace from our side<br />
was via the road leading to the former race<br />
track (p 22 and map on p 17). There was a<br />
similar tram service from Wood Green to<br />
the east end of the Palace near the boating<br />
lake (p 22). My mother would relate that ,<br />
as a boy, I informed her that I was going to<br />
be a tram driver when I grew up – so that<br />
when shopping she could ride on my tram.<br />
Alas, in 1938 London Transport (anyone<br />
remember what that was?) decided to<br />
abolish the trams, at the same time<br />
introducing a new-fangled flat-fronted<br />
single-decker bus that – gasp! had no<br />
conductor to issue tickets. My youthful<br />
career aspirations thus cruelly thwarted, I<br />
had to make do with studies at Stationers'<br />
and London University followed by a life<br />
in international Civil Engineering. Having<br />
been retired for more than a quarter of a<br />
century and outlived three wives, I continue<br />
to reside in French Canada (a tip of a hat<br />
to 'Beaky' DAVIS) with several bunches of<br />
kids, themselves in or near retirement, and<br />
a lady friend , all within close range.<br />
Sincerely<br />
John Bathurst 1938-1945<br />
Not so much rambling as inaccurate, as<br />
Muswell Hill Junior School moved to the site<br />
of the former Muswell Hill Railway Station<br />
and Hornsey High School which changed its<br />
name to Hornsey School for Girls on becoming<br />
comprehensive, moved to a new site in<br />
Inderwick Road N8. Both of these schools<br />
have survived to this day! No case of oblivion<br />
here! Ed.<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
ianbrjones@msn.com<br />
10th November 2014<br />
This issue wads of particular of interest to<br />
me. For one thing, it was a pleasure to read<br />
about Old Stationers' who started school<br />
in 1938, as that was the year in which I<br />
too joined the school. Also I enjoyed John<br />
Aanonson's carefully researched article<br />
about Priory Road, not because I ever<br />
lived there – I lived throughout my years<br />
at the school in Rokesly Avenue and my<br />
route was to cross Tottenham Lane, shown<br />
as the A103 on the map on page 17, and<br />
continue up Nelson Road until turning<br />
left on Weston Park and finally up Denton<br />
Road. At weekends however, I would<br />
regularly walk our dog through Priory<br />
Park and out to Priory Road between the<br />
tennis courts so as to reach Alexandra<br />
Park grounds where she could enjoy a free<br />
romp. It was in the pond to the east of the<br />
Palace that I taught her to swim or rather<br />
revealed to her that she was able to do so<br />
by throwing a stick for her to retrieve<br />
progressively further away until she was<br />
out of her depth. Once we lost each other<br />
and I finally gave up in despair to find on<br />
returning home that she had somehow<br />
managed to find her own way back and to<br />
gain entry by scratching on the front door.<br />
Turning now to JOHN IVEY's letter<br />
about Muswell Hill, I can confirm that it<br />
was indeed he who kindly treated his class<br />
to an early morning swim in Hornsey<br />
Open Air Pool. I was one of the recipients.<br />
Although I find it now hard to imagine<br />
how I found the energy to do so, I used to<br />
swim there regularly before school during<br />
the summer months.<br />
Kind regards<br />
Ian Jones 1938-1945<br />
6140 Topsail Road, Lady Lake,<br />
FLORIDA 32159, USA<br />
bobpatten89@hotmail.com<br />
November 14th 2014<br />
Hi Geraint,<br />
If there is a shortage of reunion pictures<br />
for edition number 80 next year, the<br />
25
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Midfield dynamos, circa 1974<br />
Sir David Metcalf & Bob Patten<br />
enclosed photograph may be of use to you.<br />
A possible caption could be:<br />
'Reunion of the midfield dynamos, OSFC<br />
5thXI, circa 1974, 40 years on at Simpsons<br />
in the Strand November 10th 2014, Sir<br />
David Metcalf (left) and Bob Patten'.<br />
I hope that you are keeping well and<br />
enjoying life. I really look forward every<br />
six months to receiving my copy of 'The<br />
Old Stationer'.<br />
With kind regards<br />
Bob Patten 1948-1953<br />
SCHOOL ATC CAMPS<br />
graham.arnold@dsl.pipex.com<br />
8th December 2014<br />
Dear Geraint<br />
It was a pleasure to meet you again at the<br />
OSA Lunch at Stationers' Hall last week.<br />
In a recent issue of the OSA Magazine<br />
you published a request from BRIAN<br />
WILKINSON 1952-1959, for a copy of<br />
School ATC Cadets taken at an Easter<br />
Camp at RAF Leeming. I also attended<br />
that camp and have a copy of the<br />
photograph so I have been able to fulfil<br />
Brian's request. Brian was School Captain<br />
and played the school organ during<br />
morning assembly.<br />
I did in fact attend three ATC Easter<br />
Camps, all ably lead by Messrs. Nunn and<br />
Lloyd:<br />
1958 – St. Athan, South Wales.<br />
1959 – Leeming, Yorks.<br />
1960 – Thorney Island, Hampshire.<br />
I attach a copy of the Leeming photograph.<br />
The aircraft in the group photograph is an<br />
Avro Javelin manufactured by the Gloster<br />
Aircraft Company. Two RAF Officers<br />
hosted our week. They are shown far left<br />
and third from left. Brian and myself have<br />
not been able to name many of the boys<br />
but we can name the following:<br />
Back row: Second from left wearing collar<br />
and tie - Robin Andrews 1953-1960;<br />
Fourth from right - myself Graham Arnold<br />
1953-1960; Far right – David Finch<br />
1952-1959; Front Row: Middle – Brian<br />
Wilkinson, collar and tie, 1952-1959;<br />
Fourth from right – Alan Wood 1953-1960<br />
We did not have a photograph of the 1958<br />
St.Athan Camp but there was one of the<br />
1960 Thorney Island Camp, of which there<br />
is a copy on the OS Website under 'New<br />
Photos'. Again just a few names I am afraid:<br />
Back Row: Fourth from right -<br />
Alan Wood 1953-1960; Front Row: Next<br />
to Mr Nunn – Robin Andrews 1953-1960;<br />
Next to Mr Lloyd – Graham Arnold 1953-<br />
1960; To my right , collar and tie –<br />
Terry J. Fenn 1953-1960<br />
I also recall rifle practice on the School<br />
Rifle Range which was the domain of<br />
MAJOR HALLS who graciously cast<br />
aside all friendly rivalries between CCF<br />
and the ATC and generously instructed<br />
ATC boys during Friday lunch times.<br />
When in the prone firing position it was<br />
possible to see the tops of the houses on<br />
the opposite side of Mayfield Road above<br />
the school boundary wall. I do not recall<br />
any mishaps – thank you Major Halls!<br />
Kind Regards<br />
Graham Arnold 1953-1960<br />
1959 – Leeming, Yorks.<br />
26
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Old stationers and<br />
all that Jazz<br />
robertandjacquelinehughes@btintemet.com<br />
18th December 2014<br />
Dear Geraint,<br />
Good to see you at the Annual Carol<br />
Service which I was pleased to attend for<br />
the first time. I had forgotten how<br />
impressive was the Memorial Window<br />
which had been removed from the School<br />
and which is now situated in Hornsey<br />
Parish Church.<br />
Singing Carols at the service has prompted<br />
me to drop you the previously promised<br />
note about my own singing activities. In<br />
October 2012 I saw an advert in a local<br />
magazine for a new singing group, the<br />
Clay Hill Singers, which had just started at<br />
St Luke's Church, Hillyfields, Enfield.<br />
The advert emphasised that the ability to<br />
sing was not a requirement and that the<br />
emphasis was on enjoying yourself and<br />
having fun. Despite the, now regrettable,<br />
fact that I only remained in the School<br />
choir for a couple of weeks I have always<br />
enjoyed singing and so decided to give it a<br />
go and have been attending on a regular<br />
basis ever since. We meet every Friday<br />
morning when we pick up the words of the<br />
songs we are going to sing as we arrive.<br />
Typically we sing about 16 songs during<br />
the 90 minutes we are there, with a short<br />
break for an interval. Our conductor is a<br />
charming lady called Claire whose father is<br />
also a regular participant. His name is<br />
David Gregory and he tells me that he was<br />
at Stationers' from 1942-47.<br />
David's wife is the sister of another Old<br />
Stationer, Stuart Behn. One of the ladies<br />
whom I regularly speak to at Clay Hill<br />
Singers is called Lynne Lampert who in the<br />
1970s worked at Minchenden School with<br />
Clive Blenkinsop. She and her husband<br />
form part of Clive's team in the pub quizzes<br />
at the Muswell Hill pub mentioned in a<br />
previous issue of the Old Stationer. Needless<br />
to say she was pleased to see the photo of<br />
Clive sitting in the staff room at Stationers'<br />
which featured in another recent issue of<br />
the magazine. In the new year Lynne and<br />
her husband are going to invite my wife and<br />
me for a meal with Clive whom I have not<br />
seen since 1968.<br />
Occasionally members of the Clay Hill<br />
Singers are invited to augment the choir at<br />
St Luke's for special events and last year<br />
(2013) I did just that for the patronal<br />
service which was held at St John's Church<br />
in Clay Hill, this being in the same Parish<br />
of Clay Hill. The service was presided over<br />
by another Old Stationer, Stephen Platten,<br />
then the Bishop of Wakefield. After the<br />
service I had quite a chat with Bishop<br />
Platten and learnt that he had been in the<br />
same year at Stationers' as my older brother<br />
Anthony. Furthermore I learnt that he<br />
knew my late father during his early career<br />
when they worked together at Shell<br />
Chemicals.<br />
Through the Clay Hill Singers I have also<br />
joined another smaller group called the<br />
North London Singers also run by the<br />
same Claire. We meet on Tuesday<br />
mornings and concentrate on singing just<br />
two or three pieces of music at a time, this<br />
time singing from sheet music. I am<br />
pleased to say that even though it was<br />
many years ago quite a bit of what I learnt<br />
in Norman Rimmer's music lessons<br />
dating from 1961-62 has been recalled by<br />
my ageing memory, so many thanks<br />
Norman. We have now performed in<br />
several small concerts locally and one<br />
such was at St James Church, Muswell<br />
Hill last April. Not knowing the local<br />
parking restrictions I contacted my former<br />
classmate Stephen Jefferies for advice and<br />
am very pleased to say that Stephen came<br />
along to the concert, after which we<br />
enjoyed a drink together in a local hostelry.<br />
Should you be reading this under the light<br />
of a "Blue Moon" and "Consider Yourself"<br />
to have a reasonable voice then why not<br />
come "Downtown" to St Luke's where you<br />
can "Sing". If you do, then as you pass<br />
through the doors I can say that "You'll<br />
Never Walk Alone" and others there may<br />
be amazed by "The Wonder of You".<br />
When leaving you will certainly feel that<br />
singing did "Bring Me Sunshine" and who<br />
knows you might even bump into "The<br />
Laughing Policeman" on the way out. I<br />
would welcome you to come and join us at<br />
St Luke's on a Friday morning. There is no<br />
commitment to sign up long term; we just<br />
pay a voluntary contribution of £2 per<br />
session and everyone agrees that it is a very<br />
enjoyable way to spend a morning. We now<br />
have about 10-15 men and about 70-75<br />
ladies so men are particularly welcome.<br />
Kind regards<br />
Rob Hughes<br />
p.s. Happy Christmas to you!<br />
The Bishop of Wakefield, Stephen Platten<br />
outside St John's Church, Clay Hill.<br />
what might have been – Magical memory<br />
There we were, these 4 long-haired, music-loving, over-sexed<br />
(only in our minds), Stationers' schoolboys who enjoyed hanging<br />
out with each other. One day our leader, Bob Ritchie, with myself<br />
Don and Ray, who did not have any surnames simply because I<br />
have forgotten them, told us something exciting and unbelievable.<br />
We had all been raving about our music heroes such as Buddy<br />
Holly, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, and Lonnie Donegan,<br />
Chris Barber and Acker Bilk, when Bob stunned us into sudden<br />
silence by revealing he not only had a guitar but he had a taperecorder<br />
as well!<br />
When we recovered ourselves we called him a lucky so and so<br />
and kept asking him when could we all go round to his house and<br />
look at and play with these wonderful things. So straight after<br />
school the very next day we crowded into Bob's front room<br />
where he showed us the guitar and tape recorder. After a lot of<br />
trying these out we had to admit Bob was the only one who<br />
could play a few chords on the guitar and make it sound good.<br />
About this time a talent show called Carrell Levis Discoveries<br />
was on stage for a few weeks at the Astoria Cinema Finsbury<br />
Park, where anyone with some sort of talent could go and<br />
perform a possible musical masterpiece and be "discovered"<br />
which could lead to "greater things".<br />
Bob decided we would have a go at this and the thought of it was<br />
so exciting we even stopped thinking about girls for a short while<br />
and concentrated on this possible chance of stardom! We chose<br />
two songs. Buddy Holly's EVERYDAY and Michael Holliday's<br />
THE STORY OF MY LIFE. After several days rehearsing and<br />
Bob's ability to play 4 or 5 chords on the guitar, we had to admit<br />
27
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
geography) were the very primitive facilities for boys and girls<br />
(separately, of course) and the air-raid shelters, more of which later.<br />
Juniors went out of their door and round the back to get to the<br />
playground, a tarmacked slightly sloping area bounded on two<br />
sides by the road. The slope, inevitable in Muswell Hill, had been<br />
reduced a bit by excavation so that by the fence and by the wall of<br />
the adjoining house was a short steep bank. At the other, lower end<br />
a stout wooden fence stretched across the playground, leaving a<br />
narrow strip of ground which was intermittently and<br />
unenthusiastically used to show that seeds put into the soil would<br />
sometimes germinate and produce a flower or vegetable. To the top<br />
right of the playground there was a small square extension which<br />
was meant to be reserved for the infants. In the garden backing on<br />
to this were kept a few chickens; these fascinated us town kids.<br />
Astoria, Finsbury Park c.1949<br />
we didn't sound too bad.<br />
We all got more and more excited and also more and more<br />
nervous. As the date got nearer and nearer to go to the Astoria,<br />
we found ourselves coming up with reasons not to go. The<br />
thought of going up on stage was suddenly very daunting, and<br />
would our bowels be able to stand it, but most important of all,<br />
if were honest with ourselves, we weren't as good as we thought<br />
we were anyway!<br />
Almost at the last minute, with a mixture of disappointment and<br />
relief, we decided not to go. So, the start of an amazing musical<br />
career fizzled out before it even started. But I still wonder, after<br />
all these years, if Bob can play more than 5 chords now.<br />
Mike Hiron 1954-1959<br />
TIN POT MEMORIES<br />
Muswell hill primary school<br />
The building was originally intended to be temporary so it was<br />
relatively inexpensively built in wood and corrugated iron. It was<br />
rectangular in plan and orientated roughly NW-SE. This meant<br />
that the five classrooms on the SW side of the central corridor<br />
were generally sunny (when there was sun). They each had tall<br />
sash windows, most of which could be opened and closed with<br />
the aid of ropes.<br />
They were fairly high up so that we couldn't see anything of<br />
interest outside to interrupt our education...... There were floor<br />
to ceiling sliding/folding partitions between at least some of the<br />
