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"Janus" - Vol. 3 N° 2 - Autumn 1954 |
FROM THE HEADMASTER
THE SCHOOL has come to the end of its third year with some grand news about its future. No longer is there any uncertainty. After protracted negotiations between the London County Council and the Ministry of Education, agreement has been reached about future building programmes, and building itself will start within six months. Thus a period of uncertainty comes to an end and the school can look forward to a permanent place in the country's educational system.
At a time like this one looks back over the past and takes stock of what has been achieved. It is indeed a very great deal. We have established a routine which is I think good, we have set ourselves standards of work which appear to be good judging by the excellent first examination results obtained by the seven candidates in the G.C.E. We have achieved some local reputation at games - particularly at rugby football - and I can see developing a pride in the school which is reflected in the appearance and behaviour of the boys. Many school societies have been successfully founded and as time goes on these are settling down to become an integral part of the life of our community.
We have had much to put up with and we shall have to go on putting up with a very great deal for some time to come. On the whole the school is to be congratulated on the way in which it overcomes the difficulties of living in huts and the difficulties of scattered buildings. As the building programme proceeds these difficulties will disappear and in the foreseeable future we shall be living and working in buildings worthy of the school we hope to create. A very great deal of thought has gone into the planning of these buildings and I would like to pay tribute to the work the Architects have already done. I am sure everybody will be very pleased with the finished school. Everybody concerned should, too, be aware of the parts the Governing Body of the school and the Chairman, Mrs. Chaplin, in particular, have played in achieving this very satisfactory result. They have struggled to convince everybody concerned of the value of the school and they have succeeded magnificently. The school itself can congratulate itself on the tangible results of hard work which has been one of the most vital factors in these successful negotiations. Without such evidence of successful foundations being laid here at Woolverstone by staff and boys no negotiations at all could have taken place.
Looking back over these three years, as I have said, there is much to be proud of. There are, however, things which we must put right. The most important of these in my opinion is the general apathy that one feels about acts of service to the school. Boys work hard, play hard, enjoy facilities, activities and amusement provided for them. There is as yet very little sign of positive effort to create new things, to improve existing things, and in some cases even to preserve existing things. I said at the beginning of this term to the senior boys that, as an example, one hour's work a week spent by each senior boy on the school grounds would not only make a vast difference in the appearance and tidiness of our school but would add up to the equivalent of two extra gardeners whom the school cannot afford. The response has been negligible. I hope the school will think of this and will learn that living in a community such as ours carries responsibilities and duties s well as pleasures, and that no life is complete without some positive giving to others and without some form of service to others.
Our school has made a good start. Let us all remember that we are laying the foundations of something that will endure through succeeding generations. We must ensure that those who will follow us will always think that what we did was good.
J. S. H. Smitherman
NORTH WALES: THIS HOLIDAY was under the guidance of Mr. Hanson, and six boys from the fifth and sixth forms accompanied him. A friend of Mr. Hanson's, Mr. Trevor Savage, also came along to join us. We went by car, some of us from Ipswich with Mr. Hanson, the others in Trevor Savage's car from London. The first day we awoke to find the rain pouring down in a steady torrent outside the four tents which were pitched by the side of a lake, Cwm Idwal, about one thousand feet up in the mountains. After breakfast, which we had at eleven o'clock, we ventured into Bethesda to fetch some supplies. In the evening the weather cleared up and we were given a lovely view of the surrounding scenery. The mountains seemed to have halos of silvery cloud floating serenely in the evening sky.
The next morning we rose early (9 o'clock) and after breakfast went for our first climbing lesson on Idwal Buttress, a climb rated as ordinary, that is to say, not too hard. The essentials of climbing were explained to us and Trevor drilled into our thick skulls the necessity for belaying, a safety device to ensure that, if by some mishap the leader falls, the second man can save himself and perhaps the leader if he is safely belayed. We set off in two parties, one of three persons, the other of four, each under the supervision of one adult. Half way up, Trevor reminded me that the second man was to belay when the leader was climbing, so I hurriedly put a belay upon the rope on which one boy was calmly climbing, and turned to face his wrath.
The next incident worthy of note was when someone, let him remain nameless, let go of the rope, when his friend who was climbing behind him slipped off and fell. Luckily Trevor, like a guardian angel, was on hand and saved the day or else our holiday would have finished there and then. After a few more climbs on other days, we had the hang of it and went for a climb on Tryfan, the Milestone Buttress, which was somewhat more difficult.On every day except two it was raining and it rained hard, but two days were especially fine, one of which was when we climbed the Gashed Crag on Tryfan, a very difficult climb (for us). Two laggards walked round the easier way. Half way up we had lunch on a slab of rock which just sat five with difficulty. When Trevor took a photo and I asked him what his exposure was, he replied, "About two hundred feet." On the top we met the headmaster of Ottershaw school and we had a ittle chat.
On one particularly rainy day we walked the Grib Goch and by the time we reached the summit of Snowdon we were soaked, but the clouds lifted a little to enable us to see this view - on a postcard! But altogether we all agreed that we had had an extremely enjoyable holiday and we arrived home thoroughly satisfied.
