The Reverend Donald Service-Epitome of “Scholar and Gentleman”

The year is 2008 and I stand on the Bluff at the entrance to Durban harbour. A helicopter whirrs lazily overhead shuttling the one of the harbour masters out to pilot in the huge Panamax super class container vessel awaiting entrance into the Port. Built by Vinashin of Hanoi, I ponder how the Vietnamese economy has thrived subsequent to their drawn out, crippling war some 40 years earlier.

Lloyd Silverthorne asks...

Does anyone remember those 'School Camps' which used to run at the end of the summer holidays?

We used to return to school a week early(!) - which in itself was a strange feeling as there would be none of the usual hustle and bustle - in fact the whole place seemed strangely dead and quiet. Then we would set off in coaches to the 'camp'.

Summer camp 1959 Click to enlarge

Happy Days

I read with great interest the article by Frank Foster on the life and times of Mr & Mrs Meerendonk, Housemaster & Mistress of Bradford House. I would like to endorse that fully. I was a senior boy at Bradford House in 1951/52 when Francis and Gladys Meerendonk became our Housemaster and Mistress.

Greene Remembered

Greene Remembered Hill by Pete Rozycki
When John Timmins asked me to write a piece about my experiences since KHS for the 2007 Christmas special I had some reservations. My stay at KHS was 1960 - 1967. I was always on the edge a bit and felt slightly the outsider at Kingham particularly in the 6th form. So while I feel somewhat privileged to have been asked, and owe an enormous debt to KHS, I feel it wasn't a bed of roses then or after I left .......

To read the rest of Pete's fascinatingly moving and humorous life story please click here.

If it's not nailed to the table...

It all started in the summer of 1960. My home was central London just a few minutes walk from the West End. I was a townie right through. My mother told me we were all going for a picnic in the country and taking a long time friend of the family.

School Prefects 1961

School Prefects 1961

1956 - 1962

News from John Glover down under

Dear John, Thanks for your mail of 28 July 2007. I was at Kingham from 1947 to 1956, firstly at Plymouth with Reg Durrant and his wife (Ruth, if I recall correctly) and then at Durham with Tom and Minnie Worrell.

John Woollen was the Warden, as the Headmaster was called in those days. Anyone would think it was a borstal! I can't say I remember Bill Parker, unfortunately.

Godfrey Nicholson sheds light on our mystery photo 002

I can offer help over the photo of Teddie Cooper. [Shown on our Contacts page. Ed.] It shows the prefects of his final year as Warden, and thus must have been taken in the summer of 1977. Back row L-R: Geoffrey Davis (Norwich), Ian Black (Bradford), Ossie (Osmond) Stuart (Durham), Graham Reed (Greenwich), Nick Holmes (Durham). Front Row: David Nock (Norwich - Head Boy), Teddie Cooper, David Walsh (Clyde).

Not too long after this photo, Ossie Stuart suffered a broken neck in the gym while doing a simple exercise. It has left him paralysed, but did not prevent him from completing his university studies. David Walsh went to Warwick University and has since worked as a Government Adviser. Can't help you over the others!

Mice, milk and memories

Mice, milk and memories - a recollection of KHS from Larry Sharpe
I recently stumbled on the KHS Days site and of course I find it very interesting, even though the period I was there seems vacant. Maybe I can fill in a gap or two.

Rev. Horsefield in the 1936 school photograph. Click photo to enlarge

Mr and Mrs Woolliams

Article on Mr and Mrs Woolliams stirs fond memories - Steve Worsley

I was delighted to see on our Kingham Hill Schooldays web site that the immeasurable contribution of Mr.& Mrs. Woolliams to so many of us old boys has been recently encapsulated and documented.

I hugely enjoyed this well written and thoughtful contribution and account and cannot adequately reiterate Mr. Nick Thomson's sentiments and observations. We will always be hugely indebted for their tremendous passion, enthusiasm, kindness and sincere concern for our well being and futures. (And they were both good fun as well!).

Meerondonk on Cue

Meerondonk on Cue - John Cooke, Bradford 1970-1975.

I wonder how many will recall the early 70's in Bradford after prep in the Meerendonk days? There wasn't a great deal of time before the younger boys were packed off to bed, but there was usually time for a quick game of billiards.

Mr Meerendonk