Summer
Dear Old Birkfeldian
I write as we conclude the academic year 2023-24. Much has been achieved by our students and staff this term. One of the many highlights included the College’s D-Day 80 commemoration, with students, staff, families and neighbours coming together for music, poetry, song and dance, topped off by the lighting of a monumental beacon (constructed by staff and students) and a fabulous fireworks display. It is fitting, therefore, that included in this edition of the newsletter, we have recollections from a wartime OB.
Our Prep School continues the College’s tradition of a summer music production – this year’s was entitled ‘Move It’ - a high-octane performance with all children included.
This term has brought much academic endeavour with GCSE and A-level exams proceeding and enviable destinations being clinched, including conditional offers to study at Cambridge and Oxford universities and prestigious work placements, including Enron, the Bank of England and Unilever.
Sport remains an integral part of the College for both boys and girls. Female sport goes from strength to strength, with our U15 girls winning the cricket County Cup recently, hot on the heels of the U18 girls’ football treble last year. Boys’ football is also turning heads, with our U15 boys’ team winning the national ESFA Cup at West Bromwich Albion’s ground no less!
I hope you enjoy reading about a past alumna and female archaeologist, a retired RAF Air Marshal and a 70s ‘long-haired tearaway’ who enjoyed his time at the school. St Jo’s always was and remains today an inclusive and diverse community which welcomes a wide range of students, nurturing and supporting their dreams and ambitions.
As ever, we look forward to hearing from you all. We are here throughout the summer ready to chat or meet with you and your family.
Mrs Danielle Clarke Principal
Addicted to the Fascination of Archaeology
I attended St Jo’s to study for my A-levels between 2004 and 2006, being offered a place after taking the scholarship exam in late November 2003. I opted to take English Literature with both the late Michael Davey and Katherine Drake, Biology with Keith Hirst and the late Sheena Waitkins, and History with Nigel Chandler and Miss Green..
I did consider taking something literature-based, but ended up following my love of Biology onto Bournemouth University, which I attended from 2006 to 2009. I read for a degree in Forensic and Crime Scene Science with the potential to join the police or the Army. They went out of the window when I had an epiphany moment during an Anthropology practical, handling Human Skeletal Remains (HSR) for the first time, and decided that was the specialism I wanted to pursue.
I continued onto a Postgraduate Masters of Science at Cranfield University (2009-2010) in Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology, where I learned excavation techniques and analysis specifically aimed with HSR in mind.
Trying to get into archaeology professionally, I found myself to be caught in a Catch-22 scenario where experience was needed to get a job role but the experience was needed initially through Field Schools.
I attended two weeks at Bamburgh Castle and the Kaims Wetlands (2012) and another fortnight in Trim,
County Meath, Ireland, excavating the remains of a friary (2011).
Gaining an archaeological position in 2016, I began in the field learning to excavate and record features in all weathers but soon realised that I preferred the postexcavation side of commercial archaeology.
I prefer getting my hands dirty with finds, ranging from pottery and flint to animal bone and being covered in soil when processing samples ranging from sand to very sticky, tough clay.
Archaeology has the potential to change the historical narrative and that is what keeps it exciting.
Aimee McManus OB
St Joseph’s enters the Computer Age
My time at St Joseph’s started when I was told I had passed my 11+ in 1964. I pestered my parents to go to St Jo’s, as my primary school hero was already there with several of his siblings.
My mother’s chronic illnesses meant a grant from the local authority allowed my enrolment as a boarder with further assistance from a school bursary. None of the current students (and probably few of the OBs) will have much knowledge of what it was like as a boarder in the ‘60s, so I’d like to give a taster of how things were.
We were only allowed to phone home (on the one available payphone) if really necessary but were required to write home weekly, though letters were censored by housemasters! Mobile phones weren’t even imagined. Those who had boarded at Oakhill as primary school pupils were fine, but those new to boarding were generally pretty homesick. Weekend leave was unusual, so nearly everyone had to stick it out till half-term.
Going downtown on Saturday mornings was a highlight of the week in the first few years. We had half-a-crown pocket money (12.5p), today’s equivalent would be £4. Visits to ‘The Ancient House’ were common, also secondhand record stores where ex-jukebox 45 rpm discs were 1s/6d (7.5p) with the centres missing, so you had to have an insert to play them on the Dansette record player. Some (no names…) visited the tobacconist opposite the railway station to buy five Woodbines. Fireworks could be bought, even by juniors, in October/November and were popular. All first and second years had to be in uniform, and woe betide you if seen without your school cap. We had to be back in the grounds by lunchtime. More senior students could, if not selected for rugby or cricket teams, go to Portman Road to watch Ipswich Town on Saturday afternoons.