rooms, but this useful facility was rarely if ever used.<br />
The rooms were equipped with standard double iron framed<br />
desks with hinged seats and work surfaces and a pen rack and ink<br />
holder at the top. Teachers' desks were raised on small plinths.<br />
The walls would be plastered with teaching aids and occasionally<br />
pupils' work.<br />
Doors at each end of the central corridor let pupils in and out of<br />
the school, infants at the NW and juniors at the SE. On the<br />
other side of the corridor, working along from the junior end,<br />
there was a cloakroom, a store room, caretaker's den, a room for<br />
the head mistress, then the Hall. This had a platform at the<br />
upper end and many seldom used glazed doors leading to the<br />
outside. Beyond the hall, another tiny room served as a very<br />
cramped staff room, another store and the infants' cloakroom -<br />
all very tidily designed.<br />
Outside at the back (Le. NE, for anyone still following the<br />
Summer PE lessons often took place on the playground. Races<br />
were run up and down; as the fence at the bottom and the house<br />
wall at the top were not parallel, it meant that you had an<br />
advantage being on the side nearer the school - you had a slightly<br />
shorter run. I still remember the look on the face of the most<br />
athletic boy in the class, Eric Eveleigh, when I beat him in a race,<br />
having worked out the advantage. You collided more or less<br />
violently with the wall at the end of the race - it would not be<br />
allowed today by the H & S people. Half way up the playground<br />
on the right one could clamber through a couple of bushes and<br />
scramble onto the shady roof of the adjacent air raid shelter. This<br />
I would sometimes do on a summer day after returning to school<br />
from lunch at home. I would lie there in the sun with eyes closed<br />
and listen to conversations around me. I was most gratified one<br />
such day to hear a small voice ask, 'Is he dead?'<br />
I remember little of my first day in school, other than being put<br />
next to Barry Griffiths.<br />
Barry wore glasses, one lens blanked out. Not having met with<br />
this phenomenon before, I must have stared. In my class from<br />
the earliest days was Roger Heard; he and I became good friends,<br />
though we drifted apart after we went to Stationers', as we were<br />
in different classes from then on. I have recently made a small<br />
effort to trace him, and one or two other classmates of those days,<br />
but with almost no success. Talking about whom I sat next to, I<br />
remember being most upset once being made to sit next to<br />
Stinker Myers. Poor girl, I am sure she didn't deserve this<br />
nickname.<br />
At the other end of the spectrum, there was a sweet girl with a<br />
head of fair curly hair, whose name I forget at the moment, but<br />
may well remember before I finish this; she had a moderate<br />
stutter and although I didn't fall in love with her at the time, I<br />
remember her with affection. I did find myself attracted to<br />
Rosemary Dickens; she never showed any sign of recognising my<br />
affliction and at that time I was puzzled about my feelings.<br />
Whilst on this tack I will recall a school party when I was in the<br />
upper part of the school - no idea about the circumstances - at<br />
which we played various games which involved running about. I<br />
swung round one of the Hodge twin sisters and quite innocently<br />
and accidentally clutched her right breast (which must have been<br />
in its very infancy); I recall clearly the electric shock which<br />
passed through me and the subsequent wonder about what it<br />
meant. Today's young people would surely readily understand ...<br />
The Sankey twins, Ted 'n' Harry, joined the school not long<br />
before we went to secondary schools. They were good friends -<br />
and I really fell for their sister, Pat. I took her to the opera at<br />
Sadlers Wells a couple of times - so perhaps it is no wonder I<br />
made no progress with her! The only one of my contemporaries<br />
28
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Muswell Hill Railway Station the site on which the primary school was built.<br />
I can find on 'Friends Reunited' is Beryl Noyce. If anyone<br />
reading this has contact or information concerning anyone else<br />
in my year, I would be pleased to hear.<br />
I remember various teachers; Miss/Mrs Manchip/Mantrip or<br />
some such. Poor lady had a limp and no idea about how to teach<br />
children. On the other hand there was Mrs Shaw whom we all<br />
adored. Her husband had a hand in the education of some of us,<br />
too. Somehow or other I went with a party of children to a<br />
summer holiday camp somewhere in, I think, Sussex. Peter Lack<br />
would remember. Mr Shaw accompanied us; he took us on walks,<br />
including to a stream running through the village. We watched<br />
as a fish scuttled away from our gaze among the water weeds;<br />
almost immediately, another startled us by following exactly the<br />
same route.<br />
The head mistress in my time was Miss Barker. I had no<br />
particular feelings toward her, or contact, until one day I was<br />
summoned before her and threatened with the cane unless my<br />
reading improved. I was so scared that I wet myself all over her<br />
floor (short trousers in those days) and had to dash round the<br />
back. I had no prior knowledge that my reading was substandard.<br />
I don't think it made much difference in the long run, but in<br />
retrospect I realise that others were concerned. My brother<br />
showed me a passage in one of Dad's railway books about a runaway<br />
train, which did interest me, but it was not until I was<br />
introduced to Biggles and a book called 'Flying for Ethiopia'<br />
that I started to read of my own accord. I still read rather slowly,<br />
but always have at least one book on the go.<br />
Another vignette of memory - I was at school in rather unusual<br />
wartime circumstances, not the whole school, but in an admix of<br />
classes, possibly during the holidays; why, I know not. The airraid<br />
siren started and the teacher in charge began to hurry us out<br />
to the shelter in a panicky kind of way. It was some time before<br />
we blase children could get her to listen - to the all-clear!<br />
In my first paragraph I said that I had spent almost all my time<br />
at the Tin Pot School. The qualification is due to the fact that<br />
after a bomb (a V1 doodlebug I think) landed on the railway just<br />
above the school and damaged the roof, we had to meet in a<br />
temporary room at Crouch End School, some mile away. This<br />
was not a happy time for me - I hated school dinners; previously<br />
I had always gone home at lunchtime.<br />
Some time later we returned to the Tin Pot and noted the repairs<br />
to the roof of the hall.<br />
Twice in my life I have suffered the shock of finding a school<br />
building missing from its site. At some point the Tin Pot was<br />
pulled down and a replacement built on the site of Muswell Hill<br />
Station - closing of the Ally-Pally line was a crime. I didn't know<br />
about this until I visited some years later. The second even<br />
greater shock came when I went down memory lane expecting to<br />
see Stationers' Company's School, but that had gone too - a<br />
political crime - and another story.<br />
Tony Bathurst<br />
PS: Her name was Marion Blanchard - I remembered!<br />
First world war memories<br />
audjohn@hotmail.com<br />
5th January 2015<br />
Dear Geraint,<br />
A Happy New Year to you! Hope you are well and fit to travel.<br />
I enclose the following which you requested. Please amend/omit<br />
as you see fit. First World War stories abound and will continue<br />
to do so as we are reminded of the centenary of the start of the<br />
war. My father, Walter Young saw action in France from April,<br />
1915 until the war ended when he was released as a prisoner of<br />
war at the end of 1918.<br />
On returning home he started writing his memoirs, a unique<br />
story of amazing survival against all the odds. His writings only<br />
came to light after he died in 1957, when my brother eventually<br />
sold the house and found three large manuscript books at the<br />
back of a cupboard. None of us knew about these as my father,<br />
in common with many servicemen, never talked about his<br />
experiences.<br />
Walter Young was born in 1898 at 323 St. John's Street, just<br />
below the Angel, Islington., the fourth of eight children. He was<br />
employed by the Post Office in 1908 and worked at King<br />
Edward Building, Holborn as a sorter until he retired in 1949.<br />
This large Post Office was not that far from Fleet Street and the<br />
site of the first Stationer's Company's School. When he married<br />
in 1922 he settled in the home in which I was born and lived<br />
until I married in 1956. This was in Cressida Road, near to<br />
Hornsey Lane - a stone's throw from the site of our school in<br />
Mayfield Road. (These are rather dubious and indirect<br />
connections which linked us with Stationers' for I never went<br />
there as a pupil, but joined Highbury County Grammar School<br />
in 1941. Being in a different Borough we never engaged as rivals<br />
in sport).<br />
My father had joined the Territorials in 1913 and trained at<br />
various places in the South of England including Abbots Langley,<br />
near to my present home at Wigginton. He served with the 47th<br />
Division of the Post Office Rifles together with many of his<br />
colleagues from King Edward Building. Before enlisting he was<br />
presented with a New Testament (which I still have) from his<br />
church - Woodbridge Baptist Chapel in Clerkenwell Square. He<br />
became a committed Christian whilst attending that Church as a<br />
young man. Although I am sure he never presumed that God<br />
would protect him whatever happened, but his trust in God must<br />
have been a great comfort to him in all the trials and dangers he<br />
went through. He knew he could have died a thousand times, but,<br />
of course, he did survive or I would not be writing this. He had<br />
no heart for war as he writes on the first page of his memoirs, "It<br />
is not in the spirit of Christianity," but he regarded what he did as<br />
serving his King and country and his family.<br />
29
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
It would be impossible to describe all the horrors he experienced<br />
during the three and a half years he was serving in France.<br />
Indeed, many accounts are available of others who went through<br />
the same. Yet, my father wrote his story in a very personal, factual<br />
way without showing much emotion or embellishing the details.<br />
The Imperial War Museum have not kept a copy on film and my<br />
daughter managed to get his story into book form (Blurb.com<br />
and go to Wal's War).<br />
He fought in the Battles of Festubert and Loos in 1915; at Vimy<br />
Ridge in 1916; In 1917 he endured the fighting at the<br />
Hindenburg Line, Ypres, Poelcapelle and Bullecourt. At the<br />
latter battle he acted as a stretcher-bearer and won the Military<br />
Medal for outstanding bravery in rescuing a soldier under heavy<br />
fire and through shell holes and barb wire. In 1918 he was at<br />
Barisis and at the start of the great German offensive (which<br />
failed) in March he was captured. This happened when he was<br />
taking a stretcher across a corn field to the First Aid post and<br />
discovered that the Germans were on two sides of the field,<br />
almost to where he was heading. He threw himself down under<br />
a hail of bullets, but decided, in the end, that he would make a<br />
run for it. Immediately, a bullet hit the side of his helmet and<br />
came out on the side, miraculously missing his head. Putting his<br />
hand up to hold his head, he had a bullet in the hand and knew<br />
the game was up. He writes, " Strangely, I felt quite calm and said<br />
to myself, 'at last'."<br />
The Germans ran towards him with bayonets fixed, but thankfully<br />
were not used and he had no alternative but to surrender.<br />
He, with many others, was taken to a Prussian coal mine, many<br />
miles away and put to work half a mile down extracting coal.<br />
Not being a miner and with bullying Germans whose language<br />
he did not understand, he endured a most miserable time and<br />
was badly injured on two occasion, but just had to keep on going.<br />
He writes "In many ways the mines were worse than the trenches<br />
because at least you had rest days at times, but never down the mines."<br />
My father, Walter, was an extremely shy, quiet and reserved man,<br />
so everything he went through was an ordeal, but, at the Prussian<br />
mines, his heart of compassion went out to all the other prisoners,<br />
French, Belgium, Russian and English who seemed as he put it<br />
"Like sheep without a shepherd," quoting the words of Jesus<br />
when He met the crowds. Life was sheer misery, hopeless and<br />
aimless as there was nothing to do except work.<br />
As a Christian he felt he should do something to give them some<br />
hope to help them in their deep depression. So, going against all<br />
his natural reserve to stay in the background, he asked for<br />
permission to hold a Christian service. This was granted, but the<br />
only place was the washroom where there was little light and a<br />
noisy hissing sound. When the day came, in great trepidation, he<br />
wondered if any would turn up. Strangely, one prisoner had a<br />
violin (how did he preserve that?) and offered to play the hymns.<br />
There were no hymn books, so my father read the verses from<br />
one copy he was given. About 40 turned up and it must have<br />
been one of the strangest scenes one could ever imagine, but he<br />
did it and writes, "I think I said a few words," meaning that he<br />
talked about the love of God to all men, whoever they were and<br />
in whatever situation. He does not record the reaction, but<br />
simply said that further services were held. Dad certainly lived<br />
out the New Testament teaching -"My power is made perfect in<br />
weakness." for it was the last thing he wanted, or felt able to do.<br />
This untold story in all the books that have been written, have<br />
moved me more than anything showing what the human spirit<br />
can achieve when obeying God's call to love one's fellowmen.<br />
Not long afterwards, the war ended and prisoners repatriated.<br />
Dad was taken through Holland, across the North Sea to<br />
Yorkshire and then by train to King's Cross. His home was<br />
nearby, but no details are given as to how his family received him<br />
back. (When a prisoner, he was described as 'missing' on many<br />
notices that were sent out by the War Office). They must have<br />
been overjoyed and, I am sure, made a great fuss of him.<br />
In 2014, I have had the pleasure and honour of talking about my<br />
father's experiences on Radio 4; Radio 2 with Clare Balding and<br />
local radio. My daughter has spoken on radio Oxford. Last August<br />
I also had the honour to lay a wreath at a service organised by the<br />
Post Office to commemorate the part played by the Post Office<br />
Rifles in the Great War. This was held at St. Botolphes Church in<br />
Aldersgate Street, again a stone's throw from Stationers' Hall.<br />
This was a moving occasion, after which I and my family went on<br />
to see the poppies placed around the Tower of London. Some of<br />
those poppies represented those my<br />
father knew and worked with who<br />
had given up their lives, some blown<br />
to pieces almost next to him. (He was<br />
buried alive when the trench was<br />
blown in on one occasion, but quickly<br />
rescued.)<br />
The publishing firm - Hudson Lion<br />
will be publishing another version of<br />
my father's story. It will be called<br />
"Walter's War" and should be out<br />
sometime this year.<br />
John Young<br />
A request from myself. If there are any<br />
Old Stationers' who went to one of the<br />
Cholmeley Camps which I ran from<br />
1954 to 1974 and would like to make<br />
