OSAmag78

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T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 7 8 John Ward match at Lord's in the sum,mer term 1959. I clearly remember when Mr Phillips gave us our first timetable with the names of the masters, there was a double outbreak of hilarity when he announced that our woodwork teachers were Messrs. Naylor (laughter) and Slogett (uproar). These were the names of some of our subject masters – History: Major 'Raz' Halls; Geography: Mr 'Uncle' Topley; French: Mr 'Beak' Davis; P.E.: Mr 'Sid' Holmes; Music: Mr Clover. For the next four years my form master was Mr 'Peanut' Bartlett who also took us for maths. Other subject masters were: English Lang. And Lit. - Mr 'Gus' Thomas; Physics – Mr Grant; Chemistry – Mr 'Eno' Andrews; and Latin – Mr 'Johnnie' Gore. As time went by I also enjoyed learning under Messrs. 'Jim' Morris – English; 'Sam' Read – Geography, and 'Wally' Betton – Latin. Other masters' names have faded from my memory. I was in the Lower and Upper Sixth - our desks were on the stage – under Mr Morris studying English Literature and Latin for 'A' Level (all to little avail). For a double period each week I had a solo session with the Headmaster, Mr Baynes on Comparative Religion. I didn't put enough effort into my sixth form studies, probably because I was continuing to indulge myself in extra curricular activities such as helping with school plays,chiefly costume/wardrobe and set-dressing but also assisting MICK BERG on lighting. The productions I remember most were The Government Inspector and Twelth Night where I also had programme and front-of house functions. For some years I had been helping Mr 'Joe' Symons to compile the school magazine and I did the initial proofreading and correcting the printer's galley, learning to use all the correct printers' marks for the amendments required (good stuff for my future career). As an extension of that I also put together the fixture cards for the soccer and cricket seasons and did the admin around the annual cross-country run. The Head asked me to be the school's representative on the Public School's Debating Society; I'm not sure how the school benefited from this but I enjoyed going to meetings at top-notch establishments. I enjoyed being a prefect and reading the scripture text in Assembly but never knew how I managed to make the grade. Good friends at school included MIKE FITCH, STEPHEN PLATTEN, STEPHEN TREW, ROGER WOOLF, MICK BERG, LORI FELLINGHAM, COLIN KEAM-GEORGE, ALAN CALDER and many others. Platten and I put on an end-of-term entertainment called 'TV Night of the Stars' which was a send-up of various television programmes of the time (around 1963) including Juke Box Jury and That Was the Week That Was. After leaving Stationers' I joined the newly-created Haringey Council as a trainee and went through various administrative roles before going into the Committee Section looking after the Education Committee. The Conservatives were in control during my first two years on Education but then in 1971 it became a Labour Authority. A career move took me to Islington Council and servicing their Social Services Committee which included the responsibility for council housing; I sort of specialised in the children's services side of the committee's remit. After little more than a year I was back in Haringey, again with the Education Committee and its many off-shoots. That coincided with changes in secondary education and I remember attending a meeting with members of the Education Committee and trustees of the Stationers' Company about the future of the School and what part the Company would be able to play in supporting education in the borough after the school closed down.I also did a lot of work in connexion with the formation of Middlesex Polytechnic which was controlled by a Joint Education Committee involving people from Barnet , Enfield and Haringey Councils; meetings took place around the boroughs and in some institutions that formed the polytechnic – a very interesting period. After several years immersed in the rather introspective world of education I took on Planning and Development Committee which was extremely interesting because the Council at that time was trying to look at everything from airports and railways to industry and employment with travellers community centres, and the Haringey Central Area Redevelopment also in the mix. I was introduced to Her Majesty the Queen when she came to Wood Green to open the Shopping City, originally a very swish development with a futuristic road plan that never came to fruition because of the reversal in policy over demolishing homes in order to build roads. I suppose it was a life of meetings and the proceedings thereof, but it took me to many interesting places, like 10 Downing Street, and allowed me into the company of many fascinating people, including Ken Livingstone, Princess Anne, and Monsignor Bruce Kent – separately of course. These events all seemed so momentous at the time but are so insignificant today. From the late 1980s onwards I was progressing along a management career path and became the Business Manager of the new Contract Service department with several thousand staff that did everything from schooldinners to street cleansing. When the time came for the Council to take on new powers of parking enforcement, for some reason that now escapes me I said “Yes” to the request to set up