King's School Photo Directory Updates - 2010

Updates Index - other years


Wednesday 22nd December 2010 (UD10/23)
1) The compliments of the season to you all.

2) Deleted as obsolete.

3) Part of the proposed Update were a couple of photos from Jimmy Younessi - has sent a couple of pictures of him, Batman and their friend Soli Kara (now sadly deceased.)

4) In response to Nick Sweet's latest anecdote (UD10/22) below, which asked if there was another 'Abbott', Mike answers on his own Anecdote page. and adds a little more about Miss Green and also Mr Shrewsbury.

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Sunday 14 November 2010 (UD10/22)
1) A few people have asked about the Gagarin award that Chris Marx accepted - I have added links to more information about his research if you are interested - on the Then and Now page.

2) John Haymes concludes his anecdote with Part 3 - 'Punishment' and 'People Most Remembered.' His name has also been added to the Then and Now page - please click on his 2008 photo to see how he enjoys himself. (Please send a recent photo if you would like to appear on this page too.)

3) Nick Sweet adds an anecdote prompted by John Haymes mention of Mr. Shrewsbury. He has also helped a lot with names on John Haymes' pictures. Nick asks " Was there another Abbot besides Mike? " and adds: " Incidentally I ran into Maurice Moss 1 in the mid seventies in my early days in the meat trade and he was working for Ross Poultry and lived in Malmesbury. Spoke to him a couple of times after that on business and then lost track. Think he may have changed jobs. "

3) Bob Curtiss has suggested a few more names to John Haymes picture 8th picture on page 2.

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26 October 2010 (UD10/21)
1) I am indebted to Chris Marx (1947-49) for sending me a link to his compilation of film footage that he took between 1947 and 1949 - some in colour. The film includes: roofing, building the swimming pool (new footage,) football, hockey, getting up & washing etc, sports weekend, Battle of Britain Day out at Great Rissington, boating - full listing with link to footage on his photo page. Get the link and full details here.

2) John Haymes continues his anecdotes. He also has some interesting photos with descriptions - missing just a couple of names, can anyone help, please?.

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24 October 2010 (UD10/20)
1) Jonathan ("Henry Forti") adds for those interested in the conservation of art, perhaps (sic.) He attenuates his disapproval of JHM with a favourable comment. Jonathan also suggested I contact Giuseppi ("Errol") Eskenazi - I made contact and he confirms he was at KS 1952 - 1956; but do not know yet if he will join our throng.

2) John Haymes has sent me a veritable cornucopia of memories; more to follow.

3) Leslie Spitz rang recently from London, though lives abroad. He brings the Membership to 77.

4) Mike Taylor says: "Mr Chadwick was filling in when Mr Clemo departed 1964/65/66?"

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3 October 2010 (UD10/19)
1) Andrew Cameron-Tillett writes:
I have just returned from a visit to Lodge Park, Sir John Dutton's hunting lodge on the other side of the A40. I am sure many will want to visit it - not only for its own intrinsic values, but because several of the paintings we all knew well, are hanging there!

2) Nigel Dodds says:
"Had a long chat with Mary, Margaret Thomas's (nee Gibson) sister this morning. Margaret sadly suffers with Alzheimer's Disease and now lives in a home. With this awful disease Margaret has her good and bad days. It is not possible for 'old boys' to visit because Margaret simply does not often recognise her own sisters far less strangers. Her house is being sold. Barrie and I will be going to visit Margaret in the new year and collect a box named 'Kings School'!"

3) Deleted as obsolete.

4) Jonathan Burn-Forti (known at school as Henry Forti) rang me today from Bordeaux! He has asked to join the membership and will hopefully attend one of our Reunions. I have made an Anecdote page for him; upon which he bears out the stories told by Alwyn Hawkes in his Anecdotes, Part 3, 'Organisation and Discipline'. Jonathan brings membership up to 76.