Martyn Brown (VA)
$500,000,000 WORTH OF DEATH: BEADS OF PERSPIRATION were breaking out on Matherson's forehead as he stared panic - stricken at the Lexometer. They were already 120 million miles out of Laramie, the shining new planet which had great deposits of Rolonite in its mountains. It was a particularly long journey from Laramie to the nearest planet Zombeida, in fact even the security freighters were taking a big chance in shipping Rolonite. Matherson was a smuggler and there would be no base for him to adio back to and no refuelling ship to help him out. It was as he realised this that "Lucky" Wilmot came in. "What's wrong?" he asked sharply, then his eyes too became riveted on the Lexometer. "Good God!" he gasped, "how did that happen; I thought we were full up with fuel."
"So did I," answered Matherson hopelessly. Both men knew that there was only one thing to do. "We'll have to give up hope I'm afraid; might as well radio the patrol base right away."
Wilmot went out of the room to inform his radio beamist that all was lost and that even digging up Melanite nuggets on Auto for fifty years or so was preferable to falling through space for ever.
As he stepped into the radio beamist's cabin he became aware of a florescent silver light coming from the opposite end of the compartment, in fact from the Milon padded Rolonite crates. All thoughts of the fuel shortage on board his ship were sent reeling from his brain as he realised that the very contraband upon which he had built his hopes of a vast fortune was to be his downfall. The deadly omni-activeness of the Rolonite had eaten its way through even the tough Milon padded crates. Before he had come from Zombeida on this hazardous expedition, he had, quite naturally, supposed that Rolonite was carried in Milon reinforced ates. As was obvious now, this was not the case. Also the radio was absolutely useless now because the Rolonite rays intercepted the beams. There was only one faint hope in his mind. They would have to jump out of the space-doomed ship, clad, of course, in Vartan suits, and use their booster rockets to send them in the direction of Zombeida. After this they were in the hands of what was called by scientists "Geno-optimism" and what was called by Wilmot, "luck." Still, he thought, he had always been called "Lucky" Wilmot.
Last of all the crew to leave 500 million dollars' worth of death behind him was Wilmot. He kicked out into space in the general direction of Zombeida and flicked over the booster-rocket switch. Utter hopelessness, mingled with despair and righteous indignation filled his mind; surely a man was allowed to expect a certain amount of luck when in a position such as his. Most men would have been overcome by fear when faced with the proposition of falling through space for ever. Not Wilmot, however. The only thing that worried him was why, in Sirius, men called him "Lucky" Wilmot.
Andrew Szepesy (IIIA)
"IT DROPPETH AS THE GENTLE RAIN FROM HEAVEN?": THERE HE GOES! Get him!" The cry rings out from a member of Corner's House as he wends his way to school and breakfast. A boy picks up a heavy stick and, thus armed, stalks his sorry prey, a poor creature, with his eyes and head swollen to such an extent that he cannot see which way he is running, or should we say fleeing? Within two or three minutes this wretched, harmless beast has breathed his last breath.
His killer walks away. No, it should not be killer, let us say his rescuer. For it is indeed a mercy killing, the answer to a problem, to which no other answer has yet been discovered.
Myxomatosis.
The word rings hard in our ears. Day after day, week after week, this deadly plague has scourged the race of rabbits all over the country, causing to some unlucky beasts who go through the full time of suffering before death, three weeks of pain and misery. But why have these poor creatures been afflicted with this pestilence? Is it because they have committed some outrageous crime? Surely there must be some good reason for this persecution. But as far as I can gather, all the rabbits are guilty of is that they feed off the farmer's crops, and ponder as hard as I may, I can find nothing so terribly wrong in trying to live.
If in the end only the fittest are going to survive, what a lot of pain and misery is going to be suffered by the not so fit before this end is achieved. Wouldn't it be better to live and let live?
Brian Workman (V1)
THE FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: AT FARNBOROUGH AIR show this year quite a few planes were on view though only one was completely original, the Folland Midge. As we left Aldershot station we saw the Avro Vulcan. This white delta bomber is a handsome sight when it catches the sun. This Vulcan was also at the show.
The air show itself started at ten to three with two turbo-prop and two piston engined planes: the Proteus-Ambassador, Eland-Varsity, Heron and Pembroke. The Auster Aiglet trainer in bright red was performing some stunts in front of the crowds. Four Canberras were flying, namely the B.6, the one in general use in the R.A.F., and the B.8 which is a night intruder as well as a medium bomber. The cockpit is on one side and the plane is black. The other two were the Bristol Olympus and Armstrong Siddely Sapphire Canberras. Both of these broke into a vertical climb directly after take-off. There was the Soar-Meteor and a Meteor with a brown nose. The Victor which was only on its fourth flight circled the grounds a couple of times and touched down only to take-off straight away. The Supermarine 525 in cream and the Supermarine Swift, camouflaged in light and dark grey, took-off straight after one another. All was silent; then came a sonic bang and the 525 simultaneously. You could see the puffs of condensation when it broke the sound-barrier. Five or ten minutes later the Swift repeated the act. The de Havilland 110, a twin boom naval fighter in green, did not break the sound-barrier on the Sunday but it made some very fast fly-pasts.