Third years were housed in the ’51 wing. One of our regular activities was a cross-country run on Sundays. This was over a course down to Belstead, over the brook, around a few fields (no longer fields) and back again. Charlie Morgan and I worked out that if we actually ran the whole distance rather than taking it easy as most did, we could get to the showers before the hot water ran out.
In the Fourth Year, our dorms were in the main Birkfield House, with rooms of four or so. We also had the privilege of TV in the evenings, though this was strictly limited and at that time only black and white. Thursdays were the most popular as Top of the Pops was on.
In the Fifth Year a small group of us were privileged to be lodged in the Birkfield gatehouse, which gave us a greater deal of freedom with no housemaster. We also had our own small kitchen.
At that time, there was a degree of animosity between St Jo’s and neighbouring communities: the Maidenhall estate to the East of the College and Chantry to the West. The former was home to a group who on one occasion decided to invade the Goldrood grounds. The Sixth Form boarders, led by Pandelis Glavanis (head boy at the time, as I recall) repelled them, armed with brass rods borrowed from the Goldrood stairs.
Sixth Form boarders lived at Goldrood. Bro. Cuthman was in charge, and one rule was that we all had to do an hour of gardening on Sunday prior to obligatory attendance at benediction in the chapel. I remember one occasion when the lawnmower wasn’t working well so I and a fellow science student stripped the carburettor and souped it up. When Bro. C. next used it, he was seen having to run to keep up with it!
We started a “dive” called Escondido (Spanish for hidden) where we could drink coffee and soft drinks in the evenings and play music, not only on records, but live. Bill Barry was an accomplished banjo and mandolin player, and when accompanied by Paul Woo on his guitar the results were well worth the listening. I recall an evening when he and Bill gave an excellent rendition of “duelling banjos”.
The school day for everyone commenced at 8.45 with assembly outside the De la Salle “E” wing (unless it was really bad weather) in class lines, where we were addressed from a wooden dais by Bill “Mogs” McLaughlin with important news and announcements. He taught senior mathematics and was also in charge of school discipline. Being called to Mogs’ office usually meant the cane. I had this misfortune only once, for something of which I was completely innocent, but for which I refused to reveal the real culprit.
Mid-morning break was when we had our regulation third of a pint of milk. During the breaks, the tuck shop was open at the end of the middle arm of the E wing. Various confections and items of stationery were available. There were five 40-minute lessons in the mornings, three after lunch, followed by tea, then study for an hour or so for boarders prior to dinner.
There were several momentous developments during my tenure. In 1966 we were lent a newfangled device called a desktop computer. This was an “Olivetti Programma 101”. It weighed in at 35 Kg and could do mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, division and multiplication, but little else. It had a “delay-line” memory, the forerunner of RAM, of a massive 240 bytes (NB not kilo, mega or giga). It could, however, play a simple arithmetical game called NIM (look it up). We practised for ages, and thought we’d found a way to defeat it, but then it cheated by subtracting -1 from one of the rows. The retail price for this machine in 1966 was around £3000, the equivalent today of £50,000.
1967 saw the construction of the new chapel, with its copper-clad roof. The offcuts were squirreled away by the chemistry teacher, Mike Kearney, for use in his lab. An episode of “Songs of Praise’’ was broadcast from this spectacular building and an article with a photo was published in the East Anglian Daily Times following that event. The former chapel became a weekend cinema and I remember being one of those tasked with running the projector on Sunday evenings. The films came on three reels, so there were intermissions while we struggled to change them over without serious delays. Looking at recent postings, it looks as if it’s now a dance studio! (It is, Ed.)
The new kitchens and dining hall were also built. One of the brothers set out a 9-hole golf course in the grounds, and foolishly I was conned into buying a decrepit set of clubs with hickory shafts (though having recent news I should have kept them) and a
worn canvas bag by one of the lay teachers. I used them perhaps three times before getting bored with the game.
