PatrickDalzel-Job:Rishworth’sJamesBond
PatrickDalzel-JobwasbornnearLondonin1913. His widowed mother took him from Hastings to Switzerland to regain his strength after a long period of illness. Here, Patrick became accomplishedatcrosscountryskiingandtaught himself to sail studying navigation by correspondencecourse.HereturnedtoBritainin 1931,wherehebuilthisownschooner,TheMary Fortune, and spent the next two years sailing aroundtheBritishcoast
In1937,hecrossedtheNorthSeatoNorwayand spent the next two years making studies of the fjords,channelsandislandsoftheNorwegiancoast.Patrickrecordedthatthe Norwegians were most hospitable and Patrick soon became fluent in their language.InlateAugust1939,aradiobroadcastpersuadedthemthatwarwas imminentandhereturnedtoEngland.
Patrick was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 8 December 1939, and requestedapostingasfarnorthaspossible.Hewasdulyappointednavigating officeronatargettowingtugworkingfromScapaFlowinOrkney.
In January 1942, Patrick sent to work out of Kirkwall in the Orkney islands, gainingexperienceofcoastalforcesworkinginNorthernwaters.
In September Patrick met with Lord Louis Mountbatten at Combined OperationsHeadquarters.Therehewasofferedtheopportunityofrunningthe special motor torpedo boat operations known as VP Operations landing commandosinNorway.
During a brief lull in the VP Operations, which ran from late Autumn 1942 to Spring 1943, Patrick went to London to receive the Ridderkors (KnightsCross)ofStOlavfrom King Haakon in recognition of his services to the Norwegian people.
German Junkers 88 fished up from a Norwegian fjord.
After the war, it became clear that Patrick began training on Welman midget submarines, so called as they were manufactured at Welwyn Garden City and carried one man. He could not hope to complete his training in time to participateintheattackonTirpitz,butthoroughlyenjoyedhistraining.
Back in Britain, Patrick was accepted on a four-week Army parachute training course in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, designed for the Airborne Divisions. He was very impressed by the standards of training and the enthusiasm of his fellow trainees,andreturnedto12thSubmarineFlotillainScotlandwithhisparachute wings. It was certain that there would be no more work for him on the Norwegiancoastandsotransferredto30AU(30thAssaultUnit).TheUnitwasa combinedforceofnavalofficersandRoyalMarine30Commando,answerableto CommanderIanFlemingintheAdmiralty.Flemingwasclearlyimpressedbythe youngdaredevil–PatrickbecametheverytemplateofthatmostBritishofsecret agents,CommanderJamesBond!
30 AU worked in an underground room in the Admiralty, London collating all availableinformationastowheretheenemy’ssecretinstallationswerethought tobeinFranceandGermany.TheyknewalmostalloftheplansfortheD-Day landingswellinadvance,whichinformationwasclassedasbeyond‘TopSecret’.
On4June1944theUnitmovedintothe‘Cage’,asecuritycampnearCirencester. PartoftheUnitwentashorewiththeBritishtroopsonDDay,butPatrickandhis men worked on the American sector in the early stages and landed near Varrevilleon‘Utah’beachon10June(D+4).Theirrolewastogatherintelligence on any new weapons, submarines and mines found on enemy sites – Patrick wasparticularlyonthelook-outfortheGermanversionsofthemini-subshehad commanded.
WhentheUnitreacheditsdestination,PatrickmotoredacrosstoCourseillesina jeep.ThebattleforCaenwasreachingitsclimaxandhesawhugenumbersof RAFbomberspassingoverhead.On9July,Patrickandhismenadvancedasfar astheycould,buttherubbleofbombdamageforcedthemtoprogressonfoot. Patrickwrote:
“ApproachingtheBassinStPierre,wecameacrosssomeFrenchmenamongthe ruins,andwiththemtherewasaBritishgliderpilotinlabourer’sclothes.He was a StaffSergeant, Bramah by name,and hetold us hehadbeenwoundedin thefirstAirbornelandings,whenhisgliderhadcomedownoutsidetheintended dropping zone. After a remarkable series of fights and escapes, Bramah had joinedtheFrenchResistancemovementinCaen;andatfirstsighthelookedand talkedmorelikeaFrenchpeasantthataBritishsoldier.
He seemed very popular with the French and his assistance was just what I needed; his friends came out of cellars and ruined buildings everywhere we went,andtheyguidedusdelightedlytoourtargetsattheharbourofficeandin otherGermanbuildings.”
