PIGEON POST

OR Pigeon Post

Dear Editors,

HUGH BROGAN’S “REPTON” and John Thorn – correcting an authorial slip.

I found Hugh Brogan’s history of Repton both entertaining and informative – scholarly, witty and setting the changes within the school against a background of social change within our country in a way that illuminates both. But on one point he has accidently mis-represented what actually happened and as this is a matter of fact, rather than opinion, I feel bound to point it out.

In his chapter on John Thorn, Brogan states (page 344) that John Thorn’s arrival “annoyed a few of the crustier pedagogues … (and) generated the joke that, if and when Thorn left, the staff would celebrate with a champagne party, and when in 1968 he was appointed Headmaster of Winchester, they actually did so.” The syntax here suggests that “they” represents “the staff” as a whole when it should refer only to the antecedent “a few crustier pedagogues”. Your reviewer in his review of Brogan’s book (ARCH Winter 2020 page 24) understandably repeats this false assertion: “Readers will learn…why staff celebrated the 1968 departure of Thorn…”. The staff did not.

John Thorn’s brief from the governors was to improve Repton’s academic and cultural life. A small number of older staff including some Housemasters who had themselves

been schooled to see sport, the CCF and the production of “leaders of men” as the justification for an outdated regime resisted JLT’s desire to abolish fagging and corporal punishment, to support Music, Drama and Art, and to assign academic excellence at least equal status with sporting excellence. A few were vociferous and aggressive in their opposition. JLT, ever a courteous and civilised man, tried by reasoned argument to persuade the need for change but a few could not be persuaded.

By the time he left John Thorn had appointed a host of academic heads of department, including Stuart Andrews, John Fishley, Barry Downing, Dick Morgan, Harry Grenville, myself, Mike Salter, Don Brierley and many others who were loyal to JLT and his vision for a more civilised school. A tiny fraction of older staff – I believe there were no more than five or six out of a staff of more than fifty – who were on the losing side in this argument, did indeed hold a secret champagne party when JLT’s appointment to Winchester was announced. When the rest of the staff learned of it they were disgusted.

It is therefore seriously misleading to suggest that “the staff” of Repton as a whole celebrated when such celebration was confined to “a few of the crustier pedagogues”. The majority of Repton’s staff supported John Thorn and regretted his departure. Hugh Brogan died before finalising his text and I hope that he would have spotted his own error had he had time to check his last two chapters. A corrigendum is needed.

Yours sincerely, John Billington, Former Staff (1965 to 1996)

Dear Editors,

I found the ‘Farewell’ to Gerald Reddington (B’45) by his son Marcus absolutely fascinating and very true.

Our families have known each other for very many years, summer holidaying in Seaview on the Isle of Wight, to where Gerald and his lovely wife Valerie eventually retired. In fact Gerald officiated at my eldest daughter’s wedding, over thirty years ago.

During his rather sad and long last illness we used to greet each other with the first two lines of the Repton School songs: “Where Staid and Silver Trent once wound is deep indent” was answered in Latin by “Semper Repandunum, te canemus union “ or vice versa . It is worth recalling that when Gerald and I were at Repton together in the late 1950s the entire school, nearly 400 boys, assembled in Pears School at the beginning and end of each term to hear the Headmaster, T. Lynam Thomas during our time and sing the full version – three verses each of those two wonderful but sadly long lost and forgotten songs.

Yours sincerely, Richard (Tom) Cotterell (N’45)

They say you are never far away from a fellow Reptonian and so it proved on a recent holiday to the Cornish coast when I had a chance

meeting with a distinguished nonagenarian OR. What a pleasure it was to meet the dapper Michael Wesson (H’40), 94 years old but still very capable of holding court over a drink or two. We attempted a few lines of the school anthem together, which reminded Michael of his happy times singing for Repton in the early forties. Michael was in The Hall during the war years under Headmaster Michael Clarke, so he was a pupil during some challenging times. Many readers of The Arch will associate the Wesson dynasty with cricket. Michael suffered some health issues as a teenager, which hindered his sporting ambitions, but he remains a keen follower of cricket and was proudly wearing his MCC tie for dinner. We shared a friend in the wonderful John Walker, whom Michael knew through cricket and The Hall, and who was my Housemaster at Latham.

It always seems to be a pleasure to bump into a fellow Reptonian and it was a privilege to spend some time with one of the most senior members

of the Repton alumni.

Yours faithfully, Robert Miller (L’76)

Dear Editors,

I was grateful for Martin How’s obituary of Geoffrey Saunders (N’43) mentioning his winning the international cross-country championship in 1951. I am glad to be able to expand and enhance his achievements in this sphere as follows.

Firstly in 1949 his 5th place in Dublin was 1st for England, leading them into 2nd in the team race. In Brussels (1950) he was 14th & 3rd English runner home, England coming 3rd.

His best and outstanding result, 1st in Newport 1951, which included leading England to victory in the team race.

