School News

Back in 2020 we asked our Gordonian community to help solve the mystery of the front field markings. We posted the following on our social media ‘At the far end of the FRONT field (circle in red in pic 1) there are some unusual foundation shaped marking – does this ring a bell for you, do you remember what building may have been there in years gone by?’ We had a great response on social media with many Gordonians reminiscing and referring to the area being where the Cricket nets were, the Tartan paint store, the treacle mine and even sandpits for athletics. It was only after reaching out to former Deputy Head Mr Anthony Perry, that we finally have our answers. Words By Anthony Perry, Former Deputy Head of the school (1965–2003) Here are my notes on the front field markings. As well as discussing it with Gilbert Kircher in the 1960s, I spoke to or corresponded with a number of Old Boys from much earlier days who were also able to help.

The front field shadow

I have to take you back to about 1967. The then Commandant, Brig. Derek Holbrook, was a keen hockey fan and decided that the boys should have an alternative to association football. (Rugby came later). The Hockey pitch was on the front field. One morning we all woke up to a large hole in the centre of it where a previous small building had collapsed into itself. Being curious I spoke to the head of maintenance, Gilbert Kircher, who had been at the school for a very long time and he told me that it had been a ‘pump house‘. It must be remembered that when the School was built there was no mains water or drainage in the area. Water was pumped to the tower up in the corner by the roundabout from a well some distance from the School and GBS had its own water treatment (sewerage!) system. All the out-flow from the buildings was piped to the lowest point on the property and then pumped back up to the North side fields where there was a treatment plant. The site of the unit is still fenced off and is by the side of the pitches where the public footpath passes into the copse and on to the roundabout. The area still seems to be Out Of Bounds. In my early days it was referred to as ‘the dell’ but over the years it transformed into ‘the dump’. The plant had a traditional clinker filter bed with a spinner on top. I am not sure of the site of the settling tank for ‘sludge’ but no doubt it was eventually used as fertilizer on the market gardens on that side of the road. This might sound bizarre but bear in mind that even in the 1950s town councils were still selling sludge to the public by the lorry load for garden use. (Rich in worms and tomato seeds!) The filtered water was probably piped down to the stream, now only a ditch, between the school and the SANG. Not a particularly pleasant subject for discussion, so I suggest the simple answer to you is that ‘It was a Pump House concerned with drainage in the early days of the School.’ Thank you Mr Perry.