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Articles 1998
Clayesmore in the 1930's
I arrived at Clayesmore in the mid/late 1930's without benefit of Common Entrance, at the time when the original Charlton Marshall House amalgamated with the school to eventually reform as the Prep School taking all the youngest boys back to that lovely house on the other side of Blandford, now sadly a victim of the "developers".
My first arrival was by Rolls Royce - the old school one - being driven from the station by Dobie. That, to this date, is the only time I have ever ridden in one. It had, I believe, a glass devider and a speaking tube!
The notes which follow may well be somewhat disjointed but so are the fragments of memory of people, events and situations which I should like to offer for preservation. If they are of interest for the OC News please use them. If nothing else I hope they will give you a little amusement.
I was allotted to Mackenzie's House, thus most of my activities were centred round the main building.
At that time the dining hall was in what later became the library and was presided over by a lady called Mrs Robinson. In the evening she used to play the piano in the small room next to the dormitory at the top of the front stairs which was my first billet - regular repetitions of the opening bars of Finlandia!
This was the time before the first chapel was built and services were held in the dining hall, the musical accompaniment being provided at the piano by the then music master John Sterling. One musical event of those days was the boy David Till playing Frank's Symphonic Variations on one piano with John providing the orchestra on a second one.
What do I remember of science lessons? "Archemedes Principal", ROYGBIV, being the colours of the rainbow, red, orange, etc. Then there was that infernal machine which produced gas for the Bunsen burners from petrol.
One or two master's names come to mind other than the well known ones: Messrs Thorp, Herrick, Richardson. The latter married a school secretary of the period, a Miss Morgan and I was terribly confused and embarrassed the first I had to address her as Mrs Richardson. At that period there were many changes of staff. I particularly remember for various reasons (not all favourable) Captain Craters, Mr Moat, Captain Dowding, Mr Cleyburn (sp?) who made me learn Milton's sonnet on his 'Blindness' - a rewarding punishment indeed - in retrospect. Then Mr and Mrs Kit Minns. He could be held to telling endless stories during a lesson and not getting on with teaching anything. Either Mr Appleby or Mr Spinney is to be thanked for introducing me to the short stories of 'Saki' which have been my constant companions ever since.
History with JDS was always a delight but I had a poor memory for dates and was constantly being called a "muddle-headed, nilly-witted golliwog" - and I have never been able to remember or find out which historical character was 'the aunt of England'.
The war years saw many changes and improvisation. There was once a scare that the enemy was dropping threads of corrosive material from aircraft and we all had to wear hoods of some kind for a few days. These turned out to be spiders webs!
On the approach of one Speech Day Mr Appleby gave out that Hess (Rudolf?) was coming to speak! Great excitement! It transpired that he had invited Myra Hess, then at the height of her pianistic popularity to come and play. Unfortunately she was unable to accept.
Only once did I suffer Headmajisterial chastisement from on of the successors to EMK and that was the result of one of those midnight searches of the lockers in the changing room where mine revealed the materials of an elementary pipe smoker. Wow, did I blub but more from humiliation than pain. The offending articles must have been returned to me because I burried them in a Tin in the garden under a tree until the end of term or when I finally left.
The art master who doubled as chaplain, Mr Scadding, used to give wonderful gramophone concerts in his room, playing his E.M.G. giant horn machine. I had one myself for a few years more recently. He gave me my first taste of Bach's 5th Brandenburg. How he despised the cello playing of Amy Allen of Blandford, who came to play sometimes. He said that her wide vibrato only showed that she could not make up her mind which note she was supposed to be playing. CHPV told me that he heard her say to the cello "I'll get even with you when we get home!"
For a while the bursar was a Mr Summers, who replaced the original secretary Miss Melville. He took some of us on an outing to Montecute House, at that time totally devoid of furniture. During tea at the Pultenay Hotel in Bath he said "I hope you realise Walker there is a constable behind you." What I did not realise was that he actually meant one with a capital C hanging on the wall. Gulp!
Two other outings, both in Mr Session's old Austin 7, to Bournemouth. One to see the film 'Fantasia' and the other to hear Albert Sammonds play the Elgar Violin Concerto.
During the early years or months of the war the extensive white-coated dining room staff all vanished and we had various systems of DIY at meal times, even to dipping our plates in a tub of hot water as we went out and leaving them in a rack to dry.
Much energy was devoted to the Troop Shows, largely directed by Frank Whitbourne - author of 'Lex" - He wrote much of the material himself. Who remembers the little play about Miss Gortlebury, the headmistress of a girls school on the brink of insolvency: "Early today I arose, wandered about, met a policeman and I knocked him out. With breathless haste, scarce knowing what I did, I searched his pockets and I found five quid. His helmet suffered from the bash I gave it. The old school's sinking but the cash will save it." This it did as a result of sending the head girl, Angelene (me) to the races where she (I) had to run up and down the footlights encouraging the runners and yelling into the audience.
And then there was the song sung by DPB. "Even Hitler had a mother. Wasn't it a pity that the poor old soul was not taught birth control. Even Hitler had a mother, even little Addy 'ad a mar'." Then there was an item put together by the boys called 'Came the dawn', lit only by the flickering light of the film projector to give the impression of an old silent film with frequent subtitles on large placards and appropriate 'pit' piano playing.
The end of term suppers usually featured entertainment's including verses about those who were leaving. Scholfieldie: Kenneth , used a whole field for athletic training, even when it was raining. (Doubtless with apologies to E,C. Bentley.)
One summer, the weather being glorious, there was a craze for 'sleeping out' and senior boys would troop down to the terrace with their bedding and sleep under the stars.
An example of the consideration given to the individual was that by my last term I was a prefect sharing a study with J. C. (Teddy) Edwards (33-42) and as it had been arranged that I should go to the R.A.M. I was excused all classroom work except a little English in order that I might devote myself to music and was given several lessons a week by the patient R. V. Sessions who was not wholly convinced that I was doing the right thing but remarked cryptically that St Paul said that it was better to marry than burn. Of R. V. S. the afore mentioned 'Teddy' Edwards conjured the lines "Swing it Shifty, someone said and swung old Sessions out of bed. He landed with a great big noise and wakened all the sleeping boys." His room being next to our dormitory.
A very brief outline my later life: A year at the R.A.M., four or five years in the army, a further period at the R.A.M. after the war, twenty years teaching piano and woodwind amongst other things in a Surrey Prep School, then seven years in partnership running a small hotel in Polperro, Cornwall from where we both retired to spend much of our time in Spain. For two years I broadcast music programmes over a local radio station.
Jocelyn R. Walker.
Apt 4. Ed. Los. Flamencos, Guadalmina Alta, 29670 San Pedro Alcantara. Pr. Malaga. Spain.