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Nick. I remember a story concerning you.
You asked me to come into your study one break because you said you
thought that some rather unusual characters seemed to be making a habit of going
into chapel during break and they always seemed to be going in at the organ end.
You asked me if I knew what was going on.
I said 'No I didn't"
Roy. I have forgotten this one
Nick. Anyway
you got me there. You came and said
come over - and sure enough all these people - about eight or nine people. It is to do with Palethorpe because we saw them going in and
I raced across the grass
Roy. I've
forgotten this one.
Nick. And
went into chapel and they were absolutely nowhere to be seen.
I came back to you and said 'They are not there.
They must have gone out of the Chaplain's vestry - we could not see that
from your study and we thought that's what was happening.
About a week later you came to the Common Room again and said 'Come over
again. They are there.' And again I
went and could find absolutely nothing and I think it was about a day later,
poor old Palethorpe nearly had a heart attack because he had his little broom
cupboard at the end of the chapel and he opened the broom cupboard door and
there dangling from the roof - the trap door - were a pair of legs.
Roy. Good
Lord
Nick. And
what they were doing was getting into that tiny little space over the entrance
porch which had a height of about three feet - and there was a bowl of 'dog
ends' and that was what they were doing - they were getting up into that little
chapel roof through Palethorpe's little thing.
Roy. We
might have had the fire earlier than we did!
Nick. And
Ian Crabbe was one of those.
Roy. I had forgotten that
Nick. You
thought it was very odd - these people going into the chapel in break.
Robert. What
we haven't got on the tape is your initial recollection about turning up and
finding there were twenty fewer than you were expecting.
Roy. It
depressed me enormously because as you know the whole financial state of the
school depends on its numbers. And
to make up that number wasn't easy as you know - it really was quite a long haul
before we even got somewhere near a break-even point so that's when we were so
desperately short of cash to buy anything or do anything.
I can't really remember now with out looking up things - I used to keep
records obviously. The other thing
I always kept in my pocket - I did it for my previous school - I always had a
little thing in my diary or somewhere - was the live births each year - you know
there are so many - the census people - they always produce that there are
500,000 a year or some years it drops and of course all these sort of bulge
figures - one just waited till you got to 700,000 instead of being 450,000.
I used to keep that nearly all through my headmastership career to see
when the next hope might come. I
can't remember - I don't know when it happened - I don't know how long without
looking but I used to keep a graph showing - we might have dropped a little bit
to start with but I think we gradually pulled up - and then it was possible to
buy the odd thing but I had been used to this at my previous school - I had the
same sort of problems there. I
remember not even having enough money to seed a newly cleared patch with grass
seed at one time. Now it seems so
much - the money that seems to be available to spend - I mean it seems to be so
much more than it used to be and I think salaries are relatively higher too.
Nick. I remember at one time when numbers were not good at Clayesmore when
Bill Duncan died that you acted as bursar as well as headmaster - and all you
had was Marjorie Teasdale.
Roy. She
was marvellous as we said last week at her funeral- she really was, but it was a
strain - that time - to do both jobs - and I suppose it did result in the
problems I had - I was rather over-worked then - but she was absolutely first
class. It was not only Bill's death
- he was ill for a long time - there was the knowledge that he was mortally ill
but you can not dispense with someone in that situation - I had the same
situation with Humphrey Moore who I knew would never come back - you can have
temporary replacements but you can not make a decision on a man's future while
he is languishing in a Southampton hospital.
Nick. That
was fairly early on in your career.
Roy. Fairly
- of course I was greeted - my first thing was Aldworth's death in the Squash
court with Mike Henbest. That I was
told before I had even officially taken up as I did not take up my post until
September and he died in August, so the first thing I had to do was to find a
new man. I don't know if you remember but I got a rather nice man - a
retired Colonel - do you remember? An
elderly man - I have forgotten his name - he put himself up at a hotel in
Fontmell Magna and used to come in - he saved the day for us - he might not have
been ideal but he did a good job temporarily until I appointed Mike Foot.
Nick. I remember before you appointed Robert you had somebody called
Regnart
Roy. Yes
Robert. Dr
Regnart. Didn't he drop off during
a staff meeting.?
Roy. I think he did. And then
of course one of the unfortunate consequences - it worried me a lot about this
drop in numbers - I did get really worried - Audrey will tell you that I
sometimes couldn't sleep - meant that I had to get rid of a member of staff and
as you know, I had to get rid of Dan and not only that - I got rid of two didn't
I. I had to get rid of Drinkall as
well. You see what I did was to get
rid of Drinkall and Dan and appoint Malcolm Sowdon who was both a scientist and
a parson - it was not a pleasant thing to do, and as we know, not an ideal
arrangement then or later with Pritchard. That
was my solution to a problem that I had to save that amount on salaries as I
just could not pay the staff as a whole with the money we had.
So the inevitable thing is that you do have these cuts as I suppose you
have had, Bob- since.
Nick. Now
on to something a little more cheerful. When
you got to Clayesmore - admittedly they were getting to the end of their time -
but there were three or four amazingly strong characters.