The crowd was waiting for something to happen. They were not disappointed because the Hunter F.6 broke the sound-barrier and came hurtling past the rowd at a fantastic speed. The green of the plane was clearly visible as it was climbing. The Hunters F.1 and F.2 were camouflaged in light and dark grey with red in the intakes. The light fighter, the Folland Midge, sometimes called the "Blue Baby," was a fascinating sight to watch. The pitch black monster, the Valiant B.2, made an awful row when it took off. The Comets two and three flew silently compared with the others. The Hawker Sea Hawk, a naval fighter-bomber, also flew silently.
The helicopters, the Bristol 173, a long two-engined one, the Bristol Sycamore and Saunders Roe Skeeters in red and blue performed in their own unique style. Near the end of their performance the Bristol 173 flew backwards and landed very slowly. The Skeeters caused the crowd to look straight above them while they hovered, creating some stiff necks.
At the end, two Gloster Javelins, which are all-weather fighters, did some fast climbs and dives. Once one of them got to a certain height, let out a condensation trail and then came into a dive. Going home we saw a Vickers Viscount in the colours of some other company which had bought them. Our last glimpse was of a Westland- Sikorsky S.55, a helicopter in dark blue, now in the service of the R.A.F.
Niall O'Loughlin (IIA)
NIGHT JOURNEY: LAST NIGHT I had a dream; not an ordinary dream about home or school, but a new kind of dream. I dreamed that I was suddenly transported into the carriage of a moving train. After a short while the train stopped; as I alighted, I saw other people getting out from other compartments. Then we all walked along till we came to an old man, who was standing by a large staircase which mounted right into the sky, and out of sight among the clouds.
"I am St. Peter," said the old man, "and for every sin you have committed you must put a cross on a stair."So I put crosses on the stairs for all the sins I could remember.. Then I went and told St. Peter."What about that lie you told your master at Woolverstone Hall on the 20th of July, 1954?" he said.
So I put half-a-dozen more for luck and then I was told: "All right, you may go up now."
So up I went. 1 was just getting near the top when I saw a friend of mine coming down. "Hallo," I said, "why are you coming down?"
"Oh!" he replied, "I'm just going down to get some more chalk."Barry Phelps (IIB)
THIS WAS WAR: PROLOGUE: High above the clouds, over the Channel, three Mosquitoes spun their way through the bright atmosphere. Three brown and green, twin-engined lanes were met by a force of twenty-four single-engined black dots. One by one, three flaming balls rolled down through the clouds into the deep blue sea. "I hope those three Mosquitoes are all right." It was the C.O. ,of Billiard-green aerodrome, on the north-east coast of England.
"Oh, they'll be all right, sir," said Flight Sergeant Jones. 'Charlie' never gets into trouble. He knows that Mosquito of his like the back of his hand. He'll be back soon, sir, don't you worry."
"Well, Jones, they said that they would he back easily before three-thirty," said the C.O., David Green; "O.K. Jones, you can go."
"Thank you, sir," smiled Jones, and he was gone.
David Green watched him go, and a faint smile played upon his grim lips. He walked over to the window of his office and drew the curtains. Over the runway he could see a Beaufighter with two or three mechanics patching it up in places.
"Only a trainer," he thought. "Nearly made a hash of a landing."A drone of aircraft engines made him look up. A squadron of Lancasters was passing by: "Nice job, these Lancasters," he reflected. He looked at his watch ..... Good heavens," he thought, "a quarter to four."
Charlie was their best pilot, and his comrades, Frank and Arnold, were almost as good. He couldn't afford to lose them. Besides, they were decent fellows, all with wives and families.A knock on the office door distracted him from his thoughts. "Come in," he grunted.
It was Flight Sergeant Brown, who entered."There's some news about Charlie English and his companions."
"Oh?""They were shot down over the Channel, sir, at ten minutes past three. Everything lost."
EPILOGUE: Three squadron flags floated on the surface of the Channel. Three masses of man and metal lay at the foot of the universe. Three souls will be remembered for evermore. ANON.THE TEMPLE OF MITHRAS: DURING THE LAST MONTH OR SO, the curiosity of a great part of the nation has been aroused over archaeology. A new interest has been added to the pastime, which before was only vaguely known by the ordinary man in the street. Of course there are many people who have spent their lives digging in ruins, but how often has the work been spread across the headlines of the daily papers?
This new interest was started by the discovery of an ancient Roman Temple right in the centre of the largest and most heavily populated city in Britain, London. The temple was found on a site being used for the erection of some offices, and while archaeologists delved into its secrets, thousands and thousands of people queued to view this strange wonder. But how many of those people knew anything about the history of the remains which they queued so long to see. The emple itself was dedicated to Mithras, who was originally a god from the Indo-Iranian area of the world, a few thousand years ago. But he was a somewhat minor god and was only widely worshipped when his cult spread westwards into Asia Minor. It was in Asia Minor that Pompey, the Roman General, was introduced to the Mithration cult, while subduing the Cilician raiders and pirates around 67 B.C. But the cult did not at first gain favour in the west and remained obscure for a while.