Teachers memorable to me included:
Bro. Elwin Gerard. His memorable contribution as Bro. Director was the foundation of the school choir, which gained some fame and was a member of the international group of youth choirs known as “The Little Singers of the Wooden Cross”. I joined the choir as a First Year, but after a few auditioning sessions I was told to “run along”.
Bro. Peter. Known as “Penguin Pete” because of his duck-like gait, who taught physics. His lasting contribution to my education was his excellent exam advice: “Read the question, pick up your pen. Put it down again. Read the question again, pick up your pen. Put it down again…. Then once you are sure you know what is being asked, consider your answer before writing anything.”
Bro. Bernard also taught physics. The clerical staff wore cassocks in school, with collars that had two white tabs, like bibs. He was always adjusting this collar. He persuaded a few of us to attempt dowsing, using bent copper wires to trace the course of water mains under South Park.
Bro. Cuthman: “Fluff” because of his hair. Catch phrase: “I will not repeat myself. I will not repeat myself.” Taught Latin, and when the new chapel was built, played the very fine organ, which was a marvel to us at the time, as it was controlled by a keyboard remote from the loft.
John Rae, PE teacher, ex Royal Marines PE instructor: “On your spots, GO!” He coached the third XV in my Fifth year.
Bill “Mogs” McLaughlin, ex WW2 RN submarine commander. His impressive bark was worse than his bite. He tried unsuccessfully to teach me rudimentary calculus.
As a Sixth Former I was puzzled when I was appointed deputy head boy to Guy Vickery, a fellow boarder. Previously, one job had always gone to a boarder, the other to a day boy.
I left St Joseph’s in 1971 for King’s London, where I studied medicine. Having played rugby at St Jo’s, I joined the medical school rugby club, but was unable to compete with the enormous Welshmen, neither on the pitch nor in the bar afterwards, so changed sports to rowing. I graduated in 1976 and initially aimed for a career in cardiothoracic surgery, but during a rotation in Norwich I changed direction into General Practice, ending up in Cornwall, where I have been since 1983. There I also took up a Clinical Assistant post in Cardiology one day a week in Plymouth, progressing to become a Hospital Practitioner and an Associate Specialist with a particular interest in cardiac rhythm disturbances and pacemaker technology. I was appointed an honorary lecturer in these fields at the new Peninsula Medical School. I’m now retired.
Antony Nash OB
A Tale Full of Romance
We were delighted to hear of the marriage of OBs Kolbe Cheng and Orlena Huang, who were boarders at St Joseph’s College. Originally from Hong Kong, they are now living in New York, where Orlena works as an artist.
Orlena moved to the Big Apple following her A-levels at St Jo’s, earning her BFA and then MFA from Brooklyn College, City University New York in 2023. Her artistic practice is centred around social justice issues in contemporary human rights, focusing on themes such as children with disabilities, Asian feminism and political resistance. Her work has been exhibited in New York, California, Arizona, and the Saatchi Gallery in London.
Kolbe updated us: ‘We were boarders at St Joseph’s College between 2010 and 2015, studying GCSE and A-level courses. After leaving school, Orlena continued her study in Fine Art in New York and I went back to study in Hong Kong. We met again about five years ago and our friendship blossomed.
‘Although we’re no longer the teenagers we were in our early school days, we knew we were made for each other. I am so happy that we’re now married and settled in New York. We never forget our times at St Joseph’s College as it has always had a very special place in our hearts!’
D-Day - 80th Anniversary
A Turning Point in the War Fittingly Marked Across the St Jo’s Community
Deputy Principal and historian, Mr Sacha Cinnamond, needed a map room of his own this term as he masterminded with colleagues a D-Day 80th Anniversary commemoration at St Joseph’s College, an immersive D Day event at the Prep School, and trips for St Jo’s History students to the Normandy landing beaches and to the French and Belgian battlefields.
The Prep boys and girls, wonderfully costumed for the event, thoroughly enjoyed their lessons with the senior school specialist, and rose to his challenge of matching solutions to the multiple problems facing General Eisenhower, Admiral Ramsey and General Montgomery.
They also tackled Lindy hop dancing, rock bun baking and drill. The children practised hard to perfect some of the songs that saw Britain and the troops through their darkest hours, then reprised them at the Commemoration evening, when they got proceedings off to a heart-warming start.
The evening included performances, readings and poetry, with students and staff recreating some of the most touching moments of the campaign, including new Head Boy Olly Edwards reading his own research on the role played by the Suffolk Regiment.