5) John Allen asks:
"... looking at the school photos, did Mr Chadwick leave and then come back a year later as he is in 1954, 1955, & 1958 but not in 1956 where he has been replaced by Mr Sainsbury? Who if I remember correctly chain-smoked Piccadilly untipped cigarettes and always had a very yellow top lip! Just a memory I have of him smoking in the lab, which was in the old stable block, through out a lesson.

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25 September 2010 (UD10/18)
1-2) Deleted as obsolete.

3) I have had contact from David Rice-Evans (KS 1961-65) whose email address I will add to the list in due course - I will provide his email address should anyone wish to contact him. He brings our membership up to 75.

4) Added a selection of pictures taken by Patrick Delaney at the Fox at Barrington at the July 2010 Sherborne visit outing.

5) Added a few more pictures from John Coville's photos.

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10 September 2010 (UD10/17)
1) John Allen wrote:
I also just read John Haymes memories and I too was one of those that ventured to the A40 cafe in the early hours for a fag and a fry up. What happy memories I have now although at the time I was scared witless of being caught!

I have no recollection of James H Mosey other than as a nice, fair, but strict man, who when needed, personally, showed great compassion when I was depressed and homesick. I know I had the cane a couple of times from him, but, I am sure that I deserved it! I have no doubt that my time at Kings School shaped my character for the future and I am eternally grateful for that.

I today discovered that JHM and my father (deceased) were born on the same day - 15/11/04.

2) Deleted as obsolete.

3) Mike Abbott writes about Bob Wellings:
It brought back many memories when I opened the link to the Bob Wellings interview for Anglia TV after he left KS. There was an error in the interview introduction, where the interviewer claimed he joined Anglia TV in 1959, in fact, Bob was still teaching at school when I left in Summer 1960. I remember him being Duty Master that Tuesday in July 1960, I recall waiting for my Mother and Father to arrive to pick me up and upon their arrival at school, my mum, dad and myself sitting in 5B classroom having a chat with Bob Wellings before leaving. I also remember Bob Wellings hosting TV's 'Come Dancing' for the East Anglia team in the very early 60's. Bob later joined the BBC and became 'anchor' for the nightly news and events programme, I can't recall the name of the programme, I'm sure somebody will remember. I also recall that Bob Wellings was an old friend of Adrian Noble prior to them teaching at Kings School.

Does Mike Airey have an e-mail address, I would like to make contact with him.

4) Mike Abbott reflects upon Nick Sweet’s comments on colour photography:
I always had quite an interest in photography from an early age, for my first few years at School I used an old discarded camera belonging to my father, the old bellows type which took 120 film. However, a number of my associates at school were using 35mm Voigtlander cameras and the like which were far more sophisticated. It must have been in 1958 when I dipped into my ‘savings’ and bought an Arette BW, my father was able to source the camera for me with a substantial trade discount via a pal of his. I still have the camera and actually ‘shot off’ a roll of film through it a couple of years ago and the results were by no means unacceptable even by today’s standards.

I was certainly using ‘colour film’ in 1958, both transparency and print. In those early days I used Agfa Gevaert, the film was pretty good in both transparency and print, but as we will all remember, colour film in those days had to be ‘sent away’ for processing, this was probably the case until the mid 60’s or maybe later, I can’t remember.

5) John Haymes adds regarding Nick Sweet's sledge:
Regarding my sledge, mine was small it was originally given to my mother some years earlier. I did leave it behind, for the life of me I can't remember it's colour. Not sure if it was mine or not, if it was it is nice to think that it went to good hands.

6) A few photographs from Nick Sweet of the September 2009 Reunion Dinner.

7) Added 3 more pictures to Alwyn Hawkes page.

8) A few more sailing pictures from Clive Perkins.

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24 August 2010 (UD10/16)
1) John Haymes wrote to me:
Dear Conrad,
I trust this finds you well. It has certainly been a very long time since we would have had any contact. I am in the throws of preparing for my 70th birthday party when I decided to chase down some of the things that shaped my future. Once I got on to the net, one thing led to another and then I came across your site. I think I have almost combed every page of it. What memories! One thing I have got out of reading other peoples memories are that there where many highs and the lows, I think at the end of the day it was the highs we prefer to remember the most. My family and I immigrated to Australia in 1968 and have lived either there or in Bali Indonesia ever since. I used to say that my only regret was that I had not been able to do it 27 years earlier. Having now read your site I now know that I have one more regret, that is I failed to keep in touch with some very good school friends.

