Reminiscences

I was at the school from 1937 to 1942,

I was going to take the entrance exam but

unfortunately the day of

the exam I fell ill with scarlet fever. But I was allowed to take the exam on my own when I recovered.

I was interviewd by Mr J.E. (Joey) Barton, the then headmaster, I think I must have been the last pupil he enlisted as he left just after. I started at the school under the new headmaster Mr R.W.Moore. Strangely enough the year I left !942 he also left to become Headmaster of Harrow.

In my last year I was on the fire watching rota on a Sunday morning there was two of us and we were there in case of an air raid and incendiary fell on the school. There were Stirrup

Pumps with buckets of water and sand placed at various points around the school.

We used to go round checking all were in good order, and on one occasion we thought we would practise using them and tried using a pump on the flat roof of the science wing. It so happened that the congregation of St Michaels on the Mount Without who had been bombed out of their Church building and were holding morning services in our Great Hall.

This particular Sunday being nice and sunny they were having an Alfresco Breakfast in the School yard and unfortunately(!!!) some spray drifted over to the yard. I wonder if they thought it funny that there was a sudden short shower of rain from a sunny sky.

Oh well. Best wishes to all.

Robert Simmonds

(1937-1942)

Michael Booker

Growing up, and attending the local primary school in

Knowle, I had never been a sporty child - my interest lay in books and I read voraciously. Attending a school where team sports formed an important part of school life came as something of a shock.

I never achieved distinction. I managed to get a place in Booker’s house rugby team as I progressed through the School but never achieved selection into the house cricket team. Which was a shame as I rapidly developed an affection for the game which endures to this day.

Early in my summer term in the Removes Michael Booker approached me as I was reading the House notice board for confirmation that, again, I would not be representing the House at cricket. “Austin”, he said, “have you looked at the First XI notice board?” I said I had not. A strange question, as there had never been any danger that I would feature there. “You should”, he said, “there is a notice that will interest you”.

I proceeded to the First XI notice board and scoured it for items of relevance and interest. I couldn’t see anything that could possibly concern me. I scoured it again.

Towards the bottom I saw a small typed notice saying that the First XI was in need of a scorer and applications were invited from interested parties. “That must be it”, I thought and tentatively approached Michael Booker for confirmation. “Yes”, he said, “it’s a job that would really suit you.” I applied and, to my astonishment, my form master passed me a note saying that I had been appointed.

Thus began my long, though somewhat intermittent, career as a cricket scorer. The idea would not have occurred to me had Michael Booker not suggested it.

It was not until my forties that I realised how influential this man had been in my life. He kept track of old members of his house for years, and I would occasionally get a personal, handwritten letter asking me to contribute to some School appeal of one sort or another and to enquire after my health and prosperity. But what I had not understood was his deep commitment to making the School’s quality education available to children whose economic circumstances, like mine, did not make them obvious candidates.

Anyhow, Michael Booker played an influential role in my life and I would not be the person I am today, at work or at play, if it had not been for his intervention.

Noel Austin

(1955-1962)

Fred Wedlock

I was at School from 1955 to 1962 and was placed in Booker’s House (the black house).

The majority of boys had school lunches. We ate in the Great Hall in two shifts - the first and second years in the first sitting and everyone else in the second sitting. We sat in houses - each house had seven or eight tables of eight people each and each table was presided over by a table prefect. Fred Wedlock, being a year or two older than me, was one of these, and I was usually successful in the competition to sit on his table.

Fred, later to achieve fame and fortune with “The Oldest Swinger in Town” and several other singles and LPs was, up to that point, the funniest person I had ever met. Indeed, he remains one of the funniest people I have ever met. I can’t remember any of the conversations we had, but I do recall often returning to my form room for the afternoon’s classes

weak with laughter, in a way that only teenagers can manage.

However, one anecdote springs to mind. Michael Booker often sat on one of the tables for lunch and, on this occasion, we were joined by the then Headmaster, John Mackay.

