Quotes of Sir Winston Churchill

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last

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More quotes;

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it

It is no use saying 'we are doing our best'. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary

Go into the sunshine and be happy with what you see

THE SCHOOL SHOP

A pennyworth of this; a bar of that! A bore? No, no! Here is an education in humanity. All unsuspect­ing, eyes on coloured packets, this is where true character is revealed. The uniformity disappears. Veneers are lifted. Artificiality vanishes. Polishes are dulled and truth will out. ‘I'll have a Mars bar’, is pleasingly followed by a ‘May I have ... ?’ ‘A penny chew, two half-penny gob-stoppers and a penny arrow’ vies with ‘Three-quarters of a pound of…’ The small purse and the grubby half-crown say clearly which will be the wealthier at thirty and which the more popular. Tommy may be the apple of his form-masters’ eye but the reason why he is top of his form is evidenced by his choosing the largest for his money. Albert has little to spend but he always buys quality. X cannot bear to be given any change. Y buys what he wants and goes. A comes every other day for the first three weeks of term and then is seen no more. Thursday is B’s day as regular as the day itself. ‘Er ... er ... a quarter of. .. er ... uhms ... no, a bar of ... er ...’ makes the ‘Please may I have a sixpenny bar of milk chocolate, three penny chews and a stick of licorice’ sound even more masterful. An infinite variety of futures poke their scarce born heads above that galvanised iron bar. There is the man too afraid to take a chance, here the born manager, there the butterfly booked for three jobs in as many months, here the chap who will never have two halfpennies to his name and there the lad with the world at his feet. They are all here, everyone of them; and this special privilege of seeing into the future is mine for the price of weighing out a quarter of sixpenny sweets.

F.A.M.

(And certainly every boy in the school would want to say a sincere ‘thank-you’ to Mr. Meerendonk and Sgt. Major Clarkson for providing that enticing array on the tuck-shop shelves. They preside, and have for years presided, over the most popular room on the Hill. Editor.)

Excerpt taken from the Kingham Hill Magazine, September 1964, page 29.

THE WARDEN’S LETTER

Kingham Hill School
Kingham
Oxon

2^nd May 1963

(Taken from the POST BAG, the KHOBA magazine of the time)

Bill Mayes has reminded me that it is time I sent you a few lines giving some news about the School, and this I gladly do.

Last term was not an easy one with so much snow and ice. We had to dig our way off the Hill on three separate occasions. And the snow was piled high on each side of the road, in some places up to a height of eight or ten feet. We did not see any green grass until three weeks before the end of Term, but despite all this we seemed to manage well and keep free from serious illness and had remarkably few burst pipes. We were able to keep warm and well fed even during the worst days. The boys, of course, missed their exercises but played a great deal of basket ball and indoor hockey.

As I write this, Spring is very much with us. There are daffodils out everywhere and the trees are becoming beautiful with a covering of that lovely fresh green which many of you will remember.

It is the first day of the Summer Term and I have just been to the Station to pick up a new boy who came early as ‘my mother made a mistake over the trains.’

We are starting cricket and athletics at the beginning of the term and carrying them both on side by side, finishing with the Inter-House Sports at the end of Term. We are hoping to improve our standard in both.

It looks now as if we will not be able to have a Fete on Whit Monday as I had at first supposed and announced at the Annual General Meeting. Variou difficulties have cropped up to make this impossible. There will however be the usual cricket match and I look forward to seeing many of you on that day.

Mr Horsefield will be preaching in Chapel on Whit Sunday and we shall be delighted to see any of you who are able to come then.

Those of you who remember David Dann will not be surprised to hear that he has recently led a boarding party against Chinese pirates in the South Seas. I gather he won!

Best wishes from us all on the Hill to you all

Yours sincerely

E Cooper

Warden

Teachers  the makers of tomorrows Men and Women:

Michael Ramsden and “Big Questions”

On Thursday the 25th of November, Michael Ramsden came from Oxford to give a lecture to all the Octagon, Theology and Christian Union Students who had “Big Questions” about God.

The evening started off with a Questioning session - everybody with questions had them written on the board. Then everybody voted for the 3 that they would most like to be answered and the two questions that had the most votes, he would answer. The two questions that were chosen were:

 Article written by Bryony Parkinson a pupil at KHS the full article can be found in the 'KHS News' section

Edward Craig Cooper, Headmaster 1978

What is right must be more important than what is easy and profitable. Courage, duty, loyalty, kindness, and helpfulness must be the things which really matter, not forgetting courtesy and common sense.

This is our purpose here. This is why our Chapel and voluntary Christian activities are so vital and basic to all our life and work in this place. Do we succeed? No, not always. Yes, sometimes but at whatever cost, values and standards must not be lost, nor, however difficult the job, must we ever give up.'

The above extract is taken from the Former Staff section, and the article Edward Craig Cooper at his retirement as Warden (Headmaster) in 1978

William George Dean

William Dean was born in 1904 in Pontlottyn, South Wales, the second son of a Master Baker. He left school at the age of 16 and joined the Royal Navy in 1920, initially becoming a Telegrapher.

He served on the following ships: Impregnable, Ganges, Nelson, Champion, Effingham, Revenge, Ramillies and Ark Royal. As supply Chief Petty Officer, he joined the newly commissioned aircraft carrier Ark Royal in 1939 shortly before the beginning of World War II.

He served on Ark Royal through many battles with the German Navy and Luftwaffe until this great ship was finally sunk by a U-boat torpedo in the Mediterranean in November 1941.

After a short period of time in 1942 at HMS Dolphin, the submarine base in Gosport, he went to Ceylon as Warrant Supply Officer until after the end of the war with the Japanese in late 1945. He retired from the Royal Navy in 1946.

