Stephen Purvis - Berners 79-84: I remember pirates, we had a piece of cloth or something hanging out of the back of your shorts, that if it was pulled out you were finished, the last one remaining was the victor. Great times,

Bill Kitchen - Hansons 61-68: I have to say that my view of Taffy PE was different. Yes, we did enjoy Pirates at end of terms, however, he “segregated” our class into 4 ‘ability ‘ teams. (team 1) the superhero athletes down to the ‘desperate dregs’ in 4). He constantly praised the able pupils of 1, whilst frequently publicly ridiculing the weaker and more reticent pupils. Most of us hated PE sessions with him, many feigning illness or injury. 15 years ago I met up with aclassmate, Steve Dodgson (who was captain of team 1) who told me her was physically sick most days prior to these PE lessons as he knew that he’d be required to demonstrate new vaults, maneuvers and techniques.

While Taffy was away for a term or so on a Maths refresher course, Doc T took over. He totally transformed our class, inspiring even the most reluctant and nervous pupils to perform at a level that they had never imagined possible. Basic box vaulting became elevated to “ Flying Angels, ” which entailed fast run-up, springboard hit then (without touching the transverse box) leaping arms spread wide (swallow dive/Chris Ashton try-scoring style) into the waiting outstretched hands of, initially of Doc himself, next two trained fellow pupils and finally just the one catcher. By the end of Doc’s time, the whole class was able to be a passable vaulter and catcher. It was so invigorating and uplifting.

Needless to say, Taffy immediately abandoned such a successful approach once he returned, and absenteeism returned big-time.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: Sorry to hear that; sounds like a complete personality change from 58 to 64, but I wonder what my contemporaries would say? Perhaps my view was blinkered, but I don't recall anything like that. However, it is not the first time I have heard very negative comments re Taffy: some boys clearly did not get on with him at ALL.

Bill Kitchen - Hansons 61-68: ..... 'Twas not all rose coloured.

Thomas Newsham - Johnstons 54-59: Could it be that with the school seeming to change, so much, from my time - 54/59 - into the 60s and changing again as the other decades rolled on ; could it be that Taffy couldn't change with the times, as I found him sometimes strict to the point of harsh but constant. Certainly for the 50s he was an adult of the times as were many of the other staff members.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: I guess that there was nobody on the staff - including the Heads - who either wanted or felt able to get him to improve somehow. If an employee's shortcomings are obvious and damaging then management should take measures of some kind; I assume it was for whatever reason not possible in those days and at that school.

Harvey Angel - Hansons 64-71: I guess I was just fortunate to be a useless bastard at sport, so I got on fine with Taffy because he knew he couldn't do anything to make me perform any better (at sports).

Mike Wardell - Berners 59-63 -> Louis Parperis: your assessment of Taffy was correct, he always seemed to regret his poor situation in life and took it on the weaker boys; he had a nasty little nickname for me if I was out for a few runs at cricket ; W. W. Wardell! So when asking for volunteers to move from Halls to Berners, I didn't hesitate!

John Walmsley - Johnstons 52-59: Too true.

Harry Wolfman - Corners 57-62: Hi Chris. Gerald Donaldson here. How very lovely to READ a post from you that offers no offence but informs. Thank you for improving my education. I was hopeless at sport and indeed any kind of physical activity: Taffy hated me and I hated him. But we were mostly content to have as little as possible to do with each other. The measure of his quality as a teacher - I spent about 40 years in the middle of my life as a club (or pub) cricketer. I simply loved the game and had many and many an idyllic day devoted to it. I batted No 1 and fielded 1st slip and was well known locally as very hard to get out and as a quick and rather athletic fielder. Taffy's input to "my sporting life" - Zero.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: Gerald - what a pleasure and indeed honour to hear from you. Were we to have "I Spy" books for spotting famous Old Boys I would score a heap of points ....

As for points:

1) Congratulations on your cricketing prowess - and indeed your other achievements. There are few things more heart-breakingly English than village cricket on the green. I loved those Woolverstone Park games at school. I have tried and failed to find out something about Woolverstone Park Cricket Team, but they don't seem to have any records that have transferred to the internet - and I have only a single photo of Dickie Mayes et al.