At Dieppe Patrick learnt some useful new information about the methods of launching V.1 flying bombs towards London. On 2 September, Patrick arrived in Fécamp to find eight German midget submarines had been moved from the area just two days before his arrival. He learned how they had been transported – on long, low trailers concealed under canvas towed by heavy trucks. Patrick and his men managed to trace the submarines to Abbeville, and eventually discovered oneontheAlbert-Bapaumeroad.
Patrick(ontheright)withStaffSergeantBramah inCaen.
EarlyonThursday26April,PatrickandhismenenteredBremen.Therehad beenfiercefightingandtheteamsawburningtanksinthestreetsbutthere wasnogunfireoranysignofGermantroops.Patrickwasapproachedbya policemanandaskedtomeettheactingBurgomastertoaccepttheformal surrenderofthecityofBremen.
Patricksentamessageto52ndDivisionHeadquarterstoinformthemofthe surrender,andtheybegantoclearthecity.Therewasstillsomeenemyfire fromthedocksbutPatrickmanagedtopreventanyshellattackashewas sure they would find valuable intelligence in the shipyard and 30 AU were eventuallyabletoexaminetheequipmentandinterrogatethetechnicians foundthere.
On7MayPatrickenteredBremerhaven with51stDivisionand30AUmadetheir waytotheportareatotaketheGerman destroyerZ29,stillincommission.
Bremerhavenwasthelastoftheofficial 30 AU operations in Germany. Other sites were still examined most of the documentsandequipmentthatwould be of interest to Allied Intelligence had beendestroyed.
Three days after Bremen,theUnitjoined the Irish Guards Armoured Division and headed northwards towards Bremerhaven. German resistance was collapsing but Patrick and his men got a rousing reception from civiliansinthetown!
PatrickcountingGermanprisonersofwarnearVechta.
GermanscheeringatBremerhaven.
Patrick returned to England on 24 May and asked the Admiralty for the opportunityofreturningtoNorwaytoundertakeprojectssuchasexaminationof thewreckoftheTirpitz.Hisrealintention,however,wastofindhissweetheart, Bjørg,andeventuallytheywerereunitedatVestbanetrainstationinOslo.They marriedon26JuneandreturnedtoEdinburgh.
AfterthewarPatrickhadanumberofjobsbutalwaysyearnedtomaintainhis contactwiththearmedforcesandsatisfyadesiretoworkwithyoungpeople.His eyewastakenbyapostteachingScienceatacertainRishworthSchoolinWest Yorkshire,whichboastedaCombinedCadetForce,aswellasfacilities,especially inthesciences,whichwereverymuchup-to-date.Hewassoonconductingdrill andrunningexercisesfortheboysintheSchool,andhisnamequicklybecame something of a by-word for discipline and adventure. On one memorable occasion,hisschoolboytroopsweregatheredforacampinNorthYorkshire.The boyswaitedhopefullyforsignsofacoachtotransportthem,onlytobetoldthat theywouldbegettingtothecamponfoot–infact,inmarchingformation, campingbythesideoftheroadwherenecessaryandlivingoffthelandifthe marchtooktoolong!
Patrickwasverymodestabouthiswar-timeexploits,abouthisassociationwith IanFlemingandaboutbeingthemodelforJamesBond,buthisexploitsat Rishworthendearedhimtothestudentshetaught,evenifafewofthemmight havenursedsomeseriousblistersforawhileintheiryouth,courtesyofthis extraordinarywarhero.
Biographicaldetailstakenfrom:https://war-experience.org/lives/patrick-dalzel-job/
AlsoinPatrickDalzel-Job,FromArcticSnowtoDustofNormandypublishedbyNead-an-Eoin ISBN0-85052-901-8.
HughPond:Heathfield’sFirstHead
Hugh was Heathfield’s first ever Head, appointed in 1951toopenandrunthenewlyopenedPreparatory School to Rishworth. However, his own schooldays werenotwithoutincident.AsaschoolboyatRossall (the photograph shows him aged 14), he reveals in his memoirs that he once sneaked out of his boarding house to go to an all-night Ball in Blackpool,whichpausedtotakeinaneclipse!Hegot awaywithit,returningtoRossallbytramintheearly hours of the morning. Sadly news of his exploits reachedtheearsofhisHousemaster,whowasnone toopleased!
After taking a degree at Cambridge in Classics, the young Hugh had a number of jobs – including a teaching job, which he found he really enjoyed and whichsethimonapathwhichwouldeventuallylead toRishworthandsettingupHeathfieldPreparatorySchool.However,hekepta wartimesecretforoverfiftyyears,whichsawhimatthelegendaryBletchleyPark, breakingenemycodes!