Finally at Hamilton, Scotland in 1952 he was 13th & 5th for England, helping them into 2nd in the team race.

On average there were 72 runners each year representing 8 countries.

Dick Morgan, Former Staff (1962 to 1994)

I read Issue 336, Winter 2020 of The Arch with great interest as usual and some trepidation as I turned to the Farewell pages . The remorseless wheel of time brings my 1966 generation inexorably closer to the “exit” door. I was saddened to learn of the passing of Richard (Dickie) J. Bradburn (P’64 not P’67 as printed). I recalled that when I and others of the invited

vintages gathered at The Priory in 1982 for a Gaudy my then wife Felicity had snapped a group photograph including Dickie and here it is, top right:

Dickie and a number of others who attended

The Priory during my time at Repton made the experience fun and worthwhile in our shared teenage years. A sort of family, sometimes verging on the dysfunctional!

Of the Priory ORs in this photo (according to previous issues of The Arch) as well as Dickie, Dennis Dean and Tom Hill have passed away. C.W. Bryant, the former House Master during our time at The Priory (he retired in 1978), and his wife Pauline, who both attended that Gaudy, have also passed. Here is a nice image of Felicity, CWB and Pauline Bryant taken on that sunny day in 1982: Another memory I would like to share was sparked in Issue 336 by seeing the name Martyn Beckett (B’64) in the Letters page and reading the article about the Brook House Reunion with

a token presence from a Priory OR. Because of the geographical proximity of Brook House to The Priory we had close and sometimes friendly relations, when not competing at sports of course! I had a number of good friends in Brook. The two Houses combined to put on a joint production of “The Long and the Short and the Tall “by Willis Hall for the Drama Society Festival in the 1969 Lent Term. It was produced by A.J.Price and B.L.Young, House Tutors of Brook and Priory respectively. A photo of the cast is on the right.

I retrieved my battered copy of the script from my attic recently and as well as the cast photo out fell a copy of the critique of it by J.S.F printed in the Lent 1969 issue of The Reptonian. I think JSF was Sean Fletcher (M’66).

The play is set in the Malayan jungle during the Japanese advance on Singapore in early 1942 and concerns a British Army patrol unit led by Martyn Beckett’s Sergeant Mitchem which gets pinned down by the advancing Japanese Army and take a prisoner. To paraphrase some of Sean Fletcher’s comments:

“It was certainly worth the while of the Brook and the Priory to combine their acting talent to produce a very good performance of The Long and the Short and the Tall …A lot of credit must

go to Mr Price and Mr Young for undertaking this difficult production in the short time they had available .. Here were seven men drawn together by the fortunes of war – two of them hardened veterans and the rest untried

in combat. The play was dotted with scenes of rollicking comedy yet, just as suddenly, switched to violence and death.

Martyn Beckett gave a very creditable performance as Sergeant Mitcham, and one was really convinced that he was a real army veteran …. Mike Griffin portrayed the cold, sadistic Corporal Johnstone very well. He provided the most violent character, and it was ironical that he should be the only one of the platoon to survive. Gary Simmonds as L/Corporal MacLeish; Andrew Kemp as Private Whitaker; Paul Stevens as Private Evans and Douglas Collins as Private Smith all acted their parts very well and provided targets for the vicious but light-hearted attacks of Private Bamforth , acted by Rodney Wayman .Wayman gave yet another brilliant performance on the Repton stage.. David Tan acted very proficiently as the Japanese soldier and was the basis for many of the laughs from the audience …. I came away having enjoyed it very much. A brilliant performance …”

Sean was very generous in his praises. I have fond memories of this production which I think worked very well and a lot of hard work went into it at all levels, down to the authentic props such as 303s, sten gun and radio courtesy of the Repton CCF Armoury! It was one of those unique formative Repton experiences which has endured in my memory.

Paul B Stevens (P’66)

Back row: from left, 2nd M.R. Howarth, 6th A.C.Shuttleworth, 7th Dennis Dean, 9th Sam Hird, 10th Lawrence Willey, 11th John Gaunt, 12th Marcus Marsh; Front row: from left, 2nd Tom Hill, 3rd myself, 4th Chris Austen, 5th Richard Bradburn. Left to right: Andy Kemp (P’66), Douglas Collins (B’64), myself, Rodney Wayman (P’65), Martyn Beckett (B’64), Gary Simmonds (B’66), Mike Griffin (B’65), and Dave Tan (P’67). Dave Tan was from Singapore and had come to Repton in 1967 to join the Sixth Form. By coincidence Dickie Bradburn and Tom Hill were also involved in this production in charge of prompt and sound respectively.

I am moved to send a letter of appreciation to you all for the quality and content of ‘The Arch’ which is always interesting to read and occasionally, as with the recent Winter 2020 issue, brings to mind memories of past times and people.

