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Articles 1998
Some Reminiscences
I had rather lost contact with the 'old school' when suddenly a copy of 'Clayesmore' came through the letter box. I found Nick Zelle's phone number and called him with some trepidation. Our last contact had been his request for me to pay for the repair to some lockers in the basement at Iwerne Minster after I had underestimated the power of an Army Thunderflash during the Summer Ball in 1967. (I was doing a Short Service Commission with the Royal Tank Regiment at the time.)
David Spinney dressed me down for such irresponsible behaviour - but with a twinkle in his eye! It was he who, to everybody's surprise, made me a 'Priv' - very much a case of poacher turned gamekeeper - and I very nearly fell at the first fence. The original film of "Sinking the Titanic" was on at the Blandford Cinema. P.A.G. Brown (54-60) and I decided that we must see it (especially with the Ismay connection and related ghost stories at Iwerne Minster). We hid our bikes behind the woodwork shop and slipped away during 'prep', cycling past the water-cress beds, we suddenly saw 'Dan' (Mr Daniels) sailing along on his over-equipped bike, returning from Blandford. We dived into the copse and luckily were not noticed.
Having survived that narrow escape, I became a 'Middles' prefect with D. Ledermann, D. Watson, M. Poynor, and F. Pau. Under the latter's Thailand influence, we decorated the Prefects study in oriental style - with 'Humph' lending us a couple of his battered middle-eastern ornaments and rugs.
I remember my last term as head prefect was largely taken up with campaigning for the New Dining Hall complex to have a dish washing machine, rather than the terrible old scheme of each table washing up their own plates etc. This involved a time and motion study and financial plan for presentation to the School Governors, as well as arranging for 'Bunter' to come to inspect the dishwashers at Milton Abbas School.
Being a pupil at Clayesmore was enjoyable (although life in the 'Middles' became tense at the time of the fortnightly Biology tests!). I hope the school still encourages pupils to develop in their own way - which helps one prepare for the vagaries of future life. Perhaps that is why I have had such a variety of occupations :- the City as a ship broker, Short Service Commission, Aluminium Industry and Recycling, running a Nursing Home, and currently sort of retired but working hard on a small holding up a Welsh mountain.
Christopher E.J. Ing
Penlan Fach, Talley, LLandeilo, Camarthanshire, SA19 7YN