Newly-graduated OB Euan Chalmers, who spent a year as a professional chorister, made a welcome guest appearance in the College choir, before playing poignant and stirring pieces on the bagpipes prior to the lighting of the beacon.
The beacon, fashioned by staff and students of the Engineering Department, is of monumental proportions and an outstanding fireworks display was required and provided to match its scale.
The Progress of Captain Manthorpe
An OB‘s Early Military Career Laid Bare
Dear Editor,
I gather that you want news of old boys, their whereabouts and goings on, so here goes. I joined the school when it first opened and left in the first fortnight of 1941… From then until the end of 1942 I was what might be called a student of agriculture. Early in 1943 the Army got another misguided soul in its ranks as a volunteer and I reported to Fulford Barracks, York, for training in February.
For eighteen months I was in the ranks of The Rifle Brigade and in that time, I somehow reached the exalted rank of Lance Corporal. Needless to say, I held that rank for only a matter of ten weeks before I was registered as one who was due to be reduced. And I was. After that I decided that I had better get a commission as a form of self-protection. Ever since then I have been striving to attain a pip but I have been
so frustrated over a period of more than one year that I still have three months of an O.T.S. course to complete. I spent three weeks at Wrotham and then went to Sandhurst, where I lived with eight other cadets in an extremely small tent, wherein we could only sleep by piling our feet up the tent pole and throwing all the kit outside. About this time, I decided I was in need of a change so I volunteered to join the Indian Army. I sailed on --- and arrived at --- on the --- of --- 1944. (Redacted for censor).
I then boarded a train and three days later arrived at the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. Four days later I was in hospital with a nasty and painful thing known as cerebrospinal meningitis. I was ‘out’ for three days. After that I was obliged to take six weeks sick leave. When I got back to work I was relegated again for sickness. I said a few nasty things about the Army in general and applied for a transfer to another O.T.S. My request was granted and I spent six days coming 1,500 miles from Dehra Dun
to Bangalore. So here I am, hoping that everything will be ‘tika hai’, as they say in Urdu, and that one day I shall get a pip. India is not at all a bad country, even if it is rather hot. I like the people and that is the most important thing.
That seems to be about all I have to tell so I will sign off with many thanks, once again, for the magazine.
Good luck and carry on the good work.
Yours sincerely, Gordon Manthorpe
(taken from The Oakhillian, 1945)
Almost the last word in that edition of the newsletter was the following:
Gordon Manthorpe, we are very glad to learn, was commissioned early in June, in the R.A.O.C. and has moved from Bangalore to Cawnpore.
We were delighted to learn that Gordon came through the war. In the Easter 1947 edition of The Oakhillian he was recorded as based at British HQ Singapore. Two years later the magazine included a report of his return to St Joseph’s, headed ‘India and the School Blazer’.
On the tenth of March, the two V Forms had the pleasure of listening to a most interesting talk, given by Capt Manthorpe – an old boy of the school – on his experiences
in the Army in the Far East when he left school. Capt. Manthorpe’s easy and informal manner made a great success of the talk, and as those present were liable for National Service in the not so distant future, the questions about conditions in the Army were many and varied; and he endeavoured to answer them all…
He claimed that his school blazer had accompanied him on all his travels through India; and he had some humorous stories to tell of the Indians’ reactions to its bright colours.
The blazer also survived the war and had been thoroughly cleaned ready to be packed for its move to Canada with Capt. Manthorpe in the near future.
The report continued: Capt. Manthorpe introduced us to two charming friends of his, namely Horace and Annabella. Horace was a lethal weapon of waterpistol proportions and inlaid with mother of pearl., whilst Annabella was a revolver of more businesslike dimensions.
We understand that he carried these as a precautionary measure when India was split into its two principal states.
Carrying the Values of St Joseph’s College to the Front Line of the National Defence
Having recently registered as an Old Birkfieldian, I was contacted by Lindy Rodwell, who asked whether I might write an article for the newsletter. So here I sit, in the British High Commissioner’s Residence in New Delhi, reflecting on what I might write almost 41 years after I left St Joseph’s. No, I am not the High Commissioner. That is my wife, who is also called Lindy!