2) Regarding offense, believe it or not it has always been my desire not to offend anyone - so much so that I cannot remember at school ever having either lines or a detention - or indeed a slippering. My main motivation was (and this no doubt sounds pathetic) to "do my best" and please my mother.
BUT, the impulse to speak my mind has in later years trumped my wish to be inoffensive - and speaking one's mind seems to me a moral imperative when it against evil and injustice. It is extraordinarily easy never to offend anyone by keeping one's mouth shut, but I confess to being unable to do so. I do, however, try to steer clear of anything (too) controversial here for fear of being banned from my own group - which could set a world record but not one I particularly aspire to.

I am trying to create a sort of "social history of WHS", but would much prefer my contributions to be swamped by others. An article from you on some aspect of WHS life would hugely boost this section's credibility ....

3) TAFFY? I was of course aware that many disliked him, but not of the extent of this dislike - which is somewhat shocking. I confess to being good at sport and thus likely to find favour with him, but IF he was as disliked by my peers as by those after 1964 then it is shocking to me how blind I must have been. Yes, I saw him as strict - and on occasion as harsh, but not as described by some others. Did he change over the years? I have no idea. Boys like me who were good at rugby obviously had a different perspective, for which I am sorry.

I once heard - but have been completely unable to substantiate - that he served on merchant-shipping convoys to Russia during the war. That might go some way to explain if not excuse his impatience and severity. I don't know. He was as he was. I became a teacher after uni and have worked in about 8 different kinds of school and met a number of exceptional teachers - exceptional in the sense of being unforgettable, eccentric, formidable, striking and so on. But I never met anyone quite like Taffy. I suppose that for boys good at rugby his role obscured for us any of the negative aspects mentioned by others - and I never had him for maths where I might have got to know him better. I was in Halls House for four years with him as Housemaster, but In fact I had few dealings with him. I didn't find him particularly communicative - unlike other masters such as dear Patrick Hutton, Derek T of course and above all Dick Woollett, whom I knew well at that time (60 to 62 or thereabouts).

For what it is worth, I have been told by several people (including masters) that he was very kind to them and supportive in various things they were involved in or wanted to do - both at and after their time at WHS.

Harry Wolfman (Gerald Donaldson) - Corners 57-62: Chris - Again thank u for your extremely couth reply. I did wonder about Taff's war. Our generation really couldn't have begun to understand that side of the lives of his generation.

David Waterhouse - Corners 58-61: Gosh! I'm quite surprised at some of the feelings about Taffy Evans, particularly since I was a contemporary (same form, same house) of Harry Wolfman (Gerald Donaldson), above, and at least as inept at anything physical. I didn't like him (Taffy, that is ...), but I've never much liked any PE teacher nor, indeed, the PTIs who figured in my later service career. I feel moved to contribute, but I think I'll take a wee while to get my head round the strong feelings that others have expressed.

Dennis Alexander - Orwell 57-64: Bill Kitchen and Louis Parperis seem to have got it about right, reading some of the earlier comments I thought perhaps he must have changed as soon as I left in 1964 but from Louis' comments obviously not. I never got on with him or he with me, his approach to anyone who stood up to him was to belittle them and try to bully them into submission. I remember being very frightened of him as a junior, but by the time I left, I felt a bit sorry for him.

Harvey Angel - Hansons 64-71: It was futile to try and argue with Taffy. The secret was to do what he asked, but do it so badly that he realised that even if he asked you a dozen times, he'd never get you to do it the way he wanted. We had a good understanding in that regard - he didn't waste his time with me, so I achieved my objective with the minimum of grief and no falling out between us.

Michael John O'Leary - Hansons 57-61: My abiding memory of Taffy Evans is that he was a violent bully! When I was in the 1st or 2nd form (57/58/59), I remember one gamesday on Berners we were all milling about waiting for the rugby session to start. In those days it was a requirement of the school that everyone had two rugby shirts, one navy and one white, and you took them both with you on gamesdays. One of the boys had draped his spare shirt over his back with the arms loosely tied round his neck at the front. There may have been others that had done the same, I can't remember, but it was quite likely.

