13867 RGS ONA Magazine 84_v 09/01/2012 15:02 Page 10
School Camps Remembered I very much enjoyed the article about school camps in the 1950s, (ONA Magazine issue 83). Although I only spent three years at RGS having moved from Manchester Grammar School (MGS) after my O-levels, I attended two Harvest Camps and the Eigg Survey camp. I also sailed the Norfolk Broads with the Green Wyvern Club during the 1960 Easter break. By Tony Stock (57-60)
Harvest Camp work hours account, 1959
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GS also had a strong tradition of camps both within the UK and abroad. Indeed it ran a small hut in the foothills of the Pennines which provided an opportunity for younger boys to gain an insight to being away from home, albeit just for a weekend. I found in my RGS memorabilia the account of worked hours at the 1959 Harvest Camp. Some of my contemporary ONs may find their names in the list. Tucker Anderson obviously thought I was reliable enough to keep the records and be involved in the final reckoning with the two farmers, Mr Riggall and Mr Kirkby. This involved agreeing the hours worked (black ink at standard rate, red at overtime, I think), and then multiplying it up at some rate which was doubtless less than the minimum wage (which of course didn’t exist!). As the rates were something like 2s 4½d an hour and we didn’t have a calculator you can guess it taxed my brain doing the sums. Once completed, the farmers each wrote a cheque to Mr Anderson and hands were shaken. Eventually each of the campers received a cheque for their share of the
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proceeds, so Harvest Camp was more than a good outdoor pursuit, we actually got paid. 1959 was a really hot summer so we found that some crops had already been harvested early, but we arrived to find wheat harvesting in full flow, with every item of farm machinery in use. I had two days collecting chaff, squatting under an ancient threshing machine (pre first world war) being driven by a steam engine. Another day harvesting dwarf french beans left everyone with back ache. We did have some days off, and I cycled to Lincoln one day and Beverley another, this requiring a trip on the Tattershall Castle ferry, the Humber Bridge still being a dream for the future. My visit to Eigg the following year was also a great experience. A couple of us mapped water hardness across the island with a Heath Robinson portable kit which had been constructed in the Chem Lab under Kenny MacDonald’s guidance. The results were plotted on a large scale map of the island and contours derived and drawn. Great memories too of dancing an eightsome reel on Waverley Station platform at midnight on the way home.
