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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 recollections of the class of '63 The class of '63 assembled for their fiftieth reunion in October 2013. Some of their recollections proved interesting. Time does not seem to have dulled these memories. I suppose it's well known that a characteristic of dementia is heightened memory of fifty years ago, while a few of us had no idea of our way home. I was shocked that so many of my classmates hated school. While I don't look upon schooldays as the happiest days of my life, I enjoyed the quirky security of my education at Stationers. Others had a quite different experience. It could be that the amalgamation of Stationers' and Priory Vale schools to form one giant comprehensive in our fourth year proved an impediment to achievement that many failed to overcome. Anyway, many former students I contacted declined my invitation, and even some who attended proclaimed their dislike of Mayfield Road. The first thing I was reminded of was nicknames. These were unknown at my Primary School. Some teachers were called (when out of earshot) by a Christian name, sometimes theirs but more often than not a misnomer. Examples were "Joe" Symons, "Sid" Holmes, "Sam" Read, "Jack" Rimmer, "Gus" Thomas and so on. Others were more creative. There was "Jesus" Cook, "Beak'; Davis, "Peanut" Bartlett, "Jimmy Bean" (Mr Grant) as well as the more curiously named "Humbert Yapp" (English teacher Mr Hay). Some of the boys had nicknames too, such as "Tish" Allen and "Doe" Braham who were in my form, Form 1. Some boys could mimic teachers' voices and mannerisms well. Gus was a favourite. Shouts of: "You're in!" in a nasal, strangled whine were common. When west countryman "Davey" Court was appointed as Head of Maths these impersonators had a field day. He sounded like Robert Newton as Long John Silver. Cries of: "Thart goes over thart, thart goes into thart, thart gives us the answer .... Gorrt it? - do it!!" were heard throughout the corridors. This could have been a foreign language as far as I was concerned. Copying my homework answers from another boy one day "Davey" asked me how I had worked out my solutions. "Slide rule, sir", I cried with what I thought was great presence of mind. "To two decimal places?!?" he scolded me with great derision. Tom Waples wrote a great verse about "Gus" Thomas the Latin master, who would sometimes perch on the edge of a desk in the front row when addressing us. The class held its breath waiting for the desk to give· way. The rhyme went: "Thomasus satibus Upon the deskolorum. Deskibus collapsibus And Gusus on the floorem!" Happy days!! Terry Miles amused us with many of "Beak" Davis' learned sayings. Terry is not sure that his recollections are 100% accurate but he remembers phrases like: Dolls eyes and flypaper; Strangled earwigs on toast; Bilge, Barge, Balderdash, Poppycock and Piffle. That reminds me of the Isle of Wight vicar who returned after an absence and said to his congregation that it was nice to see the old Cowes faces! Don't chew that ruler - the last boy who did that died by inches; Stop eating that ruler - it's Wednesday not CHEWsday; I'm not as green as I'm cabbage looking; And of course his favourite opening of: "Avez vous faire un devoir pour aujourd hui?" And the hapless student's reply of "Non Monsieur." Beak would follow up with "Quel dommage!" The inevitable detention would follow. He was also rumoured to tell new boys: "You must Be Careful (pronounced Beek Areful) how you talk about masters' nicknames!" Derek Montague recalled "0" level Biology lessons with WAC Rees. He remembered that the class had a test each week. It was WACs way of getting boys to learn 'by rote' because as the boys used to ask their own test questions they were invariably the same questions asked from one week to the next. The student who came up with an original question was not too popular! Boys reported their marks to WAC at the end of the test. Often they "inflated" their marks. Then one 'day the back row boys got a conscience about doing this and reported their true test mark - only to find that a detention followed as a consequence! A favourite recollection of mine concerns Mr Topley's (nickname: "Uncle Lightning") Geography lessons. In the third year the cleverest boy in our class was probably Ollie Bradley, but he hated Geography and didn't make any effort in the class. Mr Topley would look at his work, then turn on him and say: "Bradley, this writing gives me earache! My cat could do better than that with gloves on!" He would often then make students like Bradley write out the alphabet in his best handwriting. Other boys were given the same exercise. Graham Vickers remembered that his parents wrote to Mr Baynes (the Headmaster) expressing their desire for Graham to learn some Geography rather than revise the alphabet in every lesson! Concerning Mr Topley's nickname, "Joe" Symons had a habit of making it clear to boys in his class that he knew Topley's name. He often taught Economics in the Geography Room. Mr Topley would occasionally send in boys to collect maps and other equipment he wanted while "Joe" was teaching there. When the boy had completed his errand "Joe" would send him back yelling: "You better move like lightning, lad!" We remembered our mischievous fun in class by keeping a league table of misdemeanours committed by various boys. These were usually kept by Frank Clapp and won by Jim Butler, and it was a job requiring a most conscientious attitude. Boys were awarded 10 points for a detention, 6 for 100 lines, 4 for 50 lines and so on down to 1 for a mild rebuke. These competitions had names like the "Rao Reward" (Maths), "Kinky Cup" (Latin), "Chin Chart" (French) and so on. Great fun, and I don't think they were ever discovered by the masters. Unlike many of my fellow students I enjoyed all this so much I went on to become a teacher myself. I can't help wondering what OFSTED (the schools' inspection body) would make of all this. The three part lesson, starters and plenaries were unheard of. I am afraid that many of the lessons I experienced would be classified as "Unsatisfactory" today. But I got a much broader, more rounded education than children get today. At 18 I had a better general knowledge than most Sixth Formers today. I acquired a great love of Geography and History from some teachers of those subjects. And I continue to attend Old Boys' events today! I look forward to our next reunion with anticipation. 16