However, by the end of the first century A.D., the mysteries of Mithras had become quite important. Mithras was a god who favoured courage and honesty and was consequently widely worshipped in the army and by merchants. As a result his shrines are usually found on sites of garrisons or sea-ports. It was a secret cult, but it had many curious resemblances to Christianity. For example the legend included a miraculous birth and adoration of Mithras by shepherds, and in the ritual there was baptism and a kind of sacramental meal. The chapels were entirely windowless and the inside was very gloomy. At one end was an altar with a frieze of Mithras slaying the bull, and along the sides were other statues. The chief official was Pater (the father), but below him were six other grades. All were males, for no women were admitted. They came in secret to the chapel, in secret to gain the favours of Mithras.
The temple in London was probably abandoned around the fourth century A.D., when the barbarians began attacking England, and the chief statues and treasures were buried for safety. They have remained there safe to this very year and are now going to be preserved on a site close by the original one, which is near Cannon Street Station, London.
Robert Croucher (V1)
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THE TOWER
It stands in the City of London, Paul McMaster (IVA) |
THE COPPER
The copper or the bobby, John Tarling (IIA) |
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NIGHT
The day ends, and a crimson veil is spread, John R. Tweddle (IIB) |
THE RUSH HOURS OF LONDON
The city throbs with the pulse of life Brian Jenkins (IIIA) |
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THE FOREST
Who dares to enter the forest John W. Dutton (IIA) |
THE SUNSET
Peace hangs over the valley, Geoff Smith (IIA |
| DESERT DREAMS
The sweet cool breeze at dawn of day Ron G. Crisp (IIIA)
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THE NIGHT AND THE DAWN
When the woods are lonely, Barry Shirley (IIIA) |
HEADMASTER'S
The "Newgys" year comes to an end very quickly. Sixty boys have now moved on to the higher plane of their senior houses. Maybe they feel slightly sore that all of the new "newgys" have done exactly the same thing already. However, they can all look back on a good year and a year when they served the school well. They show promise at games and at cricket several show particular promise. They have not done more lines than anyone else, they have not got dirtier than other boys in their first year and on the whole they have worked well.New boys - if they are sensible - learn fast, and I think last year's new boys were sensible. After three terms they had the air of old stagers at the game of avoiding trouble, avoiding washing, and avoiding going to sleep!
I hope they found their first year enjoyable. They were a good house to look after and I am sure they will become a credit to the school as they grow up.PATER FAMILIAS
CORNER'S: Since the last chronicle of the house in "Janus" a number of items of news can be reported upon.
The most important item is the simple fact that we are all a year older. This means quite a lot when we have not changed our members very much. The senior boys are now of an age when they can be expected to take real responsibility and to take charge of their various departments of the house. Even the youngest boys realise that the happiness of any community depends on each one doing his little bit towards the general life. We are well used now to living in our own boarding house and the general tone of the house is rising to a good level. There is a fine spirit of co-operation, we take our full share of school life, and efforts by members of the house are always keenly supported by most of the others.
We now have Miss Joyce as House Matron, and her fine work is much appreciated by all our boys, and their parents.Mr. Shuttleworth has left the school, and we welcome Mr. B. Davies as our resident assistant master. We hope he will be happy with us.
Brian Jenkins has left the house. He has emigrated to Australia, and we shall miss him.Fifteen new boys came to us in September, and are living down at the school with Mr. Goetzee as their tutor. When we have some more bedrooms built on to the house we shall be able to accommodate them properly with us.
New innovations inside the house have been much appreciated. At Easter, about half the rooms were tastefully decorated and in the summer we introduced a new type of double bunk bed which gives a lot more floor space for chairs and tables. Every boy above the fourth form can now have a study bedroom.I am sure that we were all very pleased with the successes of McCulloch, Workman and Croucher in the G.C.E. this year. They are now studying for their advanced courses.
In the school games, the house has again won the rugger and sailing cups. The teams deserve our heartiest congratulations. I dare not mention how the cricket cup slipped from our grasp in the last match of the season. We congratulate Mr. Hanson's boys on winning it from us.
During the year we have had the pleasure of visits from many parents of our boys. A few call in on most Sundays during the term. As housemaster I am always glad to see parents visit us and stay for a chat. There are one or two parents who have not yet been to visit - we would be delighted to see them whenever they could call.
I look forward to another good school year - with plenty of good hard work and plenty of fun I am sure that the house will, as ever, be foremost in our school's activities.
Steve R. Corner
HALLS': Trying to capture the family atmosphere in a school "house" which is accommodated in several separate and temporary buildings, spread around the school grounds, has not been an easy matter; thus it is all the more credit to us that, during the past year, despite the physical difficulties, the sense of fellowship and house loyalty has grown and prospered.
We were the smallest house and the youngest house, we were but thirty-five in number, with only eight boys in the senior school. Our shortage of seniors has not made for sporting records in terms of trophies and honours won, but we have never lost dishonourably, and I believe most people enjoyed competing with us.