I was a pupil at St Jo’s from 1974 to 1983. I spent two years at Oak Hill and then the remaining seven years at Birkfield where, somehow, I finished up as the Head Boy. In thinking about what I might write I have leafed through several back copies of the OB newsletter. In so doing, there seems to be a theme running through all of these which, after a 40-year career in the Royal Air Force, really resonates with me. That theme is the importance of values in the way in which we try and live our lives. I certainly didn’t realise it at the time, but those nine years at St Jo’s instilled a set of values in me which have guided me and are very similar to the values espoused by my Service – the RAF.
As previously mentioned, I left in 1983 and much to my parent’s frustration joined the RAF almost straight away instead of going to university. Like many of the pupils of that time, my father was serving in the RAF and I had grown up surrounded by aeroplanes and with a fascination and passion for all things flying that I still have today. St Jo’s had provided me with a fantastic all-round experience and education, but I just wanted to get on with my flying career. In retrospect, that might not have been the most sensible approach. Three years later, of the 20 student pilots who started training on my course, only nine of us passed and ended up with a set of wings. In those days military flying training was brutal with a less than 50% pass rate. These days
things are much better with pass rates above 85%! Given that in my last job, part of my portfolio was the oversight of training for the RAF, I probably would say that. But turning to those values.
The first value I recognise is that of respect. From my first day at Oak Hill, and particularly as a boarder, it was an immutable fact of life that you had to try and get on with everyone else. Brothers Mark, Charles and Bede, although quite strict, were also incredibly kind to a very homesick 10-year-old. I always remember that and how they instilled in us a generosity of spirit to be kind to each other and treat one another as we would want to be treated.
The next value was honesty, integrity and selfdiscipline. Telling the truth and trying to do the right thing even if you didn’t always succeed and it is difficult. On moving up to Birkfield, I remember Brother Mark as a fantastic role model. He always called us out if we were not behaving properly and even things like reading quietly before lights out, getting ready in the morning in silence, and taking pride in making your bed properly, were really valuable lessons for later in life.
Being part of an inclusive team was always important at St Jo’s. Whether it was sport, which I absolutely loved, being part of a House, choir or society. The notion that there is something bigger than you and trying to make sure that everyone was included is something I remember. St Jo’s was a ‘Team of Teams’, to quote some modern leadership speak, that gave all of us at some point the opportunity to take on leadership roles. Leadership, unlike management, is all about people and to my mind getting them to do something either individually or collectively that they probably would not do on their own. I had a go at all sorts of things that I would never have done on my own.
Finally, we were all encouraged to try and be the best we could be at whatever we put our mind to and, although competition was encouraged, it was all about just trying really hard. The school motto was/is ‘Fides, Labore et Tenacitate’ – ‘Faith, Hard Work and Tenacity’. The Catholic wrapper and the La Sallian ethos all played to this and now, on reflection, it was always about finding and unlocking whatever talents we may have had.
So, as I look back now, with more than 40 years of perspective, I had no idea how St Jo’s had equipped me with many incredibly valuable soft/life skills. I retired from full-time service in the RAF five years ago as the Deputy Chief of the RAF and the Board Member responsible for people, training, education, capability and infrastructure. In the interim I had commanded at every level, spent the first 10 years as a helicopter pilot on the Chinook Special Forces Squadron, served in a myriad of conflicts and wars and gained five state awards (including two for gallantry). I am now pursuing a portfolio career with a number of board roles (including chairing a children’s hospice charity) and pursuing my passion of teaching people to fly.
None of that would have been possible had it not been for the grounding and priceless set of values and skills that I acquired as a young man at St Joseph’s College, Ipswich. To the staff and pupils who educated and mentored me in so many ways - thank You.
Air Marshal Sean Reynolds CB CBE DFC
Old Birkfeldian
Boarding School Memories
After receiving last term’s OB newsletter, Mr Dennis Reynard contacted us from his home in Huddersfield.
I don’t remember feeling either sad or forlorn watching the family Ford Consul disappear down the drive of what was to be my new home for the seemingly distant future; just resignation to my fate. I was 11 years old.
My Mum , a Hungarian refugee who came to the UK before the start of the Second World War, wanted her sons to have the best Catholic education - so that meant first convent school and then a boarding school. Mine was to be a school run by an order of Catholic Brothers supported by lay teachers, St Josephs.
That first night was difficult for some of us. Homesick and lonely, we were left to get used to this new life. I remember to this day how the mattress was so lumpy one sank into it.
We all soon settled into a strict routine: chapel every morning and three times on Sunday, school every day, but half day on Saturday and Sundays free. Games on Wednesday afternoon. Time set aside every day for homework and a weekly report to be sent to parents.