Suddenly, Evans arrived on the scene and spying this boy, his face contorted in fury! I don't remember what he said, but he grabbed the boy by the arms of the spare shirt and swung him around by the neck like a rag doll. The boy wasn't one of the sporty/jock types - he was probably playing rugby because it was compulsory - and whimpered like a frightened dog! Evans was extremely upset with the way the boy was wearing the spare shirt, and he let him know it in no uncertain manner.

I was shocked by all this and vowed never to cross Evans's path in the future. Luckily, I left the school before ever having much contact with him in the senior rugby teams. Nowadays, I should think, his behaviour would amount to assault on a minor!

Years later whenever I saw Evans at a reunion, I would avoid him assiduously. I understand that during the 2nd World War he was on the Russian convoys, so he was obviously a tough old bastard and certainly not a cowardly bully by any means. At least I have to respect him for that.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: Most of us are flawed one way or another, and it seems he more than most. Pity - he had no need to be like that, and while I admire beyond all measure those who fought Hitler their experience doesn't justify some of their behaviour. And he was far from the only one. I was lucky - I never met any brutality or vindictiveness from a master, and only once from a boy three years older than me.

John Tuddenham - Hansons 52-57: When we were at WH, THE gym was everything...a gym, assembly Hall, theatre and general meeting-place. Of course there weren't that many of us in the early days and it served us very well, as did our cosy Nissan huts for dorms, classes, etc. The best days of our lives were had there. I have so many great memories from WH. I couldn't think of a better place to "grow up" at. I got accepted for Dulwich College, but was so happy when I had the chance to go to WH ... interviewed by Mr Smitherman in County Hall in 1952. Then had a visit ... couldn't have been a better place on earth I thought then ... and so it proved to be.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: Always been touched by your devotion to the old place, but it took a hell of a nerve to turn down the prestigious Dulwich College in favour of a completely unknown entity!!

I actually don't have a date for the construction of the assembly-hall, physics lab and artroom that we later used. Was that the first of the modern constructions, before Halls. Johnstons, Hansons & Orwell - or were those all simultaneous?

John Tuddenham - Hansons 52-57: The Assembly hall / Old gym was there when I arrived in 1952. The decision between Dulwich and WH was easy; WH was so inviting with all the land ... the river... and I loved the Nissan huts. Physics was in a Nissan hut, but can't remember where - didn't do Physics for long; Goetzee's maths, too on the Orwell side. Biology was into the Main building ... turn left ... rooms facing Orwell Mr Corner ... he always had a mock exam before the GCE. Guess what!!?? It was pretty much the same exam!!! HAHA ...

The dorms for Hansons etc were built in 1956/7. I remember exiting the the Nissan huts in 1957 and moving over to the new buildings just before I left in Dec 1957. We had a lot of fun in the Nissan hut dorms ... raids etc!!! I remember one guy (I'm sure it was Derek Mantell, but could be wrong) keeping stag beetles in his metal bedside locker and at night they flew around inside banging against the metal walls ... made a hell of a row!!!

Wayne Sullivan - Hansons 72-79: I remember this lovely man very well as he taught me mathematics and physical education for about 4 years !

Glynne Thomas - Halls 57-62: A man of character integrity and honesty perfect for an establishment originally founded for correct development. Clearly he failed with some judging by their comments

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: I agree that the comments have somewhat focused on his severity and not reflected the first qualities you mention. Devious, dishonest, vacillating and or capricious he never was, just a bit (too) severe on occasions with those he felt were not performing/behaving properly. By 'properly' is meant of course in his opinion, but a good many didn't share his definition of the term. I myself never had a problem with him, which was not I think just because I was good at rugby. I just toed the line and kept out of trouble ....

Once in a practice match on a 4th year games afternoon he took me aside at half-time and said: "The only reason your side is leading is because of you, but you should have more conviction. You don't believe in yourself enough."
He was right, and I've never forgotten that ..... but though he was my housemaster for 3 years that is the only time I remember him talking to me personally in a similar way.

Glynne Thomas - Halls 57-62: Balanced view Chris.

Andrew Yorke - Corners 80-86: Our first maths lesson in the old Nissan huts. Was Taff showing how his Cane works on an old red seat cushion. I still remember the whosh and dust from the cushion. Lovely chap.