Individuals in the house have deserved well of the school for their services to school teams. Day, Haynes, Thorn and Hansell have played particularly well for their respective rugger teams. Cuffley did well to gain first place in the Javelin throw at the Inter-Schools Athletic Meeting at Northgate School, while Gilbert was the first boy from the school to play for the Suffolk Schools' Cricket XI.I was particularly pleased that we came so close to winning the inter-house sailing trophy. The final race with Corner's was very exciting, and while we congratulate them on their success, we applaud Cook, who did so well on our behalf.
Academic progress is dealt with more fully and confidentially in other documents, but I would like to congratulate, in these notes, the three members of the house who received prizes on Speech Day. I hope to see Gilbert, Day and Gerrish on the stage again next Speech Day, with more boys from the house to keep them company.Most members of the house have been spending their leisure time usefully, but I would be happier if the few boys who have still not made full use of the wide variety of clubs in existence in the school, would broaden their interests and take a more active part in school activities.
Looking back on the past year, there are many happy times to remember. The very popular Sunday night social gatherings in the common room produced some surprising talent, vocal and instrumental. There will be more such meetings during the coming winter, when it will be interesting to find out what new talent the house has acquired. The junior boys in the house, in particular, will remember, with pleasure, those visits to the beach at Dovercourt, during the Summer term, and they are, I feel sure, grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Cobb for arranging the visits.
We face this new school year, fortified in numbers by the second year boys who have come to us from the junior house, and the new boys, who are high spirited if nothing else. On the other hand, three boys have left us. John Cook has made his new home in America, where, no doubt, he will find life in a "Co-Ed" school somewhat different from that at Woolverstone. David Woods has set out on a printer's career in Fleet Street and Colin Nicholson is employed by W. H. Smith and Son, Ltd. We wish them well, and hope that they will always feel that they still belong to the house.Finally, we welcome our new matron, Miss Gregory and our house tutor, Mr. Watson. I hope they will be happy among us for many years to come.
Ivor Glyn Evans
HANSON'S: Throughout the past school year, the outstanding feature of the many house activities has been the admirable lead given by the Seniors, particularly Begg, Davies, George and Lamb. They have done much to foster that friendly and happy unity which has carried the house to considerable success in practically all the inter-house championships.
The house Rugby XV, ably captained by Davies, had a very successful season, and tied with Corner's for the inter-house championship. Despite the loss of the valuable services of Lamb throughout the season, they acquitted themselves well, winning all their matches except the last -a fast and hard fought battle with Comer's.
The cross-country championship was won by excellent team running. In the senior event, Byrde, who finished second, gave an outstanding performance, and altogether eight places were gained in the first twelve.Splendid performances by the members of the athletics team, particularly Davies, George, Kuptz, Mantell and McGown, and fine team work in the senior relay and tug-of-war contributed in a very large measure to our retaining the athletics championship for another year.
Contrary to all expectations, the house cricket XI was successful in wresting the house championship from Corner's. Consistently high batting and bowling by Byrde and the considerably improved fielding of the team as a whole was largely responsible for this very creditable achievement.During the winter months of the past two years, the House has enjoyed many delightful evenings through the kind efforts of their friends Mr. N. Collinson, Mr. H. L. Savage, and Mr. K. Williams. We are very grateful to them for their most interesting and instructive talks on colour photography and for showing us their first-class photographic records in colour of their travels in this country and abroad.
Last Autumn term several seniors had the opportunity of delving into the mysteries of campanology. In a short time they had sufficiently mastered the fundamentals of change ringing to include a short demonstration at the Christmas concert. In the Spring term they accepted an invitation to give a demonstration at Langham Oaks. School. In July, Begg and Davies obtained very creditable results in the General Certificate of Education, and together with Lamb, George, Brown, Campbell and Kohler, are to be heartily congratulated on receiving prizes on Speech Day. Grimshaw has been accepted as an Artificer Apprentice in the Royal Navy, and leaves with our best wishes for a successful career.
Roy Hanson
JOHNSTON'S: A housemaster should keep a daily journal: then he would have no difficulty in writing his house notes. This housemaster, not having kept a journal, and having spent many days avoiding the Editor of "Janus," feels very guilty. What to say about the last year in the life of the house? We started the year with thirty-five boys. In September, 1954 six did not return. Addiman had left, unfortunately, through illness. Shirley has gone to Plymouth College; Langer back to Frensham Heights, whence he had come in 1951; Holland to the Norwood Technical School; Harding and Martin to work in London. Our best wishes go with them all. During the year, Hunton joined us from St. Marylebone Grammar School (and now, of course, we have risen to a total of sixty-three since the influx of 2nd and 1st formers).
As usual it was a mixed year. We did not win anything - not even the cross-country race (although in Gordon-Smith and Munday we have two of the best cross-country runners in the school). But I was proud of the way in which the 1st rugby XV fought in their interhouse games. That spirit, and the talent in the present 3rd form augurs well for the future. And it is good to see four of our house playing so stalwartly in the school 1st XV. I was proud too of the performance on Sports Day even though we were not able to match Hanson's total of points. In cricket - in a poor season all round - we were not particularly inferior to any other house. But, in any case, games are not the be-all and end-all of existence. Looking back on the year I remember the busy activity of many boys in the common room, particularly at weekends; I also remember the aimless waste of time by the few who still don't know how to spend their leisure. I think of the boys coming in and out of my study to borrow books or look at stamps and catalogues; I remember a jolly good house party at Christmas, and an amusing contribution to the school Christmas party.