70th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden On D Day June 6th 1944 the three tanks and fifteen men of 4th Troop 'B' Squadron 4th17th Royal Dragoon Guards landed on the Normandy coast. Our amphibious DD tank (ambitiously named on the side 'Cooks Tour') had been swamped during the landing and had been replaced by a conventional diesel Sherman. Three months later we had reached Holland having motored 500 miles. We had been in action during the bitter fighting in Normandy, were involved in the crossing of the River Seine, carried out a recce of the City of Lille to be met by an ecstatic crowd in the Place de la Republique and been in action in Belgium. Out of the original fifteen crew and three tanks, seven of our comrades had been killed, two missing, three wounded and two paws, and had seven Sherman tanks destroyed by enemy action. The German West Wall fortifications, known as the Siegfried Line was 480 km long and ran opposite the French Maginot Line from Basle to Cleve. It was constructed to delay an offensive so that reserves could be brought forward and was a formidable obstacle with tank defences and block-houses. In order to outflank the German defence line an operation by Montgomery to establish a bridgehead across the Lower Rhine at Arnhem was endorsed by the supreme commander, Eisenhower, to commence 17th September 1944. Called Operation Market Garden it comprised a parachute offensive with ground support. The ground offensive, Operation Garden, was to commence at the Belgian-Dutch border, proceeding via Eindhoven, Uden, and Nijmegen to Arnhem, the front being only one road width wide. British XXX Corps was to attack down the road, with British 8th Corps and 12th Corps on either side of the narrow corridor being carved out by XXX Corps. The airboume offensive, Operation Market, was to take place at points along the same road, the US 101 st Airborne Division dropping in the area of Zon, Veghel and Uden, capturing the bridges over the Wilhemenia Canal and the Zuid Willemsvaart Canal. The US 82nd Airborne Division was to capture the bridge over the Maas at Grave and the over the Waal at Nijmegen and to dominate the high ground known as the Groesbeek Heights between Nijmegen and the German border. The British 1st Airboume division was tasked to capture the bridge at Arnhem and to establish a bridgebead across the Rhine. All went horribly wrong however; the 1st Airborne was dropped too far away from the Arnhem Bridge. The main purpose of a parachute drop is surprise, but this was not achieved as the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions were refitting in the Arnhem area. To add to the difficulties the radio connection between the commander Major- General R E Urquart and the 1st T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0 Sketch map 1: The Market Garden Plan 17 September 1944 in Belgium Airbourne failed. He was trapped in a house for 24 hours to evade a German patrol and therefore losing command of the operation. The object of Garden was to meet up with and relieve the airbourne troops who had been dropped to capture the bridges at Grave, Nijmegen and Arnbem. We were to follow the Guards Armoured Division who was leading the assault. The problem of course, attacking on such a narrow front with a long tail back, was the possibility of flank attacks by the Germans cutting off the supply route and reinforcements. As we motored north alerts became frequent and it was necessary to stop and take up positions behind trees lining the road. The US 82nd Airborne had successfully taken the bridge at Grave so we pushed on to Nijmegen, which we reached without any difficulty. The bridge across the River Waalat Nijmegen We parked in the open square just before the bridge. The town was obviously short of food and we were besieged for anything we could spare. The Dutch Resistance put in an appearance solemnly parading around the square two Dutch girls with their heads shaved, who had consorted with the German troops. It was a pity the Resistance had nothing better to do. (During the liberation of Rugles in France the Resistance were shaving heads in the high street. One of our tank commanders told his gunner to fire the machine gun over the perpetrators to put a stop to it, but in error he fired the main gun scattering everyone at great haste.) Later when we had returned to Nijmegen I was detailed to pick up some potatoes from a nearby Nunnery. The nuns had taken the two girls into their protection and given them wigs to cover their shaven heads. It was decided to cross the river by the rail bridge. Whilst we were waiting to go across, our eo-driver was found wandering about with amnesia. The Squadron Leader sent him to casualty from whence he was invalided home. The Squadron pushed on with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry riding on the tanks in an attempt to reach the Polish Airborne Brigade at Driel to the west of Arnbem. It was extremely hot and dusty. The column 17
Page 1 and 2: No 80 /February 2015 The Old Statio
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Page 39 and 40: My first excursion to Norway was pr
Page 45 and 46: PETER BULLEN 1927-2014 A Service of

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