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25-x-2000
Dear Charles Auguste,
It was good of you to ring me in London. I enjoyed talking to you of those happy days of long ago. You asked for any recollections I might have, so here are some memories of my time at Clayesmore.
The other day someone said in a radio programme that you never forget a good teacher. This is very true in the case of my housemaster Alistair MacKenzie. He taught us part of the Canterbury Tales, and I can still hear him declaiming the opening lines of the prologue:
'Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The drocht of Marche hath perced to the roote."
To hear him speaking Chaucer's Early English with a Scottish accent was unforgettable. Sometimes he would invite a group of us into his room where there was a cosy fire burning. I was attracted by the many books on his shelves and his cello standing in a corner. Mrs MacKenzie was also on the teaching staff.
When taking a service in the school chapel Col King would introduce the prayers by saying "Spray" where Norris Scadding would say "Let us pray." Sometimes one would be invited to the chaplin's room for tea and a chat. It was always a joy to see his own water colours hanging in his room.
Unfortunately Col. King did not appreciate Norris' style of chaplaincy and he had to leave. He became a vicar in rural Wiltshire. He died and is buried in East Kennet Church yard, not far from our cottage. At lunch time Col. King would sit at the high table. At the conclusion of the meal he rang a bell and the boys would fall silent, and on most days we would hear the fateful words 'I wish to see the following boys in my study after lunch". this would mean being caned, as I was once, for throwing a stone which unfortunately hit his son John on the head.
A handful of boys, including my brother Dick and myself had to stay at school during the holidays. This brought us into contact with Mrs Hermione King who was in charge of feeding us and acting as matron when medical treatment was needed. In my case she dealt with my boils. On my last day at Clayesmore Col. King said 'Good bye Rex. It's been good having you here. Unfortunately there is no money to enable you to go to university." The well known writer Eric Gillet took an interest in me. He was on the board of governors and saw me on his visits to the school, and even invited Michael Murray and myself to his home in Brighton. I have often thought that Eric and Col. King could have worked out some means of helping and advising me, as I had no parents on hand to carry out such a role. However, Eric was kind enough to print one of my poems in the St. Martins review (i.e. St Martins-in-the-Fields). I saw Eric several times in his publishing office in the West End.
R V Sessions, the music master taught me the piano. He gave me a book of pieces by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Chopin etc. setting me on the right path. He was the organist and during a performance of Messiah he kicked over a lighted candle in a jam jar. He had to go down on his knees to retrieve it from under the pedals. The extraordinary thing was that he managed to carry out this operation during the wonderful chorus containing the words 'and his name shall be called Wonderful (tum-ti-tum) Counsellor (tum-ti-tum), the mighty God (tum-tum-tum-tum) The Prince of Peace (tum-tum-tum-tum). The choir sang their parts magnificently, but at this point the organ was silent when it should have been playing. The organ 'echoes' between the attributes of Christ. The organist resumed his seat and continued unfazed (as we would say nowadays), and the boy at the pump started pumping for all he was worth.
His room was in the top of a circular tower. A group of us would spend an evening listening to gramophone records. Mr Sessions would buy a cake and he liked to nominate a boy to cut the cake in such a way that each boy had a slice of equal size.
I was always visiting the music room to play the piano or just to listen to someone else. I well remember hearing some boys performing Schumann's beautiful Quintet with John E playing the piano part. I was in the choir and sang in a performance of 'Messiah' for which Jan van der Gught came down from London to sing the tenor solo.
On another occasion a pianist by the name of Wagner came to give a recital in the drawing room where there was a grand piano. He had a lot of trouble in getting the piano stool to the height he required. A helpful boy produced a large music book which had seen better days, the pages of which had become loose. he was a sensitive man and it was a matter of adding or removing pages to suit his sensibilities. After a lot of adjustments he declared he was happy. Success was brought about by the removal of just one page. I remember being very impressed by his playing.
Our classroom overlooked parkland where there were large chestnut trees and it was amazing to see the huge flocks of starlings which would assemble every evening. The big branches of the trees moved considerably when at a secret signal the whole flock of thousands flew away.
We had a wonderful view of Hambledon Hill from the classrooms and one year the whole school ran from Clayesmore to Hambledon and back again.
One of the benefits of having to stay at school for the holidays was that I could ride the horses kept at school. Each year in July the choir would visit a cathedral to take the place of the permanent choir which was on holiday: Gloucester, Exeter, Durham, and Norwich where we celebrated V J Day. We sang Matins and Evensong for a week. Naturally there was a lot of practicing but it was a wonderful training. I remember Sir Sidney Nicholson instructing us.
