I was at Kingham from 1960 until 1965, first in
Plymouth and then in Durham.
My father was killed in an RAF plane crash in Kenya
in 1954 and at that time we were living in Malta.
It took my mother a year or so to get us organized
with a home in Ashtead, near Epsom, Surrey. She managed
to get my elder brother Anthony and I into separate
prep. schools in Leatherhead. She was concerned that
without my father's male influence we would grow
up as 'pansies', so she thought it would be good
if we were in an all male environment of a boys'
boarding school.
My mother took us round to various
schools, but the only other school that I can remember
visiting was Vanbrugh Castle, Greenwich.
I was looking
forward to going away to boarding school. I thought
it would be grown up and I had visions of dorm
feasts etc.
I had two brothers, Anthony who was already
at Kingham since 58, and John who started while
I was still on the hill. |
|
Model club. Left to right: Nick Thompson, Iain Helstrip,
Mike Tadman and Mr James H. Woolliams (circa 1963) |
I remember we were on holiday in Dorset, the summer
that my brother Anthony was due to start at Kingham and
there was the news in the papers and on radio about the
Rohila. There was first speculation as to why they had
not arrived and then further speculation that they had
been 'run down' by a much larger ship. Suddenly Kingham
was front-page news.
EXAM & INTERVIEW
I can remember visiting Kingham for the exam and interview
and I know that the 'clincher' for my mother was Teddy
Cooper. She was very impressed by him and was sure that
with Teddy as Warden, Kingham would be the right place
for us boys.
PREPARATIONS
As money was tight in those days, my mother had asked
the school if I could wear my existing prep school (Rowans
School, Leatherhead) blazer. It was a similar blue colour
and, very shortly, I would grow out of it. It was agreed
that we would only need to change the school badge. We
had to order up lots of nametags with my name, house
and number on them. Many hours spent sewing in the labels
into every item of clothing. I remember that I thought
it was great that we did not have to wear a school cap.
Very grown up!
THE JOURNEY
It felt like a great adventure catching the train at
Ashtead to Waterloo with my mother, younger brother
John and Anthony my elder brother. Then the trip across
London to Paddington station, and then meeting up with
lots of other boys and their parents.
By this time, Anthony was an 'old hand' and went straight
off to talk with his friends from his form and from Sheffield.
There were masters to greet us at Paddington, but I can
not remember who they were. We then said goodbye to my
Mother and John before the train departed for Kingham.
It must have been late in the harvest time and there
were still stooks in the fields that we passed.
PLYMOUTH
My first impression was embarrassment when I saw the
Dickey Durrant paintings of Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs on the wash-room walls. They were well painted,
but it was not what I, as an 11 year old, was expecting
from an all boys boarding school! Another initial impression
was of the sheep grazing on the Plymouth rugby pitch.
I could imagine what state they would leave the pitch
in and would not clean up after themselves as a well-trained
Kingham boy would. The house appeared to be VERY big,
but we soon got used to it and found our own house to
be very small when we went home for the holidays.
We were issued with army type 'hobnailed' boots very
early on. I am sure it was to do with the number of miles
that we would walk between Plymouth and 'Top School'
over the next two years in all weathers.
Plymouth was run by the Rev. Wilkinson (Padre), his
wife and the lovely Mrs. Knight. The Wilkinsons had a
son (Martin) and daughter (Mary), they also had a great
scruffy black & grey dog (Sammy).
I started in Dorm 1, which I think was the dorm that
all new boys went into. Some of the names that I can
remember from that time are David Earl, John Burgess,
Maurice Gransault (from Guyana), and Peter Roziky.
I broke my arm during my first term, when we were doing
handstands in the Plymouth gym. Another boy fell sideways
and landed on my elbow. I did not know it at the time,
but when I held up my boots for inspection, they fell
out of my hands and Mr. Wilkinson could see that there
was something wrong with my arm. I was whisked of to
the infirmary at Chipping Norton and came back a few
hours later with a plaster cast. It was quite an eventful
term, as there was an outbreak of some illness such as
measles and the boys in Plymouth were sent home early
for Christmas.
Another impression of my early years at school was that
we lived two different lives, one at school and another
at home. When we were at school we did not think too
much of home and when at home we did not think too much
of school. I know that this was not the same for all
boys, as the odd boy would run away.
A group of us decided to build an aerial ropeway, similar
to what we had seen at the Royal Tournament. The upper
end of the ride was from a large chestnut tree, the lower
end was an 'A' frame that we had made from branches and
was staked out in a field. Unfortunately, we did not
have a rope long enough, so we had to join, which made
a knot. We did not have a pulley to travel down the rope,
but had found a metal ring that we thought would do the
job. I cannot remember who tried it out first, but when
it was my turn, it worked fine until I got to the knot.
