Friends |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kingham Hill Schooldays
Design and Maintenance
by
ViewPoint |
|
Keeping Alive Our Memories |
|
William R. Gillies |
|
Turn Again!
William R. Gillies
Esq.
Twice
Mayor of Doncaster |
| |
| I arrived at Kingham
Hill in the late autumn of 1932. The house I was allocated to
was Durham. There I was met by Miss Caldwell and
Miss Medlock, and it was a rather hectic first
day; bath, haircut, and fitted out with a blue
serge suit, socks, shoes and two Eton collars.
I had no vests or underpants given, in fact I never
had them as an issue the whole eight years on The
Hill.
The Eton collars
were worn on Sundays, horrible to one's neck. I
recall they only issued these in our first year,
and then we reverted to ordinary soft collar shirts
and a senior house tie.
|
|
| |
| I found living with some twenty other boys a little different
to my early life. The time in Durham was good; we were
well looked after, well fed and really cared for. The academic
side was sketchy, if that is the correct description, mostly
the Three R's, nothing more serious than that. We were
left to our own devices on Saturdays, and on Sundays we
went to chapel. The two years spent at Durham was so character
building with not too much discipline. |
|
An Eton Collar
|
 |
Following these two years
I was transferred to Norwich; what a difference.
There
were senior boys and juniors mixed in one house. The
housemaster was Mr Lockey, who used to wear plus-fours
(see photo left). He was also a chain smoker and a
strict disciplinarian. |
| Everything in my life on The Hill changed dramatically.
We rose at 7.00am and had house work chores to do before
we had our breakfast, at this time we had our meals in
our house after breakfast up to school until 4.00pm. In summer bedtime was 8.30pm and in winter 7.30pm.
After a few years I joined
the Norwich prep room where the house work chores were
changed every few months and these were inspected on
a regular basis, as were our boots/shoes/sports shoes
etc, by the housemaster. The common room had lockers,
but the keys were lost so no valuables could be kept
in them. Some boys went home during the summer and Christmas
holidays. The first two years I was able to go home,
but after that for four years I never left The Hill.
Saturdays were always looked forward to; football / cricket
/ cross country runs. |
The Chapel |
|
On Sundays we attended chapel in the morning,
after lunch it was a Sunday stroll around the countryside
with Mr Lockey in attendance, then tea, and chapel again.
I was often given the chapel organ to pump; to avoid
this I joined the music lessons and the music master
must have thought I had a singing talent as he sent me
and a boy named Thompson for lessons to a lady at Bourton
On The Water. |
From this we were sent to Cheltenham Music Festival where
we won several awards. We then went on to Tewkesbury Abbey
and the warden's sister, Miss Horsfield, sang alto with
me in the choir.
The PE instructor was an ex PTI, Mr
Stares, and he took gym and swimming lessons. The baths
in those days were situated some way from the school
campus, down through the farm which in those days was
owned by school, then through a couple of fields to the
walled baths. The water was from a small stream and went
through old coke ashes. The stream I recall was always
full of crayfish and I saw my first kingfisher there.
When you could swim a length you were classed as competent.
|
| Mr Stares had a habit of giving us a rest from the
rigours of exercises by having a game of tip and run
and inter-house handball in the evening, and he also
organised sports days which were always very competitive. Mr F Ball was the woodwork and metalwork teacher and
he sent me for two months to The Hill blacksmith who
had me making staples by hammering only. Mr Ball also
took cricket and selected the school's teams. He once
gave me a punishment for a slight misdemeanour, of digging
two hundred plantain plants out of the cricket field,
and he counted them. |
Mr and Mrs Durrant 1946 |
|
Mr G Bond taught us Nature
Study and often took the form out into the countryside.
He was an avid egg collector. His right hand had stumps
on and he often used them on one's head if he thought
one was not paying attention.
Mr & Mrs Durant, the
houseparents of Bradford House, as shown in this photo
from 1946 organised the Cubs and Scouts and also put
plays on in the school hall. |
| They went with several senior scouts to a
seaside resort, Weston Super Mare, and gained a medal in
the rescue of some holiday makers. Whilst in Bradford during
the summer holidays, Mrs Durant taught me how to darn my
socks correctly, of course using the wooden mushroom. |
|
|
 |
In summer when most boys went various ways for holidays,
those of us unfortunates left were taken in to other
houses collectively, giving other staff a well earned
break. I recall Mr Ayres of Clyde House for his vociferous
shouting when the Clyde House juniors or seniors played
any inter-house sports; it was an amusing time. There
was on The Hill a Rev. S. Hughes who taught in school
and it was believed by us that he played football for
Banbury Town FC. Most teachers resided in Stratford at
that time, with one solitary housekeeper. |
The famous diver
Buster Crabbe |
|
Over the years there were many visits
by outside persons and organisations, who gave specialist
lectures etc. I recall Buster Crabbe , the famous
diver, giving several lectures in the senior hall ; this
was just after the HMS Thetis disaster in Liverpool Bay.
The Bishop of the Arctic came and was
presented with a carved chair which was carved by Mr
Ball and several senior boys. He also took confirmation.
We had a professional footballer giving coaching. |
The Manchester Regiment came, perhaps
looking for recruits!
Many more over the years came and gave lectures.
I left The Hill to work on a local
estate, but after nine months I left, which was due to
the part owner being killed in the early part of the
war.
On leaving The Hill I was given a bible
by The Rev. Horsfield. I still have that bible. I went
to live in Yorkshire and was appalled at the living conditions
of the community there; it made me very forcibly aware
how fortunate I had been in living on The Hill for eight
years; during this time I was joined by my two brothers
Ronald and Cyril. |
|
Badge of the Manchester Regiment |
| The care and education given to me was far above that
which I found in the community I had come to live among,
and I have been and always shall be most grateful for
all those years on The Hill. I joined a political party to endeavour to change the
welfare of this mining community - but that's another
story!
William R. Gillies, March 2009 |
|
|
