INTERVIEW K. G. C . — T H E E N D O F A N E R A
What have your main interests been?
What was the School like at that time?
I was initially appointed for three years, and at the end of three years I went to see the Head Master, John Dronfield — for whom I had tremendous respect, incidentally — and he said that if I stayed, there were various things he would like to offer me. So I found myself becoming an Assistant Housemaster in The Grove (1953-56), where duties sometimes went on until two o'clock in the morning because the Housemaster was a very keen bridge player. I was also offered the chance of starting a Careers Department (also in 1953), and the other thing that I was involved in from quite early days was the Scout group, which we built up in the 50's and early 60's to about forty or fifty people. This was a very energetic bunch, and very nice to work with because they were doing something they wanted to do. We had many very interesting camps and expeditions, we produced a lot of Queen's Scouts, and in some ways the scouting activities represent the highlights of life here as far as I am concerned. The present Activities Centre was our Scout Room, and we helped to dig out the foundations for it. When scouting died out during the late 60's and early 70's, we changed the Scout Room into an Activity Centre, and I ran an Activity Group for some considerable time after that. Also in 1953,1 was approached by a group of sixth form farmers' sons, who asked if I would be interested in forming a Young Farmers' Club. I expressed interest, and I maintained that association right up until a year or two ago, when the Young Farmers' Club seemed to peter out completely. By and large it had been a pretty successful Club, which had provided an outlet for many people.
Well, it was of course a completely boys' School, predominantly boarding, and it had a pretty rigid system of discipline. There were some of the vestiges of the traditional public School practices such as fagging and a seniority system. Uniform was strictly worn by all members of the School, and that included a School cap and a blue suit which was worn on Sunday's whatever they were doing. The School was dominated by the Chapel: there were daily services for the whole School and there was at least a full Evensong on Sunday which was compulsory for the whole School, and sometimes also a Matins, so that there was not a great deal of time for exeats. Exeats were few and far between: only two a term were allowed, on specific weekends, beginning after breakfast on Sunday and finishing half an hour before Chapel. There was no question of an overnight exeat. We had no half-terms at all, but we did have the occasional day's holiday, such as All Saints' Day in the autumn and Ascension Day in the summer, when the boys were given a day off and encouraged to go off and do their own thing.
As time went on, I moved out of Grove, and eventually I was told by Mr. Dronfield that if I stayed on he would make me a Housemaster when I was thirty-eight. Sure enough, when I was coming up to my thirty-eighth birthday, Dronfield House was being built, and we were asked to start it off. So, in September 1964 we opened Dronfield House, and we remained there for seventeen years. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We were appointed for fifteen years, and we were asked to stay on to cover a hiatus period for a further two years, and this was probably a mistake, because we were geared to the fifteen years and at the end of fifteen years I think we had had enough. When I moved out of the House in 1981, the Common Room was looking for a new Secretary. I offered to take it over for a few years and ended up doing it for nine years, until we brought in the present constitution and appointed a Chairman and Secretary to take my place. Of course, I have done a bit of teaching, too....
When did you join St. Peter's? September 1949, full-time, although I had spent January to March 1949 here as a student, which was when I was offered a job.
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