BY OLD SALIANS FOR OLD SALIANS

FEBRUARY 2010 NEWS

1. A Picture Tells a Thousand Tales When John Clowes (Class of 55) sent me the copy postcard, re-printed below, showing SGS circa 1939 little did I suspect the reaction that it would create. It drew the largest response that I have had to any other item over the past three years. I have selected just two of them for this issue but will tell you of the others in later editions.

The first contribution came from Bill Jennings (Class of 55) who writes:- The air raid shelters were still there when I started my first year at SGS. I remember John Clowes but I have not seen him since leaving school. I also remember Ernie Wilcox taking us for cricket practice in the nets during the summer term of my first year. He tossed me the ball and asked me to bowl to him so that he could show us the forward defence stroke. My first effort to bowl at him went straight into the netting at the side. He made some withering comment which made me so mad that I said to myself that I will show the……. What I could do. The next ball pitched just outside the off stump and for some unknown reason pitched in towards the stumps and hit middle and off just as Ernie performed the perfect forward defence stroke. I must say that I did have a little chuckle! I met him many years later in a hotel in the Lake District. We had a chat and wished each other all the best. Well Bill and John as you have not seen each other since leaving SGS and if you would like to get back in touch then just let me know and I will forward the email contact details to you. The second contribution came from Steve Kemp (Class of 61) who writes:- I’m always pleased to receive the newsletter. Although much of it precedes my attendance at SGS, names and pictures still have familiarity. So just a bit about me and the other Kemps that attended SGS. My eldest brother is Peter, He’s 66ish so started around 1954 but as my memory for dates is not my strongest point I could be a

year or two out!! Then there was Robert (Bob) and he would have started a year or so later and left a year before I started in 1960/61. Form 1B, Form Master Mr. Hamner and a roll call that started “Bird, Breckwoldt, Brittain, Burgess, Cass, Chilvers, Cowbum, Craddock, Daniels…..hmmm, well something like that. Areas of continuity with my brothers included Jack Fernie-Maths/PE, Ickabod-Engineering Drawing?, Jack Burrows-Woodwork?. Kinder-RI, Bill Shepherd, Happy Cresswell-Geography?, Dr. Unwin-Geography, Bulldog Hughes-PE and Shawcross-Music. I am sure more will come to mind. So the year I started was the year that Cassius Clay took the title from the unbeatable Sonny Liston and not many forecast that on the quad. I noted comments on the restricted nature of sports at SGS (rugby,gymnastics, cricket and athletics as I remember.) that was until Mr.(and Mrs.) Baxter came on the scene and started a boxing club and what a success! Glynn Gratrix UK champion and a couple of others near the top. On TV too. I doubt that Sale was the richest seam of boxing raw material in the country so Messrs Baxter must have had some inspirational talent. Careers Conventions and Careers Advice…I’m not sure when they started but they seemed fairly simplistic. I was, err, average academically (that’s my optimistic verdict not the school’s) but OK at Pottery. After considerable counselling I was guided toward being a potter…Hmmmm. I went in a different direction guided by nothing in particular but resulting in few regrets (and none of them to do with pottery). Talking of pottery, I think that the flat roofed building in the postcard sent in by John Clowes became the pottery room and in front of that became the parking place for motorbikes (circa 1966)

The famous BSA Bantam

What a collection! Francis Barnets, Triumph Tiger Cubs, BSA 250, ( Oh! You were something with a 250) and BSA Bantams of course. Happy Days. Steve Kemp (Class of 61)

2. Welcome Home Nic Podmore (Class of 48) and his wife Viv are leaving South Africa and returning to live in the UK. Nic wrote to me in December as follows. Just to let you know that we are now in the throes of packing up our home in Cape Town and our consignment of “goods and chattels” will shortly be en-route to the U.K.

It’s been a tough decision after 35 fantastic years in South Africa, but we believe it’s the right one at this stage of our lives. We started to make plans some 18 months ago and now that we have built an extension to Melanie’s home in the Cotswolds, we are feeling very positive that our new abode will make the perfect home. All being well, we plan to visit South Africa for 2/3 months each year so that we can spend time with our family and friends in JHB and Cape Town.

Table Mountain Cape Town It will be a wrench saying our final goodbyes, but we are excited about the move- and we have to look forward not back If you feel like dropping us a line our new address from February 2010 will be 14, Fenhill Close Bourton-on-the-Hill Glos. GL56 9AD (email nicviv@btinternet.com or phone 01386701637)

Bourton-on-the-Hill Nic Podmore (Class of 48)

Not a bad move Nic. I know the Cotswolds very well and you have chosen a great place to put down your roots. There are a number of Old Salians living in the Cotswolds and I hope that they make contact with you. Welcome home.