William George Dean, Former Staff section

Bradford House remembered

My mother signed the acceptance letter, witnessed by our neighbour of long standing. Full fees of £100 p.a. were paid by the local authority, and I was instructed that term commencing on Thursday, 18 September 1958.

I would be in Bradford House and the Housemaster would be F.A. Meerendonk Esq. One shilling was the suggested pocket money, which was good for me, because I had never had pocket money before. I had had to earn any money I got. I still have the original letters with the above detail on them.

Extract from Your time on the Hill, 1950 to 1960 by Frank Foster

Recollections and images of KHS's Combined Cadet Force CCF

During his military service our historian served twice with the regiment that our CCF detachment was first badged to, holding the rank of Colour Sergeant. He is keen that this history can now start to be documented on these pages by sponsoring the start of this archive. He invites others to add their recollections to this.

Many bands of brothers were forged when in our CCF detachment. Most if not all public and private schools have a combined cadet force detachment. Ours started its life as an army cadet detachment. Army cadet detachments are adopted by local regiment in their own area's. This is referred to as being badged to a regiment. Our ACF detachment was then badged to:-

The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

Extract from the CCF area

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.

Extract from The Hill and Beyond. Written by John Cooke

Tom Bowker, Sheffield House Master, 1958 - 1963

Our historian uses this opportunity to inform readers that he grew up in Sheffield house under the care of the Bowkers. Respectfully he wishes to remind us that it is not the fabric of the buildings, nor the buildings themselves that made the school what it was, and is, but the staff themselves.

What they personally put into their teaching and as house parents. Making those buildings home for nine months of the year for thirty young men.

Tom Bowker was a Methodist lay preacher born on 5 April 1929 in the city of Sheffield. On completion of his school education he went to Cambridge University to study his first love, mathematics.

by John Timmins. Extract from Former staff section

Memoirs of a gold mining man

Back in the 1960s a watershed event for every 11 year old school boy and girl was the 11 plus examination. By and large, the results of that examination would have a very large influence on the future destiny of that boy or girls life ahead. I promptly failed mine!

I was therefore precluded from attending a Grammar school and the opportunity of sitting for GCE "O" and "A" level examinations and final entry into a University.

My parents did not want me swallowed up with the masses of a Comprehensive school "sausage machine" education which ensued at that time and I sat the entrance exam for Kingham Hill School.

An extract from Memoirs of a gold mining man

By  Stephen L Worsley Pr. Eng. B.Sc. Norwich House 1965 ~ 1969

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.

Above is extract from; Your time on the Hill; 1930-1940’s

 “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company." George Washington

She, like many daughters, was very close to her father, but was heartbroken when, as a relatively young man, he died.

On leaving school, at a young age, some years after the end of the great war - very changing times in our history - Gladys decided that she wanted to become a childs' nanny, which she did. She became a very accomplished nanny working in London with a family, then on to a large children's nursery. The children of Lord Hailsham, both Douglas and Mary, were looked after by Mrs. Knight. (Lord Hailsham visited school as the guest speaker on speech day in July 1961).

Extract from Plymouth House with Mrs Knight. By Mary Wilkinson, daughter of the late Harry and Joan Wilkinson. Houseparents at Plymouh 1957 - 1970, from the 'Your time on the Hill'

Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.  Lord Byron

Initially I could only track down those six but a few years later I had a list of 30 (31 counting Stewart Brindley- our House tutor)in the UK and abroad -and we actually entertained thirteen one year. In those early years we sometimes ate and chatted out in the garden but my plantaholic-but long-suffering husband has now made it all but impossible for one person to find the space to sit outside-let alone a group- so we are always inside, regardless of the weather.

Extract from an email from Elizabeth Fuller.

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.  Winston Churchill

Rohilla Tragedy

It is now 51 years since the Rohilla  tragedy, and for those who don't know about it, I would reccommend you to read the articles, in particular the one in the Former Staff section and Colin Noble. The opening paragraph is copied below

It is over 50 years on now from that tragedy that devastated the lives of those of us who lived and worked at school during that fateful time in September 1959. For it was then that we learned of the tragic loss of the ocean going yacht the Rohilla on a cross channel school journey. Crewed by Colin, his friend John Clewett and five boys from school - the loss stunned us all.

Essame, JG and F were our predecessors as houseparents, amazingly only four couples looked after the house from the mid-fifties until we left in 1992. At the Centenary Staff Dinner it was a delight for Messrs Turner, Woolliams, Essame and Roberts, together with their housematron wives, to share a table. My wife and I felt that we were part of a rather special unrolling tapestry.

The Hill in the 80’s, David & Beryl Roberts. Norwich Houseparents. Your time on the Hill 

Centenary. 1986 saw the celebrations of the school's centenary. All sorts of events with perhaps the highlights being a special service at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, with the sermon from a Kingham Hill Trustee, Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith; Centenary Speech Day with Speaker of the House George Thompson, Lord Tonypandy, who apparently entertained lots of parents and boys on the train back up to London that evening; and the days outing for the whole school, teaching and non teaching staff and boys in a fleet of coaches to Alton Towers with a pig roast waiting for us when we got back.

David Shepherd MA, Housemaster & Warden 1975 - 1990, From Former Staff section

I am certain of one thing though: the discipline instilled in me at Kingham has lived with me ever since. It taught me that you take the rough with the smooth and nothing is insurmountable - sometimes it just takes longer to achieve what you want, but it taught me not to give up. If you gave up in an environment like that, you'd had it. Makers of Men!!!

Your time on the hill - 1970’s to 1990’s. Sheffield House 1975-1979 by Simon Bevan