Commemoration, 1957

Comment on the Commemoration festivities must inevitably be prefaced by reference to the weather, which can do so much to make or mar the occasion. This year conditions were only moderately favourable; but at any rate we can congratulate ourselves that the usual full programme was not seriously curtailed, and the large gathering of Old Peterites, Parents and friends of the School which pregathered on the Saturday were not disappointed. True, a decisive deluge of rain brought the cricket to an untimely end, depriving us of what might have been an interesting finish to the O.P. match, but the storm was short-lived and, although further cricket was out of the question, we were able to enjoy in comfort the C.C.F. Display which as usual rounded off the proceedings. It is many years now since this effective ending to the afternoon was first introduced, but the event seems to gain in popular appeal as time goes by. Indeed it was the general opinion that this year's Display, under the leadership of Drum Major M. G. Hancock, was the most impressive we have had. We must record our thanks to Hancock for his enthusiasm and the hard work he gave to training the C.C.F. Band to such a high pitch of precision and efficiency.

Full details of the O.P. Dinner, the Cricket Match, and the Boat Races are given in the appropriate places in this number of The Peterite, and we will not enlarge on them here except to congratulate the O.P.s in raising enough oarsmen to make possible the largest number of races we have ever had on this occasion—one "Eights" race as well as four "Fours". The School won all the events, their victory in the "Eights" being particularly meritorious since the O.P. crew included several oarsmen who, since leaving School, have achieved considerable distinction in senior rowing.

The ceremony of Prize-giving at the Clifton Cinema was performed this year by Sir James Duff, the Warden of the Durham Colleges. The traditional Latin address of welcome was given with dignified distinction by C. W. Jose, our senior Classical scholar, and a novel feature of the occasion was our Guest's acknowledgment of Jose's oration in the same tongue. Sir James' extempore reply, brief but effective, and in impeccable Latin, was much appreciated by the Classicists in the audience. His address after the formal presentation of the prizes was a model of its kind. Sir James salted his sound precept with an engaging wit, and the clarity of his exposition ensured that his words of wisdom were intelligible and interesting to the most immature minds in his audience. Nurtured, as he was, at Winchester, a school which, like St. Peter's, prided itself on its antiquity, Sir James, not unnaturally, had something to say of the value of tradition. Traditions, at any rate if they were good ones, were not comparable with old clothes which had ultimately to be discarded. They were a matter for pride, always provided they were an inspiration to look

forward as well as back, as he was sure was the case at St. Peter's. It was, he said, "beautifully obvious from the Head Master's report that this School may be very old—is very old—but it is also up-to-date and looking forward and conscious of the rather difficult and dangerous world in which we are living today." The true worth of our tradition was that it inspired us to look ahead and think new thoughts.

Though a Classical scholar himself, Sir James was very far from regretting the over-riding demands for scientists and technologists which were made upon our schools today. In the circumstances of the world today it was inevitable and regrets were useless. But skill in the use of words, which was the essence of a true grammar school education, would never be outmoded. The professions, which were largely manned from schools like our own, needed the mastery of words, the ability to use words "as instruments of precision and not as those terribly blunt instruments which they sometimes were, as dangerous as the blunt instrument in the detective story with which the poor corpse was hacked to death". The purpose of words was "to explain things to people clearly, to persuade people to do what you want them to do, or to believe what you think they ought to believe". This skill in words was no less vital to the scientists, though some, perhaps, were slow to believe it. He rejoiced, therefore, that at St. Peter's our scientists are not specialists pure and simple, and conversely that a real attempt was made to teach the Arts boys what science means and what it stands for in the world. Today nobody was a complete man "unless he had some knowledge both of science and of what the works of man in the past have been".

But skill in words, Sir James continued, was not confined to writing. There must be the effective use of them in speech. To persuade and to explain called for a clear and audible use of words, which was not necessarily a matter of formal elocuion or the avoidance of a local accent. He commended strongly the cultivation of a reasonably pleasant and audible pronunciation in the conversation of everyday life.

Lastly, Sir James urged boys to follow their natural bent in the choice of their school subjects. It was reasonable for the boy who was a good all-rounder to go for science, since that was the trend today and the country needed scientists. "But if your bent is the other way", he said, "do not thwart it simply to get a better paid position at the outset." "Do not" he continued, "believe that this world will ever be so purely scientific that there will be no room in it for the other kind of training or the other kind of man." It was, he believed, impossible to imagine a world in which the study of man and his works would not produce someone of influence, of power, and of value to his fellow men.

A vote of thanks to Sir James Duff for his address was proposed by the Rev. Canon T. H. Tardrew and carried with enthusiasm.

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The Commemoration Service on the Sunday morning was, as always, a moving experience. The sermon was preached by the Lord Bishop of Selby, the Rt. Rev. Knyvett.

The following was the programme for the three days :-

FRIDAY, 26th JULY. 11- 0 a.m. School v. Old Peterites Cricket Match. 7-30 p.m. Old Peterite Masonic Lodge Dance. SATURDAY, 27th JULY. 11- 0 a.m. Speeches and presentation of Prizes by Sir James Duff, Warden of the Durham Colleges. 2- 0 p.m. Cricket Match (2nd Day). 2-30 p.m. Boat Races, School v. Old Peterites. 4-30 p.m. Tea. 6- 0 p.m. A Display by the Band of the C.C.F., followed by the sounding of "Retreat" and the Naval Ceremony of "Sunset". 6-30 p.m. Old Peterite Club Annual General Meeting. 7-30 p.m. Old Peterite Dinner at The School. SUNDAY, 28th JULY. 8-15 a.m. Holy Communion. 11- 0 a.m. Commemoration Service. Preacher : The Rt. Rev. The Lord Bishop of Selby.