The food was best described as institutional and followed a pre- planned menu, so we knew that every Saturday supper was sausage and chips ! The food improved greatly after the Sixth Form boys led ‘The Great Shepherd’s Pie Strike’, a protest against one particularly repulsive concoction.
Discipline was fair and not harsh by any means. We had a system of prefects to monitor behaviour, cap wearing, no running in corridors and so on. And so life progressed through the forms until I left for university and to share a flat with two of my classmates.
Writing this and remembering the experience I can honestly say that boarding school did provide me with a strong work ethic, independence and the ability to handle whatever life would throw at me.
I spent my entire working career in international banking, working and living almost continually overseas:15 different countries in 41 years. I don’t think I could have met those cultural and other personal and professional challenges without those formative experiences. So thank you St Joseph’s !
Dennis J Reynard OB
NB: Dennis asked us to mention that his wife bought the shirt !
A Golden Age for Squash
We reproduced this photograph on social media and had a good response from OBs supplying the names of those shown. Thanks to their lead, we were able to track down the relevant Squash report in the 1988-89 Birkfield Yearbook. It relayed:
Finals Night — the now traditional culmination of the season’s activities. It was as always, a celebration and over a hundred of us—boys, parents, teachers, coaches and helpers—came together to pay tribute to those who had succeeded and those who had contributed. Both individual tournaments produced surprise winners this year. ln the Open Gary Impett (seeded 4) became School Champion by beating David Atkins (seeded 6) 33-1 in the final. Both finalists had been in St Joseph’s Thirds just twelve months earlier! Third seed Nick Waghorn won the Under 14 title with his 33-0 win over Adam Child. Mick Mills, the Stoke City Football Club manager and father of two of our young and fast-improving players presented the Russell Sparrow Trophy and the Haines Trophy to Gary
and Nick respectively — strange that both the Club’s premier individual awards should finish up at Boxford this year.
The Wheatcroft family were present to hand over their award for the season’s most improved player jointly to David Atkins and Alex Patrick, both of whom have made remarkable progress. In that context Gary Impett, Paul Landen and Adam Child have also made great strides and all were serious contenders for the Wheatcroft Trophy. Richard Coleman presented the Coleman Trophy to Jon Blyth as winner of the internal leagues and Alan Rutherford, Head of Physical Education, conferred Half Colours on James Waghorn and Gary Impett, re-awarded Half Colours to Paul Nixon and Jon Blyth and Full Colours to Chris Coleman.
We also learned that the Senior Squash Squad that year had staged a 24-hour sponsored marathon and raised £400 for the school’s Togo Appeal.
Long Hair, Grey Socks and Milk Bottles
The Halcyon Days of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
I started at St Joe’s in April 1978 – at Oak Hill. Those of you who follow footy will know that this was the start of a golden age for Ipswich Town, they won the FA Cup in May 1978 – in glorious sunshine. I had ten wonderful years at St Joe’s (we always spelt it with an ‘e’ in the olden days). I was the youngest of five children to attend, including my sister who joined in the sixth form – my eldest brother started at Oak Hill way back in 1967 I think… and I finally left (having retaken my A-levels) in June 1988
Trying to explain to my children what school was like is quite difficult in some ways. Today’s world is much more
buttoned up. The idea of privacy didn’t really exist in schools in the ‘80s. And, of course, the dreaded mobile phones were yet to rear their ugly heads.
The accompanying letter epitomises a lot about the times. Matron didn’t mince her words – I don’t think she was being unkind; schools were generally less worried about how they communicated the messages they wanted to get across. Parents took the side of schools / authority as a matter of course. There was zero push back from my parents to the school for this letter; it was accepted that I was everything the school suggested… and probably other things besides.
We were given much more freedom in those days - there were no tracking devices. As long as you were in class or playing sport or in the Refs etc. when you were meant to be, the rest of time was your own. I was a bit feral and didn’t care much for clothes that fitted or smart short back and sides haircuts. I remember as a matter of pride I wore one pair of grey socks all Christmas term – washing them in the shower after rugby practice – only wearing real rugby socks for matches and Games lessons.
The fact that I’m still in contact with over a dozen good mates from those days says a lot. My most enduring, special friendships were formed in shared dorms, drinking tea from old school milk bottles.
Benjamin Chilcott OB