The story of a successful town and gown project
by Ron Baker and Bryan Beames.
Ron writes: “I recall that, having made many guesses over the years, the present occupants were surprised to learn that their Common Room was once a large chemistry laboratory, and were impressed by the lecture theatre, still in constant use.
However, their imagination had been stimulated most over the years by the “bell pit”, and were surprised to learn that the School operated on the sound of a handbell rung by the Caretaker.”
Ron Baker (c.1949) writes:
Further to Ted Bown’s reference to “Journey’s End”, the play was produced by George Wright and performed on 2nd to 5th February 1949. The cast:
Captain Hardy: Alan Stokes
Lieutenant Osborne John Robinson
Private Mason James Higgins
L/Cpl Broughton Maurice Croxon
2nd Lt Raleigh Howard Jones
Captain Stanhope Paul Groves
2nd Lt Trotter Michael Somerlad
2nd Lt Hibbert Alan Lower
Co Sgt Major Michael Tregoning/Keith Gibbons
German Soldier Maurice Croxon
The Colonel Ron Baker
Paul Groves, who had left School in 1947 to study at RADA, took over the part at short notice after P Wharton was injured during County Rugby Trials, and Keith Gibbons took over as CSM when Michael Tregoning became ill just before curtain up on the second night.
The School Caretaker, Mr Durham, was also involved behind the scenes, one of his duties being to make the “stage whisky” with cold tea.
Eugh!
Ed. This production was written up in the school magazine here. Journey’s End is a 1928 play by R. C. Sherriff, set in Northern France towards the end of the First World War. It has often been produced, as it provides a glimpse of life in the trenches and is of a manageable size for performances by amateur societies. First performed at the Apollo Theatre in 9 December 1928, it starred a young Laurence Olivier. (Wikipedia)
Derek Jeffs (1940s), at the School during the war, reminisces in the Oxford Mail about a disastrous night when he took part in a gig with the future comedian Mike Winters:
Mike Winters, whose real name was Mike Weinstein, was one of many evacuees who had come from London to Oxford. He later teamed up with Bernie Winters.
Four boys formed a quartet – Derek was on the double bass, Peter Payne on drums, John Beesley on piano and Mike Weinstein on clarinet.
“We mostly played in private in Peter Payne’s house, but on one occasion we were asked to do a professional gig.
Unfortunately the people who were there wanted to dance, and we didn’t have any dance music. Our music wasn’t what they wanted.”
Tony Argyle (1941-46) writes (again with real ink) from Pearce, near Canberra in Australia.
Do you remember putting milk bottles or chalk dusters in the grand piano? I recall many a time when Mr Bielby had to stop in the middle of “For those in peril on the seas” to remove these various objects which made a dreadful din on the piano strings.
Who tried to set light to the “Annexe”, that overflow place at the bottom end of George Street? A belting was going to be given to the whole class in alphabetical order unless the culprit owned up. This did not appeal to A A Argyle nor my mate Brian Abrahams. However the culprit did own up and we were spared.
Remember blowing up condoms purchased from Wesley Lloyd in New Inn Hall Street? There was a door there with ”Consultations Gentlemen” on it.
Remember the harvest camps at Kelmscott near Lechlade? We had to get there on our bikes and were paid five bob a week for really hard work.
New boys used to have to “Kiss the Cross” on the old city wall before being ducked in the bogs.
I remember taking my dinner money over to Morgan’s cake shop when school dinners did not appeal.
“Spud” Taylor: Does anyone recall the following song?
Let us with a Litesome mind
Praise old Spud, for he is fine
For his jock-straps, Eh endure
Ever faithful, ever sure.
Off to Norfolk Island in the middle or the Pacific next week for some R & R after a knee replacement and a dose of DVT.
Offer of a glass or five of good Aussie wine to any old boys still stands. Trying to get my oldest mate Brian Amos to come over, but the wimp won’t fly. Have told him that it’s a b—-y sight safer than his driving.
Colin A Tustin (1951-56) writes:
“During the break between lessons schoolyard cricket was played, usually by six players (each side had a bowler and two fieldsmen.
However, because break wasn’t very long, the game would be spread over a number of lesson breaks before a result was reached!
(Ed. You might like to cross-refer this with the early piece by T E Lawrence from 1904… )
John Bolt (1937-41) writes:
“In 1941, soon after the Government established the Air Training Corps (ATC), No. 1250 (Oxford Schools) Squadron, ATC, was formed; the schools involved being the three boys’ Grammar Schools in Oxford at that time. They were the High, Southfield and St.Clement Dane’s, the latter being an evacuated London school sharing the premises and facilities of the two Oxford schools.
The Squadron’s HQ and base was at Southfield School which had more suitable classrooms for instruction on navigation, meteorology, signalling, etc., and where the forecourt was useful for parades and inspections. Some of the teachers in the schools became the Squadron officers, the High School teacher/officer being D V “Douggie” Gilbert, whose subject at school was German.
A formal Squadron photograph taken in front of Southfield School on the occasion of an official inspection c.1942 shows some 55 cadets, of whom about 15 are High School pupils. A few High School pupils were already members of the City Squadron (No. 150), having joined the Air Defence Cadet Corps which was a forerunner of the ATC, and had elected to remain in that Squadron rather than transfer to the Schools Squadron. Also in the photo, as one of the guests, is Mr Badham, the High School headmaster.