contact I would be very pleased to hear<br />
from them. (audjohn@hotmail.com)<br />
John Young with Clare Balding<br />
30
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Robert E. Howard's Rarest Book<br />
A priceless piece of Howard history comes home<br />
to Cross Plains by Leo Grin<br />
The Herbert Jenkins<br />
edition of A Gent From<br />
Bear Creek was the very<br />
first book Robert E.<br />
Howard ever had published.<br />
Although Howard had<br />
been writing for magazines<br />
for his entire writing career,<br />
by 1935 he still hadn't been<br />
published in book form. He<br />
had come close several<br />
times, but something<br />
always happened at the last<br />
minute to spoil the deal.<br />
But finally, in 1936, a small<br />
British publisher named<br />
Herbert Jenkins purchased<br />
the rights to publish a book<br />
of Howard's rip-roaring Breckinridge Elkins tales. All of these<br />
humorous-hillbilly westerns had originally appeared in a pulp<br />
magazine called Action Stories. In fact, Ol' Breck Elkins was so<br />
popular with that magazine's readers that for several years every<br />
single issue of the magazine featured a Breck story from Howard,<br />
a streak which continued from the character's inception in 1934<br />
all the way until their backlog of stories finally ran out a year after<br />
Howard's death. After learning that Herbert Jenkins wanted to<br />
publish his Breck Elkins stories in book form, Howard sat down<br />
and rewrote them slightly, adding textual "bridges" between them<br />
that tied the individual stories together into one complete novel.<br />
Howard then sent the finished manuscript off to be published,<br />
but tragically he died before seeing the finished book in print.<br />
The book was published a year after Howard's death, in 1937,<br />
with Dr. Howard receiving the complimentary copy intended for<br />
his late son. One can imagine the great joy and pride Howard<br />
would have felt if he had lived to see his very first book published.<br />
The book was being sold only in England, and a few years later,<br />
as World War II engulfed the world, huge paper shortages in<br />
Britain prompted wide-scale pulping of books to fill wartime<br />
needs. As a result of this mass destruction of books, by the end<br />
of the war virtually every one of the copies of the Jenkins A Gent<br />
From Bear Creek had vanished from the face of the earth.<br />
Because of this, in the sixty years since the end of World War II<br />
a mere six copies of this book have been found, making it by far<br />
the most rare and priceless of all Howard collectibles. Two are in<br />
libraries in England under lock and key. One is owned by an<br />
elderly Howard collector in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Howard's<br />
copy is now in the library of Ranger Junior College in Ranger,<br />
Texas. A fifth copy has been passed around from collector to<br />
collector several times throughout the 1990s, each time selling for<br />
thousands of dollars. And the last and best copy is owned by none<br />
other than Howard scholar Glenn Lord of Pasadena, Texas.<br />
That's it. For sixty years even fans with thousands of dollars to<br />
spend have been unable to add this book to their collections,<br />
because it simply was not to be found anywhere. This scarcity has<br />
made it the Holy Grail of Howard Collecting, the one book that<br />
every Howard aficionado dreams of owning.<br />
A Miracle from the South ...<br />
the truly deep South ....<br />
South Africa, that is. In Forest Town, South Africa, within<br />
earshot of the roaring lions of the famous Johannesburg Zoo, a<br />
man named Ian Snelling owns a rare bookshop.<br />
An ex-soccer player, Ian has for the last twenty years collected<br />
rare first editions of books and made a career out of buying and<br />
selling them. Because of this, Ian often goes to a local charity<br />
thrift shop and pokes through their "to be pulped" bin, looking<br />
for rare treasures about to be sent off as garbage to be destroyed.<br />
As he explains it:<br />
"This is a place where bitter experience has taught me that I<br />
better look through their throwaways before looking on their<br />
shelves. I'm sure you must have similar places in the USA ...little<br />
old ladies working for charity who know that old tatty books<br />
have no appeal and just take valuable shelf space away from the<br />
Danielle Steele's and Jonathan Kellerman's that are nice books<br />
that the public will buy.<br />
"For example, I found a rare copy of Evelyn Waugh's Scoop in<br />
their throwaway bin two years back. It was brand new, but with<br />
no dust jacket. So new, in fact, that I asked "where's the jacket<br />
that must have been on this?" The old lady answered: "Nobody<br />
would have bought it with that scruffy old thing ...we binned it!"<br />
Finding the dust jacket on that book would have made it far<br />
more valuable. That time I was four days too late.<br />
"But it taught me the lesson that searching their garbage bin<br />
prior to the shelves was a must. No amount of pleading to keep<br />
back old books has had any effect, they always think they know<br />
best. Even the payments I give them for discarded "rubbish"<br />
makes them think I'm eccentric. Of course I'm eccentric ... I like<br />
finding diamonds in seas of mud!"<br />
Ian Snelling<br />
31
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
So, in early 2002, Ian was looking through the pulpers bin of the<br />
charity shop in question, and came across an old, dirty, battered<br />
copy of a book called A Gent From Bear Creek, by some chap<br />
named Robert E. Howard. Ian has long been a collector of P.G.<br />
Wodehouse, so he was quite familiar with Herbert Jenkins as a<br />
publisher. But the name Robert E. Howard didn't ring any bells,<br />
and standing there in the shop he guessed that "Howard" might<br />
actually have been a pen name used by famous western writer<br />
Louis Lamour. So, thinking the book might be worth something<br />
on that basis, he paid a few rands for it and attracted more<br />
eccentric stares from the old ladies by leaving a R20 tip in their<br />
collection jar.<br />
Consider the Providence involved here: that particular book -<br />
only the seventh known copy to exist - had been a mere two<br />
hours away from being sent off to the pulpers to be destroyed!<br />
Coming home and doing some research, Ian found the website<br />
for the Robert E. Howard United Press Association, and realized<br />
that Howard was a real person. He emailed the REHUPA<br />
webmaster (who happens to be me - Leo Grin), telling me about<br />
the fmd and asking for more information. I quickly sent him to<br />
his collection of Firsts Magazine (a magazine dedicated to<br />
collecting rare books) and told him to dig out the issue published<br />
two years ago featuring Robert E. Howard.<br />
It was then that the true nature of his find sunk in. Ian had no<br />
idea how popular an author Howard was, how many fans he had,<br />
or how rare and expensive a book he had actually found. As he<br />
later said with a chuckle: "My knowledge of sci-fi and westerns<br />
leaves a lot to be desired. Somewhere I'd remembered the name<br />
but in the wrong context. When I re-read the 'Firsts' article, I did<br />
have the grace to blush!"<br />
After thinking his options over, Ian decided that - rare as the<br />
book was - it wasn't the kind of thing he needed for his own<br />
collection. So he decided to sell it. He told me, however, that he<br />
found E-Bay auctions and the like too impersonal, so he would<br />
be much happier seeing it auctioned off in a venue where real<br />
Howard fans would have a chance at owning it, or at least seeing<br />
one up close for perhaps the only time in their lives.<br />
Ian asked if I would perhaps like to auction the book off for him<br />
in the states, but after thinking it over I had a better idea.<br />
I told Ian the story of Project Pride and the Howard Museum,<br />
and how the people of Cross Plains had worked so hard to<br />
preserve Howard's memory. I also told him of the annual<br />
Howard Days Festival, and how hundreds of Howard fans came<br />
to Cross Plains each year to remember Howard. I suggested that<br />
if he truly wanted the book to be accessible to fans, he might<br />
consider selling it to me for a fair but discounted price, with the<br />
stipulation that I then donate the book the Robert E. Howard<br />
Museum here in Cross Plains.<br />
The decision was not a light one for Ian. After all, if he chose to<br />
sell the book on E-Bay he was guaranteed to make many<br />
thousands of dollars from the sale. But he was touched by what<br />
he had heard about the efforts of Project Pride and Cross Plains,<br />
and so finally he agreed to sell it to me for the relatively cheap<br />
price of $3700. In doing this for the people of Cross Plains, I<br />
estimate that lan sacrificed several thousand dollars which he<br />
would have received if the book had been auctioned publicly.<br />
And so here we are - and here "it" is. The book was officially<br />
donated to Project Pride and the Robert E. Howard Museum<br />
during the 2002 Howard Days festivities. Now Cross Plains<br />
finally has that most precious of all Howard collectibles, the<br />
ultra-rare Herbert Jenkins first edition of A Gent From Bear<br />
Creek. Rather than being locked up in a library's holdings or<br />
disappearing into some rich fellow's collection never to be seen<br />
again, this book can now be seen by Howard fans whenever they<br />
visit the Howard Museum in Cross Plains.<br />
Thanks to a kind and generous man in South Africa, a major<br />
piece of Howard history has finally come home.<br />
The book hunter by Dick Phillips<br />
Gordon<br />
SA Book Connection, 13 Polela Road,<br />
Hillcrest KZN 3610<br />
ian@sabookconnection.co.za<br />
I hope this may be of interest to you. I've just published my first<br />
book 'The Book Hunter' under the nom-de-plume Dick<br />
Phillips. It's a biblio-mystery. I should add that 'the hero' is a<br />
Gooner supporting bookdealer or just maybe, a bookdealer<br />
loving Gooners.<br />
Feedback for the 'Book Hunter'<br />
I prefer to call this 'feedback' rather than a review as a true review<br />
should be objective and this feedback is subjective.<br />
Firstly, I want to say that I really enjoyed the Book Hunter and<br />
really hope that you complete your editing for publication so that<br />
I can add it to my collection.<br />
The use of the first person for all the main characters is an<br />
unusual approach but one that works really well as the reader<br />
feels empathy for each character – including the murderer (to a<br />
point). I like to identify with the main character in each book I<br />
read. It doesn't matter whether the character is male or female; I<br />
'become' that character.<br />
The book was a nice mixture of<br />
personal journeys, the discovery of the<br />
value of books and the gradual building<br />
of knowledge about the books, for<br />
both the characters and the reader.<br />
There is a lot of really useful<br />
information about first editions and<br />
book collecting and it is given in a<br />
way that doesn't destroy the flow of<br />
the story. Much as I enjoy John<br />
Dunning's books there were a couple<br />
of occasions where the technical information interrupted the flow<br />
of the story and I actually skipped a page to get back to the plot<br />
(vowing to get back to the useful information at a later stage).<br />
Your first edition information seemed to be more closely woven<br />
into the story and I didn't skip a single line!<br />
I liked the 'journey' from London to South Africa and the<br />
descriptions of the two countries and the differences between<br />
the two, including the pros and cons of living in two very<br />
different environments. I could relate to that. The whole book<br />
was really gripping and 'unputdownable' and this was particularly<br />
32
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
true of the 'murder plot'. It was a believable story about books<br />
and the joy of owning something unique and you really made the<br />
idea of killing to own a particular book seem almost<br />
understandable. I really enjoyed the surprise ending! I did think<br />
it ended quite abruptly but maybe the last few pages aren't quite<br />
finished?<br />
I also like the characters, they were very different and your<br />
depiction of each one made them come alive and made each and<br />
everyone of them 'likeable' even, as I said above, including the<br />
murderer. I would buy 'The Book Hunter' when you get around<br />
to publishing it. I will recommend it to others.<br />
I really do urge you to complete the work you have to do before<br />
publication. You will be doing yourself and the reading public a<br />
great disservice by not publishing it.<br />
Well that's about it. I'll be more than happy to sign using both<br />
real and nom-de-plume names should you require. Thanks and if<br />
you buy, enjoy.<br />
Best wishes<br />
Ian Snelling 1953-1960<br />
SECONDLY from<br />
GRAHAM LING'S LETTER<br />
PSA AND PROSTATE CANCER<br />
I was most interested to read ROGER ENGLEDOW'S 'Peru<br />
Postcript' and in some ways we have much in common (apart<br />
from being in the same school year).<br />
When I worked in the bank I was entitled to a full medical every<br />
four years. When I took 'voluntary' early retirement at aged 50<br />
and started a new life as a driving instructor this was not available<br />
to me.<br />
At 52 my wife and I paid for full medicals but at 56 it was too<br />
expensive. However, the following year we went ahead. During<br />
this time Kathy started working for a consultant urologist and<br />
this is where luck came in.<br />
When all the blood tests from the medical came back the PSA<br />
was 5.2 (should be less than 4). My GP wasn't worried when I<br />
mentioned it to her but she said that as Kathy now worked for a<br />
urologist she could perhaps show the result to him. This she did<br />
and after putting his finger where fingers are not meant to go, said<br />
that he could feel nothing wrong. However, he referred me to a<br />
prostate cancer specialist. Initially, he was not worried either but<br />
biopsies were taken and whilst three were clear three were 'iffy'.<br />
We then went through the whole process again three months<br />
later when the PSA had arisen to 8.4 and 2 biopsies showed<br />
cancer. Once we had got over the initial shock, unlike Roger, I<br />
was really given a free hand as to treatment and at 57 opted for<br />
a radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate). Before the<br />
operation I also took the same pills and injections as Roger with<br />
the same results.<br />
However, after the operation, although there are side effects<br />
which I won't go into here, the PSA returned to 0 where it stayed<br />
for four years before starting to rise slowly. Unfortunately the<br />
cancer had obviously spread just outside the prostate. I then had<br />
35 sessions of radiotherapy where again I was lucky as this had<br />
little effect on my overall health. The PSA again returned to 0<br />
where it has stayed for another three or four years before starting<br />
to climb slowly. This still continues (presently 16.2) and I have<br />
regular MRI and bone scans, but so far so good.<br />
It is now over 14 years since my operation and for those of you<br />
who see me at our annual reunions I am not doing too badly.<br />
During this time for three and a half years I was chairman of<br />
PCaSO, a prostate cancer support group in Hampshire and<br />
Kathy and I counselled several people who had been diagnosed.<br />
It is not the end of the world but I would strongly agree with<br />
Roger that regular checks are essential especially if you know that<br />
it is in the family. Whilst checks and PSA counts are not<br />
infallible they can pick up this horrible disease early so there is<br />
time for action.<br />
Sincerely<br />
Graham Ling 1954-1961<br />
FOOD FOR THOUGHT<br />
