"WHS "Janus"  - April 1997 -   Roger Friend (Johnstons 58-63)   

EDITORIAL: I am grateful to Peter Almond (Corners 61/64) for his contribution on the Sunday Times magazine article from 10 November 1963. He has kept his original copy for the last 33 years, which is hardly surprising since he appeared in the full page photograph, with Doug Woodgate, Mark Bond and John "Jim" Allgrove sitting on and around the Car Club's Morris 8 in front of the main building. Peter "Wheels" Whittaker can be seen faintly through the windscreen behind the wheel. A framed reproduction of the article is in the archive.

Bill Salisbury (Orwell 64/70) and Peter Alexander (nee Carlile, Corners 64/70) have taken the initiative to organise an informal monthly social for OWs in Central London. All OWs are welcome and details of the arrangements are enclosed. Why not try to make the next meeting? You may bump into some old friends; if not the beer is very good! They also run a "Woolverstone dating agency", with an offer to arrange meetings with former colleagues!!

HUGH CHAPLIN: Hugh, husband of Dame Irene, passed away on 24 December 1996. The information was relayed by letter, but unfortunately it has not been possible to glean any further information on his activities or his health prior to his death. He attended some of the recent reunions at the school and was supportive of the OBA. He presented papers to the archive that had belonged to Irene and which included some early minutes of meetings that had been convened to discuss the foundation of Woolverstone Hall.

KEN BULLARD: Ken passed away on 11 March whilst in hospital. He started at the London Nautical School in 1947 and retired in June 1985. He was well known by all OWs, staff and pupils as the friendly driver, who lived in the grounds and took small groups in the tilly to Ipswich. He also drove the coach to away matches, for field trips and social outings. Ken had lost his sight but he always welcomed the arrival of Janus, which kept him in touch with memorable times, as he recalled many of the names that appeared. His elder son, Bob, read it to him. He was admitted to hospital suffering from cancer of the liver. The funeral service, held at St Andrews, Chelmondiston, was well attended by local people connected with the school. The family's wish was no flowers but donations to the Royal Natinal Institute for the Blind and a donation has been sent on your behalf.

HOT NEWS: John "Fred" Walmsley (Johnstons 52/59), who is a lecturer in medieval history at Macquarie University in Sydney and currently on a sabbatical, has been in London and is now in Normandy researching Norman nuneries in the middle ages.

He will be returning to London towards the end of May. (Fred told me that his name is John and it is strange to be known as Fred, as his father was called Fred and he has a brother Fred! - Ed)

Alan Wilds (Corners 52/59), currently living in New York State, hopes to return to the UK in May and he will be including a trip back to Woolverstone in his itinerary. Although he lives across the Atlantic, he enjoys the arrival of the Janus envelopes, which bring "a rush of distant memories".

Vaughan Windle (Johnstons 59/66) had an exhibition of paintings at the Quay Gallery, Sudbury from 2 March till 3 April. His works have been mainly in watercolours but recently he has been working in mixed media and acrylics. He finds particular inspiration in the Suffolk countryside and its small towns. He also has many paintings on display that are legacies of his holidays in France on the Iles de Re and d'Oleron. Vaughan writes "most of my inspiration for my paintings comes when I am on holiday. In order to prepare for an exhibition where I will be showing 50 new works you cannot wait for inspiration you just have to paint them".

Ray Lee (Hansons 60/65) suffered a severe injury recently when he fell through a roof and is in Stanmore Royal Orthopaedic. He is undergoing physiotherapy but the recovery is expected to be a long drawn out affair.

MISSING: Adrian Coote has moved from Howard Avenue, Northmead in New South Wales. The last edition of Janus was returned by the current occupant, who enclosed a photocopy of the relevant page of the of the local telephone directory but he has not been identified from it. Can anyone supply his current whereabouts? If you move and wish to continue receiving Janus, don't forget to send details of your new address.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED: David Harris (Orwell 60/67) wrote regarding the reference to Bottle, the nickname given to John Dawlings. He wrote that contrary to what Peter Silvey claimed, Bottle was short for Bluebottle, a name he acquired almost from his first day in Orwell. John Dawlings confirms that two people independently of each other remarked that he looked like Bluebottle in the televised version of the Goon Show and the name stuck but he does not deny that a fair part of the money sent by his parents ended up changing hands over the counter at the Red Lion at Chelmo. The nickname was passed on to his younger brother, Robert, and Derek Thornbery regularly referred to their parents as Mr & Mrs Bottle.