Many of us were in the JTC and sometimes we had Field Days which meant dressing up in old army uniforms complete with puttees. We also had rifles capable of firing blanks, and thunder flashes. It was all good fun, under the leadership of Capt. (Cabby) Cunningham. More seriously I recall that during the war a number of Army gliders crashed in the lwerne Valley, quite near the school. Some boys said they heard men trapped in the gliders screaming in pain. Despite an armed guard being placed on the gliders, a number of boys removed ammunition and other gear from them, including a landing wheel. this became a serious matter and a locker search took place. Certain boys were called to Col. King's study where they were confronted with a display of stolen live ammunition set out on his desk. I don't know what the punishment was.
Mr Minns taught French, but was not a popular master. He had a room in the Main Building and some boys managed to take his little Austin car up the main stairs and into his room. It was of course necessary to remove the wheels to allow the car to pass through the doorway. Once in the room, the wheels were replaced.
Later on he had a room over the arch of the stable block. Someone had tied a small stone to a length of co tton in such a way that it tapped his window without it being seen. Whether he left of his own accord or was pushed is not known. Such are the ways of boys getting their own back on masters who dealt out harsh punishment. I think he was the only master who was actively disliked.
It was decided to have a small chapel in one of the rooms in the basement corridor. this was a smelly area and housed the boy' lockers. One day the whole school lined the corridor to witness the dedication ceremony by the Bishop of Salisbury. Wearing his robes he approached the chapel and raising his crozier, banged the doors three times calling out "Come out all evil spirits". We thought a miracle had occurred when a figure rushed out and flew down the corridor. Not an evil spirit but a boy with a spotty face wearing steel-rimmed spectacles. It was suggested that he had gone to the chapel for a quiet smoke.
Bishop Winnington-Ingram, Bishop of London, came to Clayesmore one Sunday to preach in the main chapel. He felt he was being fussed over and he said to his minders 'Don't mollycoddle bishops".
A s I explained to you my mother went to New Zealand in January 1939 and was stuck there until 1946. She had to get people to advise her on prep schools for my two brothers and myself. These schools were full of music, art and other creative work and I enjoyed my time at them. Later my mother needed advice on suitable public schools. My elder brother, Guy, went to Tonbridge as a day boy whilst Dick and I went to Clayesmore. I have to say that Tonbridge would not have suited me. It was famous for academic prowess and for its strong rugger team.
Clayesmore suited my temperament and I gained so much from John Appleby and Norris Scadding. I don't remember making the raffia table mats you mentioned. Whilst I was very interested in art I never became involved in actually painting. I still have friends of those days. John E is a particularly close friend and I have stayed with him and Gretl many times. Michael Murray was a friend who lived with his mother in a spectacular flat on the edge of Hampstead Heath. We used to visit a caravan at Cookham, Berks for a few weeks in the summer. He retired quite early in life having made a lot of money out of photography. Another friend I see is Michael Reeves who became an architect in Africa, now living in North Oxford.
Guy ran away from Tonbridge aged 17 and joined the RAF and became sergeant rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber and was killed on a bombing raid. I was very fond of him. Dick became extremely friendly with a boy called Marzetti who was a Catholic. He converted and eventually went to Caldy Island and became a novice in the Cistercian Priory (now an abbey). At this time the priory was almost totally French speaking - Dick's Clayesmore French was not good enough, so he was sent to live with a French family in France. He returned to Caldy and became the priory's best theology student. In due course the heirachy felt that he was not suited to the monastic life and he had to leave. My mother invited him to live in America to train as a doctor but this did not work out and he trained as an accountant, and after some years became redundant - he certainly has some mental illness, and for some years has lived in Anchorage, Alaska and does not respond to any correspondence from me.
I am fully occupied with my music and books and my interest in art, all subjects that fired me at school. I am learning to live with emphysema which I've had since 1969.
1 am enclosing a photocopy of a piece J E asked me to write - Marsh Days at Bilsington, plus a poem called 'Meditation on the Marsh'. You may or may not have heard of a literary journal called 'Pavilion' - it was for boys literary contributions of poetry etc. The issue for July/ August 1946 contains your 'Japanese Dawn' written when you were 14 at Cranleigh School, and my 'White Bird' when I was 14 in 1941 at Clayesmore. I can't quite understand the disparity of dates! I am enclosing a copy of the two poems.
Also enclosed a short haiku type of poem.
With very best wishes to you,
Rex (Muffett) (41-45)