The Company's decision to put its name into the "Stationers<br />
Crown Woods Academy" will automatically involve the OSA in<br />
making a decision on whether we want it to affect us, or not.<br />
I have put some thoughts together which do not necessarily<br />
reflect my political views! I understand that the Company intend<br />
to communicate with all OSA members regarding their<br />
involvement. Indeed, by the time you read this you will probably<br />
have received their circular. I have the benefit of putting these<br />
thoughts together before I read what they have to say.<br />
We all know that the last member of the OSA is expected to<br />
"turn the lights out" in 20xx! Actually, as an active body, the end<br />
may be a bit earlier than that. Will what the Company has done<br />
this year make any difference? At some time our Committee may<br />
put a proposal to an AGM so that those who attend will be able<br />
to express their views and vote. Having written that I don't think<br />
it is right. It shouldn't be only those able to attend the AGM that<br />
should have the right to vote on our future. The Committee<br />
should organize a referendum to which those who attend the<br />
AGM should consider to be binding, whatever the question is<br />
going to be (presumably changes to our constitution).<br />
Some OSA members don't like the idea that the OSA will not<br />
survive for ever. They like what we have, think that it is a force<br />
for goodness and feel that the history behind us will get lost if<br />
there is no way of perpetuating the Association.<br />
My thoughts are directed more towards how any coming<br />
together of ex-pupils of SCWA and SCS might be brought<br />
about. To that end, they may be irrelevant (as I don't know where<br />
the majority view lies) but I think that they may help OSA<br />
members to come to a decision.<br />
Most of us, I suspect did not see any particular benefit to joining<br />
an "old boys' association" as soon as we left school. When I left<br />
though, the structure was somewhat different. By joining either<br />
the football club or cricket club one automatically became a<br />
member of SOBA. This changed (in the 60s?) when the<br />
association became the OSA and the sports clubs became<br />
separate entities. Forgive the history but the point is that many of<br />
us are members of the OSA because we started with one, or both,<br />
of the football and cricket clubs. Our numbers are not declining<br />
as might be expected because as we get older more people look<br />
back with nostalgia and see the OSA as a worthwhile organisation.<br />
So, how do we interest lads and lasses leaving school in South<br />
London to become involved with a lot of old men with whom<br />
33
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
they probably feel they have little in common. To begin with we<br />
would need to sow some seeds (from little acorns etc.). Both the<br />
teachers and the Company will need to play important roles.<br />
On the football front perhaps the teachers could play a match<br />
against the OSFC Megavets or even an OSA walking football<br />
team on the School's sports day. The School could be asked to<br />
put together a suitable standard cricket team to play at Botany<br />
Bay in the President's Day match. The Golf Society could play<br />
an event in the Greenwich area and invite pupils, ex-pupils and<br />
teachers to join in or the golf match against the Company could<br />
be a 3-way match. A bridge match wouldn't involve many from<br />
the OSA but could form part of a bigger initiative.<br />
Longer term would the school's sports facilities be available for<br />
use on a Saturday? The OSFC 3rd (?) XI could be formed by<br />
ex-pupils from SCWS and play South of the river. (Some of you<br />
might think that a ridiculous idea; but these days each OSFC<br />
team is a separate squad within the club. If you play in the 2nd<br />
XI you won't get promoted to the Ones or relegated to the 3rds.<br />
Each team has, and uses a number of substitutes.) Further into<br />
the future, other teams could migrate to South of the river.<br />
Would the young ex-pupils want to come to our current<br />
functions. Who knows, but perhaps not. They might be fascinated<br />
to experience Stationers' Hall though. So a Summer Ball might<br />
interest them. This is where the Company might need to show<br />
its commitment by not charging for the use of the Hall so that<br />
the cost would be attractive to the South Londoners. When Tony<br />
Mash was President he was keen to expand our activities and<br />
give members the opportunity to involve spouses. So a boat trip<br />
on the Thames might come about after all.<br />
Do the two elements of an expanded Association need to mix a<br />
lot? It is probably not a big issue. In 30 years' time there won't be<br />
many of us who will be interested and the whole purpose of any<br />
coming together will be to extend the OSA's existence well<br />
beyond that time.<br />
Most of us probably feel that our subscription goes towards the<br />
2 magazines we receive each year. If the new intake paid the same<br />
subscription they wouldn't have all that much interest in what we<br />
currently produce, although they could start to develop their own<br />
pages. The cost of that plus the few extra copies that would be<br />
needed wouldn't increase the magazine costs very much. Thus<br />
some of the extra income could be used to develop these extra<br />
activities or subsidise things like a Summer Ball for the SCWA<br />
contingent.<br />
Whilst thinking about what might interest youngsters joining<br />
the OSA it also occurred to me that a further extension of<br />
membership could include the sons, daughters and grandchildren<br />
of current members. That might help to retain some of the<br />
history as there would be a personal interest from them. It might<br />
also help the process of integration if the younger element was<br />
coming from more than one source.<br />
Maybe none of the above thoughts will come to fruition but they<br />
might see other ideas that do. In order to avoid assuming you<br />
now know how I would vote on any proposal put to us all please<br />
read the first sentence of the second paragraph again. However,<br />
having seen a lot of biased information (on both sides) in the<br />
Scotland Referendum my intention is to put some "food for<br />
thought" on the table so that members can start their thinking<br />
process regarding our future. We are likely to have 3 options<br />
i) embrace the new situation, ii) ignore it (and upset the<br />
Company?) or iii) provide some guidance to SCWA to set up<br />
their own Old Pupils' Association.<br />
Roger Engledow<br />
Old Stationers Walking Football Initiative<br />
Under the guidance of Roger Engledow we have started<br />
“walking football” sessions at the Power League Astroturf<br />
pitches on the junction of the North Circular and Colney<br />
Hatch Lane.<br />
We play each Thursday at 11 am. If you are 55 or over and<br />
think you are in better condition than the motley crew in this<br />
picture then come and join us for fun, exercise and a rekindling<br />
of those magic moments from your youth. We need a<br />
minimum of 12 players to allow for a rolling sub and oxygen<br />
breaks so contact either myself or Roger to declare your<br />
availability.<br />
If there is enough interest and talent we intend to join a local<br />
league later this year.<br />
Tim Westbrook<br />
34
WHY WE SPEND NEARLY HALF<br />
THE YEAR IN LANZAROTE<br />
I was persuaded that I should not continue to put Brenda<br />
through the journey to Australia. Lanzarote is less than four<br />
hours away from Stansted. After ten years as geriatric gypsies<br />
trying to see how far we could roam it was time to settle down.<br />
The first try to reduce the travelling was achieved by finding<br />
a studio apartment for rent in Puerto del Carmen overlooking<br />
the harbour. We went to the same place twice a year for late<br />
autumn and late winter breaks. Unfortunately, I made some<br />
flattering comments on the website. The result was that<br />
somebody booked it for the October period before we set out<br />
for the February break in 2013.<br />
The solution was to seek our own place in the sun. Our luck<br />
held, we were offered a shabby, depressed two bedroom<br />
apartment at a very modest price by a local bank trying to<br />
recover a debt. We were taken to inspect it by an agent who<br />
told us that it was available but the price was not negotiable,<br />
up or down! We both agreed that it was a horrible mess but<br />
Brenda said "it needs TLC".<br />
So I offered the agent the asking price, which was accepted.<br />
The agent then gave us the names and phone numbers of<br />
tradesmen who could help us to provide the TLC. Eighteen<br />
months down the line the process is being completed while<br />
we are back in the UK. We have a spacious, elegant and<br />
modernised two bedroom apartment (72 square metres) with<br />
a patio (plus small sea view) and a forecourt, in the heart of<br />
the old town of Puerto del Carmen.<br />
We were away from the UK rather often and our UK property<br />
was showing signs of being neglected so we sold up and<br />
moved to a retirement complex in Saffron Walden, much<br />
closer to Stansted. The garden is maintained under contract<br />
and the manager lives in the flat above ours. Last year we<br />
spent 25 weeks in Lanzarote and we will do the same in this<br />
and subsequent years. There are many social events in the UK<br />
that we like to attend and we can avoid the complications<br />
which would arise if we go past 182 days in Lanzarote,<br />
including applying for residency which is not realistic.<br />
We now have the time to explore Lanzarote to discover some<br />
of its geography and history. It is said to be the first of the<br />
Canary Islands to explode from the Atlantic Ocean millions<br />
of years ago. In current terms it is the fourth largest island in<br />
the group and the closest to Africa, being 125 km from<br />
Saharan Morocco. The population is about 135,000 supporting<br />
a million tourists a year. It has a very pleasant climate (except<br />
mid-July to mid-September when it can be very hot). The<br />
rainfall is 140mm per annum - yes that is less than 6 inches!<br />
Lanzarote is a very barren land but its arid wastes are<br />
spectacular and such agriculture as occurs is a tribute to the<br />
initiative and cunning of the farmers. The local fishermen<br />
make a good living. The tourist industry discovered Lanzarote<br />
in 1960 and probably peaked in 1982. The worldwide<br />
financial crisis of recent years produced a major downturn<br />
here as elsewhere.<br />
There is some reference to Arabs visiting the island in the<br />
tenth century. By the end of the 13th century many ships<br />
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
AS FAR AS YOU ROAM<br />
visited the Canary Islands but Lanzarote would not have been<br />
a preferred destination as there have never been rivers. The<br />
Spanish and Portuguese disputed ownership until the Treaty<br />
of Alcazovar 1479 finally put the Spanish in control. Following<br />
the discovery of the Americas there was substantial shipping<br />
through the Canary Islands and Lanzarote was periodically<br />
under attack from French, English and Dutch pirates. Early<br />
in the 17th century 5000 Arabs took Lanzarote with an<br />
invasion by 60 vessels. In 1730 the island had a small<br />
population, with the economy based on agriculture and cattle<br />
rearing.<br />
On the evening of September 1st, about 11 km from the town<br />
of Yaiza the earth opened and the volcano of Timanfaya rose<br />
to 500 metres above sea level and lava flowed from the first<br />
and subsequent eruptions across the island until April 1736.<br />
This suffocated the livestock and covered the arable land in<br />
deep lava and produced many more volcanoes. Some thirty<br />
years later a drought for five years reduced the population by<br />
more than 2000 through hunger and thirst. In the 19th<br />
century various epidemics further reduced the population and<br />
the final volcanic eruptions in 1824 preceded yet another<br />
drought, which finally broke in 1847 leaving the island in its<br />
most depressed state.<br />
Modern technology has provided power from the sun and<br />
some drinking water from the ocean. Some of the beaches<br />
have been topped up with sand imported from the Saharan<br />
desert. Life for the farmers remains very hard. Water is very<br />
expensive and said to be not entirely salt free, although it<br />
tastes OK. They manage to grow vines and figs in hand made<br />
holes in the ground protected by walls of volcanic stones,<br />
which catch dew and occasional rain. There are some inland<br />
sandy areas supporting onion growing and some tomatoes and<br />
water melons but no one would claim they have any chance of<br />
making the place self-sufficient in the near future. We have<br />
had a look round and done some research and now are<br />
hooked. Four or five return tickets a year looks like the way<br />
forward. The climate is agreeable and the multiracial<br />
population in our area has been very friendly. For the time<br />
being we have the best of both locations. We can return<br />
frequently to our new neighbours in Saffron Walden to<br />
develop a social life there as well.<br />
Peter Engledow<br />
Dear Geraint,<br />
THREE PEAKS REPORT<br />
R.A.Griffiths@kent.ac.uk<br />
5th September 201422:43:41<br />
Great to meet up at Whipsnade recently. Here is the promised<br />
article about our Three Peaks walk in June, together with the<br />
extract from The Stationer 1975.<br />
The latter has some other interesting pictures (eg: me in the<br />
school play, Mike Brookes, Richard Comerford and Sean<br />
Leonard in the School 1st XI, and you John Watson and John<br />
Young in the staff football team - I can scan these if you'd like<br />
them). Also some Three Peaks photos. Let me know if you<br />
would like any further info.<br />
Best regards,<br />
Professor Richard A Griff iths 1968-75<br />
35
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
The Three Peaks of<br />
Yorkshire 40 Years On<br />
In June 1974 I was among a gaggle of Stationers undertaking<br />
the annual pilgrimage to Malham in the Yorkshire Dales.<br />
Despite the fact that it bore no affinity to the curriculum of<br />
the day, our enthusiastic geographic teacher - one Mr Geraint<br />
Pritchard - insisted that we should all undertake the Three<br />
Peaks Walk - a gruelling 27 mile hike over three of Yorkshire's<br />
highest fells, nominally to be completed within 12 hours. I<br />
subsequently recounted the trials and tribulations of that<br />
exercise in the 'Geography Field Courses Report' published in<br />
the 'The Stationer' volume 62, a copy of which I recently<br />
unearthed in my loft.<br />
About a year ago I had a phone call from fellow Old Stationer<br />
and Three-Peaker Mike Brookes. He said 'Do you fancy<br />
doing the Three Peaks again before we are both past it?' Both<br />
Mike and I are former members of Hornsey's Oakleaf<br />
Venture Scout Unit, and have continued to meet up at regular<br />
intervals over the years for walking weekends. So we set a<br />
date and organised a training schedule. This was complicated<br />
by Mike having to undergo knee surgery a few months before<br />
the walk. Mike claimed that his long-standing knee problem<br />
was down to playing too much football too late in life (by the<br />
time he stopped playing he was as follicularly challenged as<br />
Bobby Charlton, although there the similarity ends).<br />
Nevertheless, the knee came through the practice hikes<br />
unperturbed, and Mike subsequently got the all clear. Our<br />
respective families, possibly knowing that they would never<br />
hear the last of it unless they relented (we had been welltrained<br />
in the art of persuasion by Mr Pritchard) displayed an<br />
uncharacteristic enthusiasm for also participating. Mike's<br />