Peter Silvey asked "the name of the English teacher who was tall with reddish hair and lived in the masters' rooms in Orwell". It provoked a big response, and Angela Bailey, on her Christmas card addressed to "all at WHOBA", was the first to give the correct answer: John Cox. Jeremy Page (Berners 65/72) agreed and he said that John was also known as JC Superstar. John Cox confirmed that it was him and he recalls being a young teacher in his first post, enjoying a short but memorable time at Woolverstone from 1971 to 73. He sends his regards to any OWs that remember him.

QUESTIONS POSED: After correctly answering the John Cox question, John Dawlings posed another by stating "an odd thought crosses my mind at this point. Was the reason we were all taught Latin for two years so that we would have a lifelong ability to recall totally useless information?"

On leaving Woolverstone David Harris went on a four week tour of Ontario and Quebec as a W H Rhodes (Canada Educational Trust) scholar, which coincided with EXPO 67. Geoff Brown was also a Rhodes scholar in 1959. Are there any more OWs that went to Canada on a Rhodes scholarship?

Martin Offiah was awarded the MBE in the New Years Honours List and has since received his decoration. Is he the only OW to have appeared on an honours list? Have any OWs been invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party?

SUNDAY TIMES: Entitled "The PUBLIC Public School", Godfrey Smith's article suggested that the answer to how the English middle class should educate their children could be the concept of Woolverstone, which "seems to offer many of the best qualities of the traditional public school without its drawbacks. It doesn't matter a jot who your father is, there is no fagging and the results speak for themselves."

The story opens with Smith being asked by "a tall courteous boy in a grey flannel suit (Woodgate in unusual charm mode asks Peter?) if he'd like his car washed. On receiving a surprised affirmative the lad said: "That will be half a crown, Sir." "I doubt if an Etonian would have had the gumption to make the offer," wrote Smith. "And if he had the charges would have been at least 10/-. At half a crown, the polish they put on my car was a bargain."

Smith was bowled over by Woolverstone right from his arrival: Berners Hall, its stately grounds leading down to the River Orwell that helped the school to come eighth out of 40 in the 1963 Public Schools Championship, the attitude of its masters and the achievements of the students. Considering that tuition was free for everyone, and a maximum boarding charge of £ 240 a year if a parent earned £ 1,650 a year or more, Smith appeared surprised that only 90 boys applied for 60 places in 1963.

"Yet by any criterion it is a very good school," he said, noting that twenty 6th formers had won university places for 1963 and two for 1964. Of these seven were going to Oxbridge, two with Exhibitions. O levels (A-C in modern GCSE terms) averaged 6.8 passes (at a time when 8 GCEs were the maximum). In rugby the 1st XV in 1963 had been defeated only three times since the school began.

"It is genuinely classless; most of the boys speak with a neutral David Frost accent. The boys have an insouciant charm. They are well mannered, but not subservient; indeed they display a healthy cynicism about the world they will soon inherit," wrote Smith.

Smith attempted to convey the cynicism by quoting the reasons a 5th former wanted to be a quantity surveyor ("because there is a lot of loot in it") and that a census undertaken by Number, Woolverstone's then equivalent of Private Eye, revealed that among 43 6th formers, 13 used Old Spice, 8 Yardleys and the rest divided equally among seven other deodorants. 39 of the 43 shampooed their hair (which four didn't?), but 20 of them used LCC soap and 4 used Camay. "Some people need that little extra loveliness," Smith quoted from Number.

Smith waxed on about younger boys made to feel welcome, about Stonehenge rugby, about the high level of music and drama, and then observed that not all boys approved of the way school was run. A 1963 census revealed that in the lower 6th there were 15 socialists, 13 liberals, 4 conservatives and 1 communist. "The rebels suspect the elocution lessons they are given in the 6th form and are taking the Hoggart line that their working class culture is being ironed out of them. They think the headmaster, Mr G H Bailey, is a very kind and considerate man, but they believe the school was started as a Socialist experiment (the LCC deny this, says Smith) and is becoming a hot-house of the Establishment." The 5th form however seemed "much more conservative politically."

Mr Bailey, Smith notes, does cane "occasionally" but not for serious offences. Mrs Bailey was forced to give up smoking - for a year anyway - when a 6th form deputation, called to discuss smoking, suggested it would help if she set an example. Girls are considered a "good thing" by one anonymous housemaster, but since this is 1963 the vexed subject of sex was not mentioned in Smith's article.

"What I liked about Woolverstone was that it seemed to breed the ruggedness and independence of public school life without moulding the boy into po-faced conformers," wrote Smith. "Should we build more schools like Woolverstone?" he asked in conclusion, "or would that create a new kind of class barrier? Should the government simply pay for more children to go to existing public schools?"