I don’t know if John Mackay had a sense of humour - I never had the opportunity to discover - but he showed no evidence of it on this occasion. The main course passed off uneventfully - then came the sweet. The School was then in the habit of serving a kind of hard shortbread, affectionally known as “concrete”, as a sweet.

The only way of attacking this (we weren’t allowed to pick it up) was to grab one’s spoon firmly and jab the concrete with the point. After several jabs a fault line would appear and, using this technique, one could break the slab of concrete into pieces small enough to eat. In order to stop it shooting off the plate it was muffled with a sort of pink custard.

This lunchtime, Michael Booker was sitting next to me, Fred opposite me and the Headmaster next to Fred. Using the approved technique, Michael grabbed his spoon and jabbed the concrete. The first time, nothing happened. The second time, the concrete shattered. However, the pink custard wasn’t up to the task and one half of the concrete, with its coating of pink custard, struck the Headmaster in the middle of his waistcoat and the other half hit Michael Booker in the identical spot.

I looked at Fred. Not a wrinkle! I held my breath, or bit my tongue, or did something else to retain my composure. Michael and the Headmaster left the table to repair the damage. To my regret I can’t remember what Fred then said but

I laughed for a week!

I occasionally came across him around Bristol or at social events and it was always a joy. He appeared to have enjoyed those lunchtime encounters as much as I did.

Noel Austin

(1955-1962)

I’m prompted to

write having read the correspondence in recent OB chronicles and having similar memories.

The bun run: yes.

Coffee with girls from Badminton and Duncan House was in the depths of The Tavern in Queens Road for us, though after school hours the Mianco was preferred to the Bali in Park Street.

A ‘swift half’ - and a cigarette and a game of darts - in the pub at Kingsdown before the 1.30 lunch sitting, and wondering, if on High Table, whether Dr Mackay would smell something suspicious: he never said anything.

The photo highlighting Mr Bone brought back different memories. A B Carter took over as temporary head of the junior school after Mr Bone. ABC had the privilege of being the first master to punish me. I had just learned about life in the front row of the scrum and thought that the best way to leave morning assembly was to bind on friends on either side and push. He thought differently.

I had my revenge later when in my last year at BGS I met, and after tertiary education married, his youngest daughter. We now live in Wimborne Minster but keep in touch with, and see when we can, the few who comprised Upper 6th Classical 3 in 1962/63 and are now scattered around the country.

John Riley

(1955-1962)

Thank you for sending me a copy of Bristolienses. It is

very interesting to read the current news of the School which I attended from 19401946.

During this period I spent a short time in the prep department before it was burnt down during the nightly raids. The masters and pupils on fire watching duties rescued our books etc before the building collapsed.

For most of my years at the school the Second World War took place. Obviously we suffered day-light raids. The shelters around the playing fields were the popular ones – you really could not do any serious studies therein!

I used to cycle from school to Norton Road in Knowle or from the playing fields at Golden Hill after sports. I was from time to time chased by wardens if the sirens had sounded. But a young boy on a bicycle can outrun well built (perhaps fat) wardens.

Following my years at the School, I was articled for five years to a firm of Chartered Accountants in Denmark Street. I was the first articled clerk of John Corpe, the junior partner. He and his family had spent much of the war in a prison camp in the Philippines. His elder child was handicapped mainly due to the guards threatening to hurt any child who cried. He was a great character. Fortunately he was also a good teacher in practice accountancy.

Once I qualified I moved to London to join a premier correspondence course provider and spent several years lecturing in the UK with visits to the USA, South Africa and New Zealand.

Finally I settled down in the UK. My wife was the daughter of an Accountant so our only child did not become an accountant! Unfortunately my wife died last year after 63 years of marriage.

I have managed to attend some London dinners and can only hope soon these can be resumed.

Keith Carmichael

(1940-1946)