younger brother Alan - another Old Stationer/Three Peaker<br />
from a few years after us - had the rather feeble excuse that<br />
he was already booked up to see the Austrian Grand Prix that<br />
weekend, so he generously nominated his wife Jan to do the<br />
walk instead of him.<br />
An early start at Ribblehead Viaduct. From left to right: Mike Brookes, Richard Griffiths, Margaret Griffiths, Alex<br />
Brookes (son of Mike), Charlotte Brookes (daughter of Alan and Jan Brookes); Katy Hardy (girlfriend of Ollie Brookes);<br />
Ollie Brookes (son of Alan and Jan Brookes), Jan Brookes (sister-in-law of Mike). Photo by Gareth Griffiths<br />
So on the Saturday 23 June 2014, a party of nine, comprising<br />
two Old Stationers, one wife, one sister-in-law, and an<br />
assortment of offspring/girlfriends assembled at 7.30 am at<br />
Ribblehead Viaduct for the ascent of Whernside. After much<br />
discussion, we had opted for a non-traditional route, taking in<br />
the highest peak first. The Three Peaks guidebook describes<br />
this ascent accurately and succinctly unremittingly steep! At<br />
one stage Jan was almost using the wire fence that followed<br />
the so-called path as a ladder. However, unlike four decades<br />
previously when we tackled the climb in mist and rain, the<br />
weather was clear and dry. The<br />
downside of the clear weather<br />
was that both Pen-y-Ghent<br />
and Ingleborough were clearly<br />
visible from the summit, and<br />
any raised spirits on<br />
conquering the first peak were<br />
dampened by the realisation<br />
of just how far remained to be<br />
walked. Nevertheless, it was<br />
9.15 am and the first peak was<br />
in the bag. We set off down<br />
the ridge in the direction of<br />
Philpin Farm, where there was<br />
a very welcoming refreshment<br />
kiosk. The GPS told me how<br />
fast we had been walking and<br />
what distance we had covered,<br />
and I estimated that we were<br />
about 45 mins behind<br />
schedule. Urging the group<br />
onwards, we crossed the<br />
Ingleton-Hawes road, and<br />
started the ascent of<br />
36
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Ingleborough. This starts very gently with an amenable<br />
ramble across some pleasant meadows, but suddenly becomes<br />
a challenging zig-zag scramble up the rocky scarp to the top.<br />
The summit of Ingleborough is a flat, desolate rocky<br />
moonscape. It was here 40 years ago that Mr Young - his<br />
orange bicycle cape billowing around him in the wind and<br />
rain - made the salient observation that this was meant to be<br />
geology field course not a survival week. Had he not been a<br />
tactful and religious man, I sense he may have questioned the<br />
ancestry of his colleague Mr Pritchard for instigating the<br />
whole event. In July 2014 the summit of Ingleborough was<br />
rather more crowded than in 1974, and the fine weather<br />
allowed spectacular views of the Dales.<br />
We were now over an hour behind schedule, so tried to step<br />
up the pace on the long descent to Horton-in-Ribblesdale in<br />
the heat of the early afternoon. On the way down we passed<br />
through the limestone pavements of Ingleborough National<br />
Nature Reserve, where I passed on to my 15 year old son some<br />
pearls of wisdom concerning clints and grykes that Mr<br />
Pritchard had imparted to us when were his pupils. I was<br />
quickly put in my place: 'Dad, I did my geography GCSE two<br />
weeks ago. I don't need to know that right now'. Clearly a<br />
strategic learner in the making ... We briefly paid our respects<br />
to the Pen-y-Ghent Cafe - the scene of much pre- and postwalk<br />
banter in 1974 - replenished our supplies of water, and<br />
then set off for Pen-y-Ghent. As with Ingleborough, the start<br />
of the ascent is deceptive, as it traverses some lush meadows,<br />
before hitting steep rocky climbs up the limestone and<br />
gritstone scarps. However, once over those, the summit is a<br />
short scramble away. It was 5.00 pm, and we waited our turn<br />
to take photos at the trig-point. We had done the Three Peaks<br />
forty years on. The only problem now was that there still<br />
remained a further 9 miles to cover to get back to Ribblehead.<br />
The continuing clear weather meant that we could see the<br />
viaduct in the distance, and it looked an awfully long way<br />
away. However, this part of the walk was very different to<br />
1974.<br />
Forty years ago I recall a relentless yomp through bog and<br />
marsh on a decidedly unclear path. Today, the path is wellmarked<br />
and a very pleasant ramble across the lower fells. A<br />
setting sun and mild breeze provided ideal walking conditions<br />
to take us to the finishing line. We arrived back at Ribblehead<br />
just after 8.00 pm, exhausted but - despite some grumbles from<br />
the teenagers - in good spirits. It had taken us twelve and a half<br />
hours - two hours longer than in 1974, but given nearly half the<br />
party were over 50, we felt rather pleased with ourselves.<br />
So, apart from Mike Brookes' knee and my grey hair, what has<br />
changed over the past four decades? Mike pointed out that<br />
back in the 1970s we were fit but unprepared. Well, we were<br />
now better prepared but certainly less fit. The kit has certainly<br />
moved on. As impoverished Stationers' pupils, we made do<br />
with Doc Martens and flimsy kagoules, with the betterprepared<br />
members of the group investing in combat trousers<br />
from Haringey Army Surplus stores instead of the Brutus<br />
jeans (I recall several of my peer group stumbling when their<br />
footwear snagged the generous flare of their 1970s trousers).<br />
37
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
In 2014 everyone in our group was topped and tailed in the<br />
latest Gore-Tex, and wearing a pair of boots purchased for the<br />
price of a whole School trip to Malham in 1974. One thing<br />
that hasn't changed much is the reliance on the OS map, and<br />
having three map-readers in our team provided useful checks<br />
and balances on our route. The GPS also helped clarify exactly<br />
where we were on several occasions and provided an informative<br />
record of our route, walking speed and timings. The Three<br />
Peaks route is also much better marked now than it used to be,<br />
presumably to accommodate it's increasingly popularity and<br />
the impact of relentless footfall on the fells. I genuinely cannot<br />
recall meeting any other walkers on the route in 1974 (maybe<br />
they looked at the weather that day and had more sense).<br />
Today, the route is much busier, and in places a little crowded.<br />
Nevertheless, this does not diminish the sense of achievement.<br />
As I write this my son Gareth has just started his A-level<br />
Geography. Part of this will include a field trip to Malham.<br />
No doubt this will result in the completion of rather more<br />
Health and Safety forms than we ever did, and I somehow<br />
doubt whether the Three Peaks Challenge will be embraced<br />
within the programme for the week. Despite his reluctance to<br />
engage in a discourse with his father over limestone pavements,<br />
I wonder if the experience will resonate with him 40 years on?<br />
Richard Griff iths<br />
‘Is this where we went wrong 40 years ago?’ Richard consults the map en<br />
route to Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Pen-y-Gent in the background<br />
Looking back at Whernside just before the ascent of Ingleborough<br />
9.15 am and Whernside is in the bag!<br />
200 m done, and just 27 miles to go...<br />
38
My first excursion to Norway was prompted by my sister,<br />
Bethan deciding she was going there to look for a new venture<br />
abroad. From living in the district of Jesmond, a more affluent<br />
area of Newcastle upon Tyne in those days and working in the<br />
Teaching Profession in the new town of Killingworth, it was<br />
an easy crossing embarking on the 'Leda' from Tyne<br />
Commissioners Quay. So I followed her route by boat to<br />
Bergen at Easter 1971 for my first visit in the snow and ice<br />
and had my first taste of this Scandinavian country. Three<br />
years later after an initial taste I returned again in the summer<br />
of 1974. This time, my sister and I had a plan to travel in an<br />
Austin 1300, to once again take the same crossing to Bergen<br />
across the North Sea, but this time to drive to the North<br />
Cape, the most northerly point in Norway, by travelling<br />
hopefully! Travelling the Fjord Coast by using numerous<br />
ferries and moving north to the Svartisen Glacier and passing<br />
the Arctic Circle at 66.5 degrees North we arrived at the<br />
North Cape after motoring for ten days and just under 2000<br />
miles, were all part of the experience.<br />
Forty years on, no longer is it possible to take the ferry from<br />
Newcastle on Tyne any more as it has not been available for a<br />
number of years. The chosen route was the Channel Tunnel<br />
and travel through France, Belgium, Netherlands and to<br />
Germany on the first day for a weekend sojourn in Eime, near<br />
Hanover. After the short stay, the route was now north to<br />
Hamburg and skirting Lubeck, a delightful city, before pulling<br />
up for the crossing to Denmark, from Puttgarden to<br />
Rodbyhavn. There was a twenty minute wait and a forty five<br />
minute crossing which made it a very efficient crossing from<br />
Fehmarn to the island of Lolland in Denmark, probably the<br />
most efficient and shortest link from Germany to Denmark's<br />
capital, Copenhagen. However, the journey continued to the<br />
next island, Falster and then across another stretch of water by<br />
bridge to Vordingborg on Sjaelland (Zealand) the main island<br />
of Denmark. Skirting Naestved, the overnight stop was at the<br />
hotel Sorup Herregard, near the hamlet of Vetterslev just off<br />
the main road to Ringsted. The journey was 324 miles.<br />
The next day of the journey included a short visit to Ringsted<br />
and then to Roskilde before a walk through the baroque<br />
gardens and fountains of the Castle (slot) of Fredericksborg<br />
before making for the ferry from Helsingor (Elsinore) in<br />
Denmark and arriving in Halsingborg in Sweden. Again the<br />
ferry crossing with Scandlines was very efficient and one is<br />
also rewarded with a clear view of Hamlet's Cronburg Castle.<br />
Our main route was now the E6 North. One detour was made<br />
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
NORWAY REVISITED 40 YEARS ON<br />
to the coast to see the town of Halmstad. The E6 eventually<br />
brings one to Goteborg (Gothenburg), the second city of<br />
Sweden, a journey of 242 miles if you ever consider doing the<br />
drive from Central Sjaelland (Zealand). The accommodation<br />
in Goteborg was the Ibis Hotel on a boat on the quayside<br />
which is not far from the City Centre.<br />
Departure next day was 9.00am with a short drive around<br />
town before continuing north on the E6, with a deviation<br />
planned on the E45, following the Gota River upstream to<br />
visit Trollhattan and the Gota Canal, where there are locks<br />
taking the boats up and downstream. Returning by the E44<br />
westwards to the E6, once more the journey continued north<br />
towards Oslo. Staying in the west of town, it was more<br />
convenient to take the tunnels under the Oslo Fjord to reach<br />
the Scandic Hotel on the site of the former airport at Fornebu.<br />
A meal in the centre near Akersgata not far from the Radhaus<br />
(Town Hall) on a balmy evening was a change from the<br />
driving of the last three days. The evening allowed one time<br />
to drive up to Holmenkollen, the site of the Ski Jumping and<br />
the point of celebration of the National Day in Norway. The<br />
views looking over the City and the Oslo Fjord at dusk were<br />
very rewarding as the sun was setting.<br />
Holmenkollen ski slope<br />
We had the best part of two days to take in some of the sights<br />
of the Norwegian capital not seen since my last visit in 1974.<br />
The area of Bygdoy on the edge of the Oslo Fjord is not far<br />
from the centre and is where there are museums of boats.<br />
Thor Heyerdal's Kontiki is housed here with a vast amount of<br />
information and displays of his achievements in his balsa<br />
wood boat and Ra1 and 2. There is a second museum here of<br />
Viking Ships of Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune and the detail<br />
about these boats. The third of the three museums is the story<br />
of the Fram and the achievement of Amundsen being the first<br />
explorer to reach the South Pole who started his explorations<br />
in Northern Canada, then eventually wanting to go the<br />
Antarctic. There is also much on Scott of the Antarctic here<br />
and his very disappointing and sad attempt to be the first to<br />
reach the South Pole, but beaten by Amundsen.<br />
Another interesting visit is to Frogner Park where there is a<br />
vast array of Gustav Vigeland's work, mainly sculptures and<br />
statues. Vigeland lived from 1869-1943 and from the main<br />
gate take a walk up the wide path between the statues and<br />
end up at the centre piece on the lower terrace. Then climb up<br />
the steps to the twenty metre high obelisk, the Monolith<br />
between the 200 figures in bronze, granite and cast iron,<br />
depicting every emotion of humanity with the 'The Angry<br />
Child' being a popular photograph! Gustav Vigeland started<br />
his work as a wood carver but fell under the spell of Rodin and<br />
switched to stone, iron and bronze, starting work in the Park<br />
in 1924. and continuing till his death.<br />
During this visit there was an opportunity to go into the<br />
centre of Oslo, entering in front of the Palace and parking in<br />
39
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
Geiranger<br />
Pilestredet, then walking down Grensen coming to the<br />
Domkirke (Cathedral) after walking along Stortorvei. Had a<br />
meal in the Cathedral Cafe and strolled with numerous<br />
residents, shoppers and visitors on Karl Johansgata, the main<br />
street from the Palace to the Sentralstasjon (Central Station).<br />
Crossed Fred Olsen Gata, passed the Borsen (the Stock<br />
Exchange Building) and from the waterside took a photo of<br />
the amazing newish building of the Operaen and the concrete<br />
surrounds of Kirsten Flagstads Plass which took one's breath<br />
away. Then walked along the water past the Akershus Castle<br />
to the Radhusplassen and the Radhuset and chose a narrow<br />
street to reach Eidsvolls Plass, a green area between the<br />
Nationaltheatret and The Storting (The Parliament) with<br />
restaurants and water features. This had been a great walk<br />
taking in some of the tourist attractions. Oslo was an<br />
excellent visit with also catching up with the family that I had<br />
stayed with in 1971 and 1974.<br />
Now besides the capital, Oslo, there were some of the great<br />
sights of the country to behold in the next seven days some of<br />
which were particularly associated with scenery, especially<br />
north and west.<br />
The exit north from the City is the E6 passing the location of<br />
the airport for Oslo at Gardermoen 31 kilometres from Oslo.<br />
Followed the east side of Lake Mjosa to Hamar and on to<br />
Lillehammer. This is an important town for skiing and the<br />
Winter Olympics and a very impressive site for ski jumping<br />
high up on the hill. Travelled 18 kilometres north on the E6<br />
and came off at Hunderfossen and stayed at the 1912 Nermo<br />
Hotel positioned on the side of the hill near Hafjell. The<br />
Nermo also had a golf course and was very pleasant with a<br />
first class breakfast. This was a stopping point on the way to<br />
the first of the choice of classic sights to be seen in Norway<br />
south of Trondheim.<br />
En route near Ringebu the first stavkirke was to be found, a<br />
unique type of church in Norway made of wood with unique<br />
features. Quite small inside, this was the largest stavkirke I<br />
had seen high up on the hillside with a rood screen but at<br />