Of course, all the time there was the underlying wish that the house could he in a proper building. Still, now the buildings are coming.
These are the last house notes I shall write. To Mr. Richardson go my very best wishes. I hope he will enjoy the years ahead as much as I have these last three with all those peculiar, strangely likeable and irritating characters who make up this house. And I hope that I may be allowed to regard myself as an honorary member of the group.
Leslie Johnston
Games and Athletics IT WAS a somewhat disappointing season. To begin with, the XI, mainly because of the in-between ages of its members, had very few fixtures, and of those, one - against St. Joseph's College - was rained off. At Framlingham we were all out for forty-three. Framlingham passed that total with only three wickets down but were then all out for fifty-two. In a friendly second innings we scored seventy-five for five to which Framlingham replied with seventy-four for five. Against Northgate G.S. 2nd XI we made only sixty-two in reply to ninety-one and Ipswich School 3rd XI beat us by one hundred and twenty-one to eighty-five (one of the Ipswich batsmen making sixty-five). The XI was also beaten by the Masters.
However, all is: not gloom. Workman and Scarbrow showed a good deal of promise as an opening pair, Corbett batted well more than once, and he, McCulloch and Davies bowled well. Gilbert made great progress as a wicket-keeper and the fielding of the side was very pleasing.
Leslie Johnston
COLTS XI
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Lost four, won three, drew one-rather a middling season. The failure where it occurred was usually due to feeble batting and poor fielding, not to the bowling. Davies, with twenty-four wickets and Byrde with nineteen, usually kept up a steady attack; Smith, and later on in the season, Cuffley, joined them effectively.
The opening batting gradually improved. Whereas in two early matches the first three wickets fell for no runs at all, by mid-June, Byrde and Jenkins were putting on twenty to thirty runs in the opening partnership. Smith played some successful innings and was a good scorer. Others who showed promise were Munro for hard hitting and Thorn for brisk fielding. Wilson, McMaster, Lloyd and Tucker also played in most matches. As captain, Byrde deserves great credit for his handling of the team and for his example in the field. Ian R. Bell |
UNDER 14 XI
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The team has been badly handicapped by injuries to several of its key members. The fielding has improved throughout the season and supported well some quite reasonable bowling. In general however, the batting failed to back up the work in the field. In exception to this was the fifty not out, the first fifty for the school, by Pope, R. in our match with Ipswich School. This was a very commendable effort and deserved more than the feeble support offered. by the remainder of the team. The following boys have played once or more for the team: Pinney, Coutts, Markham, Jenkins, Pope R., Guest, Clark, Szepesy, Collins, Townson, Wilds, Bailey D., Poyntz, Blake, Smith, G., Stevens Fred Mudd |
UNDER 13 XI
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The team was fortunate in that several boys show particular promise and these boys carried the team to several well earned victories. The rest must remember however, that two or three men do not make a cricket team and that what may appear easy to a No. 1 batsman is not necessarily easy to a tail ender. Thus, a good score for the first few wickets does not excuse slogging by the rest. This was noticeable at Holbrook when the fine start of 54 for 3 degenerated into 59 all out. Smith captained the team and kept wicket well. His batting too improved as the season went on. He must remember to concentrate on every ball - he was usually out to a very lazy shot after some fine ones. Head, Blake and Poyntz with their captain were the mainstay of the batting and Poyntz, Blake and Pope were the mainstay of the bowling. The standard of fielding was very fair and the really important thing is that among the members of the team there are boys who, with practice, will become good cricketers. J. S. H. Smitherman |
SPORTS DAY, Monday, 7th June, 1954
We have come to regard our Sports Day as being something more than a series of athletic competitions on Berners. It is, perhaps, the most pleasant social occasion of the school year, and this year, again, the sun shone down, and helped to make this Sports Day the best we have had since the school opened.
Yet once more, Hanson's dominated the scene in the senior events, but judging by the form shown by the younger Johnston boys, Hansons' reign of supremacy will presently end.
The competitions were divided into two groups Juniors being those under 131/2 years and Seniors being those over 131/2 years. When assessing the Senior results, therefore, it must be borne in mind that, in an adult school, many of the Senior winners would in fact be Junior boys.
The best achievement of the day was Harding's high jump. He cleared 5-ft. 21/2-in. in fine style to win easily. It remains a mystery why he never reproduced this form in the Suffolk Schools and the Inter-Schools "four-cornered" meetings. Davies, T. and Kuptz ran exceedingly well to record 11secs. for the 100yds. sprint. This is a very good time for fifteen-year-old boys. George did well to return a time of 62.8 secs. for his heat in the 440 yds. and 15.8 secs. for the 110 yds. hurdles. He won the final of the 440 yds., but in a slower time.