"Sir," asked one boy. "Did the LCC ask you to come down here and write this article?"

"I don't think he believed me when I said they hadn't, but it is this tough, questioning spirit which Woolverstone engenders, and which I think we should encourage."

SPORT: Jim Allgrove (Halls 57/64) wrote to say that on leaving school he played rugby for the Old Boys and football for Cross Keys, the team mentioned in the last edition by Dave Lewis. He also played cricket for the Old Boys and was the secretary for "some time". (My experience of these things tends to believe it was a long time because successors are difficult to find! - Ed) He stopped playing rugby in 1978 after breaking his collar bone at Sudbury. He captained the 2nd XV and recalls Friday night card marathons at Dave Coe's (Johnstons 55/62), eventually getting to bed at 6.00am and being woken at 9.00am by OWs crying off that afternoon's match. Most sides tried to help but for one match the OWs could only muster seven players and when Jim suggested a game of sevens, he was told impolitely to go away. However, he went on to say that it was amazing how travelling 30 miles for a home game and further for an away game never dampened the spirits.

Jim recalls playing cricket at the Pegasus Club, where Terry Carr (Johnstons 55/61) was groundsman, before moving to Mill Hill after Terry changed jobs. He recalls Fred Holland, Tony Titshall, and the Daves Coe, Lewis and Dibben.

In response to John Dye's mention of Jim's unorthodox batting style, he says "the edge is just as much a part of the bat as the middle." Jim asks if anyone else recalls rugby netball, played during the summer evenings of 1966-67. He thinks that Tony Meager introduced this game that was similar to netball but a rugby ball with larger nets was used and tackling was allowed.

RECENTLY REUNITED: Tom Newsham (Johnstons 54/59), a wholesale and retail florist operating in south east London, has been contacted after many years thinking that he, Martin Offiah and Neil Pearson were the only remaining OWs! When he left school he joined the merchant navy after attending sea school in Poplar. While there he walked under the tunnel from his home in Greenwich and took the bus to Poplar. He remembers popping into Bill Coutts' (Johnstons 52/59) house every morning for a cup of tea before lessons started.

Chris Nial (Hansons 65/72) was at Orwell Park to watch a rugby match, in which his son was representing St Josephs College, when he spotted Derek Thornbery, who put him in touch with the OBA. Chris has discovered that his son's rugby tutor is Ted Gentry (Halls 54/61). Unlike most OWs Chris has not moved far from the school since leaving. His parents retired from the forces and settled locally. He married a local girl and they have two sons. He trained for five years with British Rail in East Anglia and gained membership of the Chartered Institute of Transport. He subsequently joined an Ipswich shipping company and worked in various companies within the United Transport group before becoming a director of the holding company. He has says that if the OBA is in need of "transport en masse" in the area he may be able to help. He owns a 30 year old double decker and wrote "those who remember the 202 service to Shotley at 10.30 on a Saturday night full of Woolverstonians and Ganges recruits after a night in the Vaults will wallow in the nostalgia".

Iain Turner (63/70) lives in Lymm in Cheshire and is Sales and Marketing Manager of a small specialist supplier to the pest control industry. If any OW has pigeons crapping on their roof, cockroaches in their kitchen or mice in their skirting, Iain's your man and he can be contacted at "info@network-pest.co.uk". He has converted to rugby league and is a season ticket holder at his local team, Warrington Wolves. He is looking forward to the Super League when he will enjoy the stuffing of Martin Offiah and Aussie friends in the London Broncos. Iain graduated from Leeds with a degree in Applied Zoology, following which he worked for the Malaria Control Programme in Papua New Guinea. He was young and ambitious at the time and he was told that if he wanted to get ahead, he should go to New Guinea. He got malaria instead. He followed this with an MSc at Imperial, where he was awarded a Diploma of Imperial College. He is very proud of his DIC, which is always a good ice breaker when swapping business cards.

Jon Roots (Halls 67/74) has been on the OW mailing list, but the address was not current as he had not been receiving Janus. Fortunately Dylan Winter sent him a copy of the last editon and he is back in touch. Jon, a former head of Halls known as Jo, is a master saddler living in Hungerford, with his wife and two daughters. He passed on some material for the archive, including a copy of Readers Indigestion that he thinks was produced in 1974. Jon confirms that the Hatters did exist and can name the key members, but is "happy not to do so as long as a substantial sum is paid to my favourite charity!"