present surrounded in scaffolding. Norwegians were Catholics<br />
till the 13th century and then became Lutheran Protestant.<br />
Driving up the hill on the by road a few metres there was the<br />
presbytery with bee keeping and crafts and advertising<br />
refreshments. Refreshed with coffee, waffles and jam and sour<br />
milk, we continued our journey to Vinstra, observing another<br />
stavkirke but much smaller, before arriving in Otta. This was<br />
our most northerly point north on the E6 on this occasion as<br />
here the 15 going west was taken to Lom, a busy junction on<br />
the 15 and 55 where light lunch was obtained before<br />
proceeeding to Grotli. From being in valleys for the journey<br />
from Oslo, the road started to climb from the valley into High<br />
Fjell and such was the vista all around the only building, a<br />
hotel, in Grotli. It reminded me of my trip in 1971 when I was<br />
planning a visit from Oslo to the north west at Easter.<br />
Ringing up the hotel in Grotli then, to ask if the road was<br />
open, the reply was 'Yes, if you come up in July!' Here I was in<br />
summer and the place could be described as wild with the hills<br />
all around covered in snow. Grotli was on the edge of the<br />
Reinheimen National Park.<br />
Continuing on the E15 for 13 kilometres there was no<br />
agriculture but a wild scenery of lakes, ice and rivers and even<br />
on a summer's day appeared uninviting particularly as we<br />
turned north on the 63 to reach our destination for the night.<br />
However before that at the lake Djupvatnet with a small<br />
place to stay, Djupvasshytta there is a turning north with a toll<br />
leading one to the top of Dalsnibba at 1476 metres with a<br />
large car park for cars, minbuses and coaches. Well what a<br />
sight at over 4500 feet above sea level, here is the first view of<br />
one of the most impressive places in Norway, the Geiranger<br />
Fjord. Geiranger has to be seen to be believed. I first saw the<br />
picture in black and white in a sixth form text when I started<br />
teaching at Stationers' in 1970, Powrie and Mansfield, North<br />
West Europe, and I said to myself Geiranger is a must! Too<br />
cold to stay too long on Dalsnibba, the descent was made<br />
through the large number of hairpin bends passing saeters,<br />
pockets of grassland suspended on ledges giving a small area<br />
of winter feed for the animals, gathered in summer.<br />
The settlement is approached on the lower slopes of the road<br />
to the village with numerous hotels and guest houses dotted<br />
here and there indicating that Geiranger is a very popular<br />
centre for visitors with coaches parked wherever possible in<br />
Grande Fjord Hotell & Hytter, Geiranger<br />
40
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
this narrow settlement. The fjord is now clearly in view with<br />
the still water a beautiful turquoise reflecting the sky.<br />
Motoring along the side of the fjord at sea level, having left<br />
the village the hotel Grand Fjorde came into view on the<br />
south side of the road. Built on the hillside it had six floors,<br />
proving to be very comfortable with a marvellous buffet for<br />
the evening meal. Sitting in the restaurant one did not have<br />
to travel anywhere to get a better view of the Geiranger Fjord.<br />
The next day the only other route out of Geiranger besides<br />
the road from Grotli, the way we arrived, is up the vertical<br />
side of the fjord straight out of the hotel. Here was another<br />
challenging drive with zigzag bends one above the other,<br />
taking the road to the top of this nigh vertical cliff. A viewing<br />
point half way up the climb gave a superb view of the same<br />
fjord looking downstream where one only saw the steep sides<br />
of the 'U' shaped valley dropping, sometimes with waterfall,<br />
vertically into the submerged floor of the glacier carved valley<br />
hundreds of feet below the surface. Geiranger is one of the<br />
finest examples of a fjord in the world.<br />
The road north now continued to Eidsdal where it was<br />
necessary to take a ferry to cross the Norddalsfjorden to Linge<br />
to continue north east on route 63. A narrow sheltered valley<br />
was the location for strawberry fields on each side of the road<br />
before climbing up Meiardalen valley to the high fjell once<br />
more with a bleak landscape of stark pinnacled peaks<br />
enclosing the road on all sides and the odd hytte. Passing a<br />
refreshment stop with a large number of people milling<br />
around and cars and coaches to boot, indicated that here was<br />
another very significant tourist attraction of the natural<br />
landscape. The road started to descend steeply and one was<br />
aware that here again was a vertical cliff with another of the<br />
major challenges that have tested the skills of Norway's civil<br />
engineers. Zigzag bends were numerous with the added<br />
complication of a powerful waterfall falling down the vertical<br />
drop in the same area also to be negotiated. This is the<br />
Trollstigveien, one of the most testing roads in Norway and<br />
then a pleasant journey through the valley of Isterdalen to<br />
Andalsnes, the most northerly town reached on this journey.<br />
From Andalsnes the E136 was followed west along the inlet of<br />
Innfjorden and then the much larger Romsdalsfjorden for 20<br />
kilometres before turning south into Tresfjorden, continuing<br />
on the E136 towards Sjoholt on Storfjorden. Just before<br />
Sjoholt the 650 turns south through small hamlets to the edge<br />
of the Norddalsfjorden where a right turn is taken to cross by<br />
ferry the aforementioned Storfjorden to Stranda. Here the<br />
road 60 goes due south parallel to the Sunnylvsfjorden<br />
reaching a place named Ljoen. Here take a stop at the seaward<br />
end of the Geiranger Fjord to look up this stretch of<br />
magnificent scenery that numerous cruise liners travel every<br />
year to visit this one particular fjord seen as a highlight of the<br />
cruise. Continuing south on the 60 to Hornindal and the lake<br />
of the same name it is a short journey to reach the Innvikfjorden,<br />
another fiord for cruise ships but not so much for the scenery<br />
of the fiord in this instance but more for the glacial scenery for<br />
which tourists arriving have to embark from the ships. There<br />
are three pleasant settlements here on the side of the water,<br />
Stryn, Loen and Olden which don't seem to be so busy as<br />
when the Bergen Line Ferries operated from Newcastle to<br />
Stavanger and Bergen up to 2007. However, the Oldenfiorde<br />
Hotel was chosen for accommodation just above the berth for<br />
the Marco Polo for the night.<br />
Bergen<br />
Rising early for a typical Norwegian breakfast on a beautiful<br />
morning with a view of the countryside on the opposite bank<br />
reflecting its colours of varying greens on the still water were a<br />
sight to behold and are indelibly printed in the memory! The<br />
Marco Polo sailed away, with its complement of passengers,<br />
puffing smoke through its funnels as it sailed effortlessly along<br />
the fjord disappearing for its next destination. The attractions<br />
here for us tourists were associated with Loen and Olden. The<br />
first excursion was up the valley from Loen along the lake<br />
named Lovatnet for 14 kilometres, just under 9 miles to Bodal<br />
where the road forked. Taking the right hand fork and paying<br />
the toll for a ticket of 40 kroner, just under £4, the road came<br />
to a car park in the trees with a couple of coaches. A 15 minute<br />
walk through the trees, I emerged from the shade of the canopy<br />
to look up to see two tongues of the glaciers of the Kjenndalsbreen<br />
branching out, north westwards from the largest ice cap in<br />
Norway, the Jostedalsbreen. It was well worth the visit and one<br />
that had escaped me from my 1974 visit when I passed this way<br />
and stayed at the youth hostel in Olden.<br />
Returning to Olden and passing the jetty there was now<br />
another ship with a number of tourists milling around the few<br />
shops that had become alive from the night before and the<br />
fleet of buses parked overnight became alive as they ferried the<br />
passengers backwards and forwards along the Oldedalen<br />
Valley to the hamlet of Briksdal. Here in the car park there<br />
were 20 coaches in contrast to the previous visit. Taking the<br />
path of reasonable ascent rejecting the buggy like vehicle as<br />
seen on a golf course or used to ferry people in a NT property,<br />
and soaked by having to cross a bridge very near a waterfall<br />
where the wind was particularly strong, we walked for an hour<br />
and a quarter to the foot of the Briksdal Glacier. Still part of<br />
the Jostedalsbreen it was obvious to make a comparison with<br />
our first glacier, and reaching the point of safety the<br />
Brikdalsbreen was an amazing sight which stretched down the<br />
slope. However, amazing turned to awesome as the glacier in<br />
front of our very eyes, calved at that very moment and<br />
gigantic chunks of ice broke free from the glacier tumbling<br />
down the hill with an enormous roar like the sound of thunder.<br />
This was the effect of melting sections of the ice in summer<br />
and a real threat to mountaineers and even anyone being<br />
anywhere directly below this avalanche would not have had a<br />
chance of survival. It was a real spectacle for the tourist to be<br />
present to see such a phenomenen associated with glaciation!!<br />
The return to Olden was 15 miles where the 60 continued<br />
west along Innvikfjorden as far as Utvik where the 60 climbed<br />
south up the hill to the view point Karistova and then<br />
dropped down to Byrkelo, joining the E39 south through<br />
Vatedalen to Skei turning south east along Kjosnesfjorden and<br />
then entering a tunnel 25 kilometres, about 16 miles long<br />
41
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
under the edge of the ice cap of Jostedalbreen enabling one<br />
to reach Fjaerlandsfjorden. Forty years ago there was no road<br />
to come here from the north, nor was there a road south so<br />
the village of Mundal then was only accessible by boat. My<br />
uncle and aunt went there for a week's holiday to stay in the<br />
Hotel Mundal which was there then and actually has been in<br />
business since 1861 and was still functioning today. Nowadays<br />
the village of Mundal is the secondhand book town of<br />
Norway, Norske Bokbyen, a bit like Hay on Wye in Wales.<br />
However I counted about six book shops in Mundal today.<br />
The bookselling season is from May till late September with<br />
a dozen rustic buildings. Since the 1960s there have been<br />
little transhumance summer farms called stols. Wetlands<br />
called boyaori are wet lands that have attracted 100 species<br />
of birds. Latterly the Norsk Bremuseum has been built near<br />
Highway 5, the new Norwegian Glacier Museum. Another<br />
newish tunnel takes you out of the valley to link up with<br />
Sogndalsfjora, actually only completed in 1986. Little<br />
satisfaction in finding a hotel in this town, we decided to go<br />
northeast along the side of Barsnesfjorden first to see the<br />
hotel at Solvorn but full but with help from the patron there<br />
we were booked in at the Torvios Hotell further on the 55 in<br />
Marifjora and right on the edge of the water on Gauppefjorden,<br />
a delightful spot! Another great day!<br />
Breakfast at Torvis was indeed a pleasure on Lustrafjorden<br />
before returning to the 5 and arriving at Mannheller for the<br />
ferry for crossing the upper reaches of one of the longest fjords<br />
in Norway, the Sogne Fjord. The 5 continued on the south side<br />
till meeting the E16 now contained in a tunnel for 25<br />
kilometres competing all comers as the longest tunnel in the<br />
world as far as Aurland. This day was to be the journey to<br />
travel on another of Norway's highlights, the world renowned<br />
Flam Railway, pronounced 'flom'. Arriving at the station to the<br />
sight of another cruise liner one knew there would be hundreds<br />
to be accommodated on the train as well as ourselves but with<br />
a philosophical shrug of the shoulders, I arrived at the ticket<br />
office and came away with return tickets not wanting to be<br />
trapped in Myrdal for the night high on the bleak fjell where<br />
the main line from Bergen to Oslo meets the Flam Railway.<br />
The tickets were not till 17.25pm for the hour journey and the<br />
return was at 18.35pm arriving back at 19.35pm, in reality a<br />
two hour journey there and back. So in effect the famous Flam<br />
Railway journey was on hold. More of that later!<br />
Well, the possibility of a delayed start on the rail journey had<br />
been taken into consideration the night before so there had<br />
been some planning of options having scanned the Cappelens<br />
Kart 'Stort bilatlas Norge 1:325000, our trusted map purchased<br />
in Oslo and an excellent atlas for the journey as already<br />
described. Again picture postcards, a great source of knowledge<br />
in any country of significant sights both local and national,<br />
help one to select the main places to visit when in alien<br />
territory. The two fjords Aurlandsfjorden and Naeroyfjorden<br />
just to the north of Flam, were possible excursion areas for the<br />
afternoon. The first of these involved an 18 kilometres stretch<br />
along the E16 west most of it in two tunnels apart from 3 of<br />
those kilometres. Arriving in Gudvangen, there is a ferry<br />
connection northwards along Naeroyfjorden into<br />
Aurlandsfjorden and then east along the aforementioned<br />
Sogne Fjord to Kaupanger on the north side.<br />
However, a narrow road leads five kilometres north along the<br />
west side of the narrow Naeroyfjorden to the hamlet of Bakka.<br />
It was a glorious summer's day with blue skies and bright<br />
Myrdal<br />
sunshine and Bakka was a small settlement hugging the side<br />
of the fjord. There were a number of white wooden houses<br />
clustered around a church, which had a rood screen with<br />
motifs at the end of the pews. Some of the houses were<br />
holiday homes. The whole village is dominated by the very<br />
narrow Naeroyfjorden. Returning through the first of the two<br />
tunnels to the blue sky another minor road goes north to<br />
Undredal right on the edge of Aurlandsfjorden. Walking<br />
down to the few shops there was a cafe where there was<br />
welcome refreshment to be purchased including a variety of<br />
goat's cheese coloured brown and local to this village where<br />
there are eight cheese producing farms.<br />
The population is 112 inhabitants and 500 goats. Relaxing<br />
under the awnings here was very pleasant and a welcome<br />
break munching the local fare and soaking up the peaceful<br />
atmosphere of this unspoilt village with the lapping of water<br />
from the wash of boats passing by. What a wonderful place<br />
to tarry a while and savour the atmosphere in the bright<br />
sunshine of such a delightful spot. The stavkirke measures<br />
only 12 by 4 metres and has only forty seats, the smallest<br />
stavkirke still in use in the whole of Scandinavia. A lasting<br />
view, gazing down on the multicoloured properties from this<br />
tiny church is still indelibly printed on my mind.<br />
The Flamsbana was the start of the train journey at 17.25 up<br />
the Flamsdalen following the road for the first part through a<br />
number of stations with high mountains on the sides of the<br />
valley. Getting nearer to the head of the valley the train now<br />
hugged the side of the valley with a steeper gradient to reach<br />
the high plateau. There was a very interesting stop when all<br />
the passengers disembarked by a spectacular waterfall and we<br />
were all entertained by a water nymph singing and dancing<br />
high above us on the rocks. With the show over the passengers<br />
rejoined the train and the journey continued up to Myrdal on<br />
the steepest part of the journey until we approached the<br />
station which linked with the line from Bergen. A short stop<br />
