OSAmag80

T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 8 0
wife and I find ourselves back in London
(approximately twice a year) we always
find time to catch up with them both.
Finally I was intrigued by the letter from
Leslie McBride Singleton a) because he
began at Stationers' the year after I did,
and b) he had fond memories of Johnny
Gore just as I do. It seems his memory is
also indelibly printed on your consciousness
as indicated by your reference that
followed. I don't have Leslie's address but
if you can provide one I will happily email
a pic of the red book to which Leslie refers.
Clearly I'm not prepared to part with the
book itself as it is one of the few Stationer's
possessions that I have. Sadly my red book
does not have the distinction of a gold
crest but it was definitely given to Latin
students in preparation for O Level. Gore's
instantly recognizable red scrawls are in
evidence everywhere throughout the book,
some marks better than others of course. I
would be very surprised if anyone has a
spare copy to part with therefore an
emailed pic may be sufficient to satisfy
Leslie's curiosity.
Best wishes
Dave Gordon 1957-1964
FROM MY ECCLESIASTICAL
Dear Geraint
CORRESPONDENT IN
THE NORTH
peterkmills@talktalk.net
13 October 2014
Many thanks for your updates on your
travels – recently received. Here in Haxey
and the Parish Church in particular, we
were joined about 3 years ago by a couple,
Eileen and David Owers. I discovered
yesterday that DAVID OWERS had been
a pupil at Stationers'!! The only guidance I
can give is that David is 79 – and which
should help you to approach the records. I
will be loaning him the publication you
delivered when you called – but when I
mentioned the 'Wakefield experience' he
was of course aware of the bones of the
situation but not of the history of Stephen.
Regards
Peter Mills
Peter Mills, I have known for very many
years since he and his wife arrived in
Llandegfan, near Beaumaris in Anglesey as
the Postmaster in the Post Office in this
village many years ago, where my mother had
lived since 1973. He was very much involved
in the Church in Wales and became my
'adviser' locally on Church matters in the
Principality. Then, when he moved to Haxey,
near Doncaster, Peter continued to keep me
advised, now on Church of England matters,
especially as he was aware that the former
Bishop of Wakefield, Stephen Platten, was a
Stationer ever since he was appointed to
become the Bishop. Consequently, Peter has
always kept me up to date on much of the
major developments and changes in the
Church of England and sent me much of the
documentation as both he, and I alerted by
Peter, kept me updated on a major change on
the bishoprics of West Yorkshire. Thus, through
cuttings in the Church Times I was able to
provide a comprehensive understanding
without precedent, of the process of
amalgamation of three bishoprics to only one,
in the Church of England. Thank you Peter.
[Please see Magazine Number 79]
Hello Geraint,
johnbathurst@sympatico.ca
20 th October 2014
As LES HUMPHREYS (1952-1959)
states in 'The Old Stationer No 79 (p 29),
he has been unable to persuade me “to
stump up a membership”. I have also
eluded similar societies, e.g. Northampton
Engineering College Alumni and the
RAF Association. As usual, Les kindly
lent me his copy of the magazine. Finding
some interesting stuff therein (notably
contributions by JOHN WARD 1958-
1965 and JOHN AANONSON 1960-
1967) prompts me to offer a few rambling
comments. However, as a 1938-1943
dinosaur and Wisbech veteran, I doubt
many readers old enough to care a fig
about them.
In 1938, to handle increasing enrolment,
construction of the School's wing was
underway. First Formers were being
temporarily accommodated in classrooms
at a decommissioned girls' school of
Victorian vintage located on the west side
of Oakfield Road, near Addington Road.
That meant a trudge back up to the main
school for gym, the library, classes such as
woodwork and art, army cadet corps
parades, and in cases of serious
misbehaviour, a chat with 'Josh'. Around
the corner in Stapleton Hall Road was St.
Aidan's Secondary School where,
conveniently, my girl friend was a pupil.
She, too, was at Wisbech. We bonded at
Muswell Hill Junior School, better known
as 'Tin Pot School' (p 22) due to the
corrugated-iron cladding of its walls and
roof. Built as a WWII temporary school, it
remained temporary throughout WWII
and then survived two more decades
before preceding Stationers', St. Aidans
and Hornsey High – where my sister went
– into oblivion. (I warned you about this
rambling).
My attached photograph, taken in the
spring of 1939, shows Form 1A of the
1938 intake. This comprised of boys
surnames with initials A-H while those in
Form 1B were I-Z.
Many of the younger OS will remember
the above KEITH HEWETT as their
schoolmaster while PETER BULLEN
needs no introduction. I suspect that
COTTRELL was HARRY'S brother
GEORGE COTTRELL (p 25). PETER
ASKEY, a dry humorist, was reputedly a
son of the famous comedian Arthur Askey
but in fact he was not. BARRATT and
DAVENPORT were our two brightest
brains. Also somewhere in the picture were
AKERMAN, ANGWIN and BRADLEY.
My friend LEO GATFIELD was later at
university with me; we were also in the
93rd North London and, at Wisbech, the
2nd Stationers scout troops. The former
was under the patronage of St. George's
Church (p 21), our pre-war HQ being in
the basement of the parish hall at the foot
of Cranley Gardens, site of the present
church. The hall was half-demolished by
Hornsey's first 'flying bomb' on 16 th June
1944. Our temporary HQ was the
gatekeeper's cottage of Grove Lodge, the
mansion on the east flank of Muswell Hill
that was a wartime hospital. There I did
hospital orderly and fire-watching duties
– the latter referring to incendiary bombs,
not living room fireplaces. Also in the 93rd
NL and 2 nd Stationers' troops were
JOHN SHELDON, who lived on Farrer
Road, and JOHN WILLIS on Wood Vale,
both ahead of me at school. I recall
climbing Snowdon with KEN WILLIS,
the latter's older brother, also a Stationer
and in the 93 rd NL. I was running the
93 rd NL cub pack in 1945/6, meeting at
Rokesly School (p 18). One of the cubs
was my brother, ANTHONY
BATHURST 1948-1953, later also a
Stationer. Our home was in Cascade
Avenue, off Muswell Hill. Schoolmaster
RODNEY NAYLOR lived three doors
from us. (In the group photograph the
juxtaposition of BACON and FRYER was
doubtless unintentional).
Ah yes – the Priory Road area, (p18 et
seq). Starting in 1905 there were doubledecker
trams running up from Turnpike
Lane as far as the shops shown in the
picture on page 21. Single-deckers
continued up the west end of Alexandra
Palace and its LNER branch line station.
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