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)

MGS 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

Harvest Camp work hours account, 1959

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.

Post-RGS I read Chemical Engineering at Imperial College, along with Keith Robson (50-60) –we spent the summer of 1962 on work experience in Finland. My career as a Chemical Engineer was short, as I was soon involved in IT spending a dozen years at British Oxygen, then a number of years in the software design sector, concluding with being the Operations Director for the Government Millennium Bug project, Action 2000. Now retired my wife and I find ourselves occupied with four grandchildren, thankfully close at hand, together with various voluntary interests. Unfortunately I now rarely visit the North East but I must consider rejoining the London ONs for whom I acted as Secretary in the 1970s.

Tom Banfield (51-62) shares his memories: I attended four camps: Wensleydale (Askrigg) in 1955 when I was in the 2nd form, Swaledale (Gunnerside) in 1956, Teesdale (Langdon Beck) in 1957 and Eskdale (Boot) in 1958. The photo below shows us queuing for breakfast on camp in Teesdale.

One point that younger ONs may not appreciate is just how restricted was our range of clothing. Not for nothing was the lad on the front of issue 83 wearing his school cap and blazer, complete with long grey socks and black shoes. We were only a few years past clothes rationing, and there was was hardly any such thing as leisure wear or casual wear per se –for family days out you just wore your school uniform, or maybe an old sweater and shorts with plimsolls. Jeans were still just work clothes, and mainly confined to America anyway, and in any case grey flannel shorts were still part of our normal school uniform until aged about 12 or 13. I recall going on the walks from these camps (at least in the early years) dressed not too differently from what I would wear on a rainy day in Jesmond, with big black shoes and my school mac! Certainly no cagoule, anorak, waterproof trousers or proper walking boots.

Queuing for breakfast on camp in Teesdale Michael Hogg (46-54) with the tent pole

The staff were good fun when in mufti. I fondly recall Larry Watson and Eddie Bennett in Wensleydale, Messrs Bailey and Peden in Swaledale, and (I think) Mr Layton in Eskdale. They expected us to respect their privacy when visiting the latrine, though I do remember Mr Bennett rather coyly calling it “the pentagon” since the screening was pegged down into five sheets. They were great times, and many ONs I am sure must have carried on enjoying their walking throughout their lives based on that introduction. Now that I am fortunate enough to live in North Yorkshire I still often tramp over the very same dales with fond memories.

David Selley (52-57) writes: I camped at Eskdale and Arran, but my most vivid memory is of two Harvest Camps in Lincolnshire. The first was spent picking potatoes and my back had barely straightened out when next year rolled around. This time I and, I believe, James Proudfoot, managed to get the job of painting a threshing machines, which was much more fun.

Last, but not least, a letter from Michael Hogg (46-54): The picture on the front of the ONA Magazine issue 83 prompts me to write, as the scrawny youngster apparently taking off with the tent-pole looks suspiciously like me (throughout my schooldays I was always the smallest boy in the class).

I was very interested to read the article by Henry Spall (49-58). Although he was at the RGS part of the time that I was, I don’t remember his name. However I certainly do remember going to the school camps. My records show that in June 1949 I spent five days at Askrigg Farm in Wensleydale, and then in June 1950 one week in Littondale.

I don’t remember very much about the camps, but my memories are certainly positive. I certainly do remember Tucker Anderson, who was I believe headmaster of the Junior School. He had a shock of white hair, and whenever he took us out on a walk, he always brought cucumbers for us all to eat!