In 1942, Hugh received his call-up papers to join the Royal Navy and he found himself training with other recently called-up young men. The only difference was that Hugh was in his thirties and the other recruits were teenagers. As a result,Hughfoundkeepingupwithhispeersphysicallydemanding–although didserviceasanexamplefortheothers;asthedrillsergeanttoldthemall:“Ifthe old man can do it, so can you!” One day, the call went out for graduates in classics or languages to attend for special duties – Hugh was the only one to report!
Hugh found himself in an intensive course to learn Japanese at the School of AfricanandOrientalStudiesandthenateammemberatHut7atBletchleyPark, undertaking the most secret work of the war – processing and decoding transmissions from enemy military units. In Hugh’s case in Hut 7, the transmissions were in Japanese. Hugh later recorded that his time in the Government Code and Cypher School was, at least, better than the arduous assaultcoursesofnavaltraining.
In 1944, Hugh was transferred to Colombo to join Bletchley’sfrontlinestationintheFarEastCombined Bureauaspartoftheirintelligenceoperation.Atthe endoftheSecondWorldWar.HewassenttoJapan, where he was tasked to gather information arising fromthenuclearbombingofthecitiesofHiroshima and Nagasaki, returning to the United Kingdom in 1946, before moving with his wife Rosemary to Rishworthin1951tobecomeHeadofHeathfield,a postheoccupieduntilretirementin1987.
Hugh immediately set about puttinghisstamponthebrandnew School, organising it into fourhouseteamsnamedafter parts of a naval vessel and impressing students and neighbours alike with his motorcycleandmotorcar,the heroicallynamedUlysses.
Heathfieldopeneditsdoorsin1951,withHughwritingthatithadbeen,tosaythe least,amosthectictime,withthepaintersleavingbythebackdoorasthefirst studentsenteredatthefront.Healsomentionsthatitdidnottakethenewboys, in their pristine uniforms, very long before they found the still-wet patches of freshpaint.
There were twenty-eight boarders and fifteen dayboys,thefees being£55per term for the former and £20 per term forthelatter.
RosemaryandHughPondwith‘Ulysses’
HeathfieldwasofficiallyopenedanddedicatedbythethenBishopofWakefield, RogerWilsonon27thMay1952inanhistoricceremonyatthefrontofHeathfield House.
HeathfieldwasofficiallyopenedanddedicatedbythethenBishopofWakefield,Roger Wilsonon27thMay1952inanhistoricceremonyatthefrontofHeathfieldHouse.
HughandhisfamilyspentmanyhappyyearsatHeathfield,steeringtheSchool towardsaverybrightfuture.ThefearlessnessofHughandhiswifecanbeseenin the picture below – they are swimming in the Rishworth Millpond above the Heathfield playing fields, an activity which clearly turned no hairs in the less health-and-safety conscious 1950s but would be more than inadvisable in moderntimes.
Hugh Pond retired in 1974 and eventually moved to West Wittering, near Chicester in West Sussex, where, according to his daughter, Deborah, he continued to live a full andactivelifeuntilhisdeathin2005attheage of 96. He will always be remembered as Heathfield’sguidinglightinthoseearlyyears.
ForHugh’srecordatBletchley,see: http://rollofhonour.bletchleypark.org.uk/sear ch/record-detail/7329/
Rev.PeterFord:TheScuba-divingchaplain
TheReverendPeterFordbecamethe chaplain at Rishworth School in 1988 but he first hit the headlines in the followingyear,whenhisloveofscubadiving was recognised by reporters fromtheYorkshirePost.Petertoldthe newspaper the unusual story behind his love of underwater exploration –andevenputhishobbytogoodeffectin lessons!
PeterbecameenamouredwithscubaonaholidayinMalta,havingenrolledona course advertised in his hotel – but when he actually saw the creatures of the deepintheirnaturalhabitat,hewas‘hooked’!OnhisreturntoRishworthafterhis holiday, he immediately signed up with a scuba school to gain all the qualifications and experience he would need to take the sport into Rishworth. Peterstartedtobecomewell-knownforincorporatingscubaandreligionintoa singlesetofidiosyncraticmessages–totheextentthathisstorywaspickedup by the press. Peter himself was not after fame – he described himself as ‘…a monkwholivesinthecommunity’andonlywantedtousehisskillstoillustrate thecurriculum.