CYCLING: The Newbury Weekly News of 10 August 1996 carried a front page article featuring Tony Silver (Corners 68/74), who owns seven cycles. Tony uses a low profile aerodynamic cycle, he got in kit form, for travelling between his home in Newbury and work in Thatcham. He asked whether your last car journey was really necessary. He believes it unlikely as 75% of journeys are 5 miles or less. Did he get the idea travelling between Corners and the school?

Picking up on Dave Lewis' memories of Dave Coe, Bryan Middlebrook said he knew him as Graham. Bryan remembers "Dave", apart from his large consumption of nicotine, for three things: "He bowled left handed, he insisted on always bowling it round the wicket, driving Dickie Mayes demented, and that he was a member, with Tom Carter, Mick Taylor and another Johnstonian called John(?) Berry, of my largest Greek class."

John Cox (English 71/73) has constant reminders of Woolverstone from the artwork hanging at home produced by Mark Vidler, Ken Vivian and various Cornish brothers. He also has some personal lasting memories: "The sweep of the drive and the first view of that lovely grey building; putting out a fire in an Orwell dormitory after disturbing a seance (towel wrapped round a bulb to provide atmosphere); having tea in the Hudsons' large kitchen; enjoying (far too much and too often) the Butt and Oyster fare and looking at the river; windswept rugby watching, Stonehenge particularly fascinating; the smell of toast lingering in the evening air in Orwell House; Bill Bailey shouting "Take that silly hat off at once!" to a boy in the distance with his head bandaged following scrum concussion; and many more".

David Harris (Orwell 60/67) has memories of cricket on Berners with test match commentaries from John Arlott, the ferns, the Cresta run, the bamboos, the 1963 snow drifts piled up against the balustrades, damming the inlets on the muddy foreshore, the old woodwork shop, muddy cross countries, the boot room, the state of Jeremy "Rubbish" McDonough's room, Peter Donaldson in Murder in the Cathedral, Orwell House concerts, Kennedy's assassination and how the news spread during prep, Merlin Channon and his friends beefing up concerts and musicals, inter house rugby and much more. He asked whether any OWs had mentioned Derek Thornbery's "famous green armchair" in their reminiscences. David went on to Leeds University and stayed to do a PhD. He researched invertebrate micro-neurophysiology, which he described as being "seriously into the workings of the sensory hairs on the legs of spiders". He is now a senior principal scientific officer in the civil service.

PRODUCTIONS: Many OWs recalled "The Royal Hunt of the Sun", and it would appear that there many who still have programmes. Brian Middlebrook mentions a "mammoth Halls House production in 1968" called Noah, but does not give any information about cast etc. If anyone would like to enlighten those that did not see it, send details. Woolverstone was renowned for the successes of its major music and drama productions but there were dozens of such house productions over the years. Do you remember any outstanding reviews, musicals or dramas that harnessed the talents of your colleagues. Was one of them a springboard to a music scholarship or an appearance at the Edinburgh Festival? Send in your recollections.

Jeremy Page (Berners 65/72) sent a programme of "The Real Inspector Hound" and "Rendezvous at Ravensvlastuckz", along with some other items of interest. John Cox wrote the Gothic one act play Rendezvous at Ravensvlastuckz and acted in it when one of the cast succumbed to flu. It was a less virulent flu strain than that that decimated "School for Spies", which John co-directed with Neil Clayton. John recalls directing "The Tempest", which he thinks was Neil Pearson's acting debut in the role of Ariel and featured Ben Onwukwe as a goddess in the masque. John now has over fifty productions to his credit but still looks back on his apprenticeship at Woolverstone as a happy time.

MOTTO: Graham Lassiter's motto, Nisi Librum Vanum, for "Janus" prompted Bryan Middlebrook - a classics scholar - to respond with "a nice idea but linguistically inaccurate. The Latin word is libra not librum, but it would be far better to use the simple "pecunia" which Graham may still find lurking in his first form vocabulary book. Hence Nisi Pecunia Vanum". Bryan promised a house point for printing the motto and two for doing it accurately. Bryan asked how many OWs know the origin of the real school motto was the first verse of Psalm 127 (126 in some texts).

Colin Ferris wrote to say that he was always puzzled by the school's adoption of such an appalling example of a Latin motto. Anyone asked by Bryan to translate "Without God all is in vain", who came up with "Nisi Dominus Vanum" expecting a pat on the back would be disappointed, unless he was on all fours at the north end of a south facing cow.

MUSIC: Francis Abberley (Orwell/Courtyard 69/76) presented a Rock Concert ticket, produced by the Woolverstone Hall Printing Society, from c1975. The concert featured several different school bands, but as Francis was the school's resident bass guitarist, he played in every ensemble, where he was joined by Chris Bennett (Johnstons/Courtyard 69/76) the school's only drummer.