PS: It was Robin Penrice's article that made me realise that some of the things we did it were not all a figment of my imagination: I still remember quite vividly heading up to the A40 at 11pm to the road side cafe for sausage egg and chips with another couple of the guys, I believe Tony Hanks was one of them. Not just once, at least twice.. Occasionally I wake up in a cold sweat having dreamt about it. What an earth were we thinking, 16 year olds trying to look like long [distance] haulage truck drivers!!!

I know I failed miserably academically, thank heavens for sport. Having scoured the pages of attendance I think I managed to get one record, The Longest Serving Pupil!

2) Tom Mosey has more information about the Captain Mosey picture "The gallery in Cambridge was closed down about 10 years ago, a friend went to check it out, but he did find the following info, I am guessing that Richard Mosey was JHM's grandfather." I have put this on the Mosey pages. Ed.

3) Bill St Aubyn has sent this youtube video link of "ITV 50 years of Anglia TV birthday part 2 Anniversary Special & Bob Wellings + Weather Forecast." and adds, with thanks to Gordon France.

4) Nick Sweet regarding John Haymes
Welcome to John Haymes. Correct me if I am wrong John, but I think I inherited your quite small, but very fast, bright red toboggan when you left K.S. I in turn passed it on when I left, and I think the recipient was Ruddle, who I am in the photo diving with, and whose parents had a Newsagents and Stationers in Wells in Somerset.

Interestingly in Gordon France's personal collection there is a photo of Ruddle and me doing our diving act; along with six other colour photos taken at the swimming sports in 1960. Surely colour photography must have been in its infancy then, particularly at our level? Perhaps some body can throw some light on the subject. Maybe Gordon himself if he took the photos.

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12th August 2010 (UD10/15)
1) Following on from my research (UD10/13, item 2 below) I came across a rather interesting document on the site of British Listed Buildings. The document describes in great detail the architectural features of Sherborne House. Although it is a bit of a slog reading through it - it consisting of one and a half pages in a single paragraph. I will scan it and reformat to the paper archive. For anyone interested in the architecture of Sherborne house it is worth reading. I have however clipped a few phrases that may be of particular interest:

Then click on the tab on the same page "Bing Maps/ Birds Eye View" and enlarge the picture for a great view of the old gardens - some of the buildings you may have worked in are probably still there.

2) Further research - Sherborne Manor and Church in Wikepedia. I partcularly liked this bit of ancient vandalism "In 1850-59 John Dutton, 2nd Baron Sherborne had the mediaeval nave and aisle of the church demolished to allow more light into Sherborne House, and had a new nave and sanctuary built further north."!

3) Bob Main says:
The plays were really very good, but Peter T did get in a ‘tizzy’ at times, and had poor Margaret Gibson flying around back stage helping with the clothing and the makeup. I learned a great deal from Peter and I can still recite some of the parts he taught us from Shakespeare.

And asks:
I did a bit of research on Bob Wellings and I see he became quite well known on Anglia TV. Is he still alive? There is a Helen Wellings here who was a teacher and is now well know on Australian TV. Is she a daughter?

And Bob Main has a few more interesting anecdotal reflections.

4) Tim Midgley has a large box of slides from time at KS. He does not have a slide scanner - is there anybody out there, that could lend him one, please? Tim resides in UK.

5) John Haymes joins our throng today; if anyone would like his email address, please let me know.

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Tuesday 3rd August 2010 (UD10/14)
1) Bob main who now lives in Western Australia has joined our membership. He has provided many anecdotes.

2) I was just doing some research on the printers name for the original Sherborne Park (apartments) Prospectus and found some very interesting information about the Spiritual education group that took over the House prior to the Commune. As a matter of interest the printers were Beshara Press, Sherborne, Gloucestershire. Follow this link.