at Myrdal before then return with another succession of fine<br />
views going for the first part of the journey before reaching<br />
the lower slopes. The last part of the journey for the day was<br />
to continue along the E16 eastwards to Vinje and then<br />
northwards on the 13, ten miles to the Helgatun Pension<br />
Hotel which was very comfortable for the overnight stop.<br />
Besides Geiranger all the accommodation was booked the day<br />
before or on arrival the same day. No problem.<br />
Leaving Helgatun next morning it was amazing to see a<br />
completely new development of hotels, houses and apartments<br />
being built all associated with a new skiing village. Travelling<br />
south on the main road to Voss, tarried a while on the edge of<br />
the Vargsvatnet Lake, just below the Fleischers Hotel by a<br />
memorial to Cnud Rockne, a well known football coach in the<br />
42
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
US. Voss is an attractive town and a centre for skiing. The<br />
journey to Bergen was along the E16 made up of numerous<br />
tunnels that interrupted the blue sky which was much more<br />
welcoming. Reaching our destination, Bergen, where it rains<br />
on more than 200 days in the year, we were welcomed by<br />
glorious sunshine on a warm summer's day which gave a<br />
wonderful feeling for visiting this lovely city. Boats of various<br />
sizes berth in this natural harbour, and parking on the quayside<br />
the visit commenced. Reaching the Fishmarket at the head of<br />
the harbour there was a lively buzz as locals and visitors<br />
mingled in the market and in front of the Bryggen, a well<br />
known landmark for anyone arriving in Bergen by sea. Finding<br />
the Aroma Restaurant with an outdoor table, lunch was taken<br />
not far from the start of the funicular up to the Floyen,<br />
relaxing and watching the world go by before embarking on a<br />
visit to the centre of this lovely city. Passing Torget with<br />
various types of caviar and then the church in Korskirken,<br />
there was the delightful park with a bandstand of colourful<br />
flowers and the statue of Grieg, one of Norway's most famous<br />
sons. It was a real pleasure to be part of the buzz of Bergen<br />
walking through the centre of the City before leaving to go to<br />
Trollhaugen to see the residence of Edward Grieg and his<br />
wife Nina. There was so much to see here and a very pleasant<br />
place to relax by the water that two hours disappeared taking<br />
in the peaceful atmosphere of the house that once was home<br />
to Grieg and Nina, the studio and the garden. What an<br />
impressive visit to Bergen which made a much greater<br />
impression on me than either of my two previous visits. It was,<br />
no doubt, one of the seven or eight highlights of Norway.<br />
The next part of the excursion was unplanned apart from a<br />
decision taken to stay somewhere in the location of Rosendal!<br />
Arriving in Norway, there was an outline plan to travel in an<br />
anticlockwise direction around Southern Norway. The choice<br />
of Rosendal was taken before the decision to take in Bergen,<br />
but was seen as a place to stop overnight on the road south.<br />
Why Rosendal? Well with no prior knowledge whatsoever of<br />
Rosendal, but looking at an atlas map, the seaward end of the<br />
Hardanger Fjord, dominating Southern Norway, directed my<br />
eyes to this 150 mile long fjord, the longest in Scandinavia. No<br />
'Cappelens Kart Stort Bilatlas Norge 1:325 000' able to be<br />
purchased in the UK before departure, I had to wait arrival in<br />
Oslo to purchase a Road Map of Norway and a Street Map of<br />
Oslo, essentials for the Geographer!<br />
However, with no accommodation booked in advance in<br />
Norway apart from Oslo and Geiranger, one keeps a look on<br />
the map to see where one may be at the end of the day even<br />
a few days ahead. So, with the knowledge of my first night<br />
stays in Norway, having arrived by ferry in Bergen from<br />
Newcastle, now no longer available, in 1971 and 1974, being<br />
Oystese and Voss respectively, I was now looking for a route<br />
other than the 7, the main direct road to Oslo. One reason was<br />
for a change and the other to avoid the heavy traffic on this<br />
road, and to avoid the preponderance of tunnels all morning.<br />
Having originally thought of going south via Stavanger it<br />
became clear that the journey would take much longer.<br />
Rosendal as being the place with a country hotel marked on<br />
the map became the goal. Bergen is not easily reached from<br />
the east as one has to go north or south to circumnavigate<br />
Ulriken to reach the urban heart, of the City. Similarly, leaving<br />
Grieg's House we were being signposted 580 and ended up<br />
well south of Bergen with directions to Odda where we<br />
eventually wanted to reach. Not having really consulted the<br />
map after having found the centre of Bergen, we followed the<br />
flow to Osoyro and realised there was a ferry from Hatvik<br />
across Fusafjorden, unknown territory, and once realising the<br />
implications found that we were indeed on the shortest route<br />
to Rosendal was just about 50 kilometres not 30 miles but<br />
with two ferry crossings. As experienced throughout this trip,<br />
the ferry crossings were highly efficient, never having to look<br />
up the time of the next ferry, nor having to worry how long to<br />
wait, as the ferries are extremely efficient and waiting times,<br />
wherever we have been, minimal! Route 552 took us to<br />
Eikelandsosen, and 48 east proved a pleasant journey with the<br />
second ferry crossing Hardanger from Gjermundshamn, and<br />
docking at Arsnes no more than eight kilometres (five miles)<br />
north of our chosen destination, Rosendal. A surprisingly easy<br />
journey! Reaching Rosendal we espied the Rosendal Tourist<br />
Hotel timbered black and white on entering the village and<br />
booked accommodation for the night, on the other side of the<br />
road from the jetty. The whole area was called Kvinnherad<br />
and lies on the eastern side of the Folgefonna Nasjonal Park,<br />
an ice cap of some miles in length from north to south.<br />
One more full day was available to enjoy in Norway after<br />
Rosendal with an early rising breakfast was taken at eight<br />
with bags packed and loaded beforehand. Enjoyed a typical<br />
Norwegian breakfast and had a stroll round the village to<br />
despatch postcards and browse in a couple of shops.<br />
Already there appeared to be two visits that attracted our<br />
interest a short distance inland from Rosendal. With no<br />
previous knowledge of the area the morning was taken up<br />
with two very different attractions. The first of these was the<br />
Steinparken – a Stone Park with a difference. This was an<br />
outdoor museum of wonderful examples of igneous and<br />
metamorphic rocks that had been brought to this spot that<br />
originated in the valley and elsewhere locally, displayed<br />
amongst the trees. There were about thirty to forty superb<br />
specimens and were displayed for all to see.<br />
Having spent a good hour examining each specimen the<br />
attention then turned to the second attraction in the same<br />
valley about two kilometres hence. This was the Baroniet<br />
Rosendal, the equivalent of a stately home in the UK, but<br />
these grand houses are few and far between in Norway. If<br />
there is no male heir the family would have to give the estate<br />
back to the King of Denmark in times past! The drive back<br />
through a tunnel used by a new road from Bergen. The<br />
greatest change I encountered in Norway was the tremendous<br />
increase in new roads and tunnels since I was there last.<br />
The route took arrived in Odda and post lunch there was a<br />
great excursion to Seggedal, high above the defunct Tyssedum<br />
Factory looking like, and known as the Cathedral.<br />
The rest of the day involved a longer journey through<br />
Telemark towards Oslo. However, after the busy traffic, Route<br />
9, a turning south, provided accommodation for the night at<br />
the Revsnes Hotel in the woods and forests interlaced by<br />
numerous lakes and rivers following the Otra River and finally<br />
arriving in Kristiansand, our crossing to Denmark and a very<br />
pleasant couple of days based on Aalborg in North Jutland.<br />
The return to England was direct from Esbjerg, well known<br />
to Old Stationers who ever went over to play football against<br />
Struer Stats Gymnasia in the late fifties and early sixties and<br />
stayed with families in Struer and Holstebro! All those years<br />
ago! GP<br />
43
Dear Geraint<br />
dg2813@hotmail.co.uk<br />
16th September 2014<br />
For no reason in particular I was thinking<br />
about "Four Leaf" Clover yesterday and<br />
decided to search for his name on the web.<br />
I am sure you and many other Old<br />
Stationers out there would remember him<br />
as a benign Master of Music at the school.<br />
He was in fact my first form master way<br />
back in 1957 and found him engaging and<br />
his personality infectious. I had no idea he<br />
had a doctorate, nor the extensive nature of<br />
his subsequent career after leaving<br />
Stationers. I am sending the item I found<br />
and thought you might like to include this<br />
in a future edition of the magazine. You<br />
may not, of course, but here it is anyway.<br />
Such a pity his life was curtailed so soon at<br />
the age of 49.<br />
Best wishes<br />
Dave Gordon 1957-64<br />
Dr David Clover<br />
MA, DMus, GTCL, FTCL, LTCL<br />
1930 -1979<br />
David was born in Fressingfield, Suffolk in<br />
1930. He was educated at Southend High<br />
School for Boys and Huntingdon Grammar<br />
School. He went on to study at Trinity<br />
College of Music, London, gaining graduate<br />
status. He then studied for the Master of<br />
Arts degree from London University.<br />
He was a member of The Royal College of<br />
Organists in the mid 1950s he took up his<br />
first teaching post as Director of Music at<br />
Stationers' Company's School.<br />
After Stationers' (1960) David accepted<br />
the position of Music Advisor for the City<br />
of Hull. Next, in 1967, came the position<br />
of Senior Music adviser for The City of<br />
Sheffield. He was the Founder and<br />
Conductor of The City of Sheffield<br />
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
NEWS OF FORMER STAFF<br />
Teachers' Choir and Orchestra from 1968<br />
and the Founder and Conductor of The<br />
City of Sheffield Youth Chorale from<br />
1969. On a national level he founded and<br />
conducted The British Youth Choir and<br />
Chamber Orchestra (now the National<br />
Youth Choir of Great Britain).<br />
He was an Examiner for Trinity College of<br />
Music, London from 1960 which took<br />
him abroad working in Canada, USA and<br />
NEW MEMBERS<br />
SIMON MEIR ATTAR 1962-1969<br />
Hodgson House<br />
31 Wolmer Gardens<br />
EDGWARE<br />
Middx. HAS 8QH<br />
ADRlAN DAVID BROADBENT<br />
1978-1982 Rivington House<br />
Mews Cottage, Winchester Road<br />
BISHOPS WALTHAM<br />
Hampshire S0321PL<br />
I left school in 1982 and after working in a<br />
supermarket for a couple of years until<br />
1986, I joined the Civil Aviation Authority<br />
and worked in Central London and<br />
Gatwick Airport until 2001. I now work for<br />
NATS Limited at the London Air Traffic<br />
Control Centre which is situated at<br />
Swanick in Hampshire.<br />
My hobbies are Aviation Photography,<br />
Airshows, Travel, Flying and on occasion<br />
Sailing.<br />
I remember the School fondly, the School<br />
Trips to Germany, drama and trips to<br />
Winchmore Hill in all weathers!!<br />
I have been contacted by a few former class<br />
mates down the years and look forward to<br />
being involved in the OSA.<br />
JOHN RlCHARD WELCH BSc<br />
1962-1969 Bishop House<br />
8 Egdean Walk<br />
SEVENOAKS<br />
Kent TN13 3UQ<br />
MICHAEL STUART WEST FCA<br />
1956-1961<br />
Airedale, High Street<br />
ELMDON<br />
Essex CB11 4NL<br />
ERIC ORROS BMLI<br />
1965-1969 Kendal<br />
Dunmow Road<br />
FYFIELD, Ongar<br />
Essex CM5 0NN<br />
Left 1969. Nil qualifications - did pick up 6<br />
'0' Levels a few years later. Divorced. Two<br />
children running shops in the business.<br />
the Caribbean. He regularly adjudicated at<br />
local and regional music festivals and<br />
competitions. His Compositions include<br />
various choral and instrumental works and<br />
arrangements. Some are still available.<br />
His specialist subject was music making<br />
among young people, choral, school music.<br />
He enjoyed driving, photography, and<br />
talking.<br />
Owner of Lockstock & Barrell Security<br />
Services Ltd. Three retail shops Hertford<br />
since 1986, Saffron Walden since 1994, and<br />
Stansted since 1997.<br />
Member of the Master Locksmiths<br />
Association. Chairman of the London<br />
Region of above. Left school, when asked to<br />
leave, spell as milkroundsman twice,<br />
minicab driver, had retail unit at Wood<br />
Green Shopping City. Married 1977 and<br />
moved to Harlow, Essex, then Elsenham;<br />
divorced after 25 years. Now living at<br />
Fyfield near Ongar in Essex. Partner of 11<br />
years; both love travel. Younger brother, a<br />
winner of Stationers' Company Prize,<br />
George Orros around 1965, possibly 1966.<br />
REJOINING MEMBER<br />
GRAHAM ARNOLD<br />
1953-1960 Caxton House<br />
Westcombe<br />
Old Plymouth Road<br />
KINGSBRIDGE<br />
Devon TQ71FF<br />
CHANGES OF ADDRESS<br />
HUGH ALEXANDER<br />
39 Whitecroft<br />
WILLITON<br />
Somerset TA4 4RU<br />
TONY BISHOP<br />
17 The Coppice<br />
ENFIELD<br />
Middlesex EN2 7BX<br />
GRAHAM LING<br />
5 Crofton Square<br />
SHERFIELD ON LODDON<br />
Hook, Hants RG27 OSX<br />
MICHAEL WEST<br />
Airedale, High Street<br />
ELMDON<br />
Essex CB11 4NL<br />
If any member has changed his address<br />
recently without letting our Honorary<br />
Membership Secretary, Gordon Rose know,<br />
please inform him so that he can update the<br />
records. Thanks.<br />
44
PETER BULLEN<br />
1927-2014<br />
A Service of Thanksgiving for the life of<br />
Peter Bullen took place on Thursday 10th<br />
July 2014 at St. John's Church, Wantage.<br />
The hymns sung were 'The Lord's My<br />
Shepherd, I'll not want; He makes me<br />
down to lie In pastures green, He leadeth<br />
me The quiet waters by,' and 'Now the<br />
Day is Over, night is drawing nigh,<br />
shadows of the evening steal across the<br />
sky.' The Bible reading was taken from<br />
John 14, verses 1-6. The eulogy<br />
'Reminiscences' was given by Leslie Lane.<br />
Peter Bullen<br />
Peter grew up in North London in<br />
Hornsey in what is now part of the<br />
London Borough of Haringey. In due<br />
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
OBITUARIES<br />
course he went to the local Grammar<br />
School, the Stationers' Company's School,<br />
and his attendance at that school and the<br />
activities that followed from it formed an<br />
integral part of his subsequent life. I will<br />
come back to that in a moment.<br />
On leaving school he obtained an<br />
engineering apprenticeship with De<br />
Havillands at Hatfield and he was not<br />
alone among Old Stationers following<br />
that path. It was also a natural choice for<br />
him, to follow on the interest he had<br />
generated in aviation from his membership<br />
of the Air Cadets at the school. He<br />
continued to work for De Havilland after<br />
the end of his apprenticeship but in due<br />
course decided he wanted to widen his<br />
engineering knowledge and experience<br />
and worked elsewhere before obtaining a<br />
position with the Swiss engineering<br />
company SIG as Sales Manager for<br />
Southern England and stayed with them<br />
until he retired.<br />
By the time that Peter retired he had<br />
married Olive and inherited a ready-made<br />
family. He also took the opportunity to<br />
satisfy a long desire to live in Norfolk and<br />
they moved from Southgate to a property<br />
just outside Norwich. Unfortunately<br />