3. Before and After Number 1 Peter Ashley (Class of 47) contacted me with the best photo of School Uniform seen to date unless you can do better (one wearing the school cap would be brilliant) as it shows Peter in full glory. I wonder how long the pocket hankie would have stayed in place on day one when the “scragging” took place? We all had to endure wearing uniform no matter what we felt but it did help in avoiding the “them and us” concept. Can anyone explain what the grey insert at the back of the school cap was all about?

Peter has also sent me a latest picture of himself and his wife Ann taken about 2 years ago following a visit to Buckingham Palace. Peter suffers from Lewy Body dementia. Don’t know what that is then go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?vs0_7sojlQms and you can view a very moving video that Peter has made for the Society. It makes you realise that SGS did produce some remarkable people.

4. Before and After Number 2 Tony Cook (Class of 45) produced a real blast from the past when he sent me a scan of his old blazer badge. The badge has followed him around and now resides with him in Canada and just has to be one of the very few left in this world. Tony was a bit worried about the badge that heads this newsletter and thought that it could look better. Here is Tony’s badge and it will take pride of place on all future editions. Thanks very much Tony.

5. A Schoolboy in Nazi Germany The report that I produced in the December newsletter on Herr Stein’s talk to the Nantwich Probus created quite a bit of interest so I approached Geoffrey to see if he would write an article. I am pleased to say that he has agreed . I was lucky enough to be present at the meeting and found his talk to be very fascinating. Here is his piece which is a potted version of his talk. Before the war it was unusual for people like us to holiday or travel abroad. Certainly, nobody that we knew had done so, even the better off school friends. So it was with no little misgiving that I, callow, naïve schoolboy aged 15 set off in July 1934 on my own for an exchange with a German boy, Gunther, of my own age in Krefeld, in the Rhineland, arranged by the German ‘Assistant’ at my school. After a night with friends in London, I caught the Boat Train to Harwich, crossed on a Dutch ferry to Flushing and then had a long tiring train journey across Holland in a compartment full of foreign strangers speaking a language that I could not follow. So I was all the more shocked by my first experiences of Germany. As I walked out of the station with my exchange family, the first thing that I saw was a huge mock-up of an aerial bomb mounted on a plinth with these words: ‘DENKE DARAN’ (‘think about it’). Then on several walls were posters showing Germany surrounded by hostile countries and condemning the ‘boser Versailler Friensvertrag’ and we passed several groups of brown-shirted SA men with swastika armbands. Finally, no sooner were we in the house than Gunther’s parents lectured me sternly: ‘Please never, never repeat outside what you may hear us say, it could be dangerous’ By now, I was understandably shaken, apprehensive and homesick.

However, schoolboys are resilient, the family were anglophile and friendly and Gunter was a congenial companion, so I gradually grew accustomed to the uneasy atmosphere and began to enjoy many aspects of my stay. I explored Koln and Dusseldorf, I had a trip on the Rhine, I saw several productions in the excellent town theatre and I regularly patronised a superb ice-cream café on the main street, where I had large beakers of many flavours topped with a pile of whipped cream, whilst reading the day’s newspapers. Always, though there was a threatening atmosphere, most of the time only vague, but on occasions explicit. Gunther had so far resisted strong pressure to join the Hitler Jugend and told my both how he was being harassed and how members were encouraged to spy on and betray other members of their family who were opposed to the Nazi party. One day, I decided to go to a football match and the family begged me to join the crowd in giving the Nazt salute, as only the previous week a foreigner has failed to do so and had promptly been knocked unconscious; I have to confess that I did as I was told. Nevertheless, after five weeks, I had acclimatised and regretted having to return home I was astonished to learn one evening when we were discussing the rise of Hitler that, despite their liberal views, the parents had voted for him. They explained to me that the situation of the country had been so bad - chronic political instability under the Qweimar republic; civil unrest, with fighting in the streets; raging inflation that had destroyed their savings and made day-to-day life a nightmare; and widespread unemployment – that when a man came along promising convincingly to bring order, financial stability and full employment, they gladly swallowed their doubts and welcomed him. He had indeed, propounded all kinds of unacceptable ideas in his book, but that was a hysterical rant and he would never dare or be able to put them into practice. After all, the other political parties hated him, the Army despised him, the big industrialists who were financing him would keep a tight rein on him. However, by a mixture of cunning and good fortune, Hitler outfoxed them all and became Chancellor. Now many people realised too late their terrible error; but still there was a safeguard of the much revered President Hindenburg with the authority and stature to keep the man in line. Then on 2nd August 1934, in the middle of my stay, President Hindenburg died, Hitler took over absolute power as ‘Fuhrer’, including command of the Army, could do just as he liked, and did. My family was in despair. Back at school in England the following term, a well-known politician came and talked to the Sixth Form on the topic’ It couldn’t happen here?…’, suggesting that in similar circumstances to Germany’s it might not be inconceivable. After all, at that time there were a number of people in this country who, incredibly, expressed admiration for Hitler and his ideas. There still are a few. Geoffrey Stone ( SGS teacher 1948)