3) I had erroneously said that the subject in the painting, of the man in the red pantaloons, was the Earl of Strafford, when in fact it is Sir Thomas Dutton - knighted on the accession of James 1.

4) Jimmy Younessi has provided a link to the work of the artist Fereydoun Ave, an ex-student of King's School 1957 - 63.

And thanks for adding a few names to the 1958 School Photo - see if you agree: Back row No. 39 Trevor (from Hong Kong), No. 40 yours sincerely Jimmy Younesi and No. 44 almost 100% certain is Tingley. Front row No. 32 Farhad Firouzgar

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Sunday 1st August 2010 (UD10/13b)
1) Tom Mosey adds:
To comment on John Coville's note, my Dad's dad (and ancestors) were sea captains from Scarborough, Yorkshire area, so that was most likely my Dad's father (sorry I can not comment on the likely cargo though!)..

2) Tim Prestage says: Some more Mosey info ref a sea going ancestor: 6th January 1883, Wellington: Go to page and scroll down to Find 'mosey' [This may or may not be 'our' Mosey, but there is a good chance. Sorry I am unable to give you the quote, the Roots site forbids it. Ed.}

3) My report and pictures from last Saturdays Reunion. If anyone would like to add a different perspective I would be happy to put their report on site too. Else you may just wish to send in pictures - it would be a great help if you also send me a list of what or who are in them.

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Friday 2nd July 2010 (UD10/13a)
1) John Coville writes: Concerning the ship picture:
Back in the 90's I was in Cambridge with Jane browsing through an antiques shop and saw an old looking oil painting, the title of which was something like " S.S ..........? Captain James Mosey standing off Whitley Bay." Too much of a coincidence not to have been his family (probably in the slave trade!) Does anyone else knows anything about the provenance of this?

2) For anyone who my be interested in small get-togethers on Saturday 12 June Alwyn Hawkes, Colin Fry and I attended the exhibition in the Sherborne Church that was mentioned in (KS Update UD10/08) below. The exhibition was little more than about 6 artefacts, a few paintings and some photocopies of photo albums of the Dutton family. There was however a very interesting presentation on a laptop by Diane Lovell, one of the residents, who teaches British History in USA. She also has the letters of an 18 year long courtship which was very interesting to hear about.

After which a few of us had a private viewing of the Great Hall apartment owned by James. David Wilcox and his wife were also there. We were much in demand as there was considerable interest in how the building had been before the conversion to apartments. We just had time for a cup of tea in the Orangery (the old Swimming Pool Changing Rooms) before returning home. It was a gloriously sunny day.

3) Many of you will have had details about the Sherborne House and Grounds visit on 31st July. If you have not and are interested please contact Nigel Dodds direct - I will give you his email address if you do not have it. Hurry because places are limited.

4) Deleted as obsolete.

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2nd June 2010 (UD10/12)
1) More about the pictures:
Tim Prestage says:
There was a "copy" of Van Dyck's painting of Charles 1st hanging outside the entrance to the Headmasters Flat (Wynn in my time) at the top of the Ship Stairs. The Ship in question being the SS Mercia.

Bob Marshall:
It is interesting how stories become changed over the years. I would like to agree with Al Hawkes re the portraits in the Hall which were either side of the fireplace and were indeed of the Earl of Strafford either in light armour or a doublet.

'Mr.Wright's picture' was situated on the wall in the long corridor to the right of JHM's study door. There was an ornate mirror next to it facing down the long corridor which caused me great panic one night while on my way to the 'bog' with Mosey's economy lighting in full bloom. I saw this ghostly figure coming towards me and finally realized it was my own reflection. I well remember I did not need the loo after that!

To return to the picture it was called the ‘Blue Boy’ but was a portrait of Lord Sherborne’s son and heir who fell to his death over the ebony staircase by the study and was supposed to haunt the area. Some boys claimed to have seen it but who knows! Like many other treasures the pictures slowly disappeared as Lord Sherborne flogged them to survive.