OnenotableopportunityarosewhentheBishopofWakefieldvisitedtheSchool andPeterdonnedscubageartodemonstratepressuredifferentialsunderwater duringaphysicslesson,aspicturedhere!
Many students of the time remember Peter fondly, not only for his spiritual guidance,butforhissenseoffun,hispassionfortheunderwaterworld–andfor hisred-framedglasses!
QueenieHelliwell:the100year-oldboarder
In 1982, Mrs Queenie Helliwell became the first centenarian in Calderdale to receive a Telemessage from the late Queen Elizabeth. Telemessages had just replaced the traditional telegram,andanexcitedQueenieremarkedthat receivingthemessagehadmadeherday:“Iama great admirer of royalty and am proud to have received the message,” she told reporters from theEveningCourier.
Her recipe for a long life was to take an interest in everything and to just take things as they come. It was a lesson learnt in Queenie’s formative years, when shewasaboarderatRishworth.
Inthe1890s,boysandgirlswereeducatedinseparateclassroomsandalthough thecurriculumforbothsexeswasfairlysimilar,inlinewithRishworth’ssocially advancedethos,thereweresomesignificantdifferences.Queenieandtheother girlswererequiredtowashtheclothesoftheboysandtocarryoutanyrepairsto the boys’ clothing as well, for example, an inequality that would rightly be condemned in these more enlightened times and which was discontinued in anycasewithVictoriastillonthethrone.However,otherlifelessonswereapplied equally to both sexes, in particular a dedication to service which saw Queenie becoming a teacher at Lightcliffe School and an active member of her local communitywellpastherhundredthyear.
TheHeadmasteratthetimeofQueenie’shundredthbirthday,MrWilliams,also wrotetoQueeniewhenshereceivedhertelemessage,andwaskeentolether knowthatgirlswerebackatRishworth.“Indeed,”hewrote,“wehave280girls and320boys–aratherbiggerschoolthantheoneyouwillremember.”
JohnNoakes:LegendaryBluePeterpresenter
In 1977, the television presenter John NoakesclimbedNelson’sColumnwithout a safety harness for an episode of the BBC’s Blue Peter. After shinning up one ladder, John swung himself fearlessly on to another, tilted 45 degrees from the vertical. “At this level,” said Noakes in a voiceover, “the plinth on which Nelson standsoverhangsthecolumn.
I found myself literally hanging on from the ladder with nothing at all beneath me.”Indeed,itwasfiftymetresofnothinguntiltheground!“It’salongwayup, really,”hesaid.
Forawhile,JohnalsoheldtheBritishcivilianfreefallparachutingrecord:25,000 feet.
Thatdaredevilcan-doattitudestoodhim in good stead and marked him out from his more sensible co-presenters, such as ValerieSingleton,PeterPurvesandLesley Judd. There are some fans of the show who will always remember the moment that Noakes bared his bruised bottom after coming off his bobsleigh as he shot downtheCrestaRun.
Watchhere
JohnwasborninthevillageofShelfandlovedplayingbyhimselfinthewoodsor intherain.Aftertheageofnine,JohnwassentasaboardertoRishworthSchool wherehewastheself-describedrebelofRemoveB,whichhecharacterisedas beingtheclassforunder-achievers.
At Rishworth, John excelled in cross-country running and gymnastics, and enjoyedallthephysicalactivitiesonofferatRishworthbutwasthefirsttoadmit that he did not always apply himself to academic lessons. He watched several playsandproductionswhilstatRishworth,whichmayhavegivenhimthe‘bug’ forperformanceinlaterlife,althoughhedidn’t‘treadtheboards’atSchool.He wasnotsoreticentonthesportingfields,becomingastalwartofsportingteams andwherehewasathishappiestwhilstatSchool.
Johnenjoyedalongandvariedcareerintelevisionandthetheatre,neverlosing his thirst for adventure – on a round-the-world yachting venture, he was shipwrecked after being rolled over by a rogue wave, although some later TV appointmentswerealittlemoregentle,suchashosingCountryfile.
John’sfinalwishthathalfhisasheswouldbescatteredontheRishworthSchool playingfieldandtheotherhalfinMajorcawherehespenthislateryears.
JohnNoakeshadhisashesfiredintotheskyina fireworklitbysonMarkandwifeVicky.
Credit:SWNS:SouthWestNewsService
His wife Vicky and son Mark lit thefireworkasaround25loved ones attended the service . School friend Mike Astin read a eulogyatJohn'sfuneralservice. MrAstinwasreportedassaying: "In my eulogy I finished up by sayingifJohnhadknownabout goinginarocketinthismanner before he died he would have chuckled and said 'Yes, I'll have someofthat'.”