John Dawlings - Orwell 64-71: Does anyone know what standard of rugby Taffy ever played himself? I seem to remember him telling me once that he played at half back (scrum half) which would have suited hs physique. But I have no idea at what level.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: No idea. As far as I remember, he like many others NEVER talked about his pre-WHS days - at least not to me. Scrum-half sounds right - he seemed especially knowledgeable about - and interested in - three-quarter play. He was always talking about ploys from the scrum, sidesteps, dummies, drawing the man, passing in FRONT of a player to run on to the ball: grubber kicks and so on - OH, and FALLING ON THE LOOSE BALL was his great thing. And we did it. I'm sure that won us many games as other school sides didn’t do it as well.

Glynne Thomas - Halls 57-62: Played for his college Carnegie as I remember.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: Thanks .... That rings a bell now you mention it!

Ron Gould - Corners 50-55: I have to say that he was the only master I did not like and he did not like me.
I first thought it was that I liked the round ball game better, but later when I left, he said to me quite straight forwardly. You were good at all sports Gould, but ou never got on, because I did not want a yid in any of my first teams. He then had the audacity to tell my younger brother, that however good he was he would only be half the player I was.

Although I had quite a distinguished sporting career after school, I never represented W.H. Don't ask me about the marks I got from him for class work, either.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: That is extraordinary, and depressing. I am so sorry. I was under the illusion ( from personal experience) that there was zero racism or anti-Semitism at WHS during my years (58 to 65). I am staggered that any teacher could say such a thing.

This current "racist" mania is weird. From 58 to 65 I knew Khalid Rashid, a quite wonderful guy, Mirjit Bose, Martyn Colley, John Percival, and there were probably more I forget. You'd have to ask them I guess, but to my knowledge all were cherished and nobody I knew even k ew what racism was. I don't think we even knew who was a Jew. It was something we couldn't have cared less about. There was one time I was in year 2 and in sick bay overnight for some reason with a senior boy called Seenee and a younger, rather rotund Jewish boy called Stone. We were sharing a room, don't know why - possibly during a flu epidemic. One evening Stone fell quite heavily on the floor for some reason (maybe trying to take a shoe off standing up), prompting Seenee to say: "There's a eavy Jew on the ground." Even Stone laughed. That's about the sum of "racism" I experienced ... funny how I always remembered that.

Michael John O'Leary - Hansons 57-61: When I left Woolverstone I went to William Ellis school in London. There were so many Jews there that they and other non-CE religions (eg Catholic) were excused morning assembly and had their own shared classroom to hang out in! Sometimes, when I got bored with the room, I would still go to assembly just to sing some of the rousing hymns like 'For All the Saints' etc! Good memories.

Ron Gould - Corners 50-55 > Chris Snuggs: You were under that illusion because it was not directed at you.

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: But neither did I see or hear of that from any of my contemporaries. Should I have? I have no idea. What also interests me is that if that behaviour was as it seems so common with other boys why none of the Heads picked up on it and reacted. … ut all the protagonists are gone, or almost all. Perhaps it is time to lay it to rest.

Glynne Thomas - Halls 57-62: Like you Chris, I never encountered or even heard of these events. Mystified to say the least. We must have gone to a different chool!

Julian Cobbing - Johnstons 56-59: I remember Taffy Evans very well, and the old gym, and his fairly brutal if not bullying techniques. If you did something that pleased him, he would say 'may god send you a christmas present!' Once when he was a bit late for PT I climbed on to an apparatus, and when he arrived he dressed me down savagely. I don't remember any racism or anti-semitism, though it may be because I was shielded from it. Khalid Rashid was my friend, batting at number five to my number four, and I sat next to him on the bus taking us to Woolverstone for the first visit in August 1956. Percival was also a friend: a decent friendly boy, whom I saw once again years later at the bottom of escalators in London. We were still in the Nissan huts as first years in 1956-57, moving to the new Johnston-Halls buildings in September 1957 (with Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue on the airways). In the old gym we used to see films on Saturday evenings such as Genevieve, and spent October-December 1956 rehearsing for the Mikado, with Ian McCullough as the Mikado. A boy called Cox was school captain for 1956-57 I think. The political highlight was the Suez crisis that November 1956, with the result that there were national petrol shortages, and we went home that December by steam train from Ipswich station.