Our standard in field events is still too low. Only Clutterbuck, with a "putt" of 35-ft. 71/4-in. in the putting the weight event, achieved a result that would have mattered in a representative meeting. Until quite recently, 35-ft. 7-in. was the record distance for the event in the Suffolk Schools meetings. The record is now nearer 40 feet.
As always, the tug-of-war proved a fitting climax to the day, with Hanson's beating Johnston's at the final pull. It is the opinion of some that the event is too strenuous, but Johnston's tug-of-war coach still survives and, annually, he puts far more energy into the event than anyone.
Ivor Glyn EvansRESULTS
HOUSE POSITIONS AND POINTS
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Owing to the increase in numbers there had to be two performances so to speak, of prize-giving in 1954, one for the Upper School on July 17th, another on the following day for the Lower School.
At the former the platform party arrived in torrents of rain, which continued throughout most of the proceedings. Mrs. Chaplin once more took the chair and the prizes were distributed by the Chairman of the London County Council, Mr. Victor Mishcon, who made a delightful, witty speech.
On the next day Mr. R. J. Goodman, a member of the Board of Governors, gave away the prizes to the Junior School.The more formal proceedings of Speech Day and Prize Giving this year were followed by a concert given by the School Choral Society and Orchestra and containing items of choral verse-speaking. The first half of the programme took the form of vocal and instrumental performances by soloists and small groups. The items in this part were:-Ertodt uns durch deine Gute (Bach) (arranged as a piano duet).
- Minuet and trio from the Clarinet Quintet (Mozart). (Arranged for clarinet and piano).
- Two preludes-in C minor and E minor (Chopin).
- Two French folk songs (arr. Britten). "Il est quelqu'un sur terre," and "Quand j'etais chez mon pere").
- Two Elizabethan dances for brass instruments ("The Carman's Whistle" and "Gathering Peascods").
- Fugue (Bach goes to town) (Alec Templeton).
The standard of performance throughout was quite high, but one or two items were particularly good. The Elizabethan dances for a trio of brass instruments, for example, were played with gaiety and enthusiasm, whilst the accompaniment to the two French folk songs was particularly well done. The second part of the concert was a performance of Stanford's Songs of the Sea, with the full Choral Society and Orchestra taking part. Once again, the general standard of performance was quite high, although the percussion tended to drown everything in certain parts of the third song ("Devon, O Devon in wind and rain"). The soloist in Homeward Bound sang with a refreshingly easy and natural manner. But without doubt the most popular items were the first and last of these songs -"Drake's Drum" and "The Old Superb"-and it appeared that the audience enjoyed listening to them as much as the choir and orchestra obviously enjoyed performing them.
In conclusion it should be said that the arranging and orchestration of all these pieces for the rather unbalanced combination of instruments in the Orchestra must have been a very great problem indeed, but a problem which was most effectively solved.
Richard T. CobbCLUBS & SOCIETIES
THE FENCING CLUB: The Fencing Club meets regularly but there is nothing of great interest to report. Most members are still in the early stages with the foil. Some are showing a good deal of promise. Those who joined because of the glamour of Hollywood fencing (in which everything except a sword is used) have now fallen by the wayside, and only those really wanting to learn the foil have continued their membership. Leslie Johnston
PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB: During the Summer term the club led a full life. No spectacular results were achieved but a very large number of boys seemed to have an active interest in photography. The dark room is beginning to be used more sensibly and a few members are now showing the degree of responsibility necessary for its efficient running. Early in the Autumn term quite a large number of the club visited Flatford Mill which offers much scope in the art of photography. The club is now producing Christmas calendars and cards and from the sale of these is hoping to make a substantial contribution to the School Amenities Fund. Fred J. Mudd
ART CLUB: The Art Club has got away to a good start this year with many keen new members. Clay modelling is a popular occupation and we are fortunate in the possession of an excellent potter's wheel made in Mr. Hanson's domain. A foot-operated model complete with treadle, it was constructed entirely from scrap by Corbett and Martin. We have experimented with an earth kiln, but are promised an electric one in the near future. Several members have started to make puppets but so far have shown more ambition than stamina. They should try to finish them. Leslie Woolford
PRINTING CLUB: At the end of last term Cox, Glass, Rosen and Bailey saw through between them the entire production of the programmes for Speech Day. This was a creditable effort, especially as the late date of the examinations makes a kind of "stop press" rush inevitable. This term we are busy once more with Christmas cards. A larger press and more type will be needed, however, if all the potential members of the club are to be kept fully occupied. Leslie Woolford
NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY: The Society has met regularly and has endeavoured to foster the interests of naturalists of all ages. These differ greatly, but much fine work has been done, and experience gained.
Butterflies, moths and insects have been collected, preserved and identified; skeletons of many animals have been preserved; skins of mammals have been prepared and a few attempts at taxidermy have been made.