JimmyCricket,FrankieandCo.: RishworthParentandPupils(andthere’smore…!)
Rishworth has had many famous families over theyears–lotsfromtheworldofentertainment, aswellasfamilieswithhouseholdnamesinthe worlds of sport, business and all sorts of other spheresoflife.
One family of note, the children attending Rishworth School in the 1990’s, was the family Mulgrew. If that still leaves you a little puzzled, just imagine if your Dad was the famous comedian, Jimmy Cricket! Jimmy’s children attendedtheSchool,andJimmyevenhiredone of the Rishworth music teachers to create a themesongforoneofhisTVseries!
JimmywasbornJamesMulgrewonOctober171945inCookstown,Northern Ireland.Heleftschoolat16beforespendingthesummerof1966workingasa Redcoat in Butlin’s holiday camp at Mosney, County Meath, followed by two more summers at the Butlin’s holiday camp in Clacton. By the early 1970s he was living in Manchester, but his life changed when Jimmy won the TV talent contest,SearchForAStar,leadingtoacareerasastand-upcomedian,radioand TVstar.Hisbest-knowncatchphraseswere“Comecloser!”and“…andthere’s more!”Hewaseasilyidentifiablebyfunnyhat,wearingwelliesonthewrongfeet andregularlygettingaletterfromhisMammy!
SonFrankiewasaRishworthianandhefollowedin his father’s footsteps to become a comedian –beforecombininghisstand-uproutinewithbeinga RomanCatholicPriest.
Frankie’s interest in showbiz came early, as might be expected, and his story was picked up by local andnationalpapersasFrankiepreparedforafundraising concert at the age of 13. Frankie revealed that he always had stage nerves, but they helped withperformances.
Frankie’s sister Katy Mulgrew was taking music lessonsfromRishworthteacherCatherineBinns, and Jimmy heard Catherine’s songs being performed at a Rishworth musical concert. He was so impressed that he asked Catherine to write the music for a full-blown musical Jimmy was preparing, ‘Give Me One Good Season’, aboutanailingfootballteam.
Fornewsaboutthetours,andmoreonJimmy andhisfamilysee:
https://www.jimmycricket.co.uk/
Instructor Jan Anderson, taught judo at Rishworth School in the early 1970s, with a focus upon giving girls, in particular, confidence in and through the martial arts. It wasn’t long before theboyswantedtojoininaswell–andnotjustascrashdummies!
Janwentontobeattheforefront of women’s judo in the UK, a fine judoka(proponentofjudo)herself as well as a trainer of many womenandgirlswhowentonto great things as pioneers of the sport.
The Rishworth boys wanted to takepartinthetrainingaswell,so Jan was very careful to ensure that, whoever was participating, thegirlsalways gottheir fairshare
ofattentionandbyherpassionateendorsementofequalrights,helpedtoforge at Rishworth a genuine ethos of equality, which Jan went on to champion elsewhere,throughsportsandactivism.Anextraordinarilystronglegacy.
JanAnderson:Judopioneerandactivist
TheMysteryoftheHeathfieldButterflyFarm
AcrossOldhamRoad,thereisamysterywhichis yettobesolvedintheatticoftheMillbuildingat Heathfield.AbovetheMusic,Science,ArtandDT areas, there is a huge space, only accessible by ladder,whichlegendhasitwasoncethesiteofa hugebutterflyfarm.Furtherlegendhaditthatthis wassetupbyoneoftheearlyHeathfieldHeads. However,whenthepertinentquestionwasasked about each in turn, none seemed to have the necessary passion for lepidopterology. So the question remained: was there ever a butterfly farm up in the attic at Heathfield – and if so, who was the farmer?
The mystery deepened when the archives gave up a book of press cuttings encompassing some thirty years of Rishworth history. One former Headmastergave‘butterflies’asbeingoneofhisgreatinterests–butwhenwe wenttolookagain,theclipping,whichhadbeenheldsecurelyinitsplacefor morethanthirtyyears,haddisappeared!So,again,nohardevidence.
Thelastresortistoaskyou,thereader,ifyoucanpointustowardsasolutionof thepuzzle,oneofthegreatremainingmysteriesoftheRishworthworld.We feel that such an ambitious butterfly breeder would be a natural fit for the second volume of this booklet, so please let us know if you have any informationwhichwouldhelptotrackdownthiselusivecharacter!