2) Recently someone did a search of the site for 'addresses' - I do not put addresses on the site - if an old boy or ex-member of staff wants the address of another old boy for instance, please contact me and I will try to help.

Following the last Update two searches were made for 'chris marx video' which is surprising since there was a direct link to his video at (2) below, simply click on his name. For those of you who find computing a little challenging, navigation of the site is by clicking on an underlined word and moving to that item. If you have received an Update email from me, the next step would be to go to the main page and click on the date by the pointing finger, this will bring you to the most recent Update, from where you can click on the links.

4) Bill St Aubyn tells us that he has seen on the BBC website that Sherborne shop has reopened and sells an array of products unknown to the boys of KS.

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25th May 2010 (UD10/11)
1) Dave Wright adds:
There was a full length portrait of Gainsborough's Blue Boy in either the headmaster's study or the dining room. Can anyone say which?

2) In response to my request for OBs to add their 'then and now' pictures, Chris Marx has added a video link to his entry, which some people may find interesting. It plays OK in both Windows Explorer and Mozilla FireFox browsers, but not all browsers. Although this is neither of the KS era nor the Reunions, it does at least show where he is now.

The description Chris has given is:
«Being awarded the Yuri Gagarin Medal by the "Information, Communication, Control in Engineering, Nature, Society" International Academy of St Petersburg "on the Activity of the Direction of the Astro-Biology Problems & Cosmic Safety Scientific Research Institute".»

3) A few more memories from Clive Perkins.

4) Alwyn Hawkes refutes Patrick Delaney's claim (UD10/10 item 5 below) that there was a Van Dyck in the Great Hall; instead he says there were two full length portraits one of which was of the Earl of Strafford - Charles I's minister. The other a c.1600 portrait (of Sir Thomas Dutton) which is now outside the room which we knew as the Library.

[Of course most of the anecdotal 'information' that appears on the site is unsubstantiated and always open to conjecture. Ed]

5) James Bright says the two paintings that used to hang each side of the fireplace in the Great Hall are now hanging over the staircase that backs onto the church. He also says that the village shop will reopen shortly with wifi!

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Friday 7th May 2010 (UD10/10)
1) I've been through The ThenAndNow page with a fine tooth comb and it displays correctly now. I would like other people to offer a present day photo of themselves so that I can enter them into the page too - if you have a website I will put in a link if you desire.

2) Clive Perkins solves 2 problems:
The photograph from Roy Limbrick showing a pupil standing in front of the car with the cranking handle is Spiller 2. Also previously mentioned "the American chap" who had a slice of bread with a 1/2 (inch) thick Marmite thinking that it was chocolate spread was Marshall Kenny from Cream Hill, Connecticut USA.

3) Mike Abbott has some recollections expanded upon on his Anecdote page. Briefly - he refers to the Top Road Caff (item 23), JHM treats the Prefects (item 24), and the Post Office Shop (item 25).

4) Patrick Delaney says:
Yes, I remember the café between the main gates and the cross-roads. It was a converted double-decker bus called The Bus'y Bee. I think the couple who owned it lived in the top deck.

5) Patrick has added a few candid pictures from the April Reunion. Any help with names would be gratefully received.

About the paintings:
There were two paintings in the Great Hall, on either side of the fireplace, of Charles I on horseback. The smaller one, on the right, was painted by Van Dyck. I also remember that after the Summer holidays in 1950, all the portraits which used to hang in the Dining Room had been removed. There was a rumour that the new Lord Sherborne had noticed gravy stains in the paintings during the inventory following the death of the old Lord S in earlier 1950. But as we weren't told anything, I don't know whether that's true. [But see UD10/11 item 4 above. Ed]

6) Richard Benson has added a few more names including his to the front row of the 1954 School photo. He also says:
Please do not quote me but I think a lot of the stone from the quarries was used in some of the buildings in London. My year used to go to the quarries in the top woods as it was called, (strictly out of bounds) there were gang fights - can any body remember them?

