School Lunches

Our journey was epic; first by train to Newcastle, then by ferry across the North Sea to Bergen, where we shared a brief evening with a group of similarly aged lady skiers and their chaperones. I recall playing “truth or dare” and when it was my turn some bright spark in our group called out “kiss”. Next day we boarded the Bergen-Oslo train and got off about a quarter-way to Oslo, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, halfway up a mountain at the Mjolfjell station. From the

At the Mjolfjell ski centre, we were fitted with cablebinding skis, did lots of cross country skiing and even enjoyed an occasional rope tow. In the distance beyond the tow is a glimpse of the Ski Center buildings and further away the Bergen-Oslo railway cutting across the mountain. It seemed that much of the time to ski down we had first to hike up, sometimes with a break to rest half way up. Our trip back across the North Sea was stormy and we all learnt what paper buckets in the ship corridors were for! This BGS trip hooked me on skiing and the habit continued over the years in the Alps, Cascade and Sierra Nevada and Sendai Japan. I would be delighted to hear from anybody who was part of our group!

–– Michael R Philpott OB 1958

I read Geoff Wright’s item about school dinners, and if they were as bad as he says in 1956, a lot must have changed in the two years between my leaving and his arrival, but that may say more about my discernment, for I never found them unpalatable. Incidentally, I believe that it was John Garrett who started these lunches. There are three things in particular that I recall happening during lunch. The first was the day John Garrett said in his announcements at the end of assembly, that boys were not to wear yellow socks –they were not part of the school uniform... I was the culprit. My home was in Burnham on Sea, which was just too far to travel there and back in a day, so I was in digs during the week, going home at weekends. Every monday I brought my clean washing, and my mother had put in yellow socks. At lunch that day, who should sit beside me but the Head, who greeted me with “Hello, Malvolio.” I must have explained the situation, because I heard no more about it, thank goodness.

I’m not sure how it was actually organised, but every day two older boys were responsible for saying grace before and after the meal. My colleague was down to say the first, longer Latin grace, which started off well enough, but halfway through he had clearly forgotten the words and struggled to the end. I had the much shorter grace at the end which was all right. As a result, word went out that grace should be said, I think, by a prefect.

The third event that happened, this time at the end of the meal. Eric Dehn had been on an exchange visit to the USA and had brought back a whole lot of American ties. I’m not sure if he was selling these or simply handing them out to those who wanted one. I still have the one I received, though haven’t worn it for years.

–– Marc Trickey OB 1954

Marc Trickey passed away in December 2022.