The training of enormous stag beetles will always he a speciality of Woolverstone, but as more basic knowledge is acquired I feel sure that more boys are going to find for themselves the delight in the pursuit of nature in this beautiful part of England. Steve R. CornerSAILING CLUB NOTES: Despite the rather adverse summer, a full and successful term's sailing was carried through, our latest acquisitions, the Firefly, "Sabrina," and the three cadets, "Grumpy," "Dopey" and "Happy," also the old sailing dinghy, "Syrian Prince," all being put to full use. The outboard motor, provided for use in the pulling dinghy, proved to he of great value and gave us a craft that was very useful as a directing boat and one that could get very quickly to the scene of an upset - But upsets were few and the standard of helmsmanship and watermanship was decidedly better, often in rather rough weather.
Tanks to the Parents' Association, who so kindly presented us with "Sabrina," we were able to enter for the "Keeling Cup" series of races for the first time. The Keeling Cup races are open to all schoolboys and girls in the country, and no less than twenty-four Firefly dinghies were entered. There were five races in the series, preceded by a practice race; and how our hearts beat high when we came second in the practice race, and obtained a gun for third place in the first actual race.
However, we then faded out somewhat, and in the end had to content ourselves with being thirteenth on aggregate points: but it was an encouraging start, and we shall try to do better next year.For the Orwell Yacht Club regatta, our motor pinnace towed four of our own entries, and sundry other boats, who begged a tow to Ipswich harbour where we anchored and acted as a mother ship. Our boats did well and we gained valuable racing experience, and although we were not among the prize winners, our two Cadets flattered us by being first and second for the first two of the three times round, and by making more experienced helmsmen go all out to head them into a fine finish. Sabrina too had a good race.
The inter-house series, sailed in a good breeze, were keenly contested, and resulted in Corner's House winning the cup with eight points, Johnson's and Hall's six and Hanson's four.
How nice it would be if we had four Cadet dinghies for these series instead of three, so here's to the next time and happy sailing to us all. A.M.
THE SEA CADET CORPS: The Sea Cadet Corps is a voluntary organisation, the objects of which are to give boys between the ages of 12 and 18 sea training and such other training as will develop in them those qualities which make for good citizenship, and to help boys who wish to make their career at sea achieve their ambition.
In addition to giving technical sea training, it is the aim of the Corps to provide for the social and educational welfare of Cadets, and to concentrate on the development of character, which is of such tremendous importance to boys in whatever career they finally select.
"Unit training may include physical and recreational training, squad, company and rifle drill, shooting, signals, wireless telegraphy, seamanship, swimming, boatwork and elementary mechanical training and air training."- (Sea Cadet Form 18).The Woolverstone Hall Sea Cadet Unit began its official existence on 22nd September, having as the Chairman of the Unit Committee, Mr. J. H. Smitherman; Commanding Officer, Lt. Goetzee, R.N.V.R.; 1st Lieut., Sub. Lieut. Watson, R.N.V.R. Mr. Matthews is our civilian Instructor. Twenty-one senior boys have been enrolled on probation and will be finally enrolled when they have completed three months' satisfactory service in the corps. To start with, the unit has been open to boys from the fifth and sixth forms only. It is hoped that next term it will be possible to take boys from the fourth form who wish to join.
The L.C.C. has been good enough to provide the two Seamanship classrooms and their equipment for our Headquarters and the Unit has the use of the school boats for training purposes.
Mrs. Smitherman presented the Unit with a Sea Cadet ensign, formerly the ensign of the Prince Rupert School Unit. Stan. W. Goetzee
- DAVID HARRIS - who left in December, 1949, was a visitor last Sports Day and has since written to say that he had just sat the City and Guilds examination for engineers. Harris is due to complete, in January, 1955, an engineering apprenticeship with London Transport and then plans to enter the Merchant Service. He notes with interest Charles Fisher's letter published in the last edition and intends to contact him.
- THOMAS SLEE - is fourth officer on the M.S. Eastern Prince, which is a passenger vessel on a round-the-world service from New York.
- PETER RIX - has given up his career at sea as an apprentice and his employers, H. Hogarth & Sons, have agreed to cancel his indentures.
- DAVID BROWN - also expresses doubt about his future career at sea, although he intends to complete his apprenticeship. Having returned from Savona, Brown was due to sail again on the 6th November for Almeria in Spain on a round voyage lasting three weeks.
- A. J. CONNOR - who left L.N.S. in January, 1950 attended the Speech Day ceremony in July. He passed his Second Mate's examination on the 8th June, 1954 and sailed as Third Officer on the S.S. Deebank at the beginning of August.
- ALAN WILSON - is delighted to be away from Chatham and is now at a Royal Naval Air Station at Ford. Of the boys who left last term, D. Grimshaw has gone to H.M.S. Fisgard as an Artificer Apprentice, C. Nicholson is working with W. H. Smith and Sons, and B. Martin is with an optical manufacturing firm. B. Holland has gone to the Norwood Technical School and J. Cook has gone to join his parents in the U.S.A. We very much hope that we shall hear from him, particularly about his new life.
We feel that there are many old boys who have not kept in touch with the school who would like to. The annual subscription of the Old Boys' Association has been reduced to 5/- per year and I very much hope that all old boys who read this who have not joined will do so. Only thus will the present tiny association grow into one worthy of the school.