7) Stephen Heard says:
In regard to Winston Churchill's 'thank you' letter, I seem to remember that Nigel Francis was the boy most responsible for having the school sign a birthday card and for its mailing.

8) At the April Reunion, while touring the house, Malcolm Stacey and his wife got talking to James Bright who has the Great Hall suite, in Sherborne House. I met him at the Reading Room, he was very interested to hear what Sherborne was like as a school and in particular what had been behind the bottom step, which is where his apartment ends. I was able to show him some photographs of the Great Hall and steps to the Quarter Deck as we knew them.

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Thursday 29th April 2010 (UD10/09)
1) Tim Prestage has sent a few photographs from his tour of KS/ Sherborne House and grounds, Sunday 26th April.

2) At the Sherborne Reunion, I was shown a newspaper cutting (I think by Colin Fry - please correct me if I am wrong) about the old Windrush Cafe which closed in 1990. It had until then been the haunt of thousands of lorry drivers over the years and I thought 'many, many KS school boys with large stomachs to fill!' The building fell into disrepair like the school building itself and in 2001 it was demolished to make way for a hotel and conference centre. By 2005, only two thirds complete work stopped, as the deal fell through. Currently it is up for sale. Another KS stomping ground bites the dust!

Al Hawkes recalls a double decker bus to the right of the main gates on the A40 that was also a cafe - does anyone else remember it?

3) Keith Lewis now has a few pictures. As usual if anyone can add any names it would be most welcome.

4) Regarding the car below at item 4) Andrew Cameron-Tillett has added:
I well remember sitting on the back of the car and racing around Top Pitch, the road down to Home Farm and the opposite road (west) to ???

Dave Pullen is in the driving seat, he and others clubbed together to buy the car @ about £5 and convinced Farmer Powell to allow them to do a ‘mechanical project’ and it was cut apart in the Stable Block outside the Woodworking Room (north west corner) – I can’t remember how I got involved – I certainly didn’t have the necessary 12/6d to contribute – but probably because I was part of the ‘mower gang.’

Ant Prestage was certainly a ‘member’ of the car project as was Brian Saunders, Hobhouse in the passenger seat, Bill Limbrick (surely) rear nearside, very difficult to make out the face behind Pullen and I can’t think who is on the starting handle.

Details added to Roy's picture.

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Monday 26th April 2010 (UD10/08)
1) Thanks to Mike Abbott for spotting the broken links from the thumbnail images of Tom Mosey's letter from Sir Winston - I have now fixed them. Was he really the only one who noticed, oh dear!

2) The Sherborne Reunion went off very well on Sunday 25th April, many thanks to Alwyn Hawkes for arranging it. I have noted those in attendance, added a few photographs and a short note. Perhaps Alwyn will write more. I welcome any photos (with names if possible) taken by other people who were present - I will then add them to the site.

3) The current vicar of Sherborne church Rev. David Ackerman also serves a number of other local churches - his website can be found here www.windrushbenefice.org.uk

4) Roy Limbrick has added a picture of a group of friends and a car at Home Farm circa 1962 or 1963. There are still two unnamed boys - can anyone help?

5) At the Sherborne Reunion I was given a leaflet advertising 'a unique National Trust exhibition.' The Summer exhibition brings together for the first time items from the collection of the Earls of Sherborne. The exhibition is to be held on Saturday 12th of June from 2pm - 5pm, in Sherborne Parish Church. The display features items belonging to the Earls who lived in Sherborne House and worshipped in the church.

The exhibition is being arranged to support Sherborne Church which houses many notable monuments to the Earls. Not only will there be an opportunity to see the exhibition, but the entrance fee of £5 includes access to the grounds and gardens of Sherborne House and Stables, where tea will also be available (children under 10 attend free.)

[I suspect that the gardens mentioned are the formal gardens and not the walled vegetable gardens many an Old Boy knew so well!. Ed.]

6) It has been brought to my attention that the telephone number given at the bottom of the Home page was incorrect - this has been corrected to 0844-248 4714. My apologies to anyone who tried me on the old number and to the person whose number was shown.