THE HEAD MASTER'S REPORT

Apart from its review of the work of the School and of activities outside the class-room, the details of which are regularly recorded in The Peterite, the Head Master's annual report, presented on Speech Day, had many interesting comments on the general policy of the School and on some of the problems which today confront St. Peter's, in common with other independent schools.

The past year, Mr. Dronfield claimed, had been the most successful we had had for a long time, if not for all time. Nor had the School's success been purely in the academic sphere—though pride of place had to be given to the culminating achievements of 5 Open Scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge and their prelude, the gaining of 6 State Scholarships on the results of the G.C.E. examinations—but in everything we had tried to do. The all-round success of the last year was conclusive evidence that it is easier in the end to develop a habit of general rather than specialised endeavour. "To show the same determination in work as in games," Mr. Dronfield went on, "is more common than some would have us believe, and I have been particularly impressed by the increasing number of boys who are obviously putting this into practice."

After referring to the need for constructive use of leisure time the Head Master spoke of narrow specialisation, or, as he put it, "knowing more and more about less and less". "It is said that with both eyes on the necessity for satisfying the demands of highly competitive University entry a boy's outlook must

inevitably be narrow. A great deal of this argument is a good example of the danger of arguing from wrong premises. For we do not agree that our boys go from us to a University narrow in outlook." said Mr. Dronfield. "Of approximately 66 boys leaving this term 36 are going to a University, and we are confident that most of these boys have been trained to take a full part in the life of their College and University community. "We try to avoid as much as possible the dangers of superficiality which are always present in any series of lectures where the master does much and the boy little. It is not by such means that mental disciplines are implanted and developed."

On the future of public schools, Mr. Dronfield said : "One understands from the Press and other sources that this is now considered to be a political question, but at St. Peter's, and I am sure at every other school which might be affected, we prefer to consider it an educational if not an economic one." "We are certainly not conscious that we are living under a Sword of Damocles which may descend on us at any moment, and in fact we are always prepared to extend still further the completely voluntary association we already have with certain local authorities. Such arrangements are, we feel, to the mutual benefit of ourselves and the authorities concerned. "What we do firmly delieve is that we can only continue to give what we feel to be our best if we are left alone to do so. We seek a continuance of our present independence, not as a licence to do exactly what we please irrespective of outside conditions, but to preserve that liberty which in actual practice would cease immediately we were found to be unworthy to retain it."

In his references to our building programme Mr. Dronfield said that the moratorium on building would be lifted during the summer holidays, when they would be building two more classrooms for St. Olave's, a greatly enlarged boathouse (which would include a small pavilion) and two hard tennis courts. "We also have in mind the progressive modernisation of certain portions of our boarding houses, and particularly The Manor. We have received a gift of £1,500 from the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Scientific Education in Independent Schools, and are also promised an additional £3,000 for equipping two rooms in the science block at present not used for science, and to assist in providing alternative classroom accommodation," he said.

Commenting on the academic successes of the year the Head Master drew attention to the fact that the four boys who had gained Open Scholarships in Science had all taken and passed "0" Level Greek in the 5th Form, which was surely an indication that specialisa- tion need not begin before the VIth Form. Nor had we at St. 7

Peter's been affected by the wave of mediocrity which resulted from the fact that a Local Authority bursary, given on an "A" Level performance, was financially as valuable as a State or University Scholarship, though the danger was tending to disappear because of the increasing difficulty of securing acceptance by a University, especially since the abolition of National Service.

The ending of National Service had indeed created new and sometimes unexpected difficulties but he felt that on the whole it was, from the educational point, an advantage. "One point, however", Mr. Dronfield continued, "affects the young man who hitherto has left school and taken his two years National Service as a further training period to fit him for civilian life. Many boys have obtained in that way invaluable experience in leadership, and although I do not deplore the passing of National Service, industry and commerce will I am quite sure have to modify or change their training schemes to meet this new situation. Incidentally the passing of National Service makes it to my mind even more important that a boy should stay at school for the full period, whether he is intending to proceed to a University or not. Any excuse there was for early leaving has disappeared, and the sole criterion should now be whether a boy is able to benefit scholastically or in other ways by remaining at school to eighteen or nineteen."

PRIZE LIST

Norman Crombie Memorial Prize - - D. Pfluger Archbishop of York's Prize for Classics - C. W. Jose Dean of York's Prizes for Latin Prose :

VIth Form - - - - - C. W. Jose

Below VIth - - - J. A. Franklin Stephenson Greek Prize - - - D. J. Cook Whytehead Memorial Prizes for Divinity :

VIth Form - - - - E. W. Trevelyan

Below VIth - - - - R. G. Bruce Toyne European History Prize - - - D. B. Irvin The Headmaster's Prize for Mathematics - J. R. Peverley The B.M.A. Medal for Science - - - - G. F. B. Mitchell The Jack Brittain Memorial Prizes for Middle School

Essay : IVth Forms - R. L. Bywater Shells - - - J. F. Williams The Frank Pick Prize for Design - J. N. Russell The Old Peterite Club Reading Prizes :

VIth Form - - - A. H. Crowther

Below VIth - - - - - F. I. Watson The Yorkshire Agricultural Society's Prize S. J. S. Wroe Modern Languages Prize - - - H. C. Wright Sir Lumley Dodsworth Essay Prize - D. J. Oldman Physics Prize - - - - J. F. Franklin Chemistry Prize D. J. Oldman Music Prizes :

Piano - B. Jones

Instrumental K. Wilson Art Prize - - R. A. B. Wood General Knowledge Prizes :

VIth Form - - D. J. Oldman

Below VIth - J. M. Lord

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