6. From Running Sprints to Running Hoops It was back in November that Keith suggested I write a few words on how I came to make the move from sprinting to a more gentle paced sport – croquet. You don’t get very much time to think in a sprint but in croquet you have time to plan and, unfortunately, time to think what an idiotic shot you’ve just played! Well, I suppose my idea of croquet was like most people imagine the sport to be nasty and vicious – bash your opponent’s ball into the thick undergrowth etc, etc., one’s

thoughts coloured by the Alice in Wonderland world of hedgehog balls and flamingo mallets!! Nothing could be further from the truth, however. It is a highly skilled and thoughtful game requiring the thought processes and plans seen in a chess player allied to the skill and accuracy of a snooker player. There are basically two forms of the game, in both of which red and yellow play blue and black either in a singles match or in doubles. Golf croquet consists of single ball shots, the object of the game being to “run” all twelve hoops with each ball (six one way then six (same ones) in the opposite direction and then knock both balls to the peg before your opponent does so. Everyone takes a turn to play a shot. Association croquet is more complicated although the object of the game is the same – all twelve hoops with both balls and peg out. However, it is important to be able to make breaks in this game ie to run several hoops, possibly all twelve in one turn, without the opponent even getting on the lawn. This is achievable because when you as striker, hit (roquet) any other ball you gain two extra shots, one with the balls concerned touching(taking croquet), and one further shot with which you can run a hoop or hit a further ball. At any time in your turn, if you run a hoop you can then roquet any other ball and so the process can go on. Sounds complicated, but it’s not really, especially for an Old Salian. However all that doesn’t really explain how I got into it. It is a well known fact in the croquet world that the most difficult thing about the game is discovering it in the first place.. Like a lot of people I had messed about on the lawn with a mallet and balls from time to time, but it was only when a teaching colleague (who also knew nothing about the game) organised a fun tournament at school that I became interested. Well, he was a southerner and didn’t really understand that northerners (especially those brought up under Harold Christian) play games to win and not just entirely for fun. Anyway to cut a long story short, after this tournament I decided that there must be more to this game than there seemed, so I investigated and discovered croquet proper and was hooked. It really is a wonderful game, in which both men and women can compete on level terms and, thanks to the handicap system, in which a relative novice can compete against the best player. I recommend it to all – there are about 180 affiliated clubs up and down the country, including an excellent one, for those of you living in the Sale area, at Bowden (photo below.)

Do get in touch if you would like further information – happy hooping!! Michael Rangeley (Class of 47)

7. The Last Word

During the mid/late 1950’s Michael Rangeley was the fastest thing on two legs at SGS and flying winger in the unbeaten 1st XV Rugby Team of that time.The only time that this has been achieved. My thanks to Bill Jennings, Steve Kemp, Nic Podmore, Peter Ashley, Tony Cook, Geoffrey Stone and Michael Rangeley for their contributions to this newsletter. I find it very interesting to find out what Old Boys have got up to since leaving SGS and to hear of their memories of the time they spent there. I feel sure that there are still a real host of tales that many of you could tell along with photographs to illustrate. How about you putting pen to paper or fingers on the keyboard and letting me have your stories to pass on via the next newsletter which will go out in April. I hope that those of you in the UK who struggled through the snowfalls earlier in the year will spend a thought for me. I missed it all as I was sunbathing in Tenerife. Good planning I say. If you consider that it was the worst weather in living memory then spare a thought for Keith Walker who sent me this photograph of what he and other people living in Canada have to survive every year.

I hope that you all enjoy this edition of the newsletter.

Keith Sibbald (Editor)