shortly after the move Peter's health<br />
started to deteriorate and this restricted his<br />
activities though he continued to maintain<br />
his interest in sport.<br />
In 2004 with Peter becoming less mobile<br />
Peter and Olive decided to move to Grove<br />
to be nearer the family. It also led to Peter's<br />
and my paths crossing when he joined the<br />
Wantage Probus Club of which I was<br />
already a member and a chance remark<br />
established that we had both been to the<br />
same school although some years apart.<br />
By then Peter was also becoming hesitant<br />
about attending social occasions organised<br />
by the Old Stationers Association where it<br />
entailed returning home alone late on a<br />
dark winter's night so having a companion<br />
to travel with was a benefit for us both.<br />
The Stationers' Company's School was<br />
founded in 1861 by the Worshipful<br />
Company of Stationers and Newspaper<br />
Makers (one of the City Livery Companies)<br />
to educate the sons of liverymen of the<br />
Stationers' Company and was situated in<br />
Bolt Court off Fleet Street. By 1893 the<br />
City of London had ceased to be a principal<br />
residential area and the school was<br />
admitting pupils who were not sons of<br />
liverymen. So in that year the school<br />
moved to the site in Hornsey with which<br />
the Old Stationers present here today are<br />
familiar. The school was different to many<br />
others in that it had this fascinating<br />
connection with the Livery Company,<br />
whose base was their magnificent Hall<br />
close to St Paul's Cathedral, and with a<br />
history that dates back several hundred<br />
years.<br />
Unfortunately these unique attributes of<br />
the school did not carry much weight with<br />
the Haringey Borough Council who<br />
decided to close the school in 1983 and it<br />
was pulled down in 1985. Thus there was<br />
no longer a supply of former pupils to fill<br />
the ranks of the football and cricket clubs<br />
and of the Association but the former<br />
pupils have nevertheless contrived to<br />
ensure that the name of the school has far<br />
from disappeared.<br />
Peter joined the school in 1938 but only<br />
had one year at Hornsey before the<br />
impending onset of war forced the school<br />
to evacuate to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire.<br />
From the various reports that I have read<br />
the pupils were well received by their hosts<br />
and by their fellow pupils and links<br />
between Wisbech Grammar School and<br />
the Old Stationers Association exist to this<br />
day. The evacuation ended in 1942 and<br />
Peter had a further year at Hornsey.<br />
When Peter left the school he joined the<br />
Old Stationers' Football Club, which had<br />
been in existence for many years. There<br />
was not, however, a cricket club attached to<br />
the Old Stationers and those wishing to<br />
play joined an outside club and for many<br />
this was Highgate Cricket Club. In 1949,<br />
however, it was decided to form an Old<br />
Stationers' Cricket Club and Peter was a<br />
45
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
founder member and very much involved<br />
in setting up the club.<br />
He was also much involved in the running<br />
of both clubs, cricket probably more than<br />
football, as he organised and participated in<br />
tours especially the Football Club Easter<br />
Tour and the Cricket Club visits to Broad<br />
Halfpenny Down - the birth place of cricket<br />
- a rare privilege to gain that fixture, and<br />
regular tours to Norfolk. He was also the<br />
skipper of the Football 3rd XI and the<br />
Cricket 2nd XI. A habit that Peter also<br />
initiated was to watch, or even umpire, the<br />
school cricket matches to keep an eye on<br />
potential talent that maybe persuaded to<br />
join the Old Boys when they left the school.<br />
In those days the former pupils organisation<br />
was known as the Stationers Old Boys<br />
Association (SOBA) and the football and<br />
cricket clubs were separate organisations.<br />
In 1963 it was decided to re-organise the<br />
constitution, re-name it as the Old<br />
Stationers Association and amalgamate the<br />
football and cricket clubs with it to make it<br />
fit for the second half of the 20th century.<br />
Peter again was very much the driving<br />
force to bring this into effect. The football<br />
club continues to exist and operates under<br />
the same name but recruiting its players<br />
from different sources. The cricket club<br />
unfortunately closed in 1994 mainly due to<br />
circumstances beyond their control but the<br />
Association with its social activities<br />
continues to thrive In 1964 Peter was<br />
elected President of the Association at the<br />
relatively young age of 37.<br />
Peter devoted a great deal of time and<br />
energy to the running of the sports clubs<br />
being involved in the multitude of tasks<br />
that lead to the smooth running of these<br />
organisations. That contribution also<br />
continued long after his physical<br />
participation in the matches had ceased. I<br />
think that his efforts, especially in<br />
connection with the new constitution, can<br />
be regarded as his legacy to fellow Old<br />
Stationers as I am sure it is a contributory<br />
factor in that the Football Club now over<br />
100 years old still fields 5 XIs each week<br />
and the Association, 30 years after the<br />
school was closed, has over 500 members.<br />
Recitation of composite verse of School<br />
Song.<br />
Thank you Peter for all that you have done<br />
for your fellow Old Stationers.<br />
May you rest in peace.<br />
Leslie Lane<br />
BRIAN SIMPSON<br />
1943 – 2014<br />
Brian Frederick Simpson, more commonly<br />
‘Sim’, was born in Wood Green and started<br />
at Stationers’ at the same time as me in<br />
1954. We had little in common in our<br />
schooldays, save Major Halls’ CCF where<br />
he outranked me, as sergeant, and<br />
outgunned me on the rifle range, and it<br />
was to be many years before our paths<br />
crossed, literally, again.<br />
It was in 1978, when we were crossing in<br />
opposite directions the car park which<br />
separated the main offices of Broxbourne<br />
Council at that time from its satellite<br />
buildings, that we recognised each other 19<br />
years after leaving the School. Brian had just<br />
joined my Authority’s Solicitor’s Department<br />
as Senior Legal Executive so we agreed to<br />
have a pint together at lunchtime. It quickly<br />
became apparent that we had many shared<br />
interests, not least sport and freemasonry,<br />
and thus began a firm friendship which<br />
spanned the next 36 years.<br />
On leaving School, Brian began legal<br />
training at Royds Rawlston before moving<br />
to the London Borough of Haringey’s<br />
Legal Department. Some years later, he<br />
broke away from the legal profession for a<br />
while to join Abbey Life, dealing with life<br />
assurance, and then the London Borough<br />
of Hackney as a Rent Assessment Officer,<br />
until taking up the post with Broxbourne<br />
Council. In 1982 he moved into private<br />
practice and, in 1988, joined Breeze &<br />
Wyles, Solicitors, in Hertford, where he<br />
remained until retirement in 2009.<br />
In private life, Brian took a keen interest in<br />
music, playing guitar in a skiffle group<br />
whilst still at school and later forming a<br />
band, Patents Pending. He also enjoyed the<br />
theatre and acting, becoming a member of<br />
Group12 Amateur Dramatic Society,<br />
performing at the Intimate Theatre in<br />
Palmers Green as well as other venues. By<br />
all accounts, he was an assured actor capable<br />
of masking the odd fluffed line but, on one<br />
occasion, he brought the house down by<br />
inadvertently changing Kipling’s famous<br />
verse to “tho I’ve beaten you and flayed you;<br />
by the livin’ Gawd that made you; I’m a<br />
better man than you are, Gunga Din!” It<br />
was at Group12 that another member of<br />
the Society took his eye and he began<br />
courting Angie, leading to their marriage<br />
on 14th August 1976. Their first house was<br />
in Broxbourne, later moving to Hertford<br />
Heath, and he played squash at Broxbourne<br />
Sports Club, although his sons, Ben and<br />
Tom, recall him spending rather more time<br />
in the bar, and he organised the Club’s<br />
Bonfire Night fireworks displays and New<br />
Year’s Eve celebrations for a number of<br />
years. Another passion was golf and we<br />
always enjoyed a round together at<br />
Essendon or Brickendon Grange.<br />
His interest in freemasonry began when<br />
his father initiated him into his Army and<br />
Navy Lodge in 1974 and he became its<br />
Master in 1984 and again in 2004. In<br />
Hertfordshire, he was a founder member<br />
of the Guy Marsden Halsey Lodge in<br />
1990, and its Master in 1992. In 1991 he<br />
was exalted into the Royal Arch and, in<br />
1994, he was a founder member of the<br />
Guy Marsden Halsey Chapter and its 1st<br />
Principal in 1998. He received London<br />
Honours in 1996 and was a Provincial<br />
Officer in both Craft and Chapter.<br />
Brian was a member of the Toastmasters<br />
and Master of Ceremonies Federation and<br />
its President in 1998. For many years he<br />
has been Toastmaster at our Annual<br />
Dinner at Stationers’ Hall, resplendent in<br />
his red jacket and OSA bow-tie and the<br />
epitome of efficiency in guiding<br />
proceedings along. He was, of course, an<br />
OSA member and regular attender at our<br />
‘Intake Year of 1954’ reunions.<br />
In 1995, he was diagnosed with Hodgkins<br />
Lymphoma, which he successfully overcame<br />
although an overdose during radiotherapy<br />
left him with scarring to his neck.<br />
In retirement, Brian was able to lavish<br />
plenty of time on grandson Freddie, buying<br />
him a set of golf clubs when he was six,<br />
arranging lessons for him and taking him<br />
to the driving range for practice, trying out<br />
go-karting at Rye House, ‘helping’ him put<br />
46
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0<br />
together complicated Lego constructions<br />
and, having recently bought him his first<br />
guitar, was teaching him to play. Also, he<br />
and Angie could indulge their love of the<br />
theatre more frequently, taking in West<br />
End drama and musical productions, and<br />
taking regular holiday trips abroad. It was<br />
whilst in Malta with friends that Brian<br />
was taken ill and died on 26th May.<br />
Brian was easy-going, affable and reliable<br />
and, as testament to the high regard in<br />
which he was held, over 120 people<br />
attended his funeral at Harwood<br />
Crematorium, Stevenage, including Old<br />
Stationers Roger Melling (OSA President),<br />
Roger Engledow, Doug Fussell, Tony<br />
Hemmings, Michael Mote and Peter<br />
Redmond. It can be truthfully said that<br />
Sim lived respected and died regretted.<br />
Tony Hemmings<br />
ROY TREMLETT<br />
We were advised on the 5th August that<br />
Roy Tremlett of Glebe Road, Hornsey died<br />
last week at the age of 88. The call was from<br />
his carer – he apparently never married and<br />
the closest relative is thought to be a cousin.<br />
At the age of 88 Royston would probably<br />
have gone to the School in 1937 and then<br />
possibly to Wisbech in 1939.<br />
Tony Hemmings Honorary Secretary<br />
ALAN ARIS<br />
1933-2014<br />
I have been advised of the death last<br />
November of ALAN ARIS, class of 44-49.<br />
I believe he was involved with the Hornsey<br />
Historical Society and had been unwell<br />
for the last few years.<br />
Gordon<br />
Alan Aris<br />
Alan spent all of his life in the Hornsey<br />
area. He attended Rokesley School, and on<br />
obtaining a scholarship, he became a pupil<br />
at Stationers' Company's Grammar School<br />
in September of 1944.<br />
After leaving school and completing<br />
National Service, he embarked on a career<br />
in Life Insurance with Sun Life, but in<br />
1970 Alan decided on a change and<br />
obtained a Bachelor of Education degree,<br />
teaching in many primary schools.<br />
Alan was father to three daughters and<br />
grandfather to three girls and three boys.<br />
Apart from his family and his teaching<br />
profession, Alan had many interests, he<br />
travelled widely to Europe, North Africa,<br />
USA and Australia. A keen Francophile,<br />
he was a member of a French conversation<br />
group, and had passions for impressionist<br />
art, rock music and opera. He was a<br />
committee member in the Hornsey<br />
Historical Society with published works<br />
on local matters.<br />
He retired from full time teaching in 1998,<br />
but continued with part time tuition,<br />
together with working one day a week at<br />
the Museum of London, and his<br />
involvement in Local History.<br />
Allan attended every meeting of the 'Class<br />
of 44' since the first reunion in 2002, up to<br />
2013, a popular member he had a fund of<br />
fascinating information on Hornsey as<br />
well as many other wider matters. He is<br />
fondly remembered and will be sorely<br />
missed.<br />
TonyTight<br />
DAVID WATTERSON<br />
1954-1960<br />
David died on the 12th November 2014 in<br />
the Isle of Man, where he had lived for<br />
some time.<br />
Denis Hamment<br />
1926 - 2013<br />
Dear Geraint,<br />
fayfield@live.co.uk<br />
5th February 2015<br />
I was very sorry to learn that Denis<br />
Hamment had died.<br />
We were good friends at the Calthorpe<br />
L.T.C. in Crouch End. He and his great<br />
friend Alec Linford were often challenging<br />
for the men's doubles championship versus<br />
me and my friend Keith Grewcock (also<br />
an old boy). We all also formed the<br />
backbone of our Club's Tennis Team.<br />
Denis, as Treasurer, used to keep a beady<br />
eye on me. I was the Club's Secretary, so<br />
therefore received and distributed our<br />
Club's Wimbledon Ticket Allocation!<br />
I fondly remember Denis asking my wife<br />
Yvonne and I to spend a long weekend<br />
with him at his family's smallholding in<br />
Kent. He was learning to drive, so had<br />
purchased an ancient Austin 7. He wanted<br />
to practice driving around the smallholding,<br />
so needed me to be his qualified eo-driver<br />
to get there.<br />
Unfortunately the car only had a wooden<br />
back seat, so poor Yvonne obtained a very<br />
sore backside!<br />
Also, Denis stalled negotiating the<br />
Blackwall Tunnel Thames Crossing. I<br />
could only get the thing going again by<br />
using the engine's starter handle. Driving<br />
this time, I had my vocabulary extended by<br />
remarks from the many held up truck<br />
drivers! Still, we all had a lovely time, but<br />
unfortunately I cannot find my<br />
photographs of Denis careering around<br />
the farmland and getting stuck!<br />
Finally, I had no idea of all Denis' travelling<br />
and other activities, (other than<br />
orienteering). I shall miss seeing him at<br />
out Dinners etc., it was so nice to be his<br />
friend.<br />
Arthur Field 1944-1949<br />
The definitive history of<br />
Stationers’ Company’s School<br />
written by Robert Baynes<br />
(Headmaster 1962-1982)<br />
is now available in its third<br />
reprint due to popular<br />
demand.<br />
Priced at £18 plus p+p<br />
it is available from<br />
Tim Westbrook, email:<br />
tim@timwestbrook.co.uk<br />
47
Photographs taken from "The Stationer" 1975 (see page 36) courtesy of Richard Griff iths 1968-75<br />
OSFC 1stXI 1975<br />
Back row: F Haroun, K Kavallares, F Maddigan, S Leonard, M Kassie, V Togher, P Mustaka, E Chamberlain<br />
Front row: M Brookes, P Coster, P Ley, R Comerford (Capt), J Kantorowicz<br />
Staff team 1975 - left to right: M Fitch, C Toomey, J Young, P de Wolfson,<br />
B McCeigh, M Smethers, J Watson, P Bennett, H Borley, A Smyth, G Pritchard, M Wharton.<br />
The cast of The Ghost Train 1975 – Back row: Mohamed A Ali, Richard Rose, Richard Comerford, Chris Mattey, Ian Stokes,<br />
Chris Augustini. Front row: Lynne Rogers, Cathy Ward, Richard Griffiths, Bridgit Duerden, Caroline Scott.