Visit to Sherborne:
I had been ‘delegated’ to organise the trip down to Sherborne. So at 10 am we boarded the coach, not knowing how much the trip was going to cost. We were informed by the driver that it would cost £300 for the day divided by the number of passengers – there were 15 of us – I will leave you to work out the maths.
To my surprise the driver had neither a Sat-Nav nor a plan of what route we would take down to Sherborne. Rightly or wrongly we chose to go down the M5 to Cheltenham and then via the A40 to our destination. We made good time until we reached Cheltenham whose architecture we had long minutes to nostalgically admire - due to road works and a diversion which kept us nose to tail for nearly half an hour!
It was decided that we would make a pit-stop at Northleach before going on to Sherborne which has no facilities. Would you know it ‘they’ seemed to have moved Northleach, relatively speaking; because the new A40 serves to by-pass it. Driving in to the village we found that it had lost none of its charm though was pleasantly somewhat quieter due to the heavy lorries no longer travelling along its main street.
We took advantage of the conveniences in the main square to the side of which a female Town-crier in blue smock was announcing the festivities for the week end, completing the address as is customary with the cry, ‘God save the Queen.’ A number of OBs especially those from abroad engaged the Town-crier in conversation and found out about archives of the village – in turn I gave her the details of our school website.
We then climbed back on the coach and made our way to Sherborne, parking just inside the grounds at the Village Gate Lodge. It had been suggested that we make our way to the church, which we did and there met up with a few who had made their own way there including my old chum John Carter, Martin Jones, Colin Fry and his partner and Tim Midgley. Those who had not been to the church in recent years, marvelled at the improvements to the building since their schooldays. They could be heard reminiscing about the broken in straw weave chairs and the musty smell of those days and no doubt the ‘thruppeny pieces’ we used to take as Collection offering. In contrast the church now has wooden pews, central heating and a welcome feel. Those who had not attended the Memorial Reunion 25th April 2004 and who may have contributed were able to see the Alter Rail Kneelers and plaques inscribed to the memory of past boys and teachers. We looked back through the old Visitors Book at our entries as mere boys back in the 40s, 50s and 60s.
It had been intended that if we had been lucky enough to meet up with Roger W., the Churchwarden who has an apartment in Sherborne House, he may be willing to show a number of us who had not had the privilege of doing so previously, round the grounds and possibly inside the building. Remembering back to when I had been permitted to do so some years before, I recall how the sight of the stairs and the landing at the head of the great stairs had brought memories flooding back. In the event, he did not appear but as the Chairperson of the Stable Block Residents Association had seen us walking past his domain as it were, he had got talking to a few of the boys and kindly suggested that he show us round the Stable Block.
Bob seemed as interested in what we had to tell him about how the buildings were when we lived there as we were to hear what changes had been made since. Of note it is now possible to view the winding mechanism of the clock behind a glass door, you will remember that the workings were not visible in our day and must have been behind a locked wooden door. However the main change is the fountain and garden that now stand in the centre of the courtyard and make a beautiful feature onto which the residents can gaze.
Bob kindly rang Roger for me, but he had not returned from the meeting. He also accompanied us as we walked around to the front of Sherborne House hoping to have a quick glimpse at the imposing front entrance before leaving the grounds. Unfortunately, as it transpired the main item on the Agenda for the Resident’s meeting had been ‘Security and privacy.’ In retrospect had we have known this, hindsight being a wonderful thing, we would not have attracted the attention of one of the residents by walking along the path to the West Front aspect. I can only imagine how shocked he was to see some 20 or so elderly men wandering across the front of their building.
We may have felt a nostalgic moment of being transported back through the decades to our boyhood days of being school children in that very same building, but were not prepared for the unnerving feeling of being shouted at right here in the present! We explained ourselves the best we could and the man said he would find and ask the Chairperson of the Resident's Association to come out and have a word with us. We were then to meet Roger P. and another member of the committee called John M.
I felt it appropriate to mention that Bob had told us he had no jurisdiction in the grounds of the House, but that we had felt we would not be challenged if he would accompany us. It was then that we were told of the Agenda item mentioned above. For a moment or two it felt like an awkward situation, however once aware of the reason we were there on our visit, we reached an understanding. Clearly it would not be possible to enter the building as groups of accompanied Old Boys had done on a number of occasions over the years; instead it was agreed that we could be accompanied along the South Lawn as far as the Lily Pond (our old Swimming Pool.)
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