When the ring that I was hanging onto hit the knot, the
shock must have been too much for the ropes that were
holding back the 'A' frame. The ropes parted or the stakes
came out of the ground and the 'A' frame landed on top
of my head! It must have knocked me out for a few seconds
and, when I came to, I could hear the laughter of the
other boys.
Another adventure I had with the same group was to build
a raft near the workshops out of old wood and oil drums
from the farm. We carried it down to Sarsden Brook, and
it floated! We could only use it on the weekends, and
during one week some boys from Churchill took our raft
and converted it. The new design looked neat, but was
completely wrong and was unstable. They had the drums
in the middle with the platform on top, overhanging the
drums. We imagined that they got very wet when they used
it.
There were many treats in Plymouth that we did not get
when we moved up to the senior houses. I can remember
getting cakes and cream, made by Mrs. Knight, and having
tuck parcels sent up from a shop in Kingham that my grandparents
paid for.
DURHAM
When I was interviewed by Teddy for my end of year report,
during my last term in Plymouth, I asked if I could go
to Durham house for my senior years. Durham was winning
many awards in those days. The housemaster was Mr. Kingnorth,
and it had the added advantage of being closest to the
dinning room, top school, swimming pool, etc. I was lucky
and got the house that I wanted.
Mr. Kingsnorth was a great housemaster and we were allowed
to do things that I don't think other houses did, such
a night sledging parties on 'Dancers Field'. We were
told that we could take part, but we would have to be
up and out at normal time in the morning. He trusted
us and I would like to think that we never let him down.
I wish I had met him later in life and had had the opportunity
to tell him what we all thought of him.
Mr. Mann took over from Mr. Kingsnorth later, but I
did not have the same respect as I had for Mr. Kingsnorth.
THE FISHING INCIDENT
Two boys in our form had been poaching
fish from Daylesford Lake and having them cooked at
school. Some of us knew about this and thought it would
be fun to scare them with a letter from the police. We
got one boy who was in the printing club to make up a
letter heading for the Oxfordshire Constabulary. A letter
was duly typed up on the headed paper and sent to the
two boys. One of the boys was in Clyde and the other
in Durham. The letters in Durham were set out on a table
in the hall. A few of us knew the letter was on the table
and waited for it to be collected. He then took the letter
into the toilets to read it. We could hear the in drawn
breath as he read the letter. Next, he was out and
down to Clyde to meet up with his partner in crime to
decide what to do next. When we thought we had maximum
fun out of it, we told them that we had sent it ....
and then ran.
THE MOTORBIKE INCIDENT
One of the prefects or monitors
in Durham had a small motorbike hidden in the woods
behind Seven House and would use it to go out on the
weekends.
There was a story that one evening when he stopped at
some traffic lights, he lent against a car to steady
himself. He then looked into the car and saw Teddy Cooper
looking out at him; Teddy then made his familiar hand
gesture round his nose and did not say a thing. The culprit
was summoned to see Teddy the following Monday.
CCF INITIATIVE TESTS
The CCF Initiative tests were a great idea, where pairs
of senior boys were set a test to gather information
from a distant location using their own
initiative, and I think 10 shillings to get there, get
the information and then get back in the fastest time.
I went on one with Tony Dee, brother of the late St.John
Dee, which involved a trip
to Northampton. Off we went 'thumbing' our way to Northampton,
which took us very close to the recently opened M1 motorway.
We thought that it would not take us long to go to London
instead of Northampton (we both lived near London).
We had the luck of the devil by meeting up with
a chap in the motorway service area who was taking an
E-Type Jaguar to London. It only had one spare seat,
however, but he had a friend who would be joining him
shortly who was driving another sports car to London.
With Tony Dee in one car, and me in the other, we
made London in no time at all. We were dropped off somewhere
near the North Circular Road and made our way by public
transport to Waterloo Station. We split up to travel
to our own homes and arranging to meet up again later
that evening. The journey back to Kingham was not as
quick as it had been on the way out. We got a lift from
a very slow lorry that was taking broken glass to be
recycled. I did know that they did such things in those
days, but that is what the driver said. When we eventually
got back to school the next morning, we were interviewed
by Teddy. I am sure that he did not believe our made
up story about how hard it had been to get lifts, but
he let us off with it. That is the type of chap Teddy
was, and why we loved and respected him. He knew that
we knew that he did believe our story, and yet he left
it at that. He knew that we had learned our lesson and
that we knew we would not get away with it next time.
Nick in his 80% full-scale model of a Supermarine Spitfire.
Return to top of page |