the new service and became the borough's parking manager. I very soon learned not to tell people I met outside of work what I did for a living. Who hasn't got a parking ticket story to tell? Looking back on my career after retirement in 2004, I would sum it up by saying that I served as a general adminstrator and writer in the public service; I was fortunate to have been able to put to good use many of the skills and abilities I picked up during my extracurricular activities at Stationers' Company's School. Outside work, I helped to set up, and for several years was very active in, the Muswell Hill Friends of the Earth, and have been a long-standing member of the Hornsey Historical Society. I was a member of the Buildings Committee of the Victorian Society for ten years from 1995 and was an active member of the Twentieth Century Society, both reflecting my interest in architecture and historic buildings. Moving to Norfolk in 2005 meant that attending frequent meetings in the capital was no longer practical but I retain my memberships and read all their publications. 24
T h e O l d S t a t i o n e r - N o 7 8 With best wishes John Clarke Ward By the way , the group that meets twice a year for dinner at a venue in London comprises any ten of the following Gerry Ashton; Bob Assirati; Mick Berg: Alan Calder: Lori Fellingham: David Fisk; Michael Fitch; Roger Forder;Stephen Gaubert; Philip Holland; Peter Langridge: Peter Miller; Archie Reeve: John Ward: Ed Winter And Roger Woolf. 2nd October 2013 peter.sandell@hotmail.co.uk To: Geoff Blackmore; Bob Fry; Patrick Curwen; Pat Cossey; Jim Buckland; Jim Smith; Alexander Grogan; Richard Forty: Subject: MALHAM A fine body of men (or boys); whatever became of them all !?!! Richard Forty sent it to me. Regards Peter Sandell This photograph was taken on the Malham Lower Sixth Form Field Trip in July 1971 at the end of my first year teaching at Stationers'. I believe it was taken not far from Ribblehead Viaduct where the B6479 from Horton in Ribblesdale meets the B6255 road from Ingleton to Hawes. Those of you who attended this annual course in subsequent years may well have had the opportunity to take up the challenge of the Three Peaks. This was a walk of 24 miles to be completed in 12 hours starting at Pen y Ghent Cafe, Horton in Ribblesdale and clambering up first Pen y Ghent then Whernside and lastly Ingleborough. All three peaks are photographed in Magazine No.77 page 25. However, this was my first trip to the area with sixth form from Stationers' and such a challenge that year was not on the agenda as I was just discovering the overall potential of the Craven District for future trips! In the photograph are, back row from left to right GEOFF BLACKMORE; JIM SMITH; ALEC GROGAN; JIM BUCKLAND; and from left to right front row, RICHARD FORTY; PAT COSSEY; BOB FRY and PATRICK CURWEN. GEOFF BLACKMORE, a former President is a very active member of the OSA, as well as PETER SANDELL. JIM SMITH has never been far from the Old Stationers scene. PAT COSSEY, I have been in contact for a few years now as a result of Peter Sandell's diligence in tracking him down through google. Only very recently at the OSA Christmas Lunch at Stationers' Hall did we have the opportunity to catch up with RICHARD FORTY and BOB FRY whom I had not seen for very many years. In fact Richard Forty has just joined as a member of the OSA. STEVE PRESLAND, although not a geographer was also present at the Christmas Lunch. We send Steve our congratulations on his recent wedding. JIM BUCKLAND; PATRICK CURWEN and ALEC GROGAN, I have not seen since 1972. There is a chance that they may turn up at the REUNION that is planned for those that started at Stationers' in 1965, when it happens in 2015 to celebrate fifty years since that year group started in the first form. Thanks to Peter Sandell for circulating this photograph. There were other members of the sixth form also attending this course, who were on another activity at the time. Ed. WHERE ARE You NoW? Requests are often made by members and relatives of former Stationers' pupils with whom they have lost contact. It may be that an Old Stationer reading these pages, is in contact with the former Stationers' pupil or knows of his whereabouts. Willow Tree House , Ditchford Hill MORETON IN MARSH GL56 9QS alan.green61@btinternet.com 13th August 2013 If you are to do a 'Where is he now' article, I should be interested to know if anyone recalls MALCOLM KING, who joined Stationers' in 1953 and who would have left school in 1957 as his parents had a sudden split. I still have to this day Malcolm's original letters from that time. He was a stocky fellow with wavy black well creamed hair and lived in Wightman Road. Alan Green Sixth formers on the Malham Field Course, Summer 1971 41c Wolseley Road, Crouch End London N8 8RS 7th December 2013 Dear Geraint Following the letter about Frank Dickens in 'The Old Stationer' No.74, I enclose a 'Bristow' cartoon (pictured overleaf ) from The Evening Standard some years ago with a reference to the Stationers' Company. I hope everyone gets the joke! I also enclose a mention of Colin Chapman and one of his school reports that were published in the AA magazine 'Drive' in 1969 (overleaf ). Colin is famous as founder and manufacturer of LOTUS cars. Best wishes Richard Hudson 1964-1971 25
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OSAmag78

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