The National Cliche Day Concert staged in the summer of 1976 was a far grander affair, according to Francis, since it drew from "the vast artistic reserves" of the upper sixth. It featured Neil Pearson (Orwell 70/77) on lead vocals and the very talented guitarist Phil Taylor, an English teacher who undoubtedly braved some flak in the masters common room for playing in a school rock band. Did he? Phil, let us know.

Colin Ferris recalls a string quartet, formed by himself, Jean-Alain Roussel, both 'A' level music and French students, and Gerard Labarre, the French assistant. Graeme Alexander (Johnstons 63/70), leader of the Senior Orchestra not a French student, was co-opted as second violinist. Gerard insisted on directing rehearsals in French and when he gave an instruction with which the others disagreed, Graeme would pretend not to understand. Colin or Jean-Alain would translate, giving them the opportunity to discuss what they wanted to do, using exaggerated Scottish accents that Gerard could not understand.

SNIPPETS: Bill Salisbury (Orwell 64//70) said that a man with a Canadian accent came into his shop to have a watch repaired. He gave the name Trimmingham, which rang a bell in Bill's mind, so he said, "you are Loch and Jolyon's father". When asked how he knew, Bill said he was an OW too. Loch lives in Yorkshire and an update of his time since leaving Woolverstone is expected in the next issue. By coincidence John Dawlings mentioned Loch in a recent letter and described him as "one of the most remarkable characters I have ever known".

Seeing liver specialist Graeme Alexander's name in the last edition, Colin Ferris recalled the time he prepared a liver casserole when Graeme visited. He has not worked out whether the sickness Graeme suffered during the night was due to the thought of eating a liver he had worked on or the amount of Valpolicella they consumed.

MEDIA APPEARANCES: Dylan Winter (Halls 60s) appeared on the Food & Drink programme following the grain harvesters in mid western USA. Martin Offiah has been seen in a Nike advert. Philip Bennett (Corners 55/62) spotted Greg Moon, a very active secretary of WHOBA in the 70s, on the television talking about the about testing athletes for drugs. Phil also wrote that "surely Richard Shepherd, the Eurosceptic MP, often seen on television, is an OW in or around my year". Can anyone confirm this? If so write with details.

Bill Salisbury (Orwell 64/70) wrote that Peter Alexander (nee Carlile, Corners 64/70) has completed his contract in the West End musical Buddy and is currently helping Bill run his family clock, watch and jewellery business, William Mansell (discounts available to all OWs - 0171 724 2273) Peter can be seen in a Cellnet television advert, speaking from a wintery New York to his wife in England and being told that Leeds had lost to Rotherham. Bill writes that Peter was flown Virgin first class to the Big Apple for a short weekend. On his third gin and tonic in the departure lounge, he complained to the manager that the grandfather clock wasn't working, a complaint that Richard Branson's mother had made the previous day. Branson, who was in the building at the time, was introduced to Peter by the manager, who was proud to tell Branson that he had arranged the repair of the clock. Needless to say the contract was placed with William Mansell.

Radio 4 broadcast "Chance in a Lifetime", the programme about Woolverstone Hall. It was interesting to listen to views of what the school was to different people and the concept worked well, with several OWs contributing. Since the broadcast an approach has been made by a television company, intending to make a three-part programme on education. After listening to the programme they are keen to include something on Woolverstone. If it happens details will be reported in "Janus".

INTERNET: Eric Coates (Corners 58/64) (erickco@aol.com) has a home page on the Internet, which is serves as a temporary web site for WHOBA.

He had a response from Richard (Baz) Stokes (Halls 71/79), who now lives in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he is the manager of the local branch of Rex Supply. Richard played for the 1st XV, Suffolk and Eastern Counties U19s.

While surfing Eric has discovered John Mackie (Halls 57/64) through his home page, which describes him as a poet and librettist. He has published many songs, some in collaboration with, amongst others, R J Bunn (Roxy Music), members of the Average White Band, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express and Vinegar Joe. In the 60s he worked as a lyricist at Apple Music and Straight Ahead with David Bowie, Marc Bolan and Joe Cocker. His poetry has appeared in anthologies and specialist poetry magazines. John lives in Banff and runs a human resource development consultancy.

MEMBERSHIP: Names of OWs not on the mailing list are supplied by old colleagues on a regular basis. Each one is written to and back copies of Janus are included along with a membership form and standing order mandate. Unfortunately, not many reply. However they are all included on the mailing and receive the newsletter. If you are one of them, write with details of your achievements and memories, with information on other OWs you are in contact with or with whom you would like to make contact again.