Every ATC unit was affiliated to a Royal Air Force Sation and for No. 1250 Sqn. this was RAF Kidlington. It was there that many High School pupils, myself included, had their first ever flight. In 1941 this would have been in twin-engined Airspeed Oxford trainers. Later, when pilots were being trained for the invasion of Europe, our flights were in Hotspur training gliders.
I don’t know how many boys went on to join the RAF, but certainly one High School pupil who did was Ted Beare (1937-41), who became a Sunderland flying-boat pilot but sadly was killed in North Africa.
Tony Phelps writes:
“I met Ronnie on the (non-professional) stage in Oxford in 1946. That was the year when I returned from war service.
Having acted a bit during the war, I joined a drama group calling themselves the Theatre Players, somewhere in East Oxford. Ronnie Barker was a member, and we acted together in a thriller called “A Murder Has Been Arranged” in early 1946.
We then began rehearsing “The Blue Goose”, with Ronnie as a small-town mayor (a part he fitted perfectly even as a 16-year old) and me as a round-the-world yachtsman. Unfortunately I had to leave the cast as I got a job in London before the play could be produced.
I met him only once more, when we bumped into each other in the Charing Cross Road, by which time he had already started in repertory.
“The Forum Presents” is mentioned twice on the “News of Old Boys”, once by Malcolm Williams (left 1960) and once by David Green (left 1953). How many versions of the Forum Presents were there?
Malcolm Williams has responded very quickly:
Thank you for forwarding the note from David Green. The sixth-form entertainment was revived in either 1958 or 1959. I am not too sure of the date now. I remember taking part in a sketch about Speech Day which involved us all taking on the idiosyncracies of various masters. We did ask if we could borrow their gowns but this request was refused. Nonetheless we still took them from the common room before the show and returned them afterwards.
There was another show just before Easter in 1960, the highlight of which was a ballet sketch to music from The Nutcracker. This had to be encored every night. I myself took part in a performance of the last part of Sophocles’ play, Oedipus Rex, which I was studying for A level and by sheer coincidence that part of the play formed part of the exam later.
“Der Forum” band of 1954
David Cooper writes: Memory plays tricks. My initial list of members of the band bears little resemblance to the list I discovered in a photo album in the attic recently.
The “Group” consisted of Brain Moores, “Jos” Jocelyn, Ron Tapping, Gerry Jenkins, Bill Beckett, Phil Gammage, Derek Heape and Pat Willis (conductor).
John Corbey (late 1940s) writes:
“The Annexe was adjacent to Gloucester Green, facing Worcester College Gardens. During the war it was designated for use as a mortuary, if there had been deaths in the area around Gloucester Green due to enemy action. It had been a dispensay at some earlier date, and was well situated for its new purpose, being close to the fire station and the entrance to the bus station. Luckily it was never required aa a mortuary.
The School probably began using the ground floor as an annexe some time after VE Day in 1945. Certainly during 1946 and 47 4B and 5B “enjoyed” maths lessons there under the tutelage of Ben Atkin.
The Fire
I am not sure of the precise date of the Fire. Ben had the key to the room where our maths lesson was to take place. Ben was late and there were some thirty of us gathered in the entrance hall awaiting his arrival. Just off the hallway was the door to the locked cellar, but idle hands and a penknife soon removed the screws and access was gained to the cellar.
There was no electric light, but daylight filtered down through a grating, and a dozen of us explored the many rooms below. Most were almost empty, but in the furthest cellar were a number of exposed X-Ray plates. One of our number used a cigarette lighter to ignite one of the X-Rays, which smoldered, rather than illuminate the area. Ben eventually arrived, the X-Ray was stamped out (apparently) and off we went to yet another “boring” maths lesson.
Later that day news spread round the School that the Annexe was on fire, followed by an announcement that it was only smouldering. The Head demanded to see all those who had been in the cellar that day. No one confessed to having cause the smoulder and Freddy decreed that we would all receive six strokes.
I was first and painfully took my punishment. I think Colin Britton followed me. Anthony Wilson then decided to confess that it had been his cigarette lighter. After giving us all a stern lecture, he told me that my name would be removed from the punishment book. In a way, however, I had been equally culpable and deserved the punishment. The marks took at least a week to disappear.
Postcript
The Annexe then became a servicemen’s cafetria where one could get a cup of tea and a sandwich long after the Stowaway, Ross Cafe and similar haunts had closed for the night. The cafetria ceased to function in the mid fifties.
These are my memories of the event after some sixty years, and both Brian Amos and Colin Britton can confirm the details.
(Ed. To add another view to this story, read this reference to the fire in the Annexe by a boy who was in the same class but not directly involved.)
Philip K Swire retired in July 1977 after 34 years at the City of Oxford School and Oxford School.
He was educated at Glossop Grammar School and Wrexham county School before coming up to Jesus College to read Modern Languages.
For three years he was in Launceston, Cornwall before moving to Oxford in 1943.
It seems that Oxford suited him, for he seems not to have contemplated moving on again. He clearly enjoyed the bookshops and record shops in and around St George’s Street.
He encouraged many to develop an interest in opera, ballet, films and literature. Those who knew him well were assured of good conversation, wine and music.