Nick Brackenbury - Berners 58-65: In simple terms, Taffy had a very nasty chip on his shoulder. On an almost abitrary and casual way, he would turn on a upil and inflict pain and fear from head knuckling and hair pulling to throwing one pupil down some concrete steps. He didn't just cross the line occasionally, he lived on the wrong side of the dividing line between good behaviour and criminal offense. This may sound strong but I say it on behalf of a pupil who is now deceased but in 1958/59 he suffered an extreme act of violence from Evans whilst the other 29 of us sat in silence and fear, not daring to speak up or protect the assaulted pupil.

Glynne Thomas - Halls 57-62: Anything reported at the time Nick?

Chris Snuggs - Berners/Halls 58-65: It is strange that in the light of this and other evidence of such behaviour nothing seems to have come out or measures been taken by the successive heads to get him to modify his behaviour. Of course, if the heads ever did lay it in the line with him we would never have known about it, and in any case it clearly did not work, since the accounts come from the first three decades of the school's life. As for resisting and reacting, it is easy to see how boys (and no doubt SMALL boys) witnessing such acts would be too scared to stand up to him at the time, and yet nobody ever talked to parents, to other teachers or even to older boys? Was it all accepted as "normal" in a boys' boarding school? If so many knew about all this, were we not collectively guilty n not doing something about it? Water a long time under the bridge, but bad experiences in youth can affect our entire life, so in that sense it is all still relevant, but quite distressing.

Richard Hayter - Corners 65-71: Taffy was 'feared' more by his reputation than incidence of violence. I only remember one occasion of his unerring accuracy with a board rubber and when he took PE there was much more British Bulldog than circuit training.

However I do recall my only A Group rugby session on Church Field on a Wednesday afternoon. The previous weekend Peter Alexander (nee Carlile) had borrowed my white rugby shirt and returned it on that Wednesday morning. It was a little dirty and covered in his blood. I had no other option than to wear it.Taffy assembled us all around him to go through that afternoon's session. He noticed my bloodstained shirt and exclaimed:

"You boy! What's your name?" Initially terrified, as identifying oneself to Taffy was usually a precursor to punishment, I simply said "Hayter Sir. Corners 150".

"Well Corners 150, you've shed your blood for your cause. Here. Have a polo mint."

Now whatever Taffy's reputation, I do remember that getting a polo mint from him, was the equivalent of a posthumous VC. I quietly sucked the polo mint and studiously avoided Peter Alexander's eye. I wasn't going to own up to it not being my blood. And I wasn't sharing that polo mint with anyone.

Jonathan Kemp - Corners 73-80 : First year 'B' Group Rugby. Taffy came to watch us play. I made an excellent diving tackle right in front of him. After the match he said he was so impressed by the way we played, he 'rewarded' us by allowing our next games day to be played on the First 15 pitch on CF. Probably the only time First years played on CF.

Louis Parperis - Orwell 63-70: Taffy had the bully's instinct for an individual's weak spot and when he found it he would goad and prod unmercifully, though I suspect some of that may have been because of what he experienced in his own formative years. He was constantly vile to 'Bill' Boyce in PE, always choosing him to demonstrate something or other on an item of apparatus and then after the ritual humiliation he would get someone like Andy Dodgson or Iain Turner to show how it should be done. 'Bill' could never disguise how hurt he had been by the humiliation and so Taffy kept sticking the knife in, but if anyone showed indifference or outright rejection of his methods as Chris Morris did, he didn't bother them nearly as much. I think he believed what he was doing was character forming, but for those without your innate gumption or skill in the sporting arena time spent with him could be a nightmare. Having spent such a significant part of my career as a coach in the business environment, I learned a lot from Taffy about what not to do, in the same way that I learned from other masters how to help people find solutions themselves and encourage them to achieve. There may also have been something about Wapping that made you, Chris Morris and me less likely to advertise ourselves as victims.

David Waight - UNKNOWN 65-71: He certainly polarised opinion and although I found him fearsome in my junior years, I never encountered the tyrant that I've been reading about here.