On reading this one I came across the following memory-evoking articles:

Reviving Fives – I well remember playing fives regularly as well as squash, the courts for which were handily placed to New House, where I resided from 1951 to 1955. The first two years were under Colonel Maynard’s stewardship (HAM was his nickname because of his initials), and the latter two under Ewart Butcher. I maintained contact with Ewart and his wife

Betty, because after they retired down to the south coast, I would visit twice a year when carrying out audit duties in a company quite close to where they lived. It was always worth a visit, not only to sample Betty’s beautiful cuisine but also to keep up to date with Ewart’s meticulously kept records of all the ORs with whom he kept contact. I wish the School all the best in its efforts to reinvigorate interest in the sport. Toby Turl – My abiding memory of HAM was after a very hard fought football match against The Hall when, as left back, I was marking Toby Turl, a very clever and fast right winger and who is also mentioned in this issue. As a younger boy I had kept successful and tight control over him; so much so that we didn’t lose the game. HAM at that evening ‘s supper had got up and praised the efforts of the team specifically commenting on the ‘spunk’ showed by Turner, a word not often correctly used in the context of courage, and which caused a bit of a stir amongst the assembled fifty boys!

Ted Greenhalgh – Ted was a couple of years older than I and I remember watching him keep wicket to our quick bowlers, (I think one was a very good left-arm quick called Fletcher) standing up and stumping the batsman. I also met up with Ted again when I joined the Liverpool Ramblers football team, which I joined when I went to Liverpool on leaving school. Ted was a tall and forbidding centre half at the Ramblers and I remember one of our first matches in the season was a warm-up game against Everton whose game was professionally very rough and whose rough play and language on the field of play was only matched by that of the Liverpool Police team! Obituaries – Sadly at my age there aren’t many left still to pop off their mortal coil but Ian Richards is mentioned which reminded me that

Ian, Jonathon Harvey and I were quite good buddies at New House. Ian played the piano, I played the clarinet and Jonathon, known as ‘moonbeam’ - because his head always seemed to be in the clouds - played every instrument, wind or string or keyboard and was a cellist in the National Youth Orchestra. We did a youth hostel holiday in Wales on our bikes one summer which went well until Jonathon ended up in a ditch and then in hospital to be patched up! I have kept in touch with Ian and his wife Gill ever since leaving Repton as our families, although originating fairly close to each other in Derbyshire, went our various diverse ways. We would maintain annual contact at Christmas and

when our children were young, we exchanged a couple of visits.

That is quite enough rambling for now so I just repeat my appreciation of all the work you do and send my best wishes for a happy Christmas.

Yours sincerely, Derek Turner (N’51)

Dear Editor, I submit some belated comments:

(1) Issue 335 of ‘The Arch’. ‘Repton Memories’ (page 26). Something must be wrong with the captions for the two upper photographs. They cannot be of ‘Repton School’ of any year: the left-hand one shows (the late) Sidney Giffard, in 1945 Head of House of The Priory, alongside Major Cattley, the then Housemaster. So the year is probably right! The top right-hand photo also shows Major Cattley - and his wife - and is probably 1947. Both will thus be photos of The Priory, not of ‘Repton School’.

(2) Issue 336. ‘Farewell’ (pp 35-6). The memorial piece on Sidney Giffard draws exclusively on his Daily Telegraph obituary. This is fine as far as it goes, but it says little about his life outside the Diplomatic Service and as an author, distinguished though those lives of course were. But I suggest that for readers of The Arch it is also of interest to know or recall that, before he left Repton in 1945, he became Head of House at The Priory, Head of School (Classical VIth Form) and Head Prefect, and doubtless won other school awards and distinctions. He left with a scholarship to Wadham College, Oxford, to read Classics. He interrupted Oxford to do his national service (getting a commission in the RAEC), partly in Germany. And among the activities he occupied himself with after his retirement, including his several years as a Governor of the School, I understand he was also prominent in a scheme to save and restore his village church in Wiltshire. I would add that (contrary to the obituary), as I am informed, his widow Hazel survived him only briefly.

I mention these aspects of Sidney’s life partly because I, a year younger, was proud to become his friend at Repton. I followed in some of his footsteps there, though from a different House (The Hall), and went on to a different Oxford college (Merton). Our professional and most of our later lives were different and separate, but I am very happy to have known Sidney, a man of great charm as well as intellect, both in some of our younger days and quite recently too.

(3) Lost Contacts (p 60) 1942 ‘Jean Bergery’ This name should be written ‘Jean-François Bergery’ with a cidilla (?) under the ‘c’. - he was French. We were close friends at The Hall - I joined the same year. But I’m afraid he died in 1977 in France (see his Google entry!).

I remember several of the other names from

around that period, from James Essenhigh 1939 to John Cripwell 1944, but sadly am not in touch with any of them. It is likely that some, as those from earlier years, will be dead.

With best wishes, Anthony (Tony) J T Williams, (H’42)