A HISTORY OF THE RGS IN ITS PEOPLE by David Goldwater (51-62) A History of the RGS in Its People has concentrated on those ‘who have gone before us’, but, as a complete change, I have thought for some time that there are iconic ‘RGS characters’ who are still very much around. No-one personifies this more than my tutor, Bill Elliott (52-88) – ‘WGE’, ‘Wedgie’, as well as other monikers! I recently looked over the school field from a balcony at one of the brilliant new sports buildings and it was almost the same prospect as that from the upstairs in the old Woodwork/ Biology building – how things at the RGS have changed… and yet, here I was, sitting with Bill in his warm lounge in Benton, 63 years after he had been appointed to run, ‘the Woodwork department.’
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After his father was appointed works manager at Joseph Lucas, Bill and family moved over from Manchester to Newcastle, apparently, in a Belsize Bradshaw car, clearly an important family journey. At Gosforth Secondary School, disliking the raw vegetables served at school lunch, he opted each day to sprint home to Forest Hall for lunch and back, thus beginning his love affair with the running track. Loughborough came next (1944-46) where Bill captained cross country (holding the cross country record for five years) and ran for the Universities Athletics Union team. After joining nearby Nottingham University’s Air Squadron, flying de Havilland Tiger Moths and American Harvards, Bill, as a member of the RAFVR and the Officers’ Training School at Hereford, was selected to train as an RAF pilot in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia in 1946. Lured by the 1948 Olympics and the contact with top athletes, after two years he returned to Loughborough to study for his Diploma of Loughborough College qualification. His appointment at Blyth Grammar School in 1949 brought Bill back to the North East. Here, he was in charge of Woodwork and shared PE. After three years, an appointment in the Woodwork department came up at the RGS and, encouraged by his father, Bill was persuaded to apply. At that time, school sports were primitive and included the sack race and throwing the cricket ball. Fortunately, he was given every encouragement to utilise his experience from Blyth and a standards system was introduced whereby every pupil was able to contribute towards House points. Many ONs will remember being able to take pride in winning even one point. After the innovation of a pole vaulting pit and this entirely new sport at the school, JR McManus (45-54) achieved a Cambridge Blue and the indoor British record in the sport. This reflected great credit on the RGS and Bill still glows with pride as he recalls the visit by the combined Oxford and Cambridge Athletics Team (Achilles) for a day in 1955, coaching in the morning and competing on a handicap basis in the afternoon. ‘In the Fifth Form, as a strong fit kid who despite being good at it, did not like rugby, I at last had a choice for winter sport. I chose cross country, turned out to be quite good at it and went straight into the school team. There were then three happy years running for the school with many trips to odd places, all under the avuncular but inspirational aegis of Bill Elliott. He cared and he really wanted everyone to enjoy what we were doing and get the very best out of ourselves. He would reminisce about his own athletic prowess, running in Rhodesia or getting the entire Achilles Athletics Team to RGS earlier in his career. He knew how to bring the best out of you by making you want to do well for him but never hammering you if sometimes you did not. I recall a trip over to race in Cumbria when we went by cars and stopped off for a break on the way where Bill bought us each a glass of beer.