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Monday 19th April 2010 (UD10/07)
1) Many thanks to Tom Mosey for a copy of a letter sent by Sir Winston Churchill to the school in 1964, thanking the boys for their kind wishes on his 90th birthday. Sir Winston died the following year.

2) Deleted as obsolete.

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Saturday 13th March 2010 (UD10/06)
1) Richard Statham after reading the Al Hawkes and Patrick Delaney articles:
Films: "... in addition to the films mentioned, one was "Romeo & Juliet" with Norma Shearer, with whom I fell deeply in love. She was far too old for the part (and for me) - "Fourteen summers hath not withered in her pride...", but I didn't care! Sigh... I also remember, "Hedging and ditching" and my wife of some 50 years says she also remembers seeing it at school. Ah well, it beats the hell out of, "Diary of a call girl". Why did the authorities think we would be interested in that, the hedging & ditching I mean!"

Public punishment:
The public beating traumatised me, too at the time. I hate cruelty more than anything else.

2) Patrick Delaney reflects upon Alwyn Hawkes articles.

3) Malcolm Stacey has sent me an interesting link about Sherborne House.

4) Deleted as obsolete.

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Saturday 20th February 2010 (UD10/05)
1) Angus McLellan says: "I can tell you why Mike Taylor was called 'Harry'. He was in my class and was a great hoarder and so consequently we nicknamed him 'Harry Woolworth'."

2) I was humming to myself today and out popped "Raggle Taggle Gypsies, oh!" Then "D'ye ken John Peel?" (The first may be considered non-PC nowadays and the second may inflame any opposed to fox hunting.) Who remembers singing these in the great Hall? Can you think of any others?

3) I am grateful to Patrick Delaney for pointing this out:
"There's an error in the link to the history of Sherborne House: Lindsay Anderson's film 'If' was not about Kings School Sherborne, but set mainly in Anderson's old school, Cheltenham College. It was made in 1968, coincidentally about the time KSS expired, so it would be easy to mix up the two schools."

"Lindsay Anderson hated his time at Cheltenham College and wrote a very bitter, angry film, ending with an armed revenge attack on Founders Day. He showed a bogus script to his old headmaster in order to get permission to make his film at Cheltenham during the Summer holidays. When the Head saw the actual film he was very annoyed, but the damage was done. 'If' is one of my all time favourite films. It's the prefects who are the really vicious people in the film. Wikipedia has a pretty good summary of it."

4) In response to Al Hawkes articles, Patrick says:
"Al Hawkes has written, and is writing, very interestingly on KSS. He deserves a rich reward! In these ghastly materialistic times I congratulate him on referring to 'fees' as 'sordid'.
Al wonders what happens to people who witness, or are victims of injustice, or torture - the film 'If' gives one example. But I've also heard that to be a torturer, one has to have been tortured oneself. The Medical Campaign for the Victims of Torture has much evidence. I've also come across people who had no desire for revenge, just an absolute contempt and distance from evil doers. Very many people become involved in various civil rights causes, as I have been on and off over the years. Some go in for Law, especially on the Human Rights or Defence side. I know many people like that."

4) Patrick has also added a comment about Prefects and Teachers, which I have added to his Anecdote page as Item 23.

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Tuesday 19th January 2010 (UD10/04)
1a) A fascinating anecdotal paragraph about the history, of Sherborne House, its school and demise, plus its story allegedly used in a movie. Much of the content was unknown to me.

1b) Further research revealed a map of the area with reference to Quarry Wood and a disused quarry. There was a PDF found through Google. Which on pages 1 to 5 shows the quarry - or as I believe it to be what we called 'The caves' - the most interesting being page 3 of the PDF, (image shows sheet 25 however) depicting the graffiti "JB" over "1948" a heart with an arrow through and "GR." The grid reference referred to on page one does not seem to have any relevance to today's system. It is just possible, given the date that one of the older OBs may have registered his love for posterity! Can anyone confirm this please?

1c) To date I have not received any anecdotes about 'the Caves.' I recall one evening... (see my anecdote page for the story.)