Roy. There
were.
Nick. Spinney,
Appleby, Humphrey Moore, Verrinder.
Roy. There
were. I was very privileged to have
them.
Nick. How
did you find it to work with them? Were
they difficult?
Roy. Not
as such - obviously they might well have been - I was aware they might have been
critical of me. I admired Carl's
breadth of vision - a sort of Leonardo - the plays - the climbing - a marvellous
man.
Nick. You
say that you thought they must have been critical of you.
I don't recall that at all. I
felt they thought you were such a breath of fresh air after Bunter. I don't remember them being.
I am not saying they weren't........
Roy. Well
Spinney was very good to me really and Appleby was delightful and easy.
I do remember after the first housemasters' meeting them saying 'Thank
God we have had some decisions today'. I
felt I got on well with them and of course Apples was very easy - I remember the
poor old chap sitting in that room which had not been decorated ever.
Nick. Since
Edward the Seventh –
Roy. The
bath –
Robert. That
wonderful bath.
Roy. Talking
of the room - the study - of course - my predecessors had both been very heavy
smokers - Bunter and also Evelyn King - I don't know if you ever looked at the
colour of the ceiling in those days - it was really absolutely nicotine stained
and I think Dobie possibly got at it before I left, but it really was a most
extraordinary chocolate coloured. I
think Evelyn King mentioned what a wonderful room that was to sit in - but it
also had its disadvantages as he felt it was such a lovely room it was difficult
to get anything done in it. It was
a very splendid room. I remember
that first meeting -1 don't know if you remember it - you would have been there
Nick - in that study when I was produced - we had a drinks party.
I remember being slightly lobbied at that early stage about what did I
feel about the house system? Whether
I was going to change it - Of course obviously I was going to live with it to
start with - but it was being poured into my ear that wouldn't it be a good
thing to go for the traditional house system instead of the juniors Middles and
Seniors. And of course we stuck with it for quite a long time.
Is it still ?- No we have changed now.
Robert. That's
right - it changed with Hawkins.
Nick. I went through it and I always thought that that was by far the best
system.
Roy. It
seemed to suit the Clayesmore set up.
Nick. You
all went up together.
Roy. I think there were difficulties about that for a headmaster in so
much as you found that Mac treated the boys differently from Skinner and you had
tensions between some people who felt that if they had been in another house
they wouldn't have been treated in the same way.
Nick. When
you first took over there was only Humphrey - there was only one Middles house -
there was a Juniors, Middles, and Seniors
Roy. The
Manor was built before I came.
Robert. After
I left and before I returned.
Roy. I came and Mac was already a housemaster in the Manor and I think
they were all rather feeling their new role as housemasters.
Humphrey was there. Do you
remember the clock tower? I
remember having some difficulties with Humphrey because - was there a boy called
Reynolds?
Nick. There
was - Mark Reynolds - ginger hair.
Roy. Because
he repaired the clock as part of his service - Humphrey was furious because it
went down through his room, Humphrey was a very interesting man, wasn't he. He was not easy I suppose but I found him very loyal. You
were asking earlier about my arrival at Clayesmore.
We were greeted by Seagrim who was very good to us indeed and he decided
to get all the ground staff out on parade as we arrived with a Pickfords van and
as you probably know, the removal people like to take all the things out and put
them in the places, but he had got all his staff out including Jennings, Scammel,
Dobie and maybe someone else and they were all on the lawn in front of the house
- it was a fairly dry day I think - we turned up and they all helped carry
things in. I think probably not to
the great approval of the professionals. I
don't know if you remember I had quite a lot of trouble with my back - I had had
it out quite a bit before, when I was at Ryde and it was in my habit to sleep on
a table-tennis table, under the mattress - recommended by an orthopedic surgeon.
This came out of the van and was due for the bedroom.
I remember Jennings to this moment saying 'Games room?"
Roy. What
about the Headmaster's wife's views.
Audrey. Best
forgotten - Susie Wong!
Roy. Oh
yes. Do you remember Susie Wong ?
Robert. It's
ringing a bell.
Audrey. My
long black skirt with a slit up the side.
Robert. Those
were the days.
Nick. While
talking of clothes. Do you remember
the first Ball we had when various people helped and they made a big effort. Then on the day afterwards - your back was obviously in good
shape then - nobody could believe that you had put on a pair of pink jeans -
salmon pink jeans - and were heaving chairs and tables.
Everyone was saying "Have you seen him?- have you seen him?- pink
jeans!".
Roy. I do remember.
Audrey. Do
they still have dances - Balls ?
Robert. They
do but what has happened is that they are at places elsewhere - like the Crown
in Blandford so it's not quite so evocative of the place - your last day - if
you go trundling off to a hotel.
Roy. Those
wonderful dances of Spinney's - The dashing white sergeant - Cranborne Chase
girls were very blasé about them - they danced in bare feet - they thought they
were very odd. They hadn't danced
anything like that before. They
were good fun.
Nick. What
about the Chapel fire ?............