2) On the subject of Nick-Names:
Mike Taylor, 1 was known as "Harry" for some unknown reason; this name was with me all my school days as I recall.

3) Chris King makes some interesting additions, "after reading Al's piece."

4) David Burrough has sent an interesting collection of quick memories, some of which I found quite amusing

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8th January 2010 (UD10/03)
1a) Colin Fry recalls that "Taffy" Eldridge was only at KS for a short time, leaving in 1954; he later married a girl from Sherborne and worked on local farms; but he died prematurely.

1b) Colin adds: "First names were rarely used even if you knew them, if you were lucky enough to have a nick name it could be quite endearing." [I would add - sometimes! Would anyone like to offer their KS nickname? Or those of others. I believe mine was "Skelly" for a while. I will be diplomatic as to how I add responses. Ed.]

2) Al Hawkes' article concludes with "Care," Part 5. Thanks again to Barbara Farmer who typed it up.

3) Here are some interesting KS and related sites: an article about Sherborne in the Wikipedia. An audio recording of the local Sherborne dialect; some may find it nostalgic. For those who may now only vaguely remember the surrounding villages this site Pictures of England - Pictures of Sherborne may be of interest.

4) Jimmy Younessi says, "I have read with interest the stories of Clive Perkins. He has forgotten two things about his early days. If I am not mistaken he was a fanatic model air plane builder - he would always smell of fuel (most often I would borrow his fuel for my lighter to use for smoking with Clive Sinclaire at least 3 to 4 times daily ! He was an excellent craftsman. He would take the rings from the table napkins (some of which were silver) and build rings with them. I was very proud to have a couple of his rings, which I used during the holidays away from school. Also, I believe that for 2 terms me and Clive were class mates at lower 5C."

5) Clive Sinclaire, in response to Clive Perkins in (UD 10/02) below has sent me an anecdote in the form of an introduction and two extracts from his book.

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6th January 2010 (UD10/02)
1) Al Hawkes' article continues Organisation and Discipline Part 4. Thanks again to Barbara Farmer who typed it up. Next Update will see the final section "Care."

2) Clive Perkins adds another anecdote, which I found fascinating.

3) Richard Statham adds: "Regarding Brian Wall, he finished up in Canada as a senior man in airline security. I was in touch with him 5 years or so ago but he has not kept up the correspondence."

4) I noticed that someone searched for "kjær" using the diphthong; I have been spelling Ian's surname as "Kjaer." In future to save confusion I will use both whenever I make reference to him - then he and others will be able to find his name by searching either way. I have amended all occurrences on the site.

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Friday 1st January 2010 (UD10/01)
1) Once again "Happy New Year" to you all. The irritating Auld Lang Syne will be removed tomorrow! :-) I have moved the 2009 Updates which along with all other years can be accessed from the bottom of this page.

2) Part 3 of Alwyn Hawkes' appreciation of the school system as provided at KS continues as Organisation and Discipline. Thanks again to Barbara Farmer who typed it up.

3) Deleted as obsolete.

4) Brian Wall is remembered by Bob Marshall: 'Brian Wall at K.S…. I remember him well. He must have been a pupil at Kingsholme, Weston S.M. as he lived there. His father was dead and his mother ran a small Hotel or Boarding house. I can still remember his address after 60 yrs. Without looking it up. Not bad heh? (cut). He was at Sherborne from 1947 to 1949 approx. then left without saying why. He was a strong and determined person and a good friend in the short time I knew him. Back then he had fairish hair, some freckles and a long face. Sadly we lost touch as one does at a young age. Any news about him would be welcome. Roger Davis or Al Hawkes would know more. I agree with Alwyn Hawkes as to him being no. 7 above the centre of the word SUPER in the 1945-46 Kingsholme picture.

5) I have made contact with Malcolm Etherton (KS 1959-60) he will be joining the Update - his email addreess will be available in due course - until then if anyone wants to contact him they can do so directly through Friends Reunited.

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[ KS Directory